8 Sep
2010
8 Sep
'10
11:24 p.m.
Hi,
On Wednesday 08 September 2010 22:15:33 Paul Davis wrote:
On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 8:02 PM, Arnold Krille
<arnold(a)arnoldarts.de> wrote:
Here is my shot:
(Speaking in terms of
http://doc.trolltech.com/4.6/qpalette.html#ColorRole-enum because thats the
toolkit I know...)
The discussion started with faders showing the value by color. Could also be
used by meters.
Muted/off: Window-color (that is the normal background of windows)
Really low: Shadow
Low: Dark
Middle: Light
High: Highlight (which would be the alarm color)
I did a quick test with ffado-mixer, the first screenshot is the current version
with black-blue-green-yellow-red, the second is the window-shadow-dark-light-
highlight version:
http://positron.physik.uni-halle.de/~arnold/fadercolors-green_yellow_red.png
http://positron.physik.uni-halle.de/~arnold/fadercolors-system_colors.png
In the second case I think a small 1px border around each "fader" would be
appropriate. Have to think about that.
Now to the ardour-specific questions:
Muted could be visualized just by graying out the whole
track/channel/fader/meter or by de-saturating it.
Rec-enabled would be a border in the Highlight color.
And if its about toggle-buttons that should increase visibility when
activated, these could be colored in the Highlight color or the Base color
(used for input-widgets).
Something needing immediate attention could be marked by blinking in the
Highlight color. Or by having a blinking 5px border in the Highlight color.
Generally there are several ways to make something stand out:
- Color it to stand out. Which is what the Highlight color is for.
- Make it big.
- Give it space.
- Make it stand out with a simple 3D effect like a raised/sunken border or a
shadow.
The last three don't require special colors.
I know there are special apps that need so many colors that the system palette
is not enough. I know ardour is the prime example there.
But I don't understand why apps like puredata don't follow the systems
defaults? Black objects on white background stand out much to much when my
laptop is trimmed for live-foh usage where the normal "Text on Base" colors
would be "Wine Red on Black". If it simply used that colors as provided by the
system/toolkit, it would blend in perfectly...
Have fun,
Arnold
The one the user choose for his desktop. Which is
the only real way to
compensate for visually impaired people (if thats the political correct
name). I don't like this every-app-chooses-its-own-colors at all. Though
I do understand that sometimes you need more colors, but that still is
different from "I define my apps colors on my own because I think that
is cool". The later results in apps with black text on dark-gray
background in an otherwise very light desktop-environment => bad. Or in
apps with white window background while the rest of the desktop is
optimized for on-stage-in-the-dark with black background and red
foreground => bad. Or it results with using two collors to "distinguish"
which half visually impaired people can't discriminate => bad.
and which system color(s) do you propose to use to indicate:
* this thing is muted?
* this thing is rec-enabled?
* the value indicated here is at the low end of the scale?
* this object is blinking to alert you to some condition? 
