Attic/GnomeArt/PlusPack

Plus Pack Ideas

These are some ideas for an extra pack of themes for GNOME.

MarcoBonomo: Icon themes should inherits gnome icon theme, just changing some important icons (network, home folder, computer, recycle bin, do not change mimetypes) we could even draw specific emblems based on the theme. Luca: I'm planning to switch to vector icons, these are png examples; btw, well done!

LucaFerretti: the best way to quick draw those stuff is use first Inkscape (48x48 pixel page, using grid to keep lines "aligned" with pixels), then convert the SVG to PNG scaling to 24x24 and 16x16, finally touching-up the PNGs in GIMP to remove blur. I'll try to test in with atom icon. Update: see this example (1.2 MB??? Why??) comparing the atom icon with a simple SVG done in 5 minutes in Inkscape

QuimGil: What about calling them 'skins'. "Download your GNOME Science skin". Just my 2 electrons.

DanBallard: I think we need some kind of whiz bang tech demo theme choker block full of animations showing what the new cairo engine is capable of. So many of the Gnome themes are quite static and can be a trifle boring. Yes this is ultimately usable and doesn't hog resources, but I think many people out there don't know how powerful the theming engine can be. I think we need to ship a theme that shows it off to it's full extent. Go nuts. Be a bit over the top. But show off, let people see what it can do. The one thing I miss most from Enlightenment was truly fun and eye candy themes. Show people what they can do and they'll create the rest.

Theme Ideas

Science

GTK

Industrial (White)

Icons

Computer: svg version Microscope
Home: svg version An Atom
Trash: svg version svg version A beaker, a toxic trash
Network: DNA structure (Telescope?), neural networks

Comments

MurrayCumming: An atom doesn't look like my home, and a glass jar doesn't look like a place to throw rubbish in to. Won't this cause confusion?

If you're asking that sort of question, you're probably missing the point of the excercise
- SergejKotliar: I agree. A laboratory would make for a better home, and a disposable waste bin would make a better trash can. And if you can't find appropriate theme-related metaphor to use as an icon - why not just use the regular ones with appropriate theming?
MarcoBonomo: This themes are not focused on usability (I think they broke a dozen of Gnome HIG rules), but on user's fun and cool desktop appereance, where's fun in a regular icon "skinned"?
- MurrayCumming: Those aims are not incompatible. If they are incompatible, then usability is more important than fun confusion. After all, you expect lots of people to use this.
ToddCrump: My honest opinion, coming from someone who sees this Plus Pack page for the first time, is that it reminds me of the Windows 98 Plus Pack, the one that had a ton of themes that changed your icons into who knows what. The way I see it, I think there's a reason Microsoft quit making such icon sets after that. I would think that a good question to ask yourself is whether you can tell what the icon represents if you don't have text by it. I don't think the atom or beaker do that.

Sports

Computer: Stadium
Home: svg version or svg version Soccer or Football ball, Locker
Trash: svg version svg version Empty burger-pack, empty drink and dirty serviette (I used a popcorn bin)
Network: version Goal, A field with players