Gnome GUI

Ubuntu Edgy installation advice

2007-02-09T11:28:00.000+01:00

In order for aqua scrollbars on all T-ish themes to work on Ubuntu Edgy installations you'll have to install gtk2-engines-pixbuf package.

100000 downloads barrier breached

2006-11-08T13:30:00.000+01:00

I can proudly announce that T-ish-Pack breached 100000 downloads barrier which makes T-ish second most downloaded GTK2 theme and seventh most downloaded item overall on gnomelook.org.

Even more, if we combine other T-ish versions downloads at http://www.gnomelook.org and http://art.gnome.org we will soon be approaching 200000 downloads overall, and if only 10% of this users are using T-ish occassionaly that makes well more than 10000 active installations.
Wow :))

So, now is the right moment to give thanks to all of you that have sent me suggestions, promoted T-ish on your blogs or simply motivated me to carry on with themes development.

And finally I have a request: If you are using T-ish on regular basis please send me the your screenshots so I can see how T-ish behave on different installations.

Thanks.

Migration to Beryl

2006-10-11T10:21:00.000+02:00

I've migrated to quinn's compiz fork called Beryl, it works better then last compiz-quinn and have more features than official compiz, although it's still very experimental.
If you decide to migrate to Beryl take note that in order to use T-ish themes you'll have to change their extension from .cgwdtheme to .emerald.

Also, I've noticed great new compiz theme called Dream Tiger for Baghira, that goes really well with T-ish gtk themes.

If you use Compiz or Beryl try it.

T-ish-Brushed Compiz themes

2006-08-17T15:02:00.000+02:00

It's finally here, Pixmap engine for Compizthemer that allows you to have bitmapped window borders. That was of course prerequisite for seamless integration of T-ish-Brushed GTK themes with compiz window manager.

Here are my first T-ish-Brushed compiz themes. Both, the themes and engine performance are pretty much untested so we have yet to see how it will behave and what else could be done here.

If you like brushed themes please try it and post your experience and suggestion here.

Thanks,

T-ish-Brushed Pack

2006-08-06T12:53:00.000+02:00

Another consolidated classical release is out. T-ish-Brushed used to be my favorite theme and I used it most often until I switched to Compiz.

Now, it works very well with T-ish-Metal compiz theme but I'm still waiting the day when it will be possible to have brushed compiz borders.

However, all my desktops without compiz are running this theme and this refreshened version is well worth upgrading.

As usual, get it here, please give the vote and leave some comments if you care.:))

Blogged with Flock

Finally a Compiz themer

2006-07-18T15:22:00.000+02:00

I have finally been able to install gcompizthemer on my laptop so here are my first efforts in producing T-ish borders for Compiz.

I really hope you like it.

Blogged with Flock

Announcing T-ish Pack

2006-07-02T14:20:00.000+02:00

It has been busy two weeks for me. I've managed to publish two websites and two T-ish theme releases.

But before that just to mention: T-ish has made to digg 's first page being mentioned in blog post about how to make gnome looks like OSX. That resulted with about 8000 downloads :))

Let's continue now:

Firstly I've published T-ish-Ubuntulooks variation of T-ish. Ubuntulooks had a few tricks that I long wanted to see in T-ish, so I've switched the engine, then made few gtk icon changes and published. I am mostly satisfied with the results, but theme was not really that much different to deserve separate version.

So then, I've decided to merge T-ish for Clearlooks and Tish for Ununtulooks into T-ish Pack. I have also added Graphite variation by Alejandro Cornejo.

So now we have:

T-ish - Clearlooks theme
T-ish Aguastyle - Clearlooks theme with some pixmap elements
T-ish-Ubuntulooks - Ubuntlooks theme
T-ish-Ubuntulooks Aguastyle - Ubuntulooks theme with some pixmap elements
T-ish-Ubuntulooks Graphite - same as above but thanks to Alejandro Cornejo

Changes between clearlooks and ubuntulooks variations include:

flat vs glassy look
different back, forward, up, down toolbar buttons
different gtk-close icon
different metacity close buttons (x vs dot)

If you wish,please leave a comment which you like better.

T-ish-Ubuntulooks is now deleted form www.gnomelook.org repository since it is obsolete.

