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Description
An OS, no matter how technologically or ideologically advanced it is, should also be visually appealing.
And Ubuntu, being one of the most beatiful (I mean the default appearance here) distribution of Linux still can't compete with Vista (not to mention Mac OS X).
Here I imly the following:
-icons. All the icons should be converted into vector graphics, so that they were scalable (so that they could look the same everywhere).
-fonts. Even Liberation fonts look better than default GNOME's dejavu, but still they leave much to be desired.
-screensaver. Currently, it's just a black screen. Enough said, I guess. Ubuntu should offer aset of nice screensavers, basic, or OpenGL-driven.
-applets. GNOME applets should grow in numbers and functionality. At least I would suggest a wrapper that could display a Web widget as an applet, so that user could simply paste BB-codes from YouTube, Jaiku, Vimeo or else and see it on his desktop.
-3D effects. There shouldn't be a vast number of them, but all of them should be quality-driven. Just look how bad is Compiz rendering as you make anything that drives windows borders into curves - they are edgy and twisted.
-wallpapers. I know, Deviantart contest is on, but here is also another point: Ubuntu should provide numerous wallpapers out-of-box, and all of them should suit the default colour scheme. The same stays for login screen.
-themes. Ubuntu should provide themes that change the appearance more globally. Not only GNOME's appearance, but all the apps, bootloader, login screen, screensaver.
-customization. Changing Ubuntu's appearance isn't really easy these days, since you can't tune up all the aspects in one place. I mean, you can change the theme, but you should work really hard to make your style as sole as the defaut one - Qt, GTK and other (wxWindows, etc) applications share different configs. Just try to switch to a darker theme and you'll learn how many elements would require tuning. Ubuntu can offer great means of customization, but that doesn' mean that an average user is able to make a cool-looking style.
-bootloader. That was already mentioned, but still. Ubuntu should show text mode at all. Currently, it can occasionally fall back to console for a while, which is discomforting.
-hibernation/suspend screen. The same.
Please consider this (and many other little details), since it really defines the image of an OS on the whole.
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Comments
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Eldmannen wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 13:32
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Yeah, Vista comes with many really slicks wallpapers. Ubuntu does not.
Also the font in Ubuntu, you cant see difference between lowercase L and uppercase I.
I heard many don't like brown theme.
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animaniac wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 14:25
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+1, I'm actually hoping all these things are allready being worked on. Atleast they have all been mentioned over the intarwebs like crazy.
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ImperfectLink wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 14:36
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I agree with this. They dont have to be default, they just need to be included so its easy to switch themes and wallpapers. Also, things like compiz dont need to be default but included and more importantly, tested the hell out of to make sure it all works together without a hitch.
It often seems to me that there are people on the brainstorm here just waiting to bark "Not an idea!". But its not only original ideas we're lookin for. It's for pointing out what needs to be improved and have people vote on it. This one has my vote.
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babis79 wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 16:12
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+1(000. 000)
yeah please vote, totally agree with it ...
ubuntu really needs/deserves this
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glotz wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 17:55
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Personally I'd pick the operating system that works well every time over the one that looks nice...
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lordnoid wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 18:11
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I'd pick the OS that works well too, but I don't forget the fact that a more beautiful appearance of ubuntu would really help to get more people to try ubuntu, including myself.
Mac OS X is beautiful, most people will say. The design of the macs and the visual appearance of Mac OS X got many people to Mac OS X.
Maybe the standard use of emerald window decoration would be nice (I don't know the possibilities of this).
I know 8.10 is still on the first alpha phase, but I've seen it, and take my advice: don't choose that layout for the next ubuntu.
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jorgevan007 wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 18:52
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NAUTILUS IS FAT!!
I think the windows are thick and all the buttons are bigger than they need to be. Customization is key here.
Nautilus needs to offer more options to make windows thinner.
I also agree that if i had to rank the visual appeal of the OS vista and Mac OS have the edge. Let's get out there and squash them in these areas!!
Jorgevan007
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lordnoid wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 19:21
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I also agree with jorgevan007 in the fact that nautilus should be editable in size. It is indeed way too fat. I have the same opinion of more GNOME applications. I tried everything to make the buttons smaller, but there really seems to be no way. Please please please make give us options :)
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seanlynch wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 19:36
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Its not just nautilis, all of Gnome is less configurable for the normal end users with each release. The Gnome development team keeps taking away configuration options for desktop use. (For example look at how many configuration settings for the screensaver have been taken away in the last few Gnome versions.)
This results in a really spartan stark desktop for users of regular Gnome Ubuntu. Heck, the new users don't even know what they're missing. They never knew Gnome when it used to be highly configurable.
