[haiku-development] Re: RoundRect ButtonFrame
- From: John Scipione <jscipione@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: haiku-development@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 17:25:01 -0400
2012/3/26 lodewijk andré de la porte <lodewijkadlp@xxxxxxxxx>:
> I agree rounded buttons are a very common thing amoung modern os's. The
> reason Haiku feels old is because it's designed after Be's contemporary
> design. In the Be days it was still form over function, that's nice.
>
> To the point: Haiku's design is old but was perfect then. We can update to
> trends but we'll be a step behind.
While Haiku's look is inspired from BeOS 5 if you look at the 2 OS's
side by side you'll see that there are some pretty major differences.
The look has departed significantly from BeOS already, and that is
positive IMHO, Haiku overall looks really good, much nicer than BeOS
5.
> Square is the new round. Windows 8, Android 4.0; we want squares again.
> What's new is (multiple) flat colors, transparancy, gradients, dynamic
> shadows and animations. This is mostly due to processing power.
> If we put those advanced features and break our heads over simplifying and
> cleaning up the interface, not just copying others but working on our own
> interface, we can look modern. Even futuristic. And all without changing the
> useability aspects.
>
> For example the ridged windows, used to enhance window contrast back then,
> now we can easily do without.
One step at a time. Buttons and other interface elements already have
a nice gradient and some beveling. Shadows and animations will come
once app_server gets compositing hopefully in an understated yet
tasteful way. Metro, the mobile side of Windows 8 and Android are
going towards a square look. But, the Desktop side of Windows 8 is
still rounded. And Haiku is a Desktop OS, not a mobile OS. So I think
my point still stands.
Some amount of copying is beneficial. In fact Be purposefully did not
make radical interface changes so as to make the OS familiar to users
of Mac OS 8 and later Windows 98. 11 years later, things have moved
on, and we should move with it order to continue to be familiar. We
can also do our own thing in certain places. But rectangular buttons
is not doing our own thing, it is copying a copy of Mac OS 8's
buttons. And that is okay, but let's take the historical reasoning of
the decision into account as well.
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