Blogged with Flock

Desktop arranger - a post to gnome usability list

2006-06-10T16:33:00.000+02:00

My post to usability@gnome.org list:

Hi,

I have an usability issue that I would like to discuss, most of all I need your opinion on usefulness of concept that I've been thinking about.

I have been heavy desktop-area user since I started to use Gnome years ago. I keep all my recent and open project files right there on the desktop, not buried in different folders. I have found that this really
boosts my productivity and offers me a good review of my affairs anytime just by looking at my desktop. Naturally there are some issues when you have 50+ files on the desktop as I do, so I'd like to test with you a
concept that I've been dreaming about for some time.

I guess there is no better place to talk about it then this list, but if I'm on the wrong place please direct me elsewhere :))

Ok, lets go:

You can guess that "clean up by name" or "keep aligned" options are no good for my situation, I arrange all my files and folders on the desktop manually which can be tedious job sometimes. Long ago I have concluded
that probably the best way to solve this problem will be a little more sophisticated desktop arranger tool.

By running some tests I have found out that users can efficiently deal with numerous files on desktop if desktop area is somehow separated into zones.

Simple test included the following setup:
- all launchers were removed from desktop into panel
- desktop was filled with files, folders, links and mounted media icons sorted by type or by context
- desktop wallpaper image suggested "zones" by using grids or lines to separate different areas

Almost all users after some time testified that they feel more comfortable with this setup, then they were with "clean up by name" or "keep aligned" options and much less files.

However, as available screen resolution grows so grows the number of files and manually sorting them becomes a problem, especially if you rearranged them accidentally. In my opinion this is easily solvable if we
can offer users a tool to designate different areas on desktop for different file types or contexts.

That's why I believe we need such tool.

Suggested concept is simple. For instance if user can divide desktop into six zones and specify for example:
- all folders go to zone 1
- all links to zone 2
- all sxw or odt to zone 3
- all files that contains *customer* in the filename to zone 4
- etc.

...and if this sorting works automatically when you bring the object to the desktop, users can have tidy and logically sorted desktop without having to position files manually. They can easily navigate, find and
use files that they need close by hand anyway.

This way IMHO we can more efficiently implement desk metaphor into computer environment and ease user/computer interaction a little bit :))

Of course I'm aware that there are many users that prefer to keep clean desktop and all files tucked into folder structure, but there are also many like me that like to clutter the desktop while working so I think
there is considerably wide user base that will find such tool valuable.

What I need you to tell me is the following:

1. Am I completely out of my mind?
2. If not, what do you think about the idea, does it really contribute to gnome usability?
3. Is it implementable at all?
4. Will it be worth the effort?

Ok, that's it, I hope I was comprehensible enough considering English is not my primary language.

Sorry about lengthy mail.

Thanks.

Firefox themes for different T-ish variations

2006-05-20T14:28:00.000+02:00

Recently I have published T-ish for compiz, theme that is slightly different in color then original T-ish. The reason for this color shift is in Firefox theme I choose to recommend for this variation.

You see, I believe that in coherent GUI, similar functions should have similar look. For example if back/forward in nautilus looks one way, then all similar functions through other applications should at least try to look and behave the same way. Unfortunately Firefox is not themeable through GTK yet,so that is the reason I'm in constant search for Firefox themes than can fit into T-ish.

So, far I have found some and I recommend them to use along T-ish.
Here is the list of default ones I recommend:

T-ish - iFox possibly the most complete Firefox theme besides default one
T-ish Brushed, T-ish Brushed Overlaid - Brushed - the best brushed theme for Firefox I have encountered so far
T-ish Black - FoxiMetal - a theme that goes well with tiger like themes
T-ish for Compiz - FoxiTiger - by the same author as above but with lighter shade of gray

As for the window borders, one of the main requirements for Firefox themes is to blend completely with GTK theme in order to appear as integral part of GUI. The other requirements are: it has to be quick and responsive on low end computers and it has to have finished and balanced look.

If you know more Firefox themes that meet this requirements please state them in comment section bellow so we could try them.

First try - T-ish for Compiz

2006-05-16T20:01:00.000+02:00

So, here it is.

