[kepler-dev] Icons in the *DataSource actors

[Matthew Brooke]

Laura (also Kevin & Dan) -

Sorry - the states that I know about are 'busy' (currently red), 'ready' 
(currently yellow) and 'error' (currently pink). Not sure if there are 
any more.

I also think I recall seeing a discussion on IRC or by email about 
having the datasources *not* get their data before the workflow is run - 
was that conversation between Dan and Kevin? Can either of you guys 
summarize what you decided?

m


Laura L. Downey wrote:
> Before I make a recommendation I'd like to understand what "states" these
> icons have to display?
> 
> And it does seem a bit unusual to me to have processes doing something when
> the user hasn't instructed the workflow to execute.  But I'm not familiar
> with these specific actors or the specific workflow you are referencing.
> 
> Is it some kind of polling thing?
> 
> On a general note, I pretty much agree with Matthew's suggestion of having
> the icons fit in with the general scheme then doing something else to
> indicate state changes (highlighting, superimposing, putting some symbol
> above or below that indicates state change etc.)  There are a variety of
> ways we might do this.
> 
> 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: kepler-dev-bounces at ecoinformatics.org
> [mailto:kepler-dev-bounces at ecoinformatics.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Brooke
> Sent: Monday, January 09, 2006 2:16 PM
> To: Kevin Ruland; kepler-dev at ecoinformatics.org
> Subject: Re: [kepler-dev] Icons in the *DataSource actors
> 
> 
> Kevin -
> 
> I'd noticed (and ignored ;-) the eml200datasource actor; I agree with 
> you that it's not visually compatible with the new icon scheme, and had 
> meant to discuss it with Laura.
> 
> I'm wondering if a better way to do this would be to use an assigned 
> icon that doesn't change, but then the actor superimpose something on 
> top of it that gives the user some feedback on status/progress (instead 
> of switching out the entire icon or changing its color).
> 
> This way, the background icon would always "fit" with the color scheme, 
> and if the icons change in future, we probably won't need to change 
> anything specifically for these actors, since they are superimposing 
> their "status message" on top of the icon.
> 
> Laura - do you have any comments?
> 
> m
> 
> 
> 
> Kevin Ruland wrote:
>> Matthew, et al
>>
>> Both Eml200DataSource and DarwinCoreDataSource actors have hard coded 
>> icons.  They are not exactly using the same code but it looks like one 
>> was cribbed from the other.  They set the folder shape, then make calls 
>> to control color/text changes to indicate state.
>>
>> Since the icon system is/has gone through a major overhaul, I would like 
>> to discuss how we can get compatible icons for these actors.  I think it 
>> is still good for them to be able to control some indication of state 
>> since they do perform background tasks even when the workflow is not 
>> running.
>>
>> BTW - by "compatible" I mean in the visual sense.  These icons are very 
>> boxy and the colors are much too vibrant -- they would look horrible 
>> with the new icons.
>>
>> Kevin
>>
>>
> 

-- 

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Matthew Brooke, Ph.D.
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University of California
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