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Wish for monochromatic workspace


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I have just begun testing the integration of Designer and Photo (a nice surprise indeed!) with Publisher with Preferences/User Interface/ Monochromatic Iconography checked. While I greatly prefer greyscale icons, this option does not work well with the buttons for Photo and Designer. On initial startup the integration buttons appear greyed out, as one first needs to run Photo and Designer and accept the license. But even after having done this, the alternative "Personas" seemingly remain greyed out. Right now, with greyscale icons active it's really hard to spot which persona is active. One either needed App Icons which in greyscale looked very different from each other or – and that's likely the most straightforward solution – one should show these three important icons in colour.

 

2019-06-20_16h04_17.jpg.461098f235dd25246c8faff2c77f9689.jpg

All apps a correctly linked but they still look greyed out. It's hard to spot that the Publisher-Persona is active. As its GUI is extremely similar to Designer one needs a clear visual identifier.

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That's generally a problem, for me, in the Dark UI. It can be very difficult to see which icons are activated/selected and which are not. Looking at your screenshot there is definitely a black border around the Publisher Persona icon, but it's basically the same problem I have with other areas in the Dark UI. And unlike other areas where this is not clear, it's really no better in the Light UI.

So yes, probably something needs to be done.

However, displaying them in color is sure to draw complaints from someone that Affinity ignored their preference for monochromatic icons, so that may not be the best solution to this problem :)

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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2 hours ago, walt.farrell said:

However, displaying them in color is sure to draw complaints from someone that Affinity ignored their preference for monochromatic icons, so that may not be the best solution to this problem :)

Hehe, I'm already pretty hardcore in that respect: I really do not like looking at multicoloured buttons and close needless toolbars anyway, whenever possible. But in this case I would call an exception justified: These buttons are pretty important, they form a group and they as abstract artworks are pretty much indistinguishable in greyscale. If one stuck to greyscale one needed additional text or differently shaped icons.

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Does the color really matter to know which person or tool you are using at any moment?

I mean if you click on the photo pecsona, you know that you're in the photo pecsona from your action, and from the tools available around pou, that change is stuck in your mind, and the software doesn't change them randomly for you to check it regularly. The same thing for the tools, and you either know from the keyboard shortcuts you pressed or from you choosing them withe the mouse. 

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1 hour ago, toutou123 said:

Does the color really matter to know which person or tool you are using at any moment? 

Colour or any way to clearly distinguish these buttons was absolutely necessary, yes. While Photo's GUI differs considerably from Publisher, it's s lot harder to tell that one is in Designer. Also, as Walt pointed out it's hard to see which of the Icons is pressed - just look at my screenshot.

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2 minutes ago, hifred said:

Colour or any way to clearly distinguish these buttons were absolutely necessary, yes. While Photo's GUI differs considerably from Publisher, it's s lot harder to tell that one is in Designer. Also, as Walt pointed out it's hard to see which of the Icons is pressed - just look at my screenshot.

What I meant is that the software opens always on the publisher persona, if you go the designer persona, you'll that you're the designer persona because you have chosen it. You don't need to check whether you're in it or not. Until you decide to go back to the Publisher persona.

And I'm not against improving the interface if it'll help some users.

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1 hour ago, toutou123 said:

What I meant is that the software opens always on the publisher persona, if you go the designer persona, you'll that you're the designer persona because you have chosen it. 

Yeah, but it's already hard to do that deliberate pick of Designer, as all icons look similar in greyscale. Also imagine work pauses - one always needs to know instantly where one is, without having to memorize things.

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1 minute ago, hifred said:

Yeah, but it's already hard to do that deliberate pick of Designer,

Once you spend some time using the program, you know the 1st icon is Publisher, the 2nd one is Designer, the 3rd one is Photo. You don't need to look at it and guess what personas it is.

3 minutes ago, hifred said:

Also imagine work pauses

If you take a work pause, you'll need to know more than which personas you're in, you'll have to spend a minute or 2 to refresh what were you doing and what you should do next.

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1 hour ago, toutou123 said:

What I meant is that the software opens always on the publisher persona, if you go the designer persona, you'll that you're the designer persona because you have chosen it. You don't need to check whether you're in it or not.

The flaw in that argument is that if you're working with multiple open documents, Publisher remembers which Persona each was in. If you switch to the Designer Persona in document 1, then switch to document 2 you'll be in a different Persona (Publisher, by default). If you switch that one to Photo, and go back to document 1 it is still in Designer.

So without the color cue you need to both (a) recognize the icon or know their order and (b) recognize which one is selected, which is difficult in the dark UI when you're in monochrome.

-- Walt
Designer, Photo, and Publisher V1 and V2 at latest retail and beta releases
PC:
    Desktop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 64GB memory, AMD Ryzen 9 5900 12-Core @ 3.00 GHz, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090 

    Laptop:  Windows 11 Pro, version 23H2, 32GB memory, Intel Core i7-10750H @ 2.60GHz, Intel UHD Graphics Comet Lake GT2 and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU.
iPad:  iPad Pro M1, 12.9": iPadOS 17.4.1, Apple Pencil 2, Magic Keyboard 
Mac:  2023 M2 MacBook Air 15", 16GB memory, macOS Sonoma 14.4.1

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4 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

The flaw in that argument is that if you're working with multiple open documents, Publisher remembers which Persona each was in. If you switch to the Designer Persona in document 1, then switch to document 2 you'll be in a different Persona (Publisher, by default). If you switch that one to Photo, and go back to document 1 it is still in Designer.

I didn't think of that. I'd imagine that working on multiple files in with 3 different personas is complicated enough. Still a better workflow than opening 3 different programs and not being able to preview the changes you made in one software until you save and update in the other.

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On 6/20/2019 at 10:23 AM, hifred said:

While I greatly prefer greyscale icons, this option does not work well with the buttons for Photo and Designer. On initial startup the integration buttons appear greyed out, as one first needs to run Photo and Designer and accept the license. But even after having done this, the alternative "Personas" seemingly remain greyed out.

Am I reading this correctly?

You are complaining that grayscale icons look... gray?

O.o xD :9_innocent:

 

They take on a dimmed appearance in color too, so it kind of makes sense that would happen.

I agree that something could be done to make the selected one stand out a bit more.

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10 hours ago, fde101 said:

You are complaining that grayscale icons look... gray?

Yes, I do :o). And I even think that's reasonable.

These Application Icons do differ a lot from Tool Icons which have – well – "iconic", recognizable qualities. The Application icons are very abstract, have little greyscale contrast and in this state offer zero readabilty.The brush or crop icon is equally readable in colour and in greyscale (I would even say that greyscale is better). Not only that: Even when selected, one may not see which of the "Personas" is currently active.

Unrelated: There's btw. still icons which do display in colour with Greyscale Iconography checked. Likely an oversight? @MEB

2019-06-22_13h24_52.jpg.dca26616903a62052d40789b718156d4.jpg

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