[kepler-dev] kepler nightly builds

Thu Mar 10 06:29:30 PST 2005

Matt, Laura:

I didn't see the "composite" that is being referred to below. 

We had been discussed the need for a "systematic" Kepler "icon-style"
quite a while back, but didn't actually do it...

My suggestion would be to use the various "dimensions" of icons:
- icon shape 
- icon borderline color (and borderline thickness)
- icon "inner color"
- icon "inner text" or "sub-icon" (e.g. the file reader/write has a
"folder subicon")

.. in a systematic (and yes, intuitive of course ;-) way to indicate
what type of actor we are looking at. However, this design needs to be
informed also by a high-level classification of actor types. 
Unlike the recently introduced a "dynamic actor classification" (the
actor search tab extensions by Shawn and Chad), here we want a
somewhat static world view.. so we should think carefully what the
actor dimensions are.

Ptolemy had some classifications such as "source" vs "sink" (e.g
displays).

We might have distinctions between:
- interactive (browserUI) vs. non-interactive actors (a big difference)
- local vs. remote executing actors (e.g. web service and SSH2 are
remote while most others are local; some you don't know
(command-line))
- high-level classifications are also useful, e.g.,
-- data analysis actors (all R functions!?) vs.
-- visualization actors (e.g. imported from SciRUN) vs.
-- database style query actors (JDBC/SQL queries, XQuery actors, XPath actor)
-- datatranslation actors (XSLT)

etc.

I think we should also discuss these issues before coming up with a
final design..

Bertram

Matt Jones writes:
> Thanks, Laura.  This composite looks great.  The icons are all solid
> colors and simple lines, so they should be able to be represented in the
> simplified SVG that ptolemy supports.  Getting them into that format
> might not be easy, however.  Illustrator, for example, makes extensive
> use of SVG 'path' elements and group ('g') elements when writing out
> SVG, which ptolemy doesn't support.  But we can get the developers to
> get that stuff fixed, probably at a minimum creating a conversion
> script.  It looks to me like we should be able to use the same SVG for
> the canvas and the tree because they should scale ok.  I'm moving this
> conversation onto the list so that the other Kepler developers are aware
> of the issues.
> 
> Matt
> 
> Laura L. Downey wrote:
> > Okay, here's one comp that shows the basic color scheme with a few actors
> > (this is just a made up workflow).  There are still some changes to be made
> > but this will give the general idea.
> > 
> > Laura L. Downey
> > Senior Usability Engineer
> > LTER Network Office
> > Department of Biology, MSC03 2020
> > 1 University of New Mexico
> > Albuquerque, NM  87131-0001
> > 505.277.3157 phone
> > 505.277-2541 fax
> > ldowney at lternet.edu
> >  
> > 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Matt Jones [mailto:jones at nceas.ucsb.edu] 
> > Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 12:21 PM
> > To: Laura L. Downey
> > Subject: Re: illustrator svg settings
> > 
> > composites would be fine.  Like i said before i'd like to glance at what 
> > you have anyways.
> > 
> > Matt
> > 
> > Laura L. Downey wrote:
> > 
> >>Oops... guess I'm trying to read too fast these days.  You said gifs are
> >>fine but again I only have composite images -- not any individual stuff.
> >>I've just emailed the graphic designer though to get some.
> >>
> >>Laura L. Downey
> >>Senior Usability Engineer
> >>LTER Network Office
> >>Department of Biology, MSC03 2020
> >>1 University of New Mexico
> >>Albuquerque, NM  87131-0001
> >>505.277.3157 phone
> >>505.277-2541 fax
> >>ldowney at lternet.edu
> >> 
> >>
> >>-----Original Message-----
> >>From: Matt Jones [mailto:jones at nceas.ucsb.edu] 
> >>Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 11:56 AM
> >>To: Laura L. Downey
> >>Subject: Re: illustrator svg settings
> >>
> >>Laura,
> >>
> >>Could you send me some example images (gif is fine).  I should be able 
> >>to get a sense of whether they will work using the SVG subset that 
> >>ptolemy supports based on looking at some representative icons.  If they 
> >>won't work that way, then I'll think about how to handle this.  Thanks,
> >>
> >>Matt
> >>
> >>Laura L. Downey wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >>>Thanks.  I'll pass these along to the graphic designer.
> >>>
> >>>As I just said on IRC, I'm a bit worked that the few primitives supported
> >>>won't let use some of the symbology we've developed even though it is
> >>
> >>really
> >>
> >>
> >>>basic.  I don't like complexity in visual language but some detail is
> >>>necessary and bit more than just fundamental shapes etc.  But I'll guess
> >>>I'll find out when I get the final SVGs and try to display them etc.
> >>>
> >>>Laura L. Downey
> >>>Senior Usability Engineer
> >>>LTER Network Office
> >>>Department of Biology, MSC03 2020
> >>>1 University of New Mexico
> >>>Albuquerque, NM  87131-0001
> >>>505.277.3157 phone
> >>>505.277-2541 fax
> >>>ldowney at lternet.edu
> >>>
> >>>
> >>>-----Original Message-----
> >>>From: Matt Jones [mailto:jones at nceas.ucsb.edu] 
> >>>Sent: Monday, March 07, 2005 10:45 AM
> >>>To: ldowney at lternet.edu
> >>>Subject: illustrator svg settings
> >>>
> >>>Laura,
> >>>
> >>>I think these settings will get you a valid svg file.  You can test it 
> >>>by opening it in Batik Squiggle or another SVG app.   You may need to 
> >>>tweak the settings even further, but i'm not sure.  Be sure to test.  I 
> >>>think there are also some W3C validation services.
> >>>
> >>>A valid SVG file isn't enough though.  We need to be sure to only use 
> >>>the SVG features that ptolemy supports.  For example, I don't think 
> >>>ptolemy supports gradients.
> >>>
> >>>Matt
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > 
> > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > 
> 
> -- 
> -------------------------------------------------------------------
> Matt Jones                                     jones at nceas.ucsb.edu
> http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Fax: 425-920-2439    Ph: 907-789-0496
> National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS)
> University of California Santa Barbara
> Interested in ecological informatics? http://www.ecoinformatics.org
> -------------------------------------------------------------------