[kepler-dev] DataSource Icon troubles

[Bertram Ludaescher]

>>> On Fri, 03 Feb 2006 14:49:28 -0800
>>> Dan Higgins <higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu> wrote: 
DH> 
DH> Matthew,
DH>     I understand your frustration with all the debate while you are 
DH> trying to implement some of these interface changes, but I would like to 
DH> point out that these changes appearing do affect what other people are 
DH> doing. I use the 'animate' feature and I would like to be able to turn 
DH> it off. 

It should be off by default for the reasons stated by others before. 

DH> I would also like to able to see icons when working with them. 

Hmm, that's an interesting use case ;-)

DH> And I don't like a white background; I think some of the existing 
DH> workflows look better with the gray background.

Right. As mentioned before, it would be nice if we had a global switch
(like a "skin") that allows people to go with the "old colors and
icons" if they like to. 

DH>     I would like to suggest that none of the incremental changes you 
DH> refer to should appear at all in the default version of the head of CVS 
DH> until they are completed and ready for review.
DH> 
DH> Dan
DH> 
DH> Matthew Brooke wrote:
DH> 
>> It seems, from the discussions we have been having, that there are some 
>> general misunderstandings regarding the Kepler UI implementation 
>> process. Here are a few points and explanations that I hope will help:
>> 
>> 1) Most of the changes are incremental - meaning they are one or two 
>> steps towards the new design, but in most cases, they aren't yet all the 
>> way there. Consequently, it is too early to object to changes at this 
>> stage. For example, in the past week, we have spent time addressing:
>> 
>> a) Dan's email about the "Run With Feedback" menu not working (which I 
>> knew about - it had not yet been finished, and was not critical for 
>> development purposes), which sparked off a debate about what the menu 
>> item should be called.
>> 
>> b) The current datasource/file folder debate. Basically, the file folder 
>> had recently been changed to the same bright green as the Director 
>> icons, so I decided to take 10 minutes or so to make it match the new 
>> Kepler design instead (see Wiki). However, the way the code currently 
>> works, I could not get the actor to use the new SVG icons easily, so I 
>> worked with what the code would let me do. The new Kepler will 
>> ultimately *not* use this implementation (whenever this actor finally 
>> gets changed to use the proper image files). It was a step towards the 
>> new design, working within the restrictions of the current code.
>> 
>> Unfortunately, the new icon design didn't contrast well with the old 
>> Kepler gray background; consequently, I have gone ahead and changed the 
>> canvas background to white, as shown on the design wiki. If anyone 
>> objects, you can change it back again for your local copy by editing the 
>> "uiSettings.properties" text file.
>> 
>> 
>> 2) Feedback and discussion are a very important part of the design 
>> process, but we should also recognize that discussions and design 
>> changes need to happen at the appropriate time in the engineering 
>> process.  The design has been available on the wiki for many months; 
>> discussing that information *after* the code is implemented (eg menu 
>> item wording etc) is not an efficient way of moving forward, especially 
>> when time is of the essence. Other issues may arise, which were not 
>> evident from the design documents, but most of the issues we've been 
>> discussing could have been addressed before now.
>> 
>> 
>> 3) The visual design is and will continue to be flexible. However, this
>> does not mean that it should be changed in real time; I can't implement
>> a design that is constantly changing.
>> 
>> What it does mean is that the look of the UI is not "set in stone"; what 
>> you see now, and changes that you will see over the coming weeks, are 
>> all negotiable and easily changed. However, it would be prudent to save 
>> these discussions for a point *after* the end-of-February freeze date - 
>> otherwise, if we continue to analyze every UI change in great detail, 
>> the implementation is never going to get finished in time for the release.
>> 
>> Please bear with us on this - just let me get the "first draft" of the 
>> implementation finished, and *then* we can talk about potential changes 
>> to the design :-)
>> 
>> cheers
>> 
>> m
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
DH> 
DH> 
DH> -- 
DH> *******************************************************************
DH> Dan Higgins                                  higgins at nceas.ucsb.edu
DH> http://www.nceas.ucsb.edu/    Ph: 805-893-5127
DH> National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Marine Science Building - Room 3405
DH> Santa Barbara, CA 93195
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DH> 
DH> 
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