QT4 Consolidation Thread - VLC's New Interface

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

The issue, is that some people are not english speakers, I don't know how to deal with it.

But I think different colors for the background bars would be cool.

[lopoz]

The issue, is that some people are not english speakers, I don't know how to deal with it.

But I think different colors for the background bars would be cool.

You mean they won't understand the terms 'audio'/'video' etc? It's true that there's no way to localize icons (at least not for Mac AFAIK)..
I think the icons are pretty self explanatory (except for maybe the playlist icon, which could be misinterpreted for an audio file..)

I'll mess around with the BG stripe later today.. I'd rather not change it though, as I like the simplicity of have the basic icon the same for all filetypes.. But as I said, I'll see if it could work.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Audio, Video, probably OK.
Subtitle, maybe
Playlist, not sure.

[lopoz]

but the size increase is ok, don't you think?

I've made them bigger I checked some icons made by Apple themselves and have decided that a couple of points bigger wouldn't be a problem..

[Arite]

The issue, is that some people are not english speakers, I don't know how to deal with it.

If they were converted to SVG then could run a script to replace e.g. the centre-aligned "SUBTITLE" <tspan> with the correct name for each respective language and then output as iconname_language_ID.svg. Then could run another script to rasterize each SVG file.

OK perhaps that makes everything far more complicated than necessary (as would need to change icons when a different language is selected/installed) but just an idea .

Alternatively could remove the text altogether and move the VLC cone and surrounding logo down a bit to centralise it for an internationally recognisable icon. Might be a bit plain though.

Arite.

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

No way I package different icons for different languagues.

[Arite]

OK fair enough .

Arite.

[lopoz]

First attempt at differentiation by color:


(The generic icon would remain gray, in my opinion)

I'm not particularly drawn to this solution I have to say.. Does there have to be a color difference? I think the gray stripe on all icons looks best. Also to preserve some continuity in the Finder (or Explorer, whatever..)

Anyway, let me know what you think..

[vlc_fan-01]

The issue, is that some people are not english speakers, I don't know how to deal with it.

But I think different colors for the background bars would be cool.

This was an earlier worry of mine (that I didn't raise) in making me decide firmly on extensions only. Extensions with Roman text letters A,B,C etc exist universally from Japanese to Russian which is great. However the issue with extensions (as you said) is that it would mean 40+ or more icons (around 70 in my case that I stated) which your not a happy with in adding to VLC atm. Extension text is still great when there are lot's of video types in a folder in Windows and arrangement is needed; this under the icon,detail,list View setting but then again extensions would create a persistence of keeping up with new extensions added over time. So extensions should be given a backseat atm.

I'm not particularly drawn to this solution I have to say.. Does there have to be a color difference? I think the gray stripe on all icons looks best. Also to preserve some continuity in the Finder (or Explorer, whatever..)

My hard working friend I understand your put off by things like this. The thing is Mac users benefit from bigger size icons where there is more clarity in what can be seen on the image. Windows has only just made this leap under Vista but a lot of us are still running Win XP where the icons are much smaller between 16x16 and 48x48 in various explorer displays. I forget to mention that these will be cross platform and I hear icons on Linux just use plain PNG (already easy), so the annoying concern mostly here is Windows XP & Vista. We are almost there

Suggestion 1 - If possible by development team, why can't the Mac OS builds of VLC just come with the original grey set of icons (that lopoz likes) as separate like other separate OS deviations in VLC's cross-platform.

Suggestion 2 - @ lopoz - Have you considered moving the VLC cone and it's glass reflection from the centre of the icon. This could make space for the removal of the text to make larger room for a simple image on the icon that would represent what each mean like:

Video = a film strip , a clapper , a camcorder
Audio = a speaker , a music note , a microphone or a headphones
Don't have to worry which image for Subtitle and Playlist as these files are not only less used but only need a basic differintiate image. I frogot on the video icon you already added a film strip effect.

Something will be worked out.

[lopoz]

Suggestion 1 - If possible by development team, why can't the Mac OS builds of VLC just come with the original grey set of icons (that lopoz likes) as separate like other separate OS deviations in VLC's cross-platform.

Suggestion 2 - @ lopoz - Have you considered moving the VLC cone and it's glass reflection from the centre of the icon. This could make space for the removal of the text to make larger room for a simple image on the icon that would represent what each mean like: [...]

@Suggestion 2: I don't think that'll happen. Especially not on the Mac side, where any deviation from standard is not well received by the user base
It also depends on whether or not the devs want to have a single icon per filetype, or multiple ones for the most common types.

@Suggestion 1: I would like to hear j-b's opinion on that one.. (and also on the new colored icons above)

[vlc_fan-01]

Okay

=== Had another attempt at introducing some spruced up icons for VLC's filetypes Bared in mind having to exclude individual filetypes for simplicty.
=== Created my own category images (really amateur way of mine) for the subtitle, audio etc and then began on the main backdrop and all of this done in my favourite free Windows editor of Paint.Net. Noothing stolen form anyones work.
=== Have also listened to the forum member aLtgLasS in leaving the original PNG's to convert that into the indivdual icon sizes.

