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List:       kde-devel
Subject:    Re: K-ARTIST:Re: K start menu icon ideas
From:       Torsten Rahn <tackat () kde ! de>
Date:       2001-07-28 6:44:18
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> 1. Using "Start" is a simple balant copy from Windows. This point can be 
> arguable...

I second this. MS had the nice idea to advertise their "Start"-button in
such a way that people associate it extremely deeply with "MS Windows".
I think the "Start"-button symbolizes "MS Windows" most closely these
days (except for the Windows-logo itself).

So if you want to make people say that KDE is an _exact_ copy of Windows
then just name it "Start". PR-wise this would be a disaster though.

> 2. You're putting text into graphics which is a very problematic in terms of 
> i18n - do u know anyone who is serious to create this "start" button for 56 
> languages? text inside graphics issue has been discussed previously on the 

That's the nice thing about "Start": I think it's one of the words which
several languages do share at once.  3 months ago I made a similar
pixmap: 

http://master.kde.org/~tackat/gobutton.png

The advantage of this pixmap is that:
- "Go!" takes less space than "Start"
- It preserves the branding of the KDE-logo.
- Due to the way the whole "Go!>" appears it's obvious that this button
does something special (compared to the other icons/buttons).


disadantages:
- The translator-team will probably not resist from making "Geh!" or
something out of "Go!".  ;) / :-/

> i18n mailing list and it has been agreed not to put text inside graphics 
> (that, btw, why you don't see a version number in the KDE Splash screen when 
> you start KDE).

Because qwertz is working on a new one. BTW: what's the current state of
it, qwertz :) ?

> 3. I had the pleasure to let some kids play here at home with some of my 
> machines and they were playing with KDE. Those kids got right away what is 
> the "K" button and used KDE without any problem. Same thing for some other 
> people who barely used windows and I helped them - they didn't need me to 
> know where is the "start" button...

Same results here. During (Linux-)Events (like CeBit e.g.) many people
who are absolutely new to Linux attend the booth. And one of the
sentences most often said at first are "Looks quite similar to Windows".
And then quite a lot of people continue and say "This resembles the
Startbutton, right?" and point to the K-Button. I always continue by
saying "Yes, indeed - and what do you think resembles this icon? .. and
this one... ?". And after I have found out if they think that the icons
are more or less intuitive I start to show them what features are
similar/different from Windows.
 
> 4. Try to put the panel vertically - and as you can see - "start" graphics 
> will be shrinked too much..

Yes, "Start" is quite problematic concerning this.

Greetings,
Tackat
 
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