Bug 242228 - The white icons in KDE 4.5 can make desktop ugly.
Summary: The white icons in KDE 4.5 can make desktop ugly.
Status: RESOLVED INTENTIONAL
Alias: None
Product: plasma4
Classification: Unmaintained
Component: widget-systemtray (show other bugs)
Version: unspecified
Platform: openSUSE Linux
: NOR normal
Target Milestone: ---
Assignee: Plasma Bugs List
URL:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2010-06-20 09:09 UTC by Lukas Jirkovsky
Modified: 2011-08-29 10:50 UTC (History)
8 users (show)

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Description Lukas Jirkovsky 2010-06-20 09:09:24 UTC
Version:           unspecified (using Devel) 
OS:                Linux

The problem with new white icons in system tray is that they doesn't go with colored icons from other applications very well. The desktop looks inconsistent.

The worse it is because even KDE puts colored icon here – the keyboard layout switcher.

Moreover I think the new icons are much more difficult to recognize (is it knetworkmanger icon or is it KMix?)

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
Install KDE 4.5

Actual Results:  
ugly desktop

Expected Results:  
nice desktop

There is already bug #241933 but it's not very specific and mixes too much problems together.
Comment 1 Vit Pelcak 2010-06-20 10:59:29 UTC
Not only can, it really _looks_ ugly.

Please, don't copy ugliest things from Windows. Go your own way.

I was pretty happy with Oxygen icons. Now I have weird mixture of white and coloured icons in systray :-( It looks so weird and amateurish.
Comment 2 Michal 2010-06-20 11:12:19 UTC
*** This bug has been confirmed by popular vote. ***
Comment 3 Marco Martin 2010-06-20 19:17:14 UTC
1) yes, there is already #241933
2) bugzilla is not for personal opinions

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 241933 ***
Comment 4 Lukas Jirkovsky 2010-06-20 20:23:27 UTC
Marco Martin: Why it was closed? This bug report has much more votes than referenced #241933 and there is a comment under #241933 saying:
"each one should have been reported separately"
So i don't thing it really is duplicate but something what the reporter of the other bug should have already done.
Comment 5 Lukas Jirkovsky 2010-06-21 09:13:19 UTC
BTW: reopened.

Anyway I'd like to say one thing. This is probably not the best place but it's closely related to the topic of the bug.

I'm participating in an Open Source development as a developer and as a bug reporter for several years and I've learned one thing. The best way how to keep relationships between community and developers healthy is open discussion. Especially when it comes to the user interface. Nice example of a collaboration between users and developers was survey about new KMail icons.

In my opion it would be good to make a survey which icons in system tray people like and use the winner. However I've never seen something like that for plasma. One day there was an announcement that the KDE 4.5 ships new icons. No discussion.

I guess it was discussed on a mailing list, but the mailing lists has it's problems. First, KDE has too many lists so for someone not involved in KDE development it's very diffucult to say which one is apropriate. Second, usualy there are mainly developers on mailing list. That's why I find bugzilla as the only place where users can express their opinion (but certainly some poll would be much better in this case).
Comment 6 Aaron J. Seigo 2010-06-21 23:24:10 UTC
"The best way how to keep relationships between community and developers healthy is open discussion."

i agree.

"[... examples about icons ...] However I've never seen something like that for plasma. One day there was an announcement that the KDE 4.5 ships new icons. No discussion."

we've held a number of competitions for Plasma, from widgets to wallpapers. we've put out requests many times for ideas and input on our blogs. and many have done exactly that.

"I guess it was discussed on a mailing list, but the mailing lists has it's
problems. First, KDE has too many lists so for someone not involved in KDE
development it's very diffucult to say which one is apropriate. Second, usualy
there are mainly developers on mailing list."

there are also UI and graphic designers on plasma-devel@kde.org. that isn't an accident: we have actively reached out to and supported them to make that happen. you may be under the impression, due to experience with other projects, that this would not be the case .. all i can say is, "Welcome to Plasma, where we do things a little bit different, and in this case better, than most." your assumptions, while understandable, are in this case inaccurate.

"(but certainly some poll would be much better in this case)."

a poll of self selected individuals with a visual taste that represents primarily technology enthusiasts? no thanks. we've tested these icons in front of a variety of people, both those who use KDE and who do not, those who are technically proficient and those who are "average" users (for various sloppy interpretations of average, essentially "not computer geeks" :).

you may not agree, and that's understandable since it is at least in part a question of aesthetics. i find some architectural styles vastly repugnant that others salivate endlessly over, and that's pretty much the same kind of thing. so i get it :)

BUT ... let's not confuse re-opening reports and continuing to repeat your case once you have made it clearly to others in the community here with an "open discussion". it's just as much bullying the developers as it would be for us to dismiss your comments without a second thought or a comment. we don't do that to you, please have the respect not to do it to us :)

that said, we are ALWAYS open to improvements in art and elsewhere. if you provide quality work that can be folded into KDE Plasma, we are open and happy to do so. this is demonstrated by the continuous flow of such changes we accept, happily and with encouragement, from many both inside and outside of the core KDE community. as a result, i do sort of resent it when people imply otherwise. :/

i'll also note that many times we have made decisions within Plasma that have not initially been popular, but which were based on long thought, research and efforts and that eventually became quite acclaimed. folderview is perhaps one of the more well known examples of this. this is not to say we are infallible, in fact folderview received much input and effort from people "outside" the core Plasma community, and we _welcomed_ that. other features (zooming, e.g.) were tried and eventually discarded. it's part of the process, one that is based on participation and mutual respect between all involved.
Comment 7 Oldřich Jedlička 2010-07-01 21:56:11 UTC
I've created usability bug #243387, you can have a look at it and add your opinion there. I would like to have the bug as a usability problem, not "it's ugly" or any other internal feelings.
Comment 8 Kevin Kofler 2010-11-13 07:20:55 UTC
A set of Plasma (>=4.5) system tray icons matching (using icons from) the Oxygen icon theme is now available from:
http://kde-look.org/content/show.php?content=134914
*** BRING SOME COLOR INTO YOUR PLASMA >= 4.5.0 SYSTEM TRAY! ***
Comment 9 Carl G. 2010-11-13 08:21:48 UTC
The reason why we have monochrome and full color icons doesn't make much sense to me, the notification area and the apps icons are already separated by a vertical spacer... could we do the same, separate the app icons from the monochrome icons?
Comment 10 gapon 2011-08-29 07:57:12 UTC
If there's an easy way to switch colored and monochrome icons, I would not care. Since I can't find it, I DO care. Please, provide an easy way to disable those monochrome icons.

Thanks.
Comment 11 Kevin Kofler 2011-08-29 10:50:28 UTC
Indeed, I think that the system tray icon theme should be settable independently from the Plasma theme and that my colored Oxygen theme, entirely based on the awesome artwork by the Oxygen icon team, should be shipped along with the monochrome ones. (FWIW, I also think that the colored ones should be the default, but as long as it's easily settable, it wouldn't be as much of a problem.)