Thank you everyone for their constructive comments on my previous post. A number of posters suggested the rounded boxes that conduit uses to group dataproviders were too bold, unnecessary, or both. I would like your opinion on which of the following four choices is the most suitable as a replacement.
Which is the best; 1,2,3 or 4?
Number four is the current implementation. I am leaning towards the first option as a replacement. From testing it seems to look the most consistent on different themes, and I believe it is the most suitable background to place (future) drag and drop hints on.
I rather like the first one. The message isn’t that clear in 2 and 3. The fourth one is clear in it’s message, but draws to more attention than it requires.
Very nice work.
I like the first one myself, with the visible but subtle boxes grouping elements. The horizontal separating lines on the second and third are too much, adding clutter to the UI, while the blue boxes in the fourth are more eye-catching than their contents are.
I like #1.
I like #1 as well.
Definately #1
#1
Idea: How about #1 with the colors and outline of #4 for active widgets?
My vote goes to number 1, but with the arrow line-widths matching the line width of the box borders.
1
My Vote goes for Number 1
4 is best IMHO.
Imagine 1 with really much conduits.. that wouldn’t work well.
#1
Number one is the one. By far the cleanest, clearest.
#1
1
Yep, number 1 is also my number 1. And it would be good if you could make the arrow lines thinner, they are much too thick now.
Number 1 and 4 are my favorites. I like Derek Buranen’s suggestion to have the colored boxes in 4 be reserved for the active box.
I also don’t think the lines are too thick. They look about right to me.
Nice job!
I like #1. Perhaps even with a very thin and possibly dashed darker grey line as a border.
#1 is the best. I would also suggest:
- make the transparent grouping boxes a smidgeon darker, they are almost invisible atm
- make the edge lines (arrows) a little thinner
- the dark brown node boxes are too dark IMO. The contents are hard to read. A lighter colour would be much better
Will this rewrite allow accessibility?
# 1. I think 4 is too bold ..
Number #1 is the most peaceful and #4 catches the eye.
Still I’d vote for #1
Number #1 too. The 4 is good but my gtk theme is _realy_ dark (and not grey). So actually, i can’t see the arrows !
Number 1, but I think there’s not enough contrast inside the elements, it makes the text very hard to read (and judging from your last blog post, doubly so for dark themes). Good work though, number 1 is looking a lot nicer already
1 or 4.
#1 or #4. #4 is maybe too heavy, but has best usability.
Number one! I’d look at reversing the gradient on data providers (if there is any) as they look rather inset.
1
Hi,
I’m kind of confused. Conduit is a program to synchronise files between your local computer and {other computer, pda, website, etc}, right? Why is this entire complicated UI with boxes and arrows between them needed? Surely all you need is two locations - “Synchronise files from [ location ] to [ location ]“.
Maybe I’m wrong here and completely misunderstood the point, but I really don’t get the point of this.
4 is too “aggressive”. 1 is nice, but the background is maybe not dark enough. I think you can find a nice compromise between the two, with a blue background, but something much more subtle. The background must differentiate the different syncs, but without being too disturbing.
You should also consider adding a title for each sync. It would had some space between the syncs first, and help to identify very quickly what each sync is about:
“Emails”
…
“Notes”
…
“Photos”
…
What do you think about this idea?
They are mostly the same, you should add the option to name sync groups!
Why the 3 px black borders? why not a lighter/colored 1 px border with a brighter 1 px border inside, as suggested by http://tango.freedesktop.org/Tango_Icon_Theme_Guidelines#Defining_Tango_Style_Elements ?
#4 looks too flashy. I definitely prefer #1, but maybe the selected colour (blue here) could be used for currently active pipes.
I was asking myself : why isn’t there something like “draw_themed_box” “draw_themed_contour” in Gtk promitives ? with several styles, colors, etc. available, and provided by the theme so that personal widgets don’t look alien ?
Then one could juste choose a few box styles, mix them correctly, and “voilà, c’est très joli”…
number 1 looks the nicest by far but…
I have no clue what is going on in the screenshot, and there seems to be a lot of extraneous info.
What’s wrong with a simple text name that describes what’s going on e.g.
“Synching Contacts between iPod and Computer”
“Copying Photos from Melissa’s Phone to Computer”
If this is just for building/creating the links then I don’t understand why you want more than one displayed in a window at the same time.
One more comment from a total newb perspective: why are data sinks listed under data providers? Surely one provides and one accepts data?
1 is the best, by far. The graphs are nicely separated without introducing any distraction.
The middle bars in 2 and 3 just look unaligned and give the whole thing a bumpy look.
4 is overemphasized, the blue background jumps more into the eye then the actual graph which carries all information.
Cheers
#1 looks awesome! Great job!
The blue paint in #4 might be useful to highlight a currently selected synchronization chain, once you made the canvas accessable in terms of keyboard navigation.
#1 definitly. I agree with Mathias though that the blue gradient would be great in highlighting the current synchronization.
Nice. Just keep in mind always, that it’s a developer/poweruser GUI. Showing anything like graphs is not for average Joes. They need a lot simpler GUI with a lot of pre-sets (perhaps being able to download new ones from some internet repository etc) for the REAL LIFE tasks they might be able to solve with conduit.
@sausage: indeed. templates sound like a good idea.
2 looks best
How about alternate shading like in Nautilus list view etc?
Number 1 is great, except the arrows (in all of them) are way too thick in my opinion.
My vote goes to 4, then 1.
i’d definitly go for the second.
or those alternate shadings from comm#41.
keep it simple, sugar