Puppy 4.2 - Desktop and Artwork

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alienjeff · #16 Post by **alienjeff** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 09:17

1) Desktop analog clock is redundant as there's a digital clock in the tray.

2) Utility bar "meant for utilities you often use" can be easily replaced by desktop icons appropriately "hot keyed" via ~/.jwm/jwmrc-personal key bindings - single key "hot key."

If I want to open my most frequently used apps, each is a single key click - don't have to be bothered with steering a mouse around. Same goes for switching to the next virtual desktop. One key click. Same for switching through various apps running in one or more virtual desktops. One key click.

Cost? A desktop icon and configuration. But the desktop icon is even optional. I've ditched all desktop icons for a mere function key/app line in my Conky display.

3) Red is frequently associated with danger. Keep that in mind before going too ga-ga over the "energy" banter about the proposed desktop.

Red line on a tachometer is somewhere you don't want the needle going. You don't want to hear the red phone ringing. And you want to think thrice before pressing the red button.

4) Think contrast for clarity, not shock.

HairyWill · #17 Post by **HairyWill** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 09:29

@Jay
In 2.14R Dougal modified the gtk theme selector so that it could set the jwm colours based on the gtk theme, have a look at that.

BarryK · #18 Post by **BarryK** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 10:12

HairyWill wrote:@Jay
In 2.14R Dougal modified the gtk theme selector so that it could set the jwm colours based on the gtk theme, have a look at that.

Yeah, I copied that, it's in the JWM config utility in 4.00 and 4.1 -- however I don't think I copied it very well, as the colours don't look so good -- maybe someone could look into that. The package at ibiblio is 'jwmconfig2-20070929'.

WhoDo · #19 Post by **WhoDo** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 12:03

zigbert wrote:It is only meant as a suggestion for Puppy 4.2. The chances are probably not that huge it will end up in the official Puppy, since WhoDo (Puppy manager) is also working with his desktop (EzPup). But I'll continue to do some tweaks until this is set.

Don't underestimate me, Sigmund.

Just because I'm the project coordinator on this one doesn't mean I have a preference for my own work. I'm far less selfish than that, I hope. I happen to like the suggestion you've made very much, although I'm not such a fan of the red. If you were to go to a blue or green version it would have much more general appeal IMHO. Just a thought.

WhoDo · #20 Post by **WhoDo** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 12:06

HairyWill wrote:@Jay
In 2.14R Dougal modified the gtk theme selector so that it could set the jwm colours based on the gtk theme, have a look at that.

IMHO that is just the sort of usability update we need in 4.2, so I hope either Jay or Dougal puts that forward. If we can avoid forcing users to make 3 or 4 separate changes to get what they want then we've moved in the right direction, I'd say.

HairyWill · #21 Post by **HairyWill** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 15:03

BarryK wrote:Yeah, I copied that, it's in the JWM config utility in 4.00 and 4.1 -- however I don't think I copied it very well, as the colours don't look so good -- maybe someone could look into that. The package at ibiblio is 'jwmconfig2-20070929'.

I see two problems
1) colours
2) font

1) I think this is caused by gtk themes that do not have gtkrc entries that specify colours for

Code: Select all

bg\[NORMAL\]'
bg\[SELECTED\]' 
fg\[NORMAL\]'
bg\[ACTIVE\]'
fg\[SELECTED\

2)The template inside gtk2jwm does not include font declarations for
the various style elements. The predefined jwm themes do include these elements. All the gtk themes that do include font declarations are for dejavu 12 so this could be hard coded.

In particular the Emacs theme is a problem because all it specifies are keybindings, Raleigh is a problem because it is empty.

I think the grep for colours may also be picking up colours in the theme that are commented out.

#22 Post by **ttuuxxx** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 15:25

WhoDo wrote:
zigbert wrote:It is only meant as a suggestion for Puppy 4.2. The chances are probably not that huge it will end up in the official Puppy, since WhoDo (Puppy manager) is also working with his desktop (EzPup). But I'll continue to do some tweaks until this is set.
Don't underestimate me, Sigmund. Just because I'm the project coordinator on this one doesn't mean I have a preference for my own work. I'm far less selfish than that, I hope. I happen to like the suggestion you've made very much, although I'm not such a fan of the red. If you were to go to a blue or green version it would have much more general appeal IMHO. Just a thought.

To tell you the truth, I agree with Both of you, I like the background and the desktop icons, I'm not that fond of the red menus and icons
ttuuxxx

alcy · #23 Post by **alcy** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 17:08

The new proposed(?) look is pretty cool, and better than the previous ones in terms of being more appealing to people new to Puppy.

*But why two clocks ? Maybe the widget could be done away with.
*Red is not my choice really, but blue I love.
*That Puppy-centric wallpaper looks cool.

