Elias, I agree with you and actually I am a Windows user and like your Ribbon approach very much. Do you know if there are any legal issues that had to be clarified with Microsoft for using a Ribbon-like design at all?
And, I am not sure about the question how platform independent the basic e4 look & feel should be. What I like right now, is that I could use Eclipse easily on Mac or Linux without since the basic design is the same. But I really would love to see a less cluttered, modern UI :) Best wishes, Kai > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of Elias Volanakis > Sent: Donnerstag, 3. Dezember 2009 20:54 > To: E4 Project developer mailing list > Subject: Re: [e4-dev] modernizing the workbench visual design and > remaining a good platform citizen > > One of the things I personally would like to see is a less cluttered > UI, with less menu elements, toolbar elements and local toolbars (see > Netbeans). Eclipse seems overloaded to me. Personally I also find the > "gray" look dated and does faring well compared with recent apps, esp > on Windows 7. > > Some ideas: > > - having something like the Ribbon would help > > In my leisure time I've been working on a prototype running based on > Eclipse 3.5.x and the Ribbon from Hexapixel > (http://hexapixel.com/projects/ribbon). See some screenshots below for > a rough idea - I would like to have even less stuff on there in the > final version. I find that having less menus and toolbar elements makes > Eclipse more usable to me - very much comparable to the improvements in > office when compared with the "old" office. The argument that the > Ribbon takes up more space is not valid, as the Ribbon can be collapsed > and the most frequently items are in the window toolbar. So it ends up > using less space. > > Looking forward I would very much like to see SWT support the native > Windows Ribbon that is part of Windows 7. I think that the licencing > situation would be different for that than for an emulated Ribbon, so > it is fair to re-open this discussion. > > - the unused space on the right side of the toolbar could be used for > some ambient notifications like build results, test results > (green/red), news/stream (twitter, recent commits). I don't have this > working yet. > > - making the local view toolbars hidden by default and having to click > something to show them. I find that 99% of the time I don't touch the > local view toolbars so they are wasting space. I'm working towards > adding the most frequently used local toolbar elements to the main > toolbar and making the view toolbars hidden by default. > > - modern theming, less grayness, for example the semi transparent Aero- > look would fit better with Windows 7. > > Curious to hear more ideas, > Elias. > > On Thu, Dec 3, 2009 at 8:31 AM, Susan Franklin McCourt > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Hi, everyone. > > We had a brief discussion on the e4 call about this topic and thought > > it would be good to make sure everyone is aware of it. > > > > We are currently working with a graphic designer to modernize the > > style of the Eclipse 4.0 workbench. That is, what is the default > > stylesheet for the Eclipse SDK running on e4? > > > > One of the more interesting constraints, which we've always had in > > Eclipse, is balancing the desire for a custom/modern UI with respect > > for platform look and feel, and the user's platform theme. In Eclipse > > 3.x, we've done this by using native widgets in most places, and > > looking up system colors as a reference point when choosing colors. > > > > For e4, we still walk this line. Sure, we will have the technology to > > completely reskin the workbench, and folks are free to do so. But for > > the default look, I believe we will still be balancing these > concerns. > > We may take more leeway in applying gradients, changing tab shapes, > > using background images or shading, but all of this should be done > > while still blending with the platform theme choices. > > > > CSS support presents a new wrinkle. It's not good enough to simply > > make the right color choices for the workbench. Sure, we can do the > > math internally and pick the right colors. But it would be ideal if > we > > could provide developers with the ability to style their own > > applications in this platform respecting way, and include web > > components that could blend nicely. Since CSS is RGB-based for color > > attributes, we're looking at ways to specify a more HSV-style color > > for elements, where the hue could optionally be ignored and instead > be > > derived from platform theme colors. Note we aren't just talking about > > background colors for images and gradients. We'd like to be able to > > specify widget colors in this way. How should this be specified in a > stylesheet? > > > > Surely someone has already given some thought to this problem. If you > > have ideas, please comment in this bug! [1] A more general discussion > > of the visual design work can be found here. [2] And watching this > bug > > [3] will ensure you see mockups when there is something to show. > > > > thanks, > > susan > > > > [1] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=296175 > > [2] http://wiki.eclipse.org/E4/CSS/Visual_Design > > [3] https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=293481 > > > > _______________________________________________ > > e4-dev mailing list > > [email protected] > > https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/e4-dev > > > > > > > > -- > Elias Volanakis | Technical Lead | http://eclipsesource.com > [email protected] | +1 503 929 5537 | @evolanakis _______________________________________________ e4-dev mailing list [email protected] https://dev.eclipse.org/mailman/listinfo/e4-dev
