[Libreoffice-ux-advise] Windows look

[Stefan Knorr]

Hi Kendy, Mirek, K-J,

> > To be honest, I prefer the first screenshot you posted [1], though I
> > still think a menubar with an opaque background rather than Aero glass
> > would be best.

Right ... if we don't get to something that is both readable and pretty
in the next couple days, it might be best to revert to that look. I
don't think, we need to, though.

> Yes, so now I got far enough with all this that +-anything is possible -
> if it is happening in the menu area ;-)  The problem was the transparent
> text in the [1]; now I can do it black, without any glow effect, if that
> is desired, or make the menu opaque in the area where we have the text,
> and transparent elsewhere, or...

I think black without the glow would be the best idea, since currently,
it indeed looks rather "restless", as Klaus-Jürgen said.
Again, can you maybe try with just the solid gradient in the background,
as I proposed earlier?
At the very least, the gradients need to be taller and wider, so the
top/left side of the menu items is still well visible.

Else, Mirek's proposal of the glows kind of fading into each sounds
~good too, although I am unsure if it wouldn't still look pretty
restless.

> 
> > Could you at least make the glow behind the menubar items more
> > transparent and wider?
> > Also, would it be possible to spread out the menubar items more, such
> > as in
> > http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0f/PaintDotNet-3.5-Screenshot.png?
> 
> ...looking exactly like here (wider, and with the line around the menu),
> if that is preferred :-)

Hm, no, I think Mirek just referred to the spacing between menu items.
Not sure, if we want that, though – it would make the interface only
marginally more touchable and somewhat breaks the Gestalt principle of
closeness.

> 
> I like it, so I'll be glad to do that - would that be the right choice?
> Or something completely different?  Can you do a mockup based on my
> recent screenshots in that case, please?

To be honest, I am not sure if that would work all too well, since we
also have the Close button at the end of the menu bar and that would
need a second opaque background, then.
Also, I think it's quite ugly, if we make the menu opaque, then why not
do it over the width?


Astron.


PS: Do note, we stand the chance that lots of people will leave
LibreOffice over it becoming unusable for them (unreadable menu bar) or
them feeling that its ugly (too fuzzy/fancy). That, we can't really
afford, so if it's not right for beta 3, it might be better to back the
changes to the menu out.