Can testers volunteer for UI color change?

[Roberto1972]

Perhaps a long shot but is there any chance WE TESTERS can volunteer for work involved with setting up a non-dark UI?

 

I don't suspect a bright UI is top priority for developers but for users on the other hand it likely can be.

 

Would it require programming or can we take a lot of the work over by sending in image files, or perhaps modifying numbers in a lenghty 'ini' file?

 

I suspect it would require icon modification as well: often dark UI icons don't look well on a bright one.

 

Roberto

[Patrick Connor]

Roberto1972,

 

This is a programming change to have alternative set(s) of UI. Simply changing the background colour to a light one does not make for a good look. Although they are on transparent backgrounds, many that look great on a dark background look poor on a lighter background. We will need to make new graphics for many of the icons.

 

This is something that we would want to do in-house, for consistency reasons (it's amazing to me how the designers use one colour or line thickness throughout the whole set of icons to give a cohesive look and feel) and for copyright reasons.

 

This will happen but other features are taking priority at the moment.

 

A long shot yes, but no thank you, but a very kind offer none the less.

[Alfred]

We have been told clearly and unambiguously that a lighter UI is not going to be added to the roadmap for version 1 of either Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo. Please see this (very old and very long!) thread.

[Patrick Connor]

We have been told clearly and unambiguously that a lighter UI is not going to be added to the roadmap for version 1 of either Affinity Designer or Affinity Photo. Please see this (very old and very long!) thread.

 

True, but he didn't say when, he said could he help... so ...  :huh:

[Roberto1972]

Ah, ok; makes totally sense. I know consistency is a very hard task when two or more people are involved. Therefore the 'long shot' :-)

And you all are right: first priority is turning the beta into an income generating one. With the Affinity series starting from scratch Serif had/has to rely on limited savings or even loanes anyway with less income from the usual product updates.

 

It's a big move to start from scratch so best to get through it as fast as possible :-)

 

Don't get it anyway why Affinity for Mac costs only 40 bucks; it's just way too low for such software. 'Hopefully' that price is temporary in order to get a name out there. Too cheap isn't taken serious by the pro sector anyway. Oops, now I'm drifting off topic... and worse: none of my business :-P

 

Roberto

[Alfred]

True, but he didn't say when, he said could he help... so ...  :huh:

 

So ... I was reading between the lines and seeing Roberto's offer as an attempt to bring a lighter UI to fruition sooner rather than later. ;)

[Roberto1972]

Hi,

 

Out of curiosity I made a screendump of the AD UI and inverted the image: wow, that's pretty close to a nice UI  :D

Still the icons suck, though: too tiny for using full color artwork images but unfortunately that's common behavior these days.

I prefer icons to be clear, read: abstract and simple. Color and detail can be added when running out of variety. E.g. the first image editors managed achieving that beautifully: couple of black outlines used for spot on representations of the tools functionality.

 

Example of simple b/w image editor tool icons: https://www.dreamstime.com/stock-illustration-set-line-icons-vector-tools-editor-thin-image68679901 Recognizable even without reading glasses on.

Really no need for squeezing 16 zillion colors and details artwork in a 30 pixels image.

I think simple and clear doesn't attract the pro's, though: simple is for kids and lesser fokes.

 

Same for dark UI: main pro argument is that it eases the eyes with long usage. Well, it sure helps preventing constantly looking into a big rectangular light bulb one might get a head ache from. However, constantly finding the right icon among a bunch of hard to recognize icons more like appearing as slightly different colored lights on a dark background.

 

Dark on bright is better perceived BUT the bright shouldn't be too bright: like text on paper. Everybody sees well on paper: black on a modest bright background; a brightness begotten from environmental illumination. Reading a paper lit by the sun is a pain in the arse, especially if bright white. Books and newspapers are grayish white which already prevents too bright paper.

Bottom line is that best perception is achieved with black on modest bright background (actually the very best contrast perceived is black on orange tinted yellow). Therefore a UI on a display should be like paper: brightness adjusted to environment thus -not too bright- and large areas grayish tinted instead of white. Yes, looks boring, oh my! But it's a TOOL not the final esthethical attractive product.

 

If one needs to screw often each day and can choose between nice looking neon high gloss grip screwdrivers or matte black rubber screwdrivers, which one would you choose? The cool looking slippery first ones or the high grip latter ones? Or choosing a steering wheel for a car: a boring round one or a cool looking Night Rider cockpit steering u-shaped 'wheel'? You tell me.

 

But on the other hand, depending on the project you're working on sometimes a bit brighter or darker dialog is convenient, avoiding too much contrast between UI and workspace.

Perhaps a novelty feature would be useful: a slider setting the brightness of the UI alone which does not affect the brightness of the opened document.

 

Roberto

[Alfred]

Out of curiosity I made a screendump of the AD UI and inverted the image: wow, that's pretty close to a nice UI  :D

 

Yes, the thread that I linked to in my earlier post has some screenshots of what it looks like if you invert the UI colours and then tweak the icons a little. :)

[Roberto1972]

Oops, my latest reply (to Alfred) somehow seems not have made it into this thread.

 

Was telling the bright  UI examples Andreas came up with in the thread you linked to looked very exciting.

 

As told eventually there will be an optional non-dark UI for AD so it's just a matter of patience. In the mean time I'm sure they'll treat us with many other development gems to be impressed with :-P

 

Roberto

[Alfred]

Oops, my latest reply (to Alfred) somehow seems not have made it into this thread.

 

Was telling the bright  UI examples Andreas came up with in the thread you linked to looked very exciting.

 

Yes, you somehow managed to post that to your forum feature request thread (about keeping fixed headers on the forum pages) .

[Mark Ingram]

Moving to Questions forum as this isn't a bug relating to the Windows Public Beta.