On 2012-04-17 at 19:59:39 [+0200], John Scipione <jscipione@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 12:45 PM, Axel Dörfler > <axeld@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote: > > Can you please explain why those two applications should look different > > from other applications that are part of Haiku? Why should the fact that > > they resemble real world devices be a good reason? > > In the case of Deskcalc and Keymap the design of the app is made in such a > way that it resembles an analog of a real world device, specifically a > desktop calculator and a computer keyboard. These devices tend to have > slightly rounded buttons on them, so, this stylistic choice was made to > show the connection more readily. I'm not sure the same argument applies to Keymap and DeskCalc. The layout Keymap displays is explicitly intended to resemble *your* keyboard's layout so it easier for you to match the keys. So this part of the application is indeed supposed to match a real world device. I don't think the same applies to DeskCalc (and why it doesn't use the standard color scheme is unknown to me). That aside, I do find the rounded corners more pleasant to look at for large arrays of buttons, i.e. in both cases. [...] > CD Player is meant to resemble a real world device as well, in that case > the front panel of a compact display player. You'll notice that the buttons > on that app are not standard BButtons either, they are styled in such a way > so as to emote the purpose of the application. This is a stylistic choice > made by the author of the program which conveys the idea well to the user. > > Similarly Media Player, which also emulates a real-world device does not > use standard BButtons either. The buttons are different and the sliders are > different. In fact that apps looks totally different then any other app. > Which is a good thing, the design expresses the idea that the author > intended. The old design even featured rounded corners on it's buttons. I would think the reason why MediaPlayer looks like it does is less because it tries to look like a real world device, but rather to achieve a very compact GUI. > Look at the slider bars in the Media preferences to set your volumes which > emulate the look of sliders on hardware mixer device and are inconsistent > with the look of sliders elsewhere in the interface. Those sliders are actually multi channel sliders. That aside, all these are examples of controls for a special purposes (media control buttons, volume sliders). I don't mind those looking different from their general purpose counterparts, as long as they are used consistently throughout the system (and third-party apps). > Look at Pulse, which emulates the LED displays found on the cases of many > computers (including the BeBox I am guessing) which looks like no other app. > > Look at the clock app that doesn't use any standard controls at all, > instead builds it own to emulate another real-world device, in this case, a > clock. Both applications are demos, fun applications that we've inherited from BeOS. > And that is just the examples of apps that I can think of in the base > system off the top of my head, if I did some research I am sure I could > find some more examples. And that doesn't include 3rd party apps like > Cortex and CL-Amp and 3dmiX and SoundPlay and many more that also use > customized interface elements to suggest the connection to a real world > device. > > Given all these examples it would be inconsistent for me to NOT attempt to > style these interface elements to look a bit more like the device they are > meant to emulate. Either that or the developers of the above applications > all made this same mistake I did. I do indeed think that is the case. There seems to be some tendency to mimic real world devices where they exist. Particularly in case of audio/media/dvd players there are undescribable horrors out there, which only allow for the implication that someone chose form over function (combined with bad taste). I don't think it is advantageous to mimic a real world device's look just for the sake of it. Mimicking the interface concept -- if it is superior -- is another thing. CU, Ingo