Suggestions for improvement, please...

Limeflavour · 03-15-2008, 10:12 AM

Edit: This theme is finished and a new thread is open.
http://www.cockos.com/forum/showthre...587#post169587

For some reason I can't stop themeing.....

This one is a work in progress but I still need some opinions if
there is something thats not tip-top.
All suggestions are very welcome.

Let the bashing begin!

S-N-S · 03-15-2008, 11:07 AM

okay.........and what are we looking at here?????????

ahoova · 03-15-2008, 11:12 AM

I like it. Keep going!

Limeflavour · 03-15-2008, 11:38 AM

I'm not very statisfied with the recordmode & monitoring buttons, do they really fit the rest of the theme?
Is everything readable? (I haven't got the best monitor...)
Also any suggestions on colorchanges?

Trogdor · 03-15-2008, 03:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limeflavour

I'm not very statisfied with the recordmode & monitoring buttons, do they really fit the rest of the theme?
Is everything readable? (I haven't got the best monitor...)
Also any suggestions on colorchanges?

I agree it looks nice so far(keep up the good work)the record and monitor buttons need to be replaced with something more simple me thinks.

carbon · 03-16-2008, 03:00 AM

Quite nice, as always

A couple of thoughts:
1) maybe rec in/out and monitor buttons should look like buttons
2) simpler faders for tracks
3) less different colours on the buttons
4) sharper buttons (look a bit fuzzy)

drillbit · 03-16-2008, 04:26 AM

Let the brainstorm session begins...

Brilliant, stunning, uber cool.

I think you should make simpler pan faders.
The are a lesser fader and in this they look more complex.

I love the overall warmth and evenness of the skin.
The rich colours in the mixers and the use of grey in the main editing area work well.
There is a clear separation. I like the brightly lit button colours, well chosen.

In the main edit window I think the bar/beat lines should be tinted down to the
background a bit, create a smoother look.

Personally I would change the font sizes and use a more anti-aliased font, but this is
more a persona preference, that often depends on your screen size and resolution.

I think the big buttons at the top should have a darker background like the timeline
background colour and make the buttons darker as well.
This is a big area of colour so it need to be toned down a bit.

you have this beautifully thought out theme with a great colour theme and smooth
anti-aliased buttons and icons then you use those terrible Commadore64 looking
record and monitor icons. I hope you use one of your own, these should have died out in version 1.

I like the backgrounds of the media to get tinted when you colour a channel and the
peaks to stay grey as opposed to how you have it with the peaks being coloured.
I find this looks smoother when you have a lot of coloured tracks.
I may have perceived this wrong as I don't have the theme.

Overall..

Brilliant theme. Very stylish. This is a real client impresser.
It looks great now. My critique is really clutching at straws for any points.
I only comment because I think it's very good and I want it to be the best it can.
If it was crap I wouldn't bother. Hope this helps.

Cheers, drill

Sanskrit · 03-16-2008, 06:04 AM

I really like the transport controls. I also like the way you've set off the channel strips from one another. The edge design (and the color changes) are cool. Really nice job man! Snskrt

carbon · 03-16-2008, 06:40 AM

This comment has nothing to do about your theme:

I dislike the big white font on the meters of an armed track.
Is there a way to change it?

Smaller, less white...

Limeflavour · 03-16-2008, 11:43 AM

carbon, drillbit & Trogdor > Thanks for the feedback, I'll try to fix some of the stuff you mention next weekend.

wzmzw · 03-16-2008, 03:57 PM

Hi!

really nice, i like it!

Salut!

Mykatik · 03-17-2008, 04:00 AM

Hi - This theme is looking *very* smart. Thank you for putting the time into this.

I particually like the metering colours you have used with the dark grey background. It also works perfectly with the coloured tracks and makes visual scanning quick and easy.

Two niggles - 1. The two icons at the bottom of the faders look a bit messy, probably because they are not like the other buttons. This is the only area of the design where visual confusuin occurs. 2. The font that you use on the buttons looks a bit squashed to me, perhaps it would benefit from a touch more air around it.

I look forward to the finished article, it has great potential!

thehuman · 03-17-2008, 06:01 AM

Really nice work. I think you are right about those two buttons, though. They don't really fit in. Why not just make them similar to the rest of the buttons?

Also, I personally don't care for the orange font everywhere. That, however, is easily customizable by the end user, though, so not too much of a concern for yourself.

Anyway, excellent theme. Keep it up.

SamuliK · 03-17-2008, 08:35 AM

Looks very promising. I find it a bit problematic that currently orange is used for several different meanings in the buttons (at least activated and bypassed). I would personally like the record arm button to be red and also the VU meters to go to red when indicating clipping. I actually do like record mode & monitoring buttons a lot but think the folder track indicator could be more intuitive.

Limeflavour · 03-20-2008, 10:39 AM

I have not made much progress, I changed the fonts on the buttons to a "thinner" font.
By doing that the letters appear much smaller, are they still readable?

drillbit · 03-22-2008, 10:32 PM

Hey Limey,

I think the lack of Anti-aliasing (um, double negative?) on the text actually makes them clearer. Make sure you use the sharp setting in photoshop's text alaising setting. nothing worse than blurry smooth fonts.

So in conclusion I think the pixelly small ones are cool and clear.

Limeflavour · 03-22-2008, 11:19 PM

The sharp font is pixeled with the penciltool so I cannot use the "sharp" setting...
I'll search the net for a font that can be this small and still look clear.

Limeflavour · 03-23-2008, 03:04 AM

Another screenshot!
Added and switched alot of stuff..

carbon · 03-23-2008, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Limeflavour

The sharp font is pixeled with the penciltool so I cannot use the "sharp" setting...
I'll search the net for a font that can be this small and still look clear.

This is a font for small size, not much use with antialiasing though:

http://www.kottke.org/plus/type/silkscreen/

Limeflavour · 03-23-2008, 03:49 AM

Thanks Carbon, I'll check this out

WOK! · 03-25-2008, 04:19 AM

I like the transport buttons - can I get them in advance?

The rest is too coloured for me...

Mykatik · 03-25-2008, 04:24 AM

Hi - I like the button font a lot - its small, but to me perfectly clear. Looks great! Gives the buttons themselves more visual space.
I'm not so certain about the gold [pan] sliders though, I associate them too much with the gold/orange [volume] meters...

Limeflavour · 03-27-2008, 01:21 AM

Sorry WOK! you'll have to wait, you can get them (with the rest of the theme) this weekend.

Mykatik, I'll probably go for white panfaders. The pan and volumefader will have different colors but I'll add some extra, different colored ones.

Edit: this thread is now obsolete since the theme is released here -> http://www.cockos.com/forum/showthre...587#post169587