Inspired by this mockup, I started to implement something similar as code. Modifying the app_server and InterfaceKit code slightly, I came to the following intermediate result:
The patch is not quite finished, I just changed the drawing code of a few controls (window decorations, menus, scroll bars, buttons), and the look is not perfect yet, but I thought I should gather some feedback from you before I continue coding. The patch (against Haiku r28819) can be found here.
Very nice work!
But wouldn’t it be better to implement something to change decorators and controls on the fly?
You should use the development mailing list for this.
Looks terrific!
It looks very complete and suggest not making any further changes to it. Some users or developers will be opposed if you over do the look. I would like to see this as the default UI look for Haiku.
You should create an enhancement ticket and attach the patch & screenshot to it.
http://dev.haiku-os.org
You should join the Development Mailing List and discuss it there. This way it has a better chance of being included in Haiku.
http://www.haiku-os.org/community/ml
Regards,
I thought that in the short term, polishing the current fixed theme is the better solution. But for the future, real theme-ing would be cool indeed.
Definitely post your intentions on the development mailing list 
I did hear a rumor that someone may already be working on a patch to improve the default theme look-and-feel (just a rumor anyway)…so maybe that person would be willing to contact you to coordinate efforts if they saw you were interested…
I have now sent a mail to the mailing list.
I’m lovin’ it !
Heh, just after posting that i noticed your email thread in my inbox (guess that’s what I get for going through my email chronologically!)
Wow, this is great! Well, one way to improve this would be to change the default button a little. Instead of a dark grey line outside the button, maybe the default button could have a slight yellow glow? Please keep us updated as you go, I’d like to see what you do with tabs! Oh and, apart from what I mentioned about the default button, the updated look for buttons is great!
Looking beautiful. Keep it up!
Hope you’re making it easy to edit layouts later though.
Not bad at all! I have three suggestions, however:
Lighten up the base background grey just a tad. It’s too dark at the moment.
Give the menu selection gradient a color. I recommend a blue similar to the default BeOS desktop blue, perhaps a bit darker.
Darken and saturate the titlebar tab background colors a little. It looks odd for the buttons to be darker than the titlebar. I also might add that the yellows you used feel a bit “off” - they aren’t the yellows/oranges used in the original R5 theme.
I’m not sure I agree about the blue. I like autumn colours like orange, red, green and yellow, some seen in the leaves in the Haiku logo, some seen in the “About Haiku” window (here: http://picasaweb.google.com/haiku.inc/HaikuScreenshotTour#5167080236771669586). If you can make it blend in well though, I don’t know.
And I actually love the colour of the titlebar. I agree about the titlebar buttons looking a little odd, but apart from the buttons, I like the colour as he made it.
I have continued the work on the patch. A new look for checkboxes, radio buttons and tabs are now implemented, and a few other small things changed (for instance the window title buttons, which were criticized of being to dark in some comments). The (intermediate) result can be seen in the following images:
I hope you like the changes. The updated patch can be found here (this is the same link as in the initial post; I replaced the first patch).
I’m already using your first patch as it definitely looks better then the default colors, so nice job in the first place.
The updates seem nice, so +1 from me (as long as it’s not too shiny),
but better use the mailing list for this.
Hopefully your patch will be in mainline soon.
Keep up the good work!
i am waiting for this in the main svn ancien, plis no later.
but remember, ever should be able the option to back to the classic style, for the people who want remeber beos or simply for the performance.
Thanks and congrats.
This looks great! How do I apply the patch?
but better use the mailing list for this
I would be happier not to have the mailing lists and only use the forums … I hate mailing lists!
Unfortunately, when it comes to getting changes to the OS committed to the repository, I’m afraid you’d have little choice
It seems there’s a bit of a divide where users want to use forums, and developers want to use mailing lists.
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Unfortunately, when it comes to getting changes to the OS committed to the repository, I’m afraid you’d have little choice
It seems there’s a bit of a divide where users want to use forums, and developers want to use mailing lists.
Mailing lists are old technology. Forums are easy to navigate and find information. It seems like the devs like the lists because they seem more private than the forums. They forget that all the posts on the mailing lists make it to the archives and become quite public.
Joining a mailing list is just one more step one has to go through to be considered “part of the community.” It is a step that I refuse to do. I guess I am an outsider then even though I have been using BeOS since r4.5.
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