On 4/14/06, Rodney Dawes <<a href="mailto:dobey@novell.com">dobey@novell.com</a>> wrote:<div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> On Fri, 2006-04-14 at 12:07 -0500, Nathan Willis wrote: > Well, I did notice that, but I think it still leaves the underlying > question unanswered: why is there no addressbook app icon? Because one has not been drawn, and we are trying to keep the metaphors between app icons and mime type icons, different. We want to have the metaphors for app icons be tool/brand related, and the mime types to be more about the content.</blockquote><div> Ah, but it has been drawn; the MIME type icon.  And the MIME type icon is the same as the actions icon for "new addressbook."  In what way is the x-office-addressbook icon about content?  </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> I'll be happy to document my adventures on Symbian, of course.  At > this stage in the game, the missing pieces are the big obstacle. They shouldn't be. Tango is not simply about an icon theme, and putting it in as many places as possible. If you have good metaphor suggestions for dealing with the different applications, and the file types they deal with, it would be good to hear them, so we can check them out, and possibly use and recommend them, if they fit well.</blockquote><div> I'm quite clear on the purposes & goals of the project, thanks. As I work on the Symbian theme, I will bring suggstions and criticisms as they arise.  For now, however, the obstacle is finding suitable icons for the missing items.  "They shouldn't be?"  What does that mean -- in a perfect world?  It is the obstacle at this stage. </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">> (While we're on the subject: there's no clock icon either, which is > kind of important.  And why is there both an "office-calendar" _and_ > an "x-office-calendar" -- and why on earth are they different?) The calendar bit is described above. A calendar application is not the same as the file which contains the calendar contents, with all of the events, meetings, recurrances, and such.</blockquote><div> Yeah, that's well understood, but it doesn't address the question about the two icons.  One is a flip-over calendar with a 31 on it, the other is a flip-over calendar with a 12.  Jimmac answered the question in his email. But it does raise another point while we are on the subject: by the same token, an addressbook is an application just like a calendar app -- the VCARD file containing contact(s) is analagous to the .ICS file for a calendar app.  </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">As for the clock icon, why is it so important? I *NEVER* see a clock icon on my desktop, unless I go to add something to the panel, as it is one of the first applets listed.</blockquote><div> That argument is utterly moot.  When do you see the character-map icon on your desktop, unless you go to add something to the panel?  When do you see the calculator icon on your desktop?  When do you see preferences-desktop-locale?  When do you see _anything_ in the /apps/ hierarchy?  You cannot seriously be suggesting that we run statistics on how often people see any particular icon, and use that as the criterion for selecting what to include, are you?  Because I'll put my money down 10-to-1 on devices/media-floppy getting the axe if that's how it's decided. </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">Also, we have not decided on a naming scheme for icons for applets and the like yet. Just calling it "clock" seems inappropriate to me. Clock icons are used to mean different things all over the UI.</blockquote><div> Well, the naming convention used so far suggests accessories-clock.  Arrows are used to mean different things all over the UI, too. </div> <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">As I said above, Tango is not just an icon theme. You shouldn't expect it to just have as many icons as there are in other icon themes, just because it does provide a theme. The goals of the theme are to push the style and the naming specification, and to help push to have better looking icons on the desktop, by reducing the number of icons used in total. </blockquote> </div> Again, I am not unclear on what Tango is.  It boils down to this: either addressbook, text-editor, and calculator are *all* acceptible and should be part of the specification, or they are *all* unacceptible and should be removed as calendar was. Essetially the same issue holds for all generic apps in the /apps/ hierarchy -- what is the need for internet-web-browser, internet-group-chat and internet-mail?  Is there *any* application in the world that is devoid of its own specific icon?  Why have generic app icons at all? Nate -- nathan.p.willis <a href="mailto:nwillis@glyphography.com">nwillis@glyphography.com</a> aim/ym/gtalk:n8willis <a href="http://blog.glyphography.com">blog.glyphography.com</a> <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/willis"> flickr.com/photos/willis</a>