[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread] 

List:       kde-artists
Subject:    Re: K-ARTIST: Fwd: Artwork : KDM User Pictures
From:       Adrien =?iso-8859-1?q?Fac=E9lina?= <eriol.loan () wanadoo ! fr>
Date:       2004-11-04 13:55:01
Message-ID: 200411041455.01351.eriol.loan () wanadoo ! fr
[Download RAW message or body]

On Thursday 04 November 2004 10:50, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> When I rewrote kdeutils/kdepasswd/kcm and put it in kdebase, I reduced the
> amount some. I'm all for changes, but I don't know on what criteria to
> select images -- should the images simply be pretty, or should they
> represent identities? This is a usability issue.

On Thursday 04 November 2004 12:19, Kenneth Wimer wrote:
> It seems to me that we  do not want anything which represent identies
> because such visual metaphors might cause problems in different cultures. 

On Thursday 04 November 2004 13:28, Frans Englich wrote:
> something like kcontrol/Security & Privacy/Password & User Account. 
> But that's only if it's the right thing -- e.g. if it should be "identities"
> instead of only pretty pictures I think images   

I would say user pictures are meant to be quickly recongnizable from each 
other. They're not only meant to be fancy. They permitt you not to read each 
login name and find what identity you're looking for at glance.  Vivid and 
various colors, different forms are helping that. I
f you have a root icon that's still all right because you only have one root. 
But you often do have many users. Why would you prevent people finding who 
they are with a standard user picture ? Even mandrake penguins are not so 
usefull. You've to concentrate to realize what emblems makes this penguin 
yours instead of the others.
Here is the utility of apparently "only pretty" pictures : they are all 
different and immediately appear different from each other. You don't 
hesitate to select yours.
That's the use.

Then I think it would be confusing, or at least useless to use crystal icons. 
Crystal icons represent thing on your system you can interact with : 
filesystem, mime, applications, hardware ... They represent things you will 
want to work with. Things producing action an result. They make you efficient 
and productive in a special task. User pictures instead of that are merely a 
way to identifiate yourself. You don't belong to you computer nor to the work 
you're doing with. Nothing bounds you to use crystal icons to represent 
yourself. 
User pictures would ideally be potographs of the users ! It's your identity 
you provide a photograph of what you look like. Of cours few people do that. 
It's boring to do and not quite original. Moreover pictures of you need to be 
corrected, resized, that's a work you probably don't want to do.
So user isn't a part of system, he's real and could be represented by 
photograph if he could. Users like what let them be imaginative and customize 
what their desktop environment look like. 

Well, providing pretty photos of different objects, featuring different 
flavours (forms and colors) is what is the more usable in fact !
_______________________________________________
kde-artists mailing list
kde-artists@mail.kde.org
https://mail.kde.org/mailman/listinfo/kde-artists

[prev in list] [next in list] [prev in thread] [next in thread]