[ubuntu-art] Extending the art direction on a per-program basis

[Justin Dugger]

On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 11:05 AM, Ken Vermette <vermette at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hey everyone;
>
> This post easily would not be in regards to intrepid, possibly it's
> successor. It's in relation to extending the art-teams direction beyond
> theme creation, into program layouts and per-program optimization.
>
> One of the main things I'm noticing with Ubuntu is that we have a lot of
> -really- nice themes ready and poised. Dust is simply astounding, for
> example (please post the Dust theme files, I love them). However, if we ever
> plan to take on interface masters such as the designers over at Apple and
> Microsoft, we need to polish individual programs once we have established
> themes.
>
> A good example of an unpolished looking program is Asilerot Solitare. The
> game looks horrible, and is in no way related to any Ubuntu theme. To make
> asilerot solitare look good, all we need are some cards and a new
> background. Firefox is a good example of when a per-program theme is made.
> The Dust firefox theme adds amazing polish, and solidifies the theme.
>
> Other programs just have inconsistant layouts, if we managed to steal away
> some programmers they could just make sure programs have a more standardized
> layout.
>
> Overall, this would include a slow per-program layout update, and involve
> maintaining program changes post-update (or getting the devs to add it to
> the changes to their main builds). Programs that support themes (like
> firefox or Solitare) and programs frequently used (such as Nautilus or
> Evolution) would be the best to focus on.
>
> This post is mostly observational, but I personally beleive that it should
> be a priority - once we have a polished, updatable theme (such as OSX is
> doing with Aqua).
>
> -Ken Vermette

This is an interesting idea, but we need to collaborate with upstream
on this, in many cases. I'm not against it, but we do need a way to
not waste upstream's time.  Perhaps this should be tried on a few
packages that are receptive to the idea.  This means you'll have to
also consult them.

FYI, there are cases where Ubuntu might be able to do better without
patching upstream.  The Aisleriot program is a good example. Have you
seen the Ornamental cardbacks?  They're in hardy, but seem to have
disappeared from intrepid!

Justin Dugger