I really dislike the blue “feather” it’s just confusing if you don’t already know what it is. It would be much better if it just said “Deskbar”, more logical and much easier for newbies who newer used Haiku/BeOS before.
Really? You’re focusing on a design aspect? Wow, I wish my systems supported Haiku well enough so that my BIG concern was “the feather is yucky”. Heres what I’d like to see happen in Haiuk: pcmcia support. Yeah, all my lappys are old and crappy. And the only way I could ever hope to get networking going is if one of the devs sees fit to put that in the networking code. Well, heres hoping 
You might have to wait awhile for PCMCIA support.
I could not find it listed here so hard to say if it will even come with R1:
http://dev.haiku-os.org/wiki/FutureHaikuFeatures
If you want networking on older laptops there are some USB-to-Ethernet (wired) devices that Haiku supports. You likely have 1 USB port available and hopefully not using for anything else. Might also work through USB hub.
If you want to know which (chipsets), start new thread & I can tell you.
@noone
The blue feather is OK. I suggested changing it to “MENU” over a year ago but many disagreed with me. Most (at least the developers) seem to like the feather and will not change. Only someone who does a distro may change it. For me, it would look better either with a word (menu, start, go, Haiku, …) or just single letter with combined image (ie: H + feather design merged).
Like it or not, the developers make Haiku so they mostly get to decide how it looks.
It’s a leaf, not a feather. Only anecdotal but in more than a month of helping Haiku newbies from many countries online, I haven’t found any who didn’t understand when I said to “go to the ‘leaf menu.’”
The proposed replacement, “Deskbar,” is at least as meaningless and less iconic than the leaf.
The suggestion of “Deskbar” might even be localized such as Microsoft localizing the word “Start” on its Start menu in Windows 95 and later. I’m told it says “Démarrer” in French, for example.
[quote=dru]It’s a leaf, not a feather.
…
The proposed replacement, “Deskbar,” is at least as meaningless and less iconic than the leaf.
[/quote]
Yes, it’s supposed to be a leaf but it looks like both a feather and leaf depending who you ask. Even so, it actually looks more like a feather to me too!
I wouldn’t like the term “Deskbar” either but I suggested better menu names.
Keep in mind these differences (in looks) are a matter of preference and taste. What I and someone else like does not mean will always be the same with others.
Not everyone will like the same look and will want to change it one way or another. It would be a very dull world if we all liked the same look and stuff.
nonne from US? in US most of the street signs and knobs (in cars for example) are written in text (as american english is the only real language), instead of using simple to understand schematics or icons.
Use the quickres tool http://haikuware.com/directory/view-details/utilities/system-system-information/quickres to modify it (the deskbar binary file: /boot/system/Deskbar) yourself. Just click on the “kBeLogoBits” to change the leaf logo.
Good idea to back up your original Deskbar binary first.
Then post your new logo at Haikuware and see if users like it !
What about this : http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3631/htestww3.jpg on this topic
IMO i’d rather remove my own spleen with a rusty spork than use that. I think the feather is pretty straight forward. If people can use that daft circle with weird trapezoids on it that Microsoft use for the menu button now, or that weird logo Ubuntu uses, i don’t think Haiku really has an issue. If you don’t realise that the Feather means the menu button, then you’re probably one of the minority. I’m sure most new users notice that and realise it’s the menu button quite quickly.
I would use the little leaf icon of this site.
It looks like an official Haiku icon, no?
It is small, neat and well represented.
Well if we’re gonna wax artistical about this then I’d say use the word ‘Haiku’ and do it in a Japanese brush-script kinda way with maybe a little shinto shrine symbol next to it. Or…we could focus on hardware issues.
I myself fully understand the leaf and what it does and are OK with it other than, I don’t quite get the partial leaf look. You only see part of it. To me it seems like an old web browser window with frames where if you don’t have the right size window, it cuts off parts of the window and what is in it.
Maybe it is a artsy thing but for me, seeing part of it and not a full leaf does not look right to me.
Maybe in time it will make sense. heheheh
tj
Why not just use the Haiku logo?
The blue leaf looks too much like a feather, and always makes me think of apache whenever I see it…
The blue feather is not likely to be changed since many of the developers like it. This was already discussed on the mailing list. Can’t make everyone happy all the time.
To change it out, someone will have to do a distro or custom Haiku image.
I think maybe the option to change it could be implemented, I have no issue with it myself, but I would have an issue with 1001 Distributions of Haiku with a different icon.
please don’t remove the little blue leaf/feather, it looks really cool!
Hi,
On haiku-os.org (top-left, header) - the colors, positioning and the name Haiku creates an impression in my head - ‘leaves in the autumn’.
On Deskbar the color is different, word Haiku is gone and since the shape is what it is, my brain sees the object as a feather.
Which one would make more sense in representing the OS - a leaf/leaves, a feather/feathers or something we’re not sure of what it is…
If it were to be a leaf then what would it represent? Nature, trees, plants, environment, ecology. Is there a connection with Haiku? We’ll, maybe - nature is to most people something positive, ‘mother nature’ and maybe leaves kind of represent that. Haiku (the poem) sometimes talk about seasons, but it seems that autumn is represented there usually by flower, not a leaf. To me these connections seem kind of weak.
If it were to be a feather then what would it represent? Birds, flying, being light, almost weightless. There seems to be something there - fast, lightweight, flying high over the others. Not a bad image. Also feather represents knowledge, as it was used for writing. So there are connections. But as far as I know, haikus were not written with feather. And then there is the ASF issue…
Having a ‘thing’ as logo, that some describe as a leaf and others as a feather - well it’d be like the MS logo (is it a window? or a flag? or a flag of a window?)…
I’d go with a SINGLE BLUE FEATHER, just as it is on the Deskbar. It’s a specific thing with fixed shape, color, detail and orientation.
Does it make sense?
Honestly I don’t care for the leaves/feathers on the whole and I think (IMHO) cherry blossoms would be far more evocative of the concept “haiku” as well as more recognizable.
As for the fact that some have said design aspects are irrelevant at this stage (and it may be true to some degree) as a fine artists and a designer it’s what I have to offer and I would do more if it were my expertise to do so. I hope it helps at least a little.