I generally like the appearance - one small correction however: under Dockies, the word "Seperator" should be spelled "Separator".

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Do we really want another OSX wannabe desktop?

How would I know what other people want?

Using quality icons doesn't mean you're immitating another OS. That's nonesense.

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i would like to sign a petetion or something to get the icons "outlined"

Why must a petition be signed in order to accomplish something? I've yet to see somebody make a co-ordinated effort to make something happen themselves instead of rallying some noise-making. If somebody wants better icons on OS4 and has the ability to make it happen, they'll draw them themselves regardless of whether other people are signing a petition. At least, I would. Petition's are only good at one thing on this website: preaching to the choir.

OK, nothing to see here, it's essentially just GlowIcons. I'd expect a little bit of progress in style design, e.g. as it was the case with MagicWB and NewIcons. Still, with tools like PowerIcons there's nothing stopping us from using KDE/Gnome icons.

Firstly,

Keep it up Mason. I can only imagine how it feels to be defining the look of the OS4 icons. It must be a little daunting.

I notice comments all over the shop here & there regarding the colours, the shades, style etc... On the whole, I think the icons look fine.

But, I think the thing that's making people comment (Which they probably haven't realised since it's so subtle) is the FACT that each icon has it's own 256 colour palette.

Let me elaborate. With the existing icons (Found in OS3.9), sharing a palette forced each icon to contain a limited number of pens (You can see this in the Trashcan icon) but what people don't seem to see is the fact that this actually gave the icons 'texture'. Changing the icon so it is the same colour but has a smooth gradient of shades in such a small image in execution makes them look like they have less colours although there are actually more colours (Does that make sense?).

I don't know how you create these icons, CAD, pixel packages, Vector progs etc, or even if you'll listen to peoples opinion but if it wasn't too much work, looking at (As I refer to it) 'texturing' may shut people up a bit & slightly darkening the edges giving them a subtle border.

I however, won't let them get to me regardless of how they end up.

FuZion.

Here is my theory on the subject. This is exacly the same thing as it was with the AOS screenshots when they showed up. What 's the idea. You throw in a few new things to see how people will react to that concept. Than you put alot of unfinished work to mask it a little. Then, after a wile you get out with much better version and all the folks wowes at it and the best thing you keep for the final. At least I would do it that way

@Mason & Rouge
Guys I must say that I admire the effort that you and the rest of the team have put into this project and, although my eyes hurt a little bit from stareing at the icons ,
I have no doubt that the final product will blow us all away.
I just know it

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You can crack anything with your head, even the head itself.
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...proud AOS user since 1993
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@soft

Relax, I wasn't having a go at you. It just seems applying such a style is unoriginal and wouldn't differentiate OS4 from osx, morphos or some linux desktops. But hey, do as you wish with your workbench

@Mason

I think you are doing a great job here.



redfox
... who is waiting for OS4 with great anticipation

To the whiners and moaners out there:

It seems to me that some Amigans are very hard to please.



Everyone seems to have their own opinions about what is the best look and feel.

As long as there is some choice, you can pick whatever suits your own taste and needs.

---------------
redfox

I agree with you, RedFox. One of the great things about the Amiga is how configurable it is---how it is so easy to make something look unique to suit your own tastes.

Of course, it is also important that the default look is impressive. You don't want people to be in a hysterical hurry to get rid of the default. But everyone's tastes are different.

What I would absolutely love to see is a few different icon packages included with the final public release of OS 4.0, so that at the time of installation, a selection from four or so different icon style sets could be made. Much like how when you install YAM (or a number of other programs) you are given different choices for the designs of the buttons. It would also be cool if you could easily switch between the different icon packages even after the installation depending upon your mood.

These different styles might include: "realistic icons," "3D rendered icons" (one light set and another dark set), "brightly colored non-realistic icons," "pastel/chalk icons," and possibly even "photo-quality images."

As long as all of the icons in each individual set keep to their own style, they should look like a nice matched family of icons.

One problem I have with the set of icons in the above screenshot is that different styles are not kept distinct, but are rather mixed together. And this tends to make the whole look somewhat confused.

My personal favorites from the set of Prefs icons are: USB, AHI, ScreenMode, Printer(PS), and Pointer. All of these (with the possible exception of "Pointer") fall into the same family of "realistic icons" (I just happen to like that particular style). If all the other icons were of this type, I would fall in love with the entire set immediately.

Unfortunately, there are other Prefs icons that I don't like much, such as: Locale and Workbench (I would prefer a more realistic looking globe and workbench). These two fall into the "brightly colored non-realistic icons" category, which I'm sure some people really like. But then all of the icons should be of this type for the sake of consistency.

