Change the Appearance Completley.- My Summation.

[acelin]

It seems to me so many users just think we should stick with the current early 2000's looking Gnome themes. I though the idea of Ibex was to start from the top down, and change everything to make the default experience more user friendly, intuitive, natural, and beautiful.

I will make a few suggestions:

1) Font- the default fonts are not very easy on the eyes, and do not integrate well on the internet. Cleartype needs to be on by default, and we need a unique, Open-Source font that looks better than Segoe UI or Myriad.

2) Menu- We need a better Menu- in this area though it is good, but we could benefit for some improvements. I would like a search bar by default, and a more rounded structure.

3) A Better Panel- Our panels are too flat, and lack transparency when using a nice rounded, gradient type look. Can't murrina do this? Also, the icons for notifications should only take up half of the panel.

4) Option for a dock- The dock should be able to have pop out menu's, similar to what we already have- yes, this is kind of like Leopard, but I think the devs of AWN made this before them.

5) Clean Nautilus up. It is unorganized, and lends itself to an archaic architecture. There are a lot of redundancies.

6) Transparencies by default- Cant we do this?
Have several tiers of transparency. The outside window edges could be nearly clear, while the file menu's could be at 50% opacity, the actual part of the window itself at say 75%, the panel anywhere from 30%-50%...

7) Better Color Choices. You know how we can change system colors in Gtk right? make this more expansive. This wouldn't really require a change to Gnome, just make sure this new theme can have its color changed.

What do yall think?

[cardinals_fan]

1) Font- the default fonts are not very easy on the eyes, and do not integrate well on the internet. Cleartype needs to be on by default, and we need a unique, Open-Source font that looks better than Segoe UI or Myriad.

2) Menu- We need a better Menu- in this area though it is good, but we could benefit for some improvements. I would like a search bar by default, and a more rounded structure.

3) A Better Panel- Our panels are too flat, and lack transparency when using a nice rounded, gradient type look. Can't murrina do this? Also, the icons for notifications should only take up half of the panel.

4) Option for a dock- The dock should be able to have pop out menu's, similar to what we already have- yes, this is kind of like Leopard, but I think the devs of AWN made this before them.

5) Clean Nautilus up. It is unorganized, and lends itself to an archaic architecture. There are a lot of redundancies.

6) Transparencies by default- Cant we do this?
Have several tiers of transparency. The outside window edges could be nearly clear, while the file menu's could be at 50% opacity, the actual part of the window itself at say 75%, the panel anywhere from 30%-50%...

7) Better Color Choices. You know how we can change system colors in Gtk right? make this more expansive. This wouldn't really require a change to Gnome, just make sure this new theme can have its color changed.

What do yall think?
1. Red Hat's Liberation fonts are nice.

2. A search bar might be nice, but don't clutter things.

3. I disagree. A very subjective category.

4. NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! EDIT: Define option. AWN is in the repos, isn't it?

5. The new Nautilus is creepy

6. Please no, I beg you.

7. Make color changes available, but not default.

[acelin]

Then we will forever look like an early 2000's OS. We need to step it up.

LInk to Red Hat's fonts?

[cardinals_fan]

Then we will forever look like an early 2000's OS. We need to step it up.

LInk to Red Hat's fonts?
https://www.redhat.com/promo/fonts/

Define early 2000s OS.

[Barrucadu]

What's wrong with Ubuntu's look? Much nicer than XP, and much easier for a new user to learn than OS X - That's a good combination

[SuperSon!c]

What's wrong with Ubuntu's look? Much nicer than XP, and much easier for a new user to learn than OS X - That's a good combination

i've always thought that the default gnome/ubuntu is pretty cheap looking. doesn't take much to make it look class though.

[acelin]

What's wrong with Ubuntu's look? Much nicer than XP, and much easier for a new user to learn than OS X - That's a good combination

Hahaha so funny. It looks more like ME. Juts change the super awesome Hardy background to Windows Me's. and voila...

Not that different.

[acelin]

Look at the pic above. It looks a little nicer, but nowhere near as good as XP's default. We need to move into the future.

I know we can change it, but no current Gtk/KDE/Metacity themes do this, and Emerald is just on the edges.

[SomeGuyDude]

I like the idea of options for all of those things. Not sure how many I'd want default.

Really, I don't see why everyone thinks blue is so evil. It's a very calming color to the eyes and Windows isn't the only OS to ever use it. There's this bizarre "Windows did it so we must not" attitude that ends up shooting itself in the foot. Some stuff works. A lot doesn't, but not EVERYTHING is bad.

Blue: good. Browns and oranges are... okay, but even if blue isn't your favorite color you know darn well a blue room is more calming than an orange or brown one. If you look at my desktops, I -always- use blacks, but I know that for a default, a nice light blue will start a new user off right.

[cardinals_fan]

Hahaha so funny. It looks more like ME. Juts change the super awesome Hardy background to Windows Me's. and voila...

Not that different.
Except that the top one looks good. The icons were ME's ugliest part, and Ubuntu has better ones (I wish they would use Tango by default though). What looks bad?

