They aren't blue, they are black/white

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They aren't blue, they are black/white
by Ian Monroe on Thursday 08/Mar/2007, @09:03

What is the philosophy behind much of the icons being black and white? I like color.

http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdelibs/pics/oxygen/32x32/actions/media-podcast.png?revision=640052&view=markup
http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdelibs/pics/oxygen/32x32/actions/media-skip-forward.png?revision=640052&view=markup

http://websvn.kde.org/trunk/KDE/kdelibs/pics/oxygen/32x32/actions/ etc.

Related Links

·   Articles on KDE Public Relations and Marketing
·   Also by Ian Monroe
·   Contact author

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Re: They aren't blue, they are black/white
by Aaron Seigo on Thursday 08/Mar/2007, @20:46

colour is indeed great. think of a painting full of beautiful, rich colour. now consider a frame that is just as colourful. imagine using that same frame on every single painting, regardless of the colours in the painting. it would look pretty bad.

that's what our action icons are: they are art that frames the real show: the application. they should be atractive, recognizable and get out of the way without conflicting with the contents of the application's informational display.

you may note that mimetype, filesystem and device icons are more colourful and application icons even more colourful yet. action icons are, due to how and where they are used, purposefully muted and kept simple when it comes to colour and shapes, however.

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Re: They aren't blue, they are black/white
by Diederik van der Boor on Friday 09/Mar/2007, @00:33

+1!

I just got a MacBook, and noticed how all toolbar icons are in grayscales. So far I noticed:
it's beautiful.
doesn't sit in my way.
feels really uncluttered.
doesn't demand attention when I don't need the toolbar.
let me focus to what's really important.
macs also have really colorful icons, exactly for applications.

So I feel Oxygen is going to become a key element to make KDE feel uncluttered. :)

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