My first try to make Compiz look T-ishable :)) As far from ideal as this is, it's a first step of my intention to make Compiz window borders as little noticeable as is possible. Since Compiz does not yet allow themeing my goal is to use GTK2 themeing engine to tweak colors to make Compiz blend seamlessly into T-ish.

For now I have achieved to remove border color by removing Clearlooks decorations, so window border can be the same as the rest of the window. The problem now is that window title text is to bright to read easily so I'm trying to find a way to influence it's text color. Any help is more then welcome :))

Also I have decided to go with separate themes for Compiz instead of tweaking and changing existing ones. However, in future that may change.

Feel free to give any suggestions for improvements if you have them. Just post them in the comments section below.

Invisible window decorations

2006-05-10T17:20:00.000+02:00

As you can conclude from my work on T-ish series I'm a great fan of unobtrusive and invisible window decorations. Aesthetic reasons aside, the main purpose of window borders that are different (in colors for example) from main GTK theme is to help us easier differentiate between different windows (active/inactive, different applications, etc.).. and to help us in working with windows of course (moving, closing, minimizing...).

But once we have became able to achieve this differentiation and usability by just themeing application areas, the functional need for distinct window border themes (aesthetic reasons aside) is gone. We can have very nice looking themes (and completely functional too) like Ish, that have window borders completely blended into GTK theme. That way it looks as there is no difference between application area and window border area and I think this is exactly as usable theme should be. OSX tiger does this fairly well.

Why do I think this is good?

Well, as first it removes unnecessary clutter from the display allowing us to concentrate more efficiently to the application we are using (because all unnecessary lines and colors are removed).

Even more, as titlebar is no more the basic handle for moving windows around the screen it frees titlebar area for adding more functional elements besides the window name. I have seen somewhere a great mockup where the menubar is completely integrated into former titlebar are. I consider this brilliant idea and would like to see this feature built into some future version of Gnome.

Further on, window moving should by default be achievable by clicking anywhere in and on the window (not just titlebar) because this approach significantly speeds-up user-computer interaction. By removing distinct window border theme we can encourage users to use this approach and lessen the potential confusion caused by the urge to still click on titlebar if titlebar is highly noticeable (as in many classic themes).

Next, this approach can offer better control to the application designers since they can rely on to fact that their application windows will look fairly uniform regardless of theme the user is currently using. Thus we can shift UI-design focus from desktop environment to the application environment.

All in all, we have inherited window border decorations from the past where highly noticeable window borders was necessity because of low graphic capabilities of that era computers. Today that isn't the case anymore, so we should throw away this outdated window frame metaphor that does not serve any significant function anymore and develop some other approaches. Apple has done well with Tiger themes so should try the other desktop developers.

Compiz dilemmas

2006-05-09T13:17:00.000+02:00

I have decided to start this blog after having some serious dilemmas where to go with T-ish theme series. So I feel now is the time to share them with you. Also, I will publish here my ongoing thinking about further enhancement and development of T-ish series.

So, to the first post:

T-ish themes have arrived where I wanted them when I started modding gnome user interface. They are fast and pretty slick. They all have finished and complete feeling regardless you like them or not. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the outcomes. Metacity/Gnome now looks and behaves (some minor quirks aside) as I thought it should.

Alas, I am not using Metacity anymore :(( I've started to experiment with compiz/aiglx and didn't go back again. Compiz/Aiglx (and Glx for that matter) shows so many GUI improvements that ordinary Metacity seems heavily outdated now. Except one little thing: compiz does not support themeing yet. Colors can be changed by tweaking GTK2 theme and that is as far as it goes yet.

I've tried T-ish themes with Compiz and they look decent. But unfortunately IMHO not decent enough. I see there is some room to make improvements, but that will involve changing GTK2 theme in order to do so. So my dilemmas are:

1. Should I fork another serie of theme sets just for Compiz?
2. Should I rework existing themes in order to look better with Compiz and leave the packed as they are?
3. Or do you think they look good enough and I should leave them as they are?

Please comment.

Also, I'm a big fan of unobtrusive window borders that fit seamlessly with GTK theme (with no border line) as in T-ish because I don't see the need for distinctive window border anymore I'd like to see that achievable in Compiz so if anyone from Compiz team read this, please make it possible :)))