All in all, this idea is quite exciting. It would be great how it turns out. Looking forward to this.

alienjeff · #24 Post by **alienjeff** » Sat 18 Oct 2008, 19:09

alcy wrote:But why two clocks?

No doubt to pacify immigrants from Vista and the eye candy dependent ...

The bigger question is who is going to teach users born after 1985 how to read an analog clock?

Maybe the widget could be done away with..

"Could?" No. "Should?" Yes!

zigbert · #25 Post by **zigbert** » Tue 21 Oct 2008, 20:01

I have started the work on Pwidgets. I think it should be possible to make nice widgets with limited resources.
The first 3 uses:
- xonclock (50 kb)
- conky + dependencies (300 kb).

cthisbear · #26 Post by **cthisbear** » Tue 21 Oct 2008, 22:46

zigbert :

Red is not my colour of preference for text.

Reminds me of the hate mail I send out.

But I like the desktop itself.
Pretty good candidate for me,
really different but not far out.

Regards.............Chris.

dogone · #27 Post by **dogone** » Wed 22 Oct 2008, 01:42

As to the concern over red I'd like to suggest a compromise. The warm tones zigbert has chosen for the background suggest that burnt orange would be a perfect alternative It's a related color, complements the gray and can be made bright enough to get the user's attention.

One more thing before I forget it again. Can we PLEASE replace that fuzzy "home" icon with a beautifully done dog house. It's about time home was where the heart is and where Puppy lives. Let's please make it happen for 4.2!

cthisbear · #28 Post by **cthisbear** » Wed 22 Oct 2008, 08:34

dogone:

" Can we PLEASE replace that fuzzy "home" icon with a
beautifully done dog house. '

I know it's sad....but I really liked this idea.

Chris.

zigbert · #29 Post by **zigbert** » Wed 22 Oct 2008, 19:59

zigbert · #30 Post by **zigbert** » Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:01

#31 Post by **BÃ©Ã¨m** » Wed 22 Oct 2008, 20:50

zigbert wrote:image deleted

Please be kind to those who don't have a large display.
On my monitor the picture is too wide.

dogone · #32 Post by **dogone** » Thu 23 Oct 2008, 15:21

I must say it again, Zigbert. Stardust is looking very, very good. That is one classy desktop that will stand well up against any other Linux release. Keep up the great work!

WhoDo · #33 Post by **WhoDo** » Thu 23 Oct 2008, 19:19

zigbert wrote:

Very cool, Sigmund.

You certainly could use red in the conky display including the calendar title. My problem with the red was in the menu highlight bar and icons, not on the desktop.

All in all this is becoming a VERY attractive, clean and strong Puppy look! Well done!

nic2109 · #34 Post by **nic2109** » Thu 23 Oct 2008, 21:04

Guys; this is becoming seriously good!

The brushed metal dark-grey backgrounds look really classy and contrast well with the wallpaper. Have you noticed that Lightroom and the latest Photoshop versions from Adobe look like this as does Aperture from Apple so we'd be in high-end company if we adopt this look. So please go for it.

I too prefer burnt orange to red for the text, as red is just too bold and alarming. It works for the calendar though, giving today just enough emphasis.

We'll need to be careful with the wallpaper as it needs to look right when "stretched" to fit from 800x600 to 1600 x 1200 and beyond as well as resolutions like 1440 x 900 which have a different aspect ratio. That'll be tricky but I hope not insurmountable. Perhaps a sample of each aspect ratio built in for selection.

I'm already looking forward to this and will happily join in with "testing" when it's ready. Funny, but I recently decided to stop all this trying out new versions and just stick with 4.1. Well; that's already out of the window. This will be too good to ignore.

cb88 · #35 Post by **cb88** » Thu 23 Oct 2008, 22:06

drop the analog clock.... I can read it but digital is faster

don't care about the launch bar...

calendar is nice...

conky could replace freememapplet since i can display ram usage with gradiets i might add as well

+1 on the background

on the red... black is probably better for the text the conky theme could probably use some more spice however...

a conky config wizard would be really nice (although editing it manually is far more powerful)
this should be included too... IMO the best puppy wallpaper to date it is fun (NOTE THE WORD FUN... not just blingy which the rastapax tends to ever so slightly) and nice to look at as well

http://webpages.uncc.edu/~carayfie/carayfie/sky1.jpg

a screenshot of my recent jaunt into slitaz land http://webpages.uncc.edu/~carayfie/slit ... ike-it.jpg

Also if any body cares the Wii-Black Gtktheme could use some TLC like some fonts are hard to read (in pidgin firefox etc... messes up openoffice?) http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show. ... tent=45829

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Puppy 4.2 - Desktop and Artwork

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