The file cabinets could easily be made more realistic if the color were changed from sky blue to gray or taupe or some far less bright. I like the gradients on the file cabinets; I just don't care for the bright, non-realistic choice of colors. So also I would prefer the CD color scheme to be changed from gold to a more realistic silvery mirror, with the color spectrum seen in each of the rays not one color per ray (Look at a real CD to see what I mean.)

Anyway, I hope all this makes sense. Thank you very much, Mason, for all of your hard work. I look forward to seeing and enjoying your work in the future.

___ Paul ___

P.S.: Do these new icons have the same kind of glow or a different effect on the secondary image. (I always liked the glow, personally.)

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To the whiners and moaners out there: It seems to me that some Amigans are very hard to please.

That 'whining and moaning' as you call it is called having an opinion. Since there's nothing right or wrong in an opinion this statement is unfair.

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Everyone seems to have their own opinions about what is the best look and feel.

Does this really come as a surprise?

Looking at other platforms, such as MacOS X, Windows XP and KDE on Linux, these icons look seriously outdated. S4 offers high resolution and high pixel depth, why not create icons that take advantage of this? There are plenty of good artists out there, so why not take advantage of their skills to make something truely awesome. Just to give you an example:

Resexcellence Icon Collection

Until it looks credible, everyone else will look at it a curosity. For those of you who don't follow Slashdot, here is a link to follow on some of the sarcastic view points, regarding this announcement:

Default AmigaOS4 Icon Set Revealed

Posting it to Slashdot was a huge mistake, in my humble opinion.

Sometimes it's better to stay quiet outside Amiga circles until we have something to show people. Now we have people laughing both on OSNews and on Slashdot.

This is probably the main reason why Amiga Inc. are so quiet around their activities, because they know they'll be laughed at, unless they have something truly excellent to show.

I'm sure the icons will improve drastically, knowing Mason. However, now is not the time to be bombastic about OS4 graphics.

Just for the record, I didn't post it to /. Not that anyone is saying so,

I find the icons quite nice, with a lot of work put into them. However, just like others have already mentioned, the contrast in the shading between sides and also in some of the features within a number of icons could be enhanced to make the different sides and features more distinct. I also like the idea of making the outer edges slightly darker to make the icons stand out from the background better.

@PEB

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What I would absolutely love to see is a few different icon packages included with the final public release of OS 4.0, so that at the time of installation, a selection from four or so different icon style sets could be made. Much like how when you install YAM (or a number of other programs) you are given different choices for the designs of the buttons. It would also be cool if you could easily switch between the different icon packages even after the installation depending upon your mood.

I agree! Having choices of icon sets, and even the option to replace an individual icon in one set with another from another set will raise the user configurability of the gui to even greater heights!

Also, for a given icon style set included with OS4.0, the user could also be given a choice between 2 different versions of Preferences icons: one version with the slider, and one version with the question mark!

@HMK

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Posting it to Slashdot was a huge mistake, in my humble opinion.

Not necessarily! People are starting to become aware of the new Amigas thanks to the posting! Check out this thread!

Mason for all your artistic work!
Rogue for posting the screenshot!

Keep up the great work, everyone!

I don't like them.

No enough contrast.
They need some definition, maybe a 2px wide black outline.

Some are okay, the USB ones, the ones with little windows in them.

I don't like the others though.

One thing I ntoiced is that while the top bar makes use of anti-aliasing for the text, the icon titles don't make use of it at all. Also, I am not certain that an italic font for the icon names is the most readable - maybe adding anti-aliasing might help, or simply making it a plain font, or maybe both?

The italic is optional and probably something you won't see as a default setting. It's too particular. Most default appearances try to be generic looking, so the fewest amount of people will be turned off by it. Italic isn't generic.

I think font anti-aliasing is applied in this screenshot, but I might be wrong. I know the feature is there so it stands to reason that it would be enabled (unless there is an unusual reason why it wouldn't).

Yes it is on! I'm sorry to say this, but are you people blind? It must feal great to add features to the OS when people can't see the difference

Well, after a while I can post a calm opinion...

At first I don't liked the set but after more checking and... "testing",
I can say that I am starting to like it...

Now I have figured out what I dislike of the set:
I think that all those "strong" colors like the deep red (mainly those on the datatype icons) and orange (mainly those on the all the cd icons and trashcan) must be changed.

Also, I agree with many comments that a solution to the "contrast thing" must be
adopted and maybe the outline can be a good one.

IMHO, some icons are to be "refined" but there are many icons that are really cute...

Anyway, well done Mason !
(And with a little more work this icon set can become perfect...)

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AmigaOS, the last hope...