Could the Ubuntu team develop tweak Gnome to replace the lost functionality? If not, could Canonical put some pressure on the Gnome team to quit wasting time on Microsoft centered work like mono and moonlight and start developing wiith a Linux centric viewpoint?
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vexorian wrote on the 3 Jul 08 at 23:36
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-icons : Already done.
-fonts : They are fine, just use them for some time, make the font smaller if you want, this is not a problem with the fonts but with not being used to them. After getting used to the fonts I have no issues whatsoever, I actually miss them when I am forced to use windows in other computers.
-screensaver: ubuntu has tons of screensavers, some are opengl, etc. Another one 'already implemented'
-3d effects: This is most likely a problem with your graphics driver, compiz-fusion wobbling looks fine to me, though it is entirely useless and annoying, so I disabled it.
- themes: NO, themes are supposed to be the user's, I do not want to require administrator password to change my theme. Let themes belong to userspace, changing something like the boot screen and the splash with themes is quite bad, that should depend on the administrator, not on the users.
- customization is already quite easy, we should probably include that QT addon that makes it follow gtk's theme though.
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ilembitov wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 00:05
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vexorian:
Are we still speaking about Ubuntu? Not Slackware, right?
Ubuntu is a distro which should make a great first impression. No "getting used to", no "it's easy to change". The default set and options are vital as hell here.
Icons. Look at icons as they appears with alt-tab with Compiz enabled. They are just not scalable, since they are bitmap, not vector.
Themes: OK, enable user to define privileges here. I don't think this stuff has prevented someone to implemente such features in Vista or Mac OS X.
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vexorian wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 03:02
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All the default apps use SVG icons, besides perhaps firefox, what you mentioned is a compiz failure to use the correct themes.
And no, the only way not to require getting using to the fonts would be to add a telepathy algorithm that predicts if the user comes from windows or OS/X then use the same fonts. What I said is that the fonts are probably as good as dows' or better and complaints are the cause of not being used to them.
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vexorian wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 03:04
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The correct icons*
Test this: Go to the ubuntu right click on calculator and place an icon in the desktop, now use the rescale option on the launcher in the desktop, make it biig, look how it doesn't get blurry.
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fazillatheef wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 03:52
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It is true that there are problem with the current configuration of ubuntu... But the fact is anyone can make it look beautiful... you can make ubuntu to look like any OS with no effort.. Something that can only be done in the world of open source because everything is open... and you dont have to patch any dlls..
The idea to change the default appearence of ubuntu is a good idea... I would like to add ... the panel can be changed from plain white to something else ... brown...
black... what ever suits the gtk theme..
Also sometimes even when you change the theme it doesnt change the theme of applications that have root privilage ...although you can change that by using the theme application with root privilage mode..
I dont think the splash screen need to be changed ... but a smooth transition from boot loader to the desktop would be good...
Icons - i dont know on what basis are people talking bad about ubuntu icons...
3d effects- you can configure this .. so thats never a problem ... you dont like a particular effect ,then turn it off..show me that feature in vista..
Screenlets- these things will get better by a matter of months...
hibernation/suspend - the basic implemenation is not over ..its never worked for me... old hardware intel 845dw/nvidia geforce2 mx400 ..
nautilus needs a good look ... its looking very old when compared to the explorer in windows... thats one thing that I thing I agree with ilembitov...
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lunamystry wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 07:30
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I TOTALLY AGREE! and i see the i wonder if any has noticed that the number of requests for eye candy has increased. Or maybe i'm seeing things. Kubuntu also needs a lot more work.
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svnissen wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 07:41
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I think Ubuntu should fit "out of the box" on most Hardware as possible. Most of this "Eyecandy" is only for newer Hardware. Otherwise is become frustrating if I must deaktivate things to work probertly on my 3 Years old Notebook or similar.
If this changes work also on this older Hardware...yes! Go on and make it happen. But don't lose the focus on "simpel" and "for everyone".
PS: Excuse my english, please. It's not my native language.
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everlasting.puneet wrote on the 4 Jul 08 at 09:01
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i agree ubuntu as now i see is hard on eyes .. orange theme gives really bad impression .. it may look pretty to young people but not to all age group.
- theme.. orange is really bad color to choose as a default theme .
something light blue (blue is the color easy on eyes)
windows and mac uses lots of blue color .
- default wallpaper .. can be any natural scenery or
like we have hardy heron so heron's original picture's wallpaper should be there.devianart though bring good wallpapers but people prefer natural sceneries and first thing they will do with default ubuntu is to change wallpaper.this is more environmental friendly also :P
-icon .. this things is already implimented
-appearance .. work is still going on to improve this
-compiz .. yes i agree we can improve eyecandy . may be screenlets can be used and avant window manager ..otherwise current compiz default configuration is fine.. but i think that will increase load on live cd.
