Iconic design

[b]Hello ye all,

I was hoping that someone here at d-technologies would make a version of their logo ball downloadable as an icon for us users who don’t like the shell design ?

A big hug inadvance if it is at all possible.

BStar,[/b]

I really liked to old brainy icon!

How are icons changed by the user? I like the DT icon but when that is next to the DA icon my dock seems cluttered by bulk. Oh well, DT is great. Support awesome also.

As already told or often read in these forums, I DO not like the user interface of DT (especially) nor DA. The more I use these apps and I compare their UI, the more I find repulsive their old fashion icons (in tool bars, folders, documents, thumbnails etc…) and their insipid colors.
Whereas it should be (thanks to the features) a pleasure to launch and use these apps, gradually it settled a kind of unpleasant feeling, a faintness. And consequently, this tends more and more to hold me distant from them.
Just an example among others, I recently downloaded the demo version of the RSS reader NetNewsWire which, in my opinion, attests really that it’s possible to reconcile high sophisticated features and a pleasant and modern interface. Not necessary to resort to “candies”, as read here so often to refute the idea to be modernized. It is just a question of making the effort to re design the interface in a more contemporary way. Just a question to give up the fashion of the old notaries of province to the profit of the users who assert themselves fully 21st century.
Should the application did not evolve in this direction, I would give up the next announced major version.
Hope the Devon team will hear us and will do what is necessary to give satisfaction at its community :slight_smile:.
Post scriptum: I ask for the indulgence of the notaries :smiley:.

I really am baffled when I hear complaints about the DT interface. Notice, the complaint is not about how the program functions, just about how it looks. I just don’t get it. I need it to work, and I could care less about its appearance. At the same time, DT looks to me to be clean, clear, and efficient.

Many database programs (see Bookpedia, etc) now emulate the appearance of iTunes. Maybe that’s what people mean by modernized or sophisticated? But such an interface may not be useful in the case of a multi-file-format database like DT.

So did I. I even kept a copy of old DTPersonal icon to replace the new one :slight_smile:
But there are more important issues of course 8)

Interface design is not about how the icons look.
But i’m rather fine with the DT interface too. I hope they will never emulate the iTunes appearance (but i fear they will, like everybody else does it)

Just some details about what I wrote above.
When writing that the DT UI should be modernized, I am not thinking at all of an “iTunes like” interface, which, in my opinion, would deserve the app and the use which I wanna make. But, it exists a broad pallet of nuances between the current old fashion UI and the flashy one of iTunes. Just a question of balance, a right proportion of modernity.
That returns to what I would call “the esthetics of the technology” which, in my opinion, is an essential dimension of the technology itself and which goes beyond its immediate use. Just think at the differences between the train or the phone of the 19th century and those of the 21st one. Their essential use practically did not change but their easyness to use moved much and their esthetics accordingly.
I do think that to make improve the technology without considering the interface man/machine, without integrating the aesthetic dimension, leads to something of abortive. And, unfortunately, I must say that I have been experiencing this defect in DTP app where the user interface does not fit at all the high sophistication of the features.
That’s just my experience… and my point of view :slight_smile:

Get yourself a PC !

it works, is cheaper, uses the same internal parts and all the peeps who flog it don’t give a rats As* what it looks like too.

Civil discourse, please.

Howarth is an accomplished Mac user. No need to threaten him with a PC. :slight_smile:

I wonder if DevonTechnologies is considering an UI renewal because it’s just plain ugly for an OS X application.

Yes, we do :slight_smile:

Nice

:slight_smile: 

I do not know how exactly to formulate the feeling in my stomack, I try though:

  1. Happy to see that the users that are unsatisfied will get a modernization.
  2. While we always strive for positive change … (nah, I do not want to sound negative)

I’ll just say it: Apple’s decision to remove the drawer in iCal and replace it with this bubble thing … argh! I would like to see the UI study that justifies this. Really!

I am just a little worried. UI design is a very complicated matter and I hope DEVONthink has the right people at hand to ensure the change is for the better. (See: negativity … please don’t get me wrong)

/Sven :confused:

I am very confident that DevonTechnologies “has the right people at hand”, hasn’t it?

Why dither with the UI, except that Christophe makes it sound so appealing? Oh, to be French. There’s a choice here: eye candy or I.Q. Je préfère le chocolat. A new GUI may look neat, but hold the “goo” on the GUI. I paid my deflating dollars to purchase DT Pro because of the AI, not because of the Bernaise sauce… :smiley: J’aime la France. Vraiment.

All in good fun. The colors in DT Pro could be improved; Christophe certainly makes a good point, but please don’t use spray paint DT Pro for the sake of fashion. There’s a seriousness and a sincerity to the UI, not to mention functionality. Cute could be confusing. Remember the KISS – Keep It Simple Sweetheart. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Etc.

@lshear,
I think that we are aligned. As written so many times, it is not question of yielding with the tyranny of the current fashion, whether it is pink, pistachio or chocolate.
“There’s a seriousness and a sincerity to the UI”. Yes, I fully agree and I add that “seriousness” does not mean “austerity”.
The best interface is the one which succeeds in making simple what is complex, accessible what is sharp and tangible the artificial. And for that, all the resources of the design must be explored. The interface must serve the intelligence. That’s just what I have been expressing in these forums… sometimes misunderstood :slight_smile:.
I guess that the Devon team is aware of the stake and they’ll re design the forthcoming major release accordingly.
When rising generation is born, I suggest that one drinks a virtual glass of French champagne :smiley:.

Mon vieux, vous avez raison. In the end, when all interfaces look the same, the only distinction will be functionality. To paraphrase the English poet Keats – Functionality is all we know, and all we need to know.

That said, DT Pro’s interface hides too many simple but important secrets. For instance, employing CTRL-R in “Search,” in order to find the actual folder or file in the database where the object of the search resides! The command should be obvious, explained or intuitive, but I had to consult the forum to figure it out. Another? How about an easily available “path” for each file provided at the bottom of the UI, something similar to the Finder? That way, the user is always oriented; he always knows where he is in the database. Instead, you have to “trick” the program and use the “Move” command to find a folder’s path. And that doesn’t always work. C’est pas bon.

Here in America, people buy wine based on the label. Of course, many don’t, they just look at the price tag. As you know, what actually matters is the region and the grape and the vintner. So, that’s what we have with DT Pro, a great wine with a so-so label. I’ll drink to that.

I couldn’t agree more with this statement. Why Apple, Why???

However, to chime in on this issue, I would love a 3-pane interface for DTP. I use a Letterbox style hack for mail and love the convenience of being able to see a full e-mail on the right and a full list of messages in the middle.

Has anyone made a 3-pane hack for DT?


Bill

Bill, maybe we’re talking past each other, but you WERE using the three-pane DT Pro view. You had groups on the left, the items each group contained above and to the right, and below that was the “copy” held by the individual files in the pane above. Three panes. Somewhere there’s a pun here, but I refuse to indulge myself. On the other hand, is that clear? Or are you talking about something else? :smiley:

Jeff