Any feedback/critisms is welcome:

VLC '3D badge' file types [for 5 file types]
This below preview was made using Axialis IconWorkshop


EDIT:

Screenshots of the PNG's in the Windows application Rocket Dock

[Humper]

If none has been made, I could help designing fullscreen control panel.
Please PM, if needed.

[Arite]

If none has been made, I could help designing fullscreen control panel.

Well there is already a Qt4 fullscreen controller (as of VLC 0.9.2):



Arite.

[vlc_fan-01]

Guys what about my icons I have done? What does J-b think? I have the PNG's available to upload/PM
(on mine = red=video,green=audio,purple=subtitle,light-blue=playlist, orange=generic)?

Personally I like both my own and lopoz icons and think they can both be implemented into VLC by version 1.0. Lopoz's set can go into the Mac release for Mac OS VLC users whereas mine could make Windows and Linux builds. I have no knowledge on how compiling these goes but this should be pretty easy.

btw I accept the GPL thingy as well

[3breadt]

@vlc_fan-01: I don't really like these new 3D badge icons of yours, they don't really fit with any other file type icons out there.
@lopoz: So far I really like your icons, but not the colored versions. Maybe it's the colors you chose, to little saturation.
In order to comply with the GPL you could change from the VLC icon by leonico to the original icon by VLC, which is also available in 512x512. See here: http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=bl ... f6;hb=HEAD
Then you could easily license them yourself under the GPL.

[lopoz]

@lopoz: So far I really like your icons, but not the colored versions. Maybe it's the colors you chose, to little saturation.
In order to comply with the GPL you could change from the VLC icon by leonico to the original icon by VLC, which is also available in 512x512. See here: http://git.videolan.org/?p=vlc.git;a=bl ... f6;hb=HEAD
Then you could easily license them yourself under the GPL.

I've just sent an email to the creator of the cone icon/striped filetype design and will let you know if he approves of the usage.
Should he agree with the usage of his icons, could the main VLC icon be replaced with his too? That would remove the necessity of changing the cone in my filetype icons, and, to be honest, I think his cone icon looks a lot better than the current one..

I'm also not crazy about the colored filetype icons, I made them 'cause I was asked to. The (de)saturation was intentional, as I really liked the low-profileness (if that's a word ;P) and simplicity of the original icons. I addition to that: having the saturated VLC cone in the foreground makes it hard to use saturated colors in the stripe as well, as the combination of sat. colors tends to be not so easy on the eyes.

[3breadt]

Imho, his cone has too much shade/gloss, I don't like the look. I prefer VLC's default cone, looks more realistic. Probably because its a 3D rendering if i'm not mistaken.

I don't think the main VLC icon will be replaced.

[lopoz]

Imho, his cone has too much shade/gloss, I don't like the look. I prefer VLC's default cone, looks more realistic. Probably because its a 3D rendering if i'm not mistaken.

To each his own

I don't think the main VLC icon will be replaced.

In that case, I'l get to work on implementing the original icon in my filetype icons..

[edit] done:

[3breadt]

I'm not quite happy yet with the video icon. What about that:

[lopoz]

I'm not quite happy yet with the video icon. What about that:
*snip*

You really want the filmstrip to be filled? As it is, they're transparent, not white, as may seem to be the case..

[3breadt]

Yeah I somehow don't like the transparent parts. Furthermore that's looks more consistent with the other icons. What do you think?

[lopoz]

Yeah I somehow don't like the transparent parts. Furthermore that's looks more consistent with the other icons. What do you think?

Well, I always look at everything from the Mac side, and I've noticed Quicktime's icons have a transparent film reel. That's actually why I kept them transparent..

[3breadt]

Could you show me a high-res version of the quicktime icon?

[lopoz]

Quicktime is one of the parts of OS X that has gotten a major overhaul in the new version of Mac OS (Snow Leopard), so I assume they've made new icons for it. Unfortunately I don't have access to the developer builds, so I can't really say what they look like (if they're any different at all).



(notice the icon is pretty low res, I assume this is because Quicktime 7 dates from pre-Leopard, but I'm not sure..)

[edit] Yes, it was intoduced with Mac OS X Tiger

QuickTime 7.x

Initially released on April 29, 2005 in conjunction with Mac OS X v10.4

[3breadt]

The thing about why I don't like the transparent reel is the heavy drop shadow in these transparent parts. For one the effect could be reduced by removing the grey border around the document. Another point would be reducing the drop shadow in the reel as it is done in the quicktime icon.

Did you do the document background image yourself or is it c&p of this other guys work? If that's the case we'd have to redo the background so there are no copyright issues.

We should finish these icons quickly, VLC 1.0 release is very very close.