COIL iconTheme

A forum for research and development of the user interface of FreeCAD
Forum rules
Be nice to others! Respect the FreeCAD code of conduct!
User avatar
st_phan
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 10:24 am
Contact:

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by st_phan »

Thank you all very much for the kind words :shock: :)
triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by triplus »

I gave it some thought and have shared the plan here:

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 23#p400923
adrianinsaval wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 3:46 pm There is work being done in remaking the addon manager: https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p399140
You could ask him to include a method to download releases from github.
In my time i have seen around 5 addons managers in the development. As there was not much official endorsement, not much has happened in that regard. Will keep an eye on the mentioned effort, but for now i will focus on Addons manager.
st_phan wrote: Wed May 20, 2020 5:55 pm I don't (yet :) ) understand the code and its restrictions enough, so:
How hard would it be to update the default icon set?
If everything else gets done before, from technical point of view, it comes down to replacing the SVG icons with a pull request.
Or what would be possible complications?

It's still early, but I started a bit playing around with a style that combines what I like the most about OnShape's and Fusion360's icons:
Possible complications would be some people would use pitch black desktop theme and some icons from your proposal would become invisible. That would end up in the need to provide 2 icon packs, one for dark and one for light set of desktop themes. But you don't know upfront, what variation of dark or light desktop theme is being used. For a single and default icon theme pack, some sort of solution with an "outline" usually needs to be used, basically, you usually need to compromise a bit.
I saw it as a opportunity for me because it doesn't require (or at least I think that) not much programming skills and will make FreeCAD appear more professional :)
Exactly.

P.S. Hence hopefully in not some distant future, you will be able to create a PR, against official FreeCAD icon themes repository, and do just that. People should be able to use your work seamlessly. As we are talking about thousands of icons, external modules, future maintenance, designers can (try to) keep such repository in a good shape, likely focusing on a couple of variants. Like COIL, simple icon theme ... As for the default icon theme. Here designers likely do need to make some compromises, but obviously can always propose some evolutionary or revolutionary approaches and work on it directly. If i guess the common agreement is reached, but note that this is usually a hard thing to reach.
User avatar
st_phan
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 10:24 am
Contact:

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by st_phan »

Thanks a lot for the clarifications. That helps a lot actually :)

Then I am gonna expand working on the icons. It's a lot of fun actually and it would be cool to (maybe) see them eventually in the app.

I am not too worried about light and dark themes. Most of the work is creating the icons themselves, recoloring them is then fairly quick.
I'd always prefer having two sets instead of outline icons because they also became a bit larger (due to outlining) and therefore don't work as well anymore in smaller size / worse screens.

I'll start a new thread once I have some more icons (and once I manage to compile on my Mac^^) to show my progress.
triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by triplus »

st_phan wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 4:02 pm Thanks a lot for the clarifications. That helps a lot actually :)
You're welcome.
Then I am gonna expand working on the icons. It's a lot of fun actually and it would be cool to (maybe) see them eventually in the app.

I am not too worried about light and dark themes. Most of the work is creating the icons themselves, recoloring them is then fairly quick.
I'd always prefer having two sets instead of outline icons because they also became a bit larger (due to outlining) and therefore don't work as well anymore in smaller size / worse screens.
Sounds good.
I'll start a new thread once I have some more icons (and once I manage to compile on my Mac^^) to show my progress.
Note that you don't need to compile FreeCAD, compiling icon theme pack should do.

https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic. ... 01#p292101
triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by triplus »

1D_Inc wrote:
If you would take the COIL variant that makes the most sense to you, would take a couple of icons from it you like the most, and would say OK, lets compromise. How would you approach to adding outline, are you prepared to do that and present the result?

P.S. Note that if you decide to test this, there is no rush involved and take your time.
User avatar
st_phan
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 10:24 am
Contact:

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by st_phan »

An example, just so that we talk about the same thing.

When you mean adding outlines you mean something like (3), correct?
Screenshot 2020-05-21 at 21.59.23.png
Screenshot 2020-05-21 at 21.59.23.png (120.12 KiB) Viewed 2047 times

My plan would have been the "traditional" approach (1).

PS: Thanks a lot for the patience and just in general friendliness. I heard bad things about the tone in some FOSS-projects but this community seems super nice and welcoming :)
User avatar
HakanSeven12
Veteran
Posts: 1481
Joined: Wed Feb 06, 2019 10:30 pm

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by HakanSeven12 »

You can create a new thread for your icon theme ;)
User avatar
st_phan
Posts: 48
Joined: Sun May 17, 2020 10:24 am
Contact:

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by st_phan »

HakanSeven12 wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 8:22 pm You can create a new thread for your icon theme ;)
Sorry for spamming :D created the thread now:
https://forum.freecadweb.org/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=46633
triplus
Veteran
Posts: 9471
Joined: Mon Dec 12, 2011 4:45 pm

Re: COIL iconTheme

Post by triplus »

st_phan wrote: Thu May 21, 2020 8:06 pm When you mean adding outlines you mean something like (3), correct?
Yes.
Post Reply