Color theme for PC-BSD

[Charles]

I was wondering if you like the color theme of PC-BSD...
What would be your ideal color for PC-BSD, just out of curiosity? :)

[Ray]

I was wondering if you like the color theme of PC-BSD...
What would be your ideal color for PC-BSD, just out of curiosity? :)

Personally I like the initial splash screen, but it is so easy to change the desktop that it's really a no brainer. I must confess though to not liking the plain white :oops: I am also partial to the Noia Warme icon set from Kde and invariably that is the first thing I change.

Ray

[pcbsdusr]

we should try to bring something original to the table. I like the boot screen but i have to admit i am becoming alergic to all the grass and flowers on todays OS's :D

I dont know what colour to use (that is highly subjective), what we need to focus on are functionality and relaxation. We need a default theme that is beautyful, functional (no strange colours and contrasts) and relaxing.

(by relaxing i mean a theme that doesn't cause the eyes to get tired easily)


Cheers!

Renato Flórido

[sblevin]

Green will be the new Orange when Orange is no longer the new Blue.

[willis]

Something that nobody's taken into consideration with color palette selection on computer desktops is the fact that we're basically staring into a giant lightbulb. Most monitors have the whitepoint set at a very bright 9300°K, and although it tends to make a very crisp and brilliant white, it tends to wear the eyes down quickly. Most people like to do the black text on white background like with paper because that's what they're used to, and I won't deny that it is a very high contrast combination, but it's also a soft border combination and tends to fatigue the eyes much faster than light gray on black due to eye strain. Black on white works great for paper and other reflective light displays, but not on direct light displays like a monitor. Given enough time, I start to feel like I'm trying to read the manufacturer and wattage information stamped on the end of a 60W frosted lightbulb... and I know I'm not the only one.

I'm pushing for green myself. More specifically, a warm green with neutral colors. Green is soothing on the eyes and considered a more "relaxing" color. I've been intending to sit down and refamiliarize myself with color theory, and expand on the subject some with some psychological/emotional impact studies, high contrast color palettes, and some info on the impact of color and light in eyestrain and ergonomics just so I had the information. Another thing to possibly take into consideration is the choice of color palette and it's impact on legibility and clarity for colorblind individuals.

I know black/orange/yellow tend to do well for sharpness and high contrast (as was illustrated rather well by Michael Okuda's work (http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Okudagram) on the modern Star Trek interfaces), but tend to be warm, stimulating colors and should probably be steered away from for the most part. Additionally, it isn't a pallete that lends itself very well to a windowed 2-D computer environment trying to give the illusion of depth in user space for layering applications.

Ubuntu Linux has taken a rather bold approach towards warm colors themselves, but has apparently currently limited themselves to the brown palette which is prone to massive color shift on uncalibrated monitors. A warmer, more organic color scheme should definitely be considered and worked on. However, on the flipside, people tend to view a computer as more a piece of technology than a part of the environment, and tend to view them as more cold and industrial. Perhaps two themes would be best suited to the job, one warm and set as default, and one cool.

One last thing to take into consideration is either a set neutral color palette for the Root account so as the windows don't necessarily stick out like a sore thumb under the warm or cool themes, but still have visual cues for the end user that indicate that the window open has "Administrator" rights. One method of tackling the issue would be to develop a varied Root KDE palette for the warm and cool themes with the visual distinctions, and have the color palette applied to the Root owned windows under KDE based off of the user's set theme, but would likely be too complex to execute. The other method would be to simply have a neutral gray scheme with a distinct color highlite like yellow for the buttons and scrollbars, and tends to work well under the K.I.S.S. philosophy of design.

I'll likely wind up doing the research here shortly for a side-project anyway, and will see what I can come up with if anybody wants me to... but don't expect any quick results.

[lazyilmaz]

Pink :D haha

[Gorthaur]

we should try to bring something original to the table. I like the boot screen but i have to admit i am becoming alergic to all the grass and flowers on todays OS's :D

I dont know what colour to use (that is highly subjective), what we need to focus on are functionality and relaxation. We need a default theme that is beautyful, functional (no strange colours and contrasts) and relaxing.

(by relaxing i mean a theme that doesn't cause the eyes to get tired easily)


Cheers!

Renato Flórido

Coinsido with Renato. :) I give preference to MacOS like themes for relaxation (semi transparent icons, windows etc) + plastic looking windows(or the keramic)...
If i need a contrast theme - i change to Gorilla's style (/usr/ports/x11-themes/kde-icons-gorilla_svg or kool-gorilla or such).
In the times of KDE2 i liked its dark-blue theme.

:roll: