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19 Replies Last post: May 18, 2008 9:42 AM by winsrev  
wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 14, 2008 4:24 PM

Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Hey. So i have just build Spark 2.6.0 from SVN and of course the first thing we all notice - it's a GUI. I must say, i dont like the new color theme chosen. Violet. Too bright (as pink, apple-green, yellow, etc.). especially for enterprise client. I like soft neutral warm colors, not intrusive. And i think old one light-grey-blue was good. This light-blue was fitting dark blue of the Synthetica theme more than the current violet, i think. More over, not all parts were changed and online popups and login screen are still with old color. Of course this is only SVN version. Button icons are looking better with lighter background (edges). But i want to ask community users what they think about new Spark color theme. Screenshot attached.

 

Btw. What has happened with MSN icon? It's obviously looking worse. Jabber icon was changed Any plans for changing it to xmpp logo? Though it could look like MSN one at such small size. I know that this is the official jabber logo. Some users will think that the icon was cut off

 

This last part was for Daniel and WinSrev

 

P.S. i see Available was changed to Online. I remember someone was asking for that. Because some of his users saw such presence in her girlfriend account and thought.. khm.. well Now it's more like IM standard.

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Tags: spark, design, theme, color
modulok Bronze
modulok
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May 14, 2008 4:49 PM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

What does the new version look like if 'use system look and feel' is checked off in the preferences? Any different than the attached image?

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 15, 2008 2:26 AM in response to: modulok
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes
modulok wrote:

What does the new version look like if 'use system look and feel' is checked off in the preferences? Any different than the attached image?

 

These screenshots were made with "system look and feel" checked off. So the right one is 2.6.0 (SVN). That is a Synthetica theme. With system look and feel only the titlebar of the window and menus changes to Windows theme.

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 15, 2008 2:27 AM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

I was thinking. Maybe Spark color scheme should follow new Openfire and Clearspace default schemes? Though IM client users won't see Admin Console, and Clearspace can be changed with skins. But could be nice to have all products following the brand theme.

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Sander Bronze
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May 15, 2008 2:46 AM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

I like the new icons for XMPP in Pidgin: http://pidgin.im/pipermail/commits/2008-March/008039.html

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 15, 2008 3:30 PM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Okay, i have a large disagreement with this (seen as i made the changes purely) but, it's not violet and hardly intrusive, that screenshot shows a mild difference. The MSN icon will be replaced in the next SVN update i do along with the new XMPP icon.

 

I also know nothing about why the status text was changed, sorry.

 

Thanks.

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 16, 2008 4:09 PM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

I see MSN icon is fixed already, as well the new xmpp icon is in place, looks better than jabber logo.

 

As about colors. Well it looks like violet, and personally i think it could be better to match Synthetica color, which is blue.

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modulok Bronze
modulok
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May 16, 2008 4:20 PM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

I think the old colors are fine. Spark should be tagged as a corporate IM client, so I think the basic look of the current build is good. I don't love or hate the new color, but I do hope we can use the orginal one, some people, like wroot, will not want to be forced to look at something he does not like.

 

And the service icons,  who really cares? I mean I don't go looking at my buddies like, tom is icq, jeff is aim, robert is gtalk, etc. Do you classify your friends like that? tom is white, jeff is black, robert is hispanic...etc I wish you could turn that off, I do not need to see the service icon next to each buddy. I do not see a jabber/xmpp icon next to my openfire buddies.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 16, 2008 4:53 PM in response to: modulok
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Firstly, spark is tagged as an IM client, that's it's purpose. Just because somethings corporate doesn't mean it can't have a nice GUI.

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modulok Bronze
modulok
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May 16, 2008 6:22 PM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Are you saying the current GUI looks bad? I like it.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 16, 2008 6:41 PM in response to: modulok
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

I'm not saying it's bad at all, i feel that it's lacking severely.

There's improvements to be made in Spark and that's what's getting done, if it's dormant people moan, if it's active people moan, there's no winning right?

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 17, 2008 3:41 AM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Spark is here for years and it's already having some user base. I cant remember a thread in forums that users moaned because of current design. Well, there were a skinning requests and this was a skinning service for, and now there is a Doc about skinning Spark. Though it's not so easy to do, but i think this is the right way. Now i have to study that Doc, because my current users could ask "Hey, why have you changed the colors?". I think some other admins will have to answer that question too. Let's wait for a release. So. Have you asked the community is it lacking anything in GUI? There is an improvement request filed about changing active/inactive tabs and tabbar colors. This is more important i think.

 

Arguing about colors is not wise, everyone has different tastes. But design should be consistent. Now it's not (so far). Some parts of GUI are still using old colors.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 17, 2008 8:56 AM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Okay, as my final say in this topic, you downloaded an SVN copy, in SVN things can change and secondly "Arguing about colors is not wise" - then why did you start this topic?

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 17, 2008 10:33 AM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

The main point was - is this change needed by users.

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 17, 2008 3:52 AM in response to: modulok
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes
modulok wrote:

And the service icons,  who really cares? I mean I don't go looking at my buddies like, tom is icq, jeff is aim, robert is gtalk, etc. Do you classify your friends like that? tom is white, jeff is black, robert is hispanic...etc I wish you could turn that off, I do not need to see the service icon next to each buddy. I do not see a jabber/xmpp icon next to my openfire buddies.

 

Well, for me it's ok to have these icons. Some of my contacts can have more than one account and sometimes it's important to me to which i should send a message. Turning it off could be an option. Turning the avatars in roster could be a workaround for this, but there is a bug (already filed), this icons are for some reason not replaced with avatars.

 

Your internal openfire buddies are not showing icons, because they are internal, the same would be when using server-2-server. Icons are only shown for gateway users. So if you have John Doe in your internal network and then John Doe via gateway, so it's a fast way to distinguish both. Of course you can check vcard popup and see the server he's logged in, but icons are faster.

 

Actually xmpp gateway for a xmpp server sounds as a nonsense indeed. But i cant use s2s, and i'm using this gateway.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 17, 2008 7:10 PM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Okay, so, the latest SVN changes now reflect new a new colour scheme and further GUI improvements.

The GUI is very important as it's something you see everyday so, it has to be something you like looking at.

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 17, 2008 7:53 PM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

this color looks better to me, milder.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 17, 2008 7:55 PM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Also for the record, the login screen has been changed too, i rebuilt the main image so it looked better and more up to date.

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wroot KeyContributor
wroot
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May 18, 2008 4:44 AM in response to: winsrev
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

Yes, i saw that in SVN changes log. Btw, have you done anything with this SPARK-1008 ? Cause with builded version i dont get online popups about my ICQ contats upon login. Though i cant test 2.5.8 and 2.6.0 truly isolated right now. It seems that both versions shares some cache or like that (in Temp folders, and something was changed in profile folder probably. So now 2.5.8 has that grayed out offline systray icon, though it has red dnd one before. Seems that 2.5.8 is using some parts of builded version and my transports works strangely. Most of them cant connect. With builded version it works ok. Though i still get popup about my xmpp tranport contacts going online upon login, maybe because that transport gets online later than others. Anyway, just wanted to find out if you have changed anything there and what has influenced these changes in behavior.

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winsrev KeyContributor
winsrev
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May 18, 2008 9:42 AM in response to: wroot
Re: Future Spark (2.6.0) GUI color changes

As far as i know, i never changed anything like that, although, the notification system has been modified since the last SVN build you did to incorporate custom group chat popups and such like, although it should still work the same manner in that sense.

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