- font .. its just the I and L problem rest is fyn ..
-screensaver...yep default screen saver should not be black it should be "floating ubuntu"
-boot loader - i disagree for the text mode i love the way ubuntu loads ..but if you want text mode edit grub switch of splash
- hibernation - ubuntu have some problem in hibernation.. i don't know but it's not robust hibernation process .. this should be improved
-applets - like screenlets there should be an option to install new applets this will not only increase the number but also quality and functionality.
-rest is fyn ..
+1 bro
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Popoi wrote on the 5 Jul 08 at 03:28
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Make panels more beautiful is an important matter. I think they are too ugly and look old and bored.
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MighMoS wrote on the 5 Jul 08 at 17:23
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I agree there should be vector icons if possible for use as a fallback, but nothing looks better at 48x48 than a 48x48 png image. Vector images look off at weird levels of scaling you get half-pixels, or pixel-and-a-third results, and the image is blurry.
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slsolaris wrote on the 5 Jul 08 at 23:14
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I am completly agree, if I could post 10.000 votes i would do it, canonical please do this
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adrian2 wrote on the 7 Jul 08 at 09:16
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Let's bring that "humanity to others" on old computers too shall we?! I think the following:
Ubuntu should work out of the box for some... not all pc's. If you use a 586 or older you're screwed(or you should be). those i386 or i586 instructions sets are just too old. Take advantage of the new instruction sets!
What's missing here is a detection app. Somting that detects certain aspects of your hw cfg and tunes the richness of your effect settings accordingly.
Now.. i'm not really sure about this but i'm not aware of a study of design for ubuntu. There a whole theory on that too.
For example: Newspapers in US use mostly B&W for printing because it has greater visual impact. I Romania most of them use dual colors and like one defining color and black. Red and Blue are the colors of choice here because studyes have shown that those colors have most impact on the readers. Across Europe these colors in newspapers are meant to have an impact on the reader so that's why they are printed on the front page, but as you can see, when you open the newspaper the story changes as the colors become warmer, more soothing to the eye. Take the sun for instance.
Windows and Mac OS use mostly colors in the green-blue spectrum because they have a shorter wave length than colors in the red-yellow spectrum and there for are easyer on the eye. Make it mostly blue and it will become irritating because the wave length is too short. Studies have shown that green... is the color most pleasent to the eye. In general colors found in nature are most pleasing to the human eye... we were only aware about computers and stuff for the last 50 years or so...
The colors in ubuntu are not all that bad, but they're missing the complementary colors.
We've got the earth... it's brown... snd stuff.. bla bla...
in the near future i'd like to see some trees and sky...
about visual appearance in general.. i think too much settings are bad for users and create confusion. If enough well thought themes are made with complementary warm, pleasant colors with matching screen savers and cursors are made available, than most of the other settings should be categorized as advanced and placed in that section/tab/button/whatever. Building those themes/wallpapers/icons so on... is not easy because it involves study, trials, votes , matching them up and more, but once you have them i's a lot easier for everybody.
yes, nautilus is too fat, and other gnome looking apps too. the concept of easy focus on certain buttons and other important key elements of the desktop are a bit exagerated, because with windoze it's like you can really see it's a 1200 by 1000 or somthing... look @ ubuntu with the same res... it's like going back to windows 95 800x600...
Don't give up the command line! it's one of the most important features and tools in linux. Instead find a way to make it more intuitive, easyer to read, to integrate in the desktop, to access, give it nice colors and fonts and transparency... teach users with tips and stuff to use more command line as it is more productive and less time consuming.
Sorry for the long comment, i hope i've made some contribution!
Regards to all!
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Cube wrote on the 9 Jul 08 at 16:09
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Icons are already scalable. The Tango team always adds 48x48 in SVG version to be scaled up if necessary
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Hellow wrote on the 11 Jul 08 at 20:16
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I agree with this, but I don't think the devs need to devote a ton of time to making Ubuntu look good. Mainly we need a central location to tune the looks of Ubuntu.
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Alexander wrote on the 16 Jul 08 at 12:41
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Themes for the entire desktop experience is a great idea!
That way it would be possible to have a "Mac OS X", "BeOS", "Windows XP" or "Amiga" theme that makes the desktop look and feel like one of those systems - and change it in a single operation.
I'm not saying that making Linux look like something else is desirable for everyone, but it sure would be nice to have a single theme for an entire experience.
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hewitt wrote on the 22 Jul 08 at 22:52
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I don't want Ubuntu to look like Windows or Mac OS X, but I think it needs a visual makeover to make it look more modern.
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keen101 wrote on the 31 Jul 08 at 05:06
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+1 i agree
more gtk themes should be included.
more wallpaper should be created/included.
etc... they don't have to be defaut, just included.
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