unity-design team mailing list archive

[Tomasz Sałaciński <tsalacinski@xxxxxxxxx>]

I've created such a comparsion.

First label shows default monospace font in Windows and in Ubuntu (gedit).

Second label (Setup is loading...) shows Windows interface font (setup 
program) compared to Ubuntu interface font (made in Glade).

See how much Windows fonts are clearer and take a lot less space than 
Ubuntu fonts. 90% of computer users in the world don't have any problem 
with size that Windows uses (I think they spent a lot more money on 
research what font size they should be using) - let's say 10% of them 
change the size of the font. It still leaves 80% of world computer users 
satisfied (maybe more, not counting Macs) with the font we see in 
Windows. Even with a lot less userbase MORE Ubuntu users are complaining 
about font size.

Imagine when reading a source code file in gedit you have to scroll 
every few lines.. then you have to find where you've left reading. It 
hurts your eyes and makes using of computer a simple pain in the backside.

Of coure - Ubuntu 11 looks fancy. But users will do more than looking at 
the screenshots. If they see that the system is useless except for 
listening to music, watching videos and browsing Facebook - they just 
stick to using Windows. With such big fonts and additional padding, 
windows in Ubuntu are a lot bigger than in other systems. If this is by 
design, then the design is simply completely wrong. You can't satisfy 
all users, but you should try satisfying most user's needs, instead of 
personal preferences of the designers.

W dniu 2011-10-20 15:00, Thibaut Brandscheid pisze:
> 2011/10/17 Matthew Paul Thomas <mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> <mailto:mpt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>>
>
>
>     What would help here is for someone to make a screenshot comparison of
>     the same windows, laid out in exactly the same positions, on Ubuntu,
>     Windows, and OS X.
>
>     ....
>
>     We might find that the problem is partly font size, but partly also
>     size and padding of interface controls.
>
>
>   Here are two similar images showing the file browser and text editor
> in Windows 7 and Ubuntu Oneiric.
>
>   * Ubuntu <http://image-upload.de/image/KUAqjL/28a9103bae.png>
>   * Windows 7 <http://image-upload.de/image/uyfCCE/e1bc89e7fa.png>
>
> Padding (buttons) and font size are smaller and therefore the interface
> looks & feels cleaner in Windows 7. Thats the reason why smaller windows
> seems to be more useful in Windows than in Ubuntu (compared same sized
> windows).
>
> Traditionally GNOME has a lot of padding (negative example → Totem
> controls) and wasts a lot of screen space (has been reduced a bit last
> cycles).
>
> So what to do?
>
>   * Analise every default application UI if they need that big buttons
>     and that much padding/margin
>       o use the same padding/margin in every application if possible
>   * Reduce padding and font size - just a bit → huge difference
>
>
> Kind regards
> Thibaut
>
> PS: If anybody uses Ubuntu, Win & and Mac and could make more comparison
> screenshots it would be awesome.
> I use Windows only for gaming → my Wintendoo ;)
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Mailing list: https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> Post to     : ayatana@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Unsubscribe : https://launchpad.net/~ayatana
> More help   : https://help.launchpad.net/ListHelp

--
Tomasz Sałaciński

Attachment: comparsion.png
Description: PNG image