ubiquity-slideshow team mailing list archive

[Dylan McCall <dylanmccall@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Sun, Jun 21, 2009 at 10:03 AM, H S<perhapspink@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Dylan and all,
>
> Taking Dylan's comments into consideration, I've put together a new mockup
> that is basically his design, with only slight modifications.  Feel free to
> check it out at
> http://ubuntuwtf.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/my-second-mockup-suggestion-for-ubiquity-slideshow/
>
> * I've removed the border from the 'smiley' slide, (which, to me seemed
> unnecessary), and repositioned it, accordingly.  I think the border made it
> look 'boxed in' and 'cookie cutter'.
>
> * You're already familiar with my subtle changes to the text, in my attempt
> to use language that is more personable.  I would be happy to go through the
> text of all the sides and recommend any textural changes, if that would be
> welcomed.
>
> * The URLs are now just bolded blue links within the paragraph of text.
>
> * The top margin is similar to my previous design, with the accent colour
> changed slightly to fit.  (By the way, the "4 of 12" page count is centred
> on the icon below it.)
>
> * I've increased the slide's height slightly, because I felt I needed to do
> so in order to give more whitespace for the title.  The dimensions are now
> 700 x 460.

That's a pretty reasonable height change, but keep in mind that the
pesky netbooks are sometimes shorter than 600 pixels tall (560px is
not unusual), then we have to take into account about 50 pixel's worth
of panels, around 26 pixels of window decorations, Ubiquity's progress
bar and other GUI details... I'm afraid of getting too close to the
edge. Having a bit of free space around the progress window is
helpful, too, since if it takes up the whole screen it feels modal.
460 is close to scraping it in some cases. Perhaps a worthy risk,
though. White space is definitely important!

Regarding writing, I'm still not sure how we'll be deciding this one
(since I myself am quite undecided), so don't get too carried away.
However, it looks decent and nice / filled in :) To be honest I have
something against the phrase "fear not!", but I don't know what others
think on the matter. For reference, Andrew H did the original written
content for slides. His writing has a pretty similar style to what you
have here in that it fleshes out points more and has a paragraph style
(as opposed to a list of points). It is all good. You can check out
his branch (andrew-improvements) to get an idea.
I guess a vote is in order some day.

Trimming the smiley would create some inconsistency. It should fill
the same area as everything else if it's going to stay with the same
general layout. (Perhaps an entirely different image would be in
order. Suggestions welcome).

When 9.10 inches closer we'll know how many screenshots need to be
redone. If it's a lot, that would be a nice opportunity to revisit
their dimensions.

I have put a few of your suggestions in action (and some thoughts they
inspired) inside another branch, which is right here:
https://code.launchpad.net/~ubiquity-slideshow/ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu/newmargins

(That branch also features Slideshow.py, which needs python-webkit and
embeds the slideshow alone with an awesome, rgba'd progress bar that
actually progresses!)

Screenshots:
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/7955/screenshotubiquityslide.png
http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2821/screenshotubiquityslideh.png

I kept the title inside the margin to save some space. I also added a
border above the screenshots, just to show how they could be made
bigger.

Is there a reason for showing the current / total number of slides in
the margin in your mockup? From my perspective it seems a bit
unnecessary and adds a flip-book mentality (whereas this should really
be quite automatic and simple). I could easily be missing something.
I'll be throwing the Next / Prev buttons on the bottom, so maybe it
makes sense beside those... perhaps as fading text that shows when the
user has the mouse there.


Thanks,
Dylan