[cardinals_fan]

Look at the pic above. It looks a little nicer, but nowhere near as good as XP's default. We need to move into the future.

I know we can change it, but no current Gtk/KDE/Metacity themes do this, and Emerald is just on the edges.
What? XP looks like a Playskool toy. Is there nothing here (http://www.gnome-look.org/index.php?xcontentmode=100) better than that? I think not.

EDIT: Where'd you find the ME wallpaper? I could use that for a few jokes...

[Iandefor]

5. The new Nautilus is creepy What's creepy about Nautilus?

[Whiffle]

Wait, XP looks better?


Am I the only person here that thinks XP outsourced the design of XP to Play Skool? Thats the first thing I change about XP...


I say stick to K.I.S.S., if people want to make it more complex themselves, then they're more than welcome to.

[acelin]

I am talking about defaults people!

yes keep it simple, but why not nice?

[SuperSon!c]

Wait, XP looks better?


Am I the only person here that thinks XP outsourced the design of XP to Play Skool? Thats the first thing I change about XP...




nope, i totally agree and i use XP almost daily. it's a Fisher Price interface, no doubt about it, but i use blackbox for a shell which cleans it up nicely :)

[p_quarles]

I am talking about defaults people!

yes keep it simple, but why not nice?
Well, as this thread has already demonstrated, it is difficult to reach a consensus on what is "nice."

[cardinals_fan]

What's creepy about Nautilus?
That isn't the new one - here's a shot:

[cardinals_fan]

I am talking about defaults people!

yes keep it simple, but why not nice?
Pick a theme off gnome-look that you like, an icon set that you like, a panel that you like, etc. and ask for opinions.

[Whiffle]

nope, i totally agree and i use XP almost daily. it's a Fisher Price interface, no doubt about it, but i use blackbox for a shell which cleans it up nicely :)

Funny thing is, when I still used XP full time back in the day, I used blackbox too. bb4win is nice. Nowadays I just turn it to the "classic" theme, change the wallpaper and call it good. I almost never boot into windows (only when I get the urge to play games, which is almost as rare as having time for games)

[qamelian]

I am talking about defaults people!

yes keep it simple, but why not nice?
Maybe because what you consider nice is not the same as what others do? Personally, I like the default look of Ubuntu and it does not feel dated to me in any way. I like it just fine the way it is and would not find any benefit to the changes you suggest. Call me crazy but I like the default fonts just fine too. They look great on my laptop and on my LCD monitor.

[SuperSon!c]

Funny thing is, when I still used XP full time back in the day, I used blackbox too. bb4win is nice. Nowadays I just turn it to the "classic" theme, change the wallpaper and call it good. I almost never boot into windows (only when I get the urge to play games, which is almost as rare as having time for games)

bb4win, you are correct, i had a brain xplohshun.

[acelin]

Pick a theme off gnome-look that you like, an icon set that you like, a panel that you like, etc. and ask for opinions.

You are missing the point.

1) Talking about the default here.

2) I have 300+ gtk, metacity, emerald, icon, and fonts on my computer. None of them cut it.

I am trying to learn how to program Gtk themes- I will find the perfect theme, or get someone to help me, and it will blow this out of the water.

[Dark Hornet]

Well, as this thread has already demonstrated, it is difficult to reach a consensus on what is "nice."

I completely agree...the good thing is you can change anything you don't like with ease! I tend to not look at Ubuntu by what it is at its "defaults", but more of a blank canvas (i know its a cheesy analogy) but I really do look at it as an opportunity to "make it my own" each time I install it, or get in a different mood.

Darkhornet

[acelin]

I guarentee we change it to something modern, and the adoption rate will rise exponentially.

[acelin]

Exactly... it would not have any restrictions BY DEFAULT- you could easily make it into the current theme if you wanted, but make it more attractive and increase its capabilities.

[p_quarles]

Exactly... it would not have any restrictions BY DEFAULT- you could easily make it into the current theme if you wanted, but make it more attractive and increase its capabilities.
Attractive to whom? To you? A lot of people like Ubuntu's look and feel, and dislike that of the interfaces to which you are comparing it. It seems like you're just ignoring the fact that this is an extremely subjective topic.

[cardinals_fan]

You are missing the point.

1) Talking about the default here.

2) I have 300+ gtk, metacity, emerald, icon, and fonts on my computer. None of them cut it.

I am trying to learn how to program Gtk themes- I will find the perfect theme, or get someone to help me, and it will blow this out of the water.
1. You are missing my point. Before saying that we should change the defaults, give an example of what you want. Make the desktop you think Ubuntu should be and THEN ask people to change to it.

2. None of these look better than XP to you?!?!?! Read through the monthly screenshot thread and tell me that again.

[acelin]

It seems to me that we havea bunch of old people or poeple who dont like change.

[cardinals_fan]

It seems to me that we havea bunch of old people or poeple who dont like change.
I'm 14.

[p_quarles]

It seems to me that we havea bunch of old people or poeple who dont like change.
Sigh. Since this is degenerating into attacks, and the OP refuses to even acknowledge that others may have differing views of what constitutes "nice," I'm going to preempt the inevitable flamewar.