UI inconsistency — [dark theme] blend mode drop-down list has bright colored dividers

[bbrother]

App: whole Affinity suite 2.5.2 (windows)

Theme: Dark

UI issue / inconsistence: 

Dividers  (thin line that groups content in dropdown list) have wrong color in: 

• Layers panel → blend mode drop-down list.
• Any adjustment layer dialog → blend mode drop-down list

In a dark theme, dark-colored dividers are standard. Instead in places mentioned above drop-down lists use white-colored dividers that are distracting and don't fit the theme. I see no reason to differ from the standard color.

Screenshot 1 ( wrong divider color)

Screenshot 2 ( standard color for dividers in dark theme)

[Ron P.]

IF that's the Wrong Divider Color, they've been wrong since V1. I think the Blend Mode Menu divider is suppose to be that way.

[bbrother]

1 hour ago, Ron P. said:

I think the Blend Mode Menu divider is suppose to be that way

There's no need to use a separate color for dividers just for the blend mode drop-down list, plus this bright color makes them stand out too much. Consistency in visual style is important, so the color should be standard and non distractive, as in other drop-down lists thorough the UI.

[Alfred]

The dividers, including those for the Blend Mode dropdown list, are consistently dark in the iPad apps.

[Callum]

Hi @bbrother,

The post you made in this thread was a breach of our community guidelines and is now hidden do not attack members of staff here on the forum it will result in your access to this forum being restricted. You were also made aware last week that we do not consider minor UI differences between Windows and Mac to be bugs and have requested that you post in the feedback section of the forum which you have continued to ignore. Please ensure any threads going forwards regarding minor inconsistencies are posted in the correct sub forum.

Thanks
C

[Alfred]

13 minutes ago, Callum said:

we do not consider minor UI differences between Windows and Mac to be bugs

This thread is about minor UI differences between various menus on Windows, not between one OS and another. I regard this one as merely cosmetic, so I would classify it as trivial rather than minor, but it is a bug.

[bbrother]

44 minutes ago, Callum said:

You were also made aware last week that we do not consider minor UI differences between Windows and Mac to be bugs and have requested that you post in the feedback section of the forum which you have continued to ignore.

Dear @Callum,

I understand that there may be differences between operating systems. However, I don't know why you keep mentioning it when I write about inconsistencies within one system (Windows) that I work on. I don't use a Mac.

The appearance of these dropdown lists is inconsistent on the same system (Windows) and this is what I reported. Working with a sloppily designed interface containing distracting elements is not pleasant.

Sorry about that gremlin. It was not my intention to offend any employee. If any of our employees felt offended, I apologize. But at the same time, I must point out that you take everything too personally and overinterpret some things.

If it's such a problem that I'm pointing out inconsistencies in the UI, it's probably time to change Affinity to something else. You don't deliver quality. Judging by what you write, there is no chance that this will change.

[Callum]

11 minutes ago, bbrother said:

Dear @Callum,

I understand that there may be differences between operating systems. However, I don't know why you keep mentioning it when I write about inconsistencies within one system (Windows) that I work on. I don't use a Mac.

The appearance of these dropdown lists is inconsistent on the same system (Windows) and this is what I reported. Working with a sloppily designed interface containing distracting elements is not pleasant.

Sorry about that gremlin. It was not my intention to offend any employee. If any of our employees felt offended, I apologize. But at the same time, I must point out that you take everything too personally and overinterpret some things.

If it's such a problem that I'm pointing out inconsistencies in the UI, it's probably time to change Affinity to something else. You don't deliver quality. Judging by what you write, there is no chance that this will change.

Your post stated " I have the impression that this guy from the picture below is the senior UI designer for the product at Serif." That is not an employee taking something personally that is you making a personal attack on an employee. I'm not sure anyone would perceive me as overinterpreting your writing because it is fairly straight forward in the message it was trying to send. Perhaps I did jump the gun regarding whether or not this is a bug as you have made a few posts lately that were hard to classify as a bug, this could be considered a bug and our QA team have confirmed this so I will log it with our developers but the disrespecting of Affinity staff is not the way to go about making your reports and will only hinder any support you receive in the long run.

[Pšenda]

On 6/9/2024 at 5:54 PM, bbrother said:

In a dark theme, dark-colored dividers are standard.

In light mode, the menu/list separators are dark (dark, not black like the text of the items, so it's not distracting - the text of the items is important, not the separator).

In dark mode, the menu/list separators are light (light, not white like the text of the items, so it's not distracting - the text of the items is important, not the separator).

 

So the separators in Affinity are not correct - they are not standard. The dark separators in dark mode are not visible at all, so they are useless - they do not visually separate the items in any way. The white separators are too intense/dominant, so they seem distracting - the items texts are important, not the position and presence of the separators.
And it goes without saying that the UI elements should be consistent - i.e. the same everywhere.

P.S. Separator for menu items is OK.

Why isn't same for all other list? Like is in Account dialog.

Edited June 11, 2024 by Pšenda

[bbrother]

9 hours ago, Callum said:

Perhaps I did jump the gun regarding whether or not this is a bug as you have made a few posts lately that were hard to classify as a bug, this could be considered a bug and our QA team have confirmed this so I will log it with our developers but the disrespecting of Affinity staff is not the way to go about making your reports and will only hinder any support you receive in the long run.

@Callum I repeat once again, it was not my intention to offend the staff, but only to draw attention to the problem in a humorous way. I've already apologized for that. In my community, such jokes are not made into a drama and are not treated as an attack on someone else. As for my reports, they are transparent and point out errors in the UI.

So if you have registered the issue mentioned in this post as a bug, thank you very much, but please add a tag to the post with the bug reference number. Isn't that what you do when you log a bug?

-----------------

@Pšenda Dividers in drop-down lists cannot be the same as in menus because the drop-down lists use a different background. But you are right that the color must be visible but not distracting at the same time. But above all, the visual style should be consistent throughout the entire UI.

 

[Callum]

33 minutes ago, bbrother said:

@Callum I repeat once again, it was not my intention to offend the staff just by jokingly drawing attention to the problem. I've already apologized for that. In my community, such things are not made into a drama and are not treated as an attack on someone else. As for my reports, they are transparent and point out errors in the UI. 

So if you have registered the issue mentioned in this post as a bug, thank you very much, but please add a tag to the post with the bug reference number. Isn't that what you do when you log a bug?

-----------------

@Pšenda Dividers in drop-down lists cannot be the same as in menus because the drop-down lists use a different background. But you are right that the color must be visible but not distracting at the same time. But above all, the visual style should be consistent throughout the entire UI.

 

The thread has been now tagged with a bug reference number as I have only just logged this.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, bbrother said:

Dividers in drop-down lists cannot be the same as in menus because the drop-down lists use a different background.

You are right - the color/intensity of the separators must respect the background color of the respective element to ensure sufficient visibility and distinguishableness of the element from its background. This is problematic with Affinity and very often criticized because the controls do not have enough contrast and differentiation from the background, so the elements blend into the background. Balancing the intensity of the elements so that they are not distracting but at the same time easily visible can be a bit of a problem, as it depends on the habits and preferences of users, and on the type and quality of their displays (what is easily visible and readable on one monitor may not be visible at all on another). It must then be possible to correct this in the application preferences.

 

1 hour ago, Callum said:

The thread has been now tagged with a bug reference number as I have only just logged this.

Thank you.