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Difference between revisions of "E4/CSS/Visual Design"
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* initial design focuses on static visual design | * initial design focuses on static visual design | ||
** investigate role of animation later | ** investigate role of animation later | ||
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== Deliverables == | == Deliverables == | ||
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| Tabs | | Tabs | ||
| Custom highlight colors and gradients | | Custom highlight colors and gradients | ||
− | | Need to honor platform hues where the color does not need to be specified. | + | | Need to honor platform hues where the color does not need to be specified. [https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=296175 Bug 296175] |
| High | | High | ||
| [[Image:Progress.gif]] | | [[Image:Progress.gif]] |
Revision as of 13:27, 3 March 2010
This page summarizes the investigations into an updated visual design (default stylesheet) for the e4 workbench.
Contents
Goals
- design a modern visual style for e4 that is clearly different than the 3.x design
- reduce visual clutter, more focus on the data, less on the container elements
- investigate design lessons learned from publishing and web (whitespace, etc.)
- drive the ability/flexibility of the CSS styling for SWT widgets
- identify the major interaction design issues (workbench model) that might block visual design
Current mockup
All mockups are posted in Bug 293481, please cc: on this bug if you want to be alerted of new mockups.
- Iteration 2
- always shows view and editor icons, but in faded state when not active
- maintains the overall direction for rounded stacks with shadows, but tightens up corners and shadows
- simplifies selected tab rendering on active part stack
- introduces "selection color highlight" to active part stack
- maintains a stylized toolbar treatment to provide transition from platform trim to custom look, but reduces the shadowing
- introduces subtle selected tab emphasis in non-active stacks
Assumptions
- the default design will still honor platform themes with respect to colors and fonts
- end users still control common fonts and colors through Eclipse preferences and platform theme settings
- we continue to respect high contrast themes (accessibility)
- end users may completely reskin the SDK using CSS but should not have to do so for existing preferences
- the design will focus on space, colors, and gradients to help reduce the visual noise
- tab colors and backgrounds, view backgrounds, reduction of borders
- investigate overlays to fade non-focus areas
- initial design focuses on static visual design
- investigate role of animation later
Deliverables
- default CSS styling for the Eclipse 4.0 workbench
- demonstrate ability to retain the "classic" look
- process for obtaining alternate styles and polling/vote to determine which will ship with SDK
Timetable/approach
- M2 - M3 (Oct-Dec 2009)
- Design project kick-off
- Investigate/define implementation constraints
- Bogdan - explore tab shape definition, border control, Windows 7 implications (if any)
- Prioritize visual design areas
- Susan - work within e4 plat UI team to prioritize focus areas for design exploration
- Visual design explorations
- Linda - multiple design explorations with limited constraints
- Susan - solicit team response/consensus on alternatives
- Choose a direction by end of year? via bug reports, e4 meetings
- Interaction design explorations
- Eric working on drag/animation for stack moving
- Susan/Eric - discussion of default workbench model Bug 292789
- M4 (2/26/2010)
- First prototype of new styling
- Shows direction of new look, not everything is stylable
- Post new mockups to compare implementation with intended direction
- First prototype of new styling
- EclipseCon (3/22/2010)
- "new look" available to demo apps / some stylability of new look
- Show classic look
- Radical alternative styling?? What will be possible?
- M5 (4/9/2010)
- Most design details implemented
- M6 (5/21/2010)
- Focusing on end-user story for tweaking styles/editing
Visual Design Items
The following table tracks visual design elements that are being considered and any constraints that the implementation imposes on the design. Note that the priority listed in the table is related to its impact on the overall visual design. High priority items must have their constraints defined first, while lower priority items can be defined later in the design process without affecting the overall design approach.
Design element | Requirement | Implementation constraints | Priority | Status |
---|---|---|---|---|
View stack bar (ie, tab background) | Stylized tab/view stack bar | Custom colors, consider gradients | High | Default visual design is complete, implementation in e4 renderer, consider what is exposed through CSS |
Tabs | Custom highlight colors and gradients | Need to honor platform hues where the color does not need to be specified. Bug 296175 | High | |
Tabs | Specify custom fonts/bolding for normal/selection | None | High | previous control in ETabFolder moving into CTabFolder/e4 renderer structure |
Tabs | Ability to remove keylines or specify their shape and color color independently for different states | None | High | implemented in e4 renderer, need to define/expose styling capability |
View and editor stacks | Visual separation of view stacks without using keylines (drop shadowing?). | Rendered by new CTabFolder | High | implementation complete, may need to expose some styling control |
Toolbar | Specify transparency, customizable background, or shadowing to transition between platform themed elements and Eclipse content | Current assumption: might be limited by platform, can this be rendered efficiently | High | Bogdan to investigate rendering vs. images |
Deemphasize non-active views | Static reduction of emphasis or programmatic fades? | Visual design complete - focusing on static changes | High | Current mockups moving into implementation |
Animation/feedback for view stack manipulation | Visuals for stack manipulation are old/outdated. Can we animate or at least modernize? Do we need new cursor icons? | Medium | Implementation of full drag in e4 M4, consider refinements and updated icons for cursor | |
Perspective Switcher | Look and feel of switcher in e4, location of switcher | Medium | Ongoing discussion in Bug 292789 | |
Shared search bar | Define behavior, then location. | Platform trim supported on Win7, Mac. Need to position it for XP, GTK | Medium | Ongoing discussion in Bug 304440 |
View and editor toolbars | Consistent location of view and editor toolbars. Consider a local editor toolbar. Consider a static position for view toolbar (always below?). Location of min max controls | Probably need user control over this. Not everyone wants to give up the real estate to a view toolbar. | Medium | Ongoing discussion in Bug 292792 |
Multi page editor tab styling | Tab styling for multi-page editors appearing at bottom of e4 editor stack | Rendering should be simpler than main tab case. | Medium | Need mockup |
Widget borders | reducing key lines within tab content, etc. | requires changes to client code so we can't assume it would happen | Low | Bogdan to provide summary of OS limitations |
Workbench background | Specify an image as the background for the workbench | ? | Low | |
Menubar | Specify transparency or customizable background | Current assumption: limited by platform | Low | |
Decorations | Don't show decorators for 90% case | would need new graphics for "exception case" | ? | |
UI Forms | Are there additional requirements for styling ui forms components? | Apps desiring styling control over forms should be encouraged to use web UI technology to achieve this. There will be no more effort applied to styling ui forms. | Low | No work to be done |