2005/10/16, mf mf@mufunyo.net:
Mikko Tikkanen wrote:
I don't know if it's the language barrier or anything else, but you seem to WANT to interpret my text incorrectly. Anyone who has ever published an iconset on wincustomize or whatever is good enough. It is just that you need to have SOME kind of experience, because a lot of people are going like "icons, heck that must be easy-- I can whip up something in Photoshop in 5 minutes!", with no prior knowhow. You seem to think the people I try to explain to in a friendly manner that their effort is best invested elsewhere are the people that have something useful to give. No, the ones that have something useful to give, I have outlined details and guidelines for. I don't know if "being nice" in finnish means "kissing butt", but in England and in my country, it doesn't. I've written it as friendly as I could while still getting my point across. Interpret it ANY damn way you want, but it is not "writing how good I am, how much I have done and how I am going to bash anyone that tries to submit anything". No, I'm not that good, but I do have experience. No, I haven't done much, but at least I've taken on a responsibility to finish a job. And again, I won't bash anyone, I will simply not accept stuff that is not made by someone who doesn't know what they are doing, because that way ReactOS will come in 5 flavors, apple, cranberry, nuts, licorice and chocolate, and all mixed together. I have yet to see a single icon submission which is even CLOSE to the existing new icons. One that isn't either some barfup of a $7 shareware icon editor, or one that is some XP lookalike. And another thing; tell me why icons are so important. Tell me why we should start accepting everyone and their dog's creations. Is it an immediate need? NO. People trying to help are very nice, but just as nice as someone who knows QBasic and starts hacking the kernel. There is a selection process for committers as well, you know. This is going to sound very selfish (though I don't mean it that way): I don't need help at the moment. In my gentle pace of one icon at a time I will get it done, because I started early. There is no hurry whatsoever. It is not that I consider myself oh so great and I want full credit for any icon ever made for ReactOS. I just want something that looks consistent. And for that, you need artists that a) know what they're doing, and b) know the difference between XP and OSX (what, they both contain an X?). If you look on sites like wincustomize and deviantart, there are MORE than enough people that qualify for that, and that doesn't at all mean we need to accept any less. And you know? You seem to have a FAIRLY big mouth for someone that hasn't done jack shit except moan and rant and cause trouble. I suggest you tone down until you have actually DONE anything for this project. As for the trash can, shut up. It is not a finished icon, it is not submitted to SVN, and _we_don't_even_have_such_functionality_in_reactos_. It is the most irrelevant thing you could ever think of coming up with.
mf.
Like you, I want ROS to be aestethically pleasing to achieve good first impression. I never said that you should accept any slab of pixels submitted by Jerry 5 years. Could you point me to the exact point where I said something about "kissing asses"? I never said anything like that, I simply said that you could write the damn thing in neutral context.
Something like: "Help is accepted. Although, as strive for good first impression, there are certain rules. The icons has to be consistent. Both looks and color, so you basically you need to have the skills to imitate the chosen (realistic) look as closely as possible."
And how can you say that I haven't done anything? I have done some design but as you might know, you don't get good design doesn't just by snapping fingers. Basically I've done some preliminary work, Besides, now it's my first change to actually do something, as you might notice, when the UI team was decided upon I really didn't have time to do jack. My days aren't going to have more hours by bitching about it.
My contribution isn't something clear and concretic which you can measure. My main mission is to consult UI design and, when I have the possibility, to write design documents. Since I am not going to get my back sore by spending 5 hours per day writing an design document on cardboardboxes, there really isn't anything concretic for me to submit. When I get my table done I'll start writing. Until that day, I'm stuck on consult land.
Though I could whip up something in school with Photoshop. Maybe an icon or two?
The trashcan. It is not irrelevant as it simply answers to the question: are there "magic rules in icon design, besides color etc", as you put it. And it says yes, no matter how you look at it.
-mikko