New toolbar icons
 

Hi,

I have improved the process for going from Photoshop to the icon files we're using in the toolbar. The main problems people were reporting, lack of contrast and washed-out colors, ought to be somewhat ameliorated. Please take another look (at the next sneaky peek), and keep the feedback coming!

Thanks,
Bill

Nice work! The secondary icons are coming along nicely too.

Any chance you could change the buttons at the top of the drawer?

A bit better, but not quite. The issue I'm seeing is each icon takes a lot more effort to differentiate it from the others. I know Leopard is doing this too... but there's a difference between trendy and usable. Trends should only be followed if they're usable.

[img]http://home.comcast.net/~filehost/og/ow-5.7-icons.jpg[/img]

See how easy it is to tell the 5.6 icons apart? When I want to click on one, I don't have to draw my full attention to the icons to figure out which one to click on.

Are there plans to change the icons for things like the bookmark folders or downloads window?

[QUOTE]See how easy it is to tell the 5.6 icons apart?[/QUOTE]

One person's meat is another person's fish. I can't barely discriminate between any of those in your sample.

Here's new vs old:

[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2391/1954407690_db4a2a8dc5_o.jpg[/IMG]

Given my visual abilities, when icons share a common look they become useless as a UI.

While they may not be aesthetically pleasing in the abstract, the very differences the old icons display -- variations in outline, in placement within the icon frame, in bright colors -- make them easy to use.

I need to literally read the new icons to distinguish between them. If I'm reading, might as well use print, eh?

[B]pleeze[/B] permit me to continue to use the old icon set!

[QUOTE=Jesse the K;24357]
variations in outline
[/QUOTE]

There are to many icons with a nearly rectangle shape. Maybe we can avoid that if possible. For example the download window:

[IMG]http://siezi.de/deeplinks/images/DownloadsGraphite.png[/IMG]

Or would that be to confusing with the "to download something"?

Yes, that's exactly the sort of outline difference that's easy to see!

For the "high contrast" icon set, distinctive color would be even better

[IMG]http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2157/1968544788_a94cac1970_o.jpg[/IMG]

As is probably painfully obvious, that's the first icon I've ever created.

It's funny, seeing that screen shot of the old vs the new only reinforces to me how much [b]better[/b] the new ones are.

Can we ultimately get the "folders" in the bookmark menu to use the ones from Leopard? Those "3d" light blue folders were always ugly as sin.

[quote]Or would that be to confusing with the "to download something"?[/quote]

Yes, I think so. The new icons for the types of windows look alike no doubt because theyy ARE alike -- show a window. The icon artist added the appropriate icon TO each window to differentiate.

And the talk about confusing icons - how many do you guys put in the toolbar anyway? Me, I just have back, forward, reload, and home. Everything else can be accessed with hotkey or menus. I have to have a dozen buttons in any toolbar.

[QUOTE=Handycam;24521]Can we ultimately get the "folders" in the bookmark menu to use the ones from Leopard? Those "3d" light blue folders were always ugly as sin.[/QUOTE]

I agree with the sentiments on the bookmarks folder icons, and for a long time now I've been borrowing Leopard like folder icons from a theme made for another browser. They looks like this:

[IMG]http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/541/bmfolderexamplezh8.png[/IMG]

In my opinion, it suits my tastes better, and feels a little more modern.

[QUOTE=Handycam;24521][... snip ...]
Those "3d" light blue folders were always ugly as sin.
[... snip ...]
And the talk about confusing icons - how many do you guys put in the toolbar anyway? Me, I just have back, forward, reload, and home. Everything else can be accessed with hotkey or menus.[/QUOTE]

There are a variety of interests here, and it's possible to meet all of them.
[LIST][*]Aesthetic gratification & artistic expression[*]Functionality for all values of "user"[*]Flexible working styles (keyboard, mouse click, menu selection)[/LIST]I certainly don't want Handycam to curse a hideous interface every time an OmniWeb window opens.

I hope posters here can appreciate that large distinctive icons work well for those of us with vision and memory impairments. (Keyboard shortcuts and menu options impose an extra memory load, since they're hidden.) [I]For those of you thinking, "geez, how hard can it be to learn one more keybinding?" I hope you never slip, hit your head, and find out.[/I]

When the OmniGroup program-wizards create a variety of preferences (or AppleScript install applications to swap out icon sets) then all users can tune this lovely app to what we need.