4 ms·

I hate single color icons. For me Tango icon theme is peak of usability, anything else is downhill from there.

by dvh 6y ago

block_dagger 6y ago
I have the exact opposite opinion.
- jkoberg 6y ago
  Have you ever run user tests though?
nanna 6y ago
You're being sarcastic, right?
- tobr 6y ago
  In terms of usability, monochrome line icons are not particularly a good idea. At a glance they tend to look the same. They’re often abstracted to the point where you need to be familiar with the “vernacular” of app iconography to interpret them. They are mostly used for aesthetic reasons. It wasn’t that long ago that icons were expected to use color and shading. For usability’s sake, we should hope some version of that trend returns.
  - blackbrokkoli 6y ago
    It is not black and white, though (excuse the pun). Imagine for example a piece of software with a settings menu which maybe gets used once per user, if ever, and it is only for technical stuff (think: assign more RAM and change V-Sync method). For that use case, a simple, subtle icon which is perfectly findable for the target group in the rare case it is needed is perfect. A colorful, detailed icon might disproportionally distract and thus diminish user experience. Point is - use the right tool for the right job, and thanks to the author for providing a specific tool!
    - jkoberg 6y ago
      The proper identifier for a rarely used feature is a WORD .
nyanpasu64 6y ago
I've looked into Linux XDG icon packs as a source of freely licensed in-app icons optimized for multiple pixel resolutions. Tango (last updated 2009), Humanity, and Oxygen (forgot what Gnome icons are called) are, in a way, the last of breed for multi-colored icons. Practically no modern icon themes released within the past few years have toolbar icons with outlines and colored fills. These icons have outlines. On the plus side, they look decent on any color background (though Humanity icons have too light-colored borders, which can make light icons hard to see on light backgrounds). On the minus side, the outlines look noticeably blurry when rescaled instead of picking the nearest integer size. Monochrome icons are less damaged by resizing. However, they can become essentially invisible black icons on a dark background (or vice versa), so often come in light/dark variants. Apparently KDE has an extension to XDG icon themes called "FollowsColorScheme", where the renderer will automatically recolor -symbolic icons. (Documented at https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/1181 https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/1181 )

I hate single color icons. For me Tango icon theme is peak of usability, anything else is downhill from there.

by dvh 6y ago

I hate single color icons. For me Tango icon theme is peak of usability, anything else is downhill from there.

block_dagger 6y ago

I have the exact opposite opinion.

jkoberg 6y ago
Have you ever run user tests though?

nanna 6y ago

You're being sarcastic, right?

tobr 6y ago
In terms of usability, monochrome line icons are not particularly a good idea. At a glance they tend to look the same. They’re often abstracted to the point where you need to be familiar with the “vernacular” of app iconography to interpret them. They are mostly used for aesthetic reasons. It wasn’t that long ago that icons were expected to use color and shading. For usability’s sake, we should hope some version of that trend returns.
- blackbrokkoli 6y ago
  It is not black and white, though (excuse the pun). Imagine for example a piece of software with a settings menu which maybe gets used once per user, if ever, and it is only for technical stuff (think: assign more RAM and change V-Sync method). For that use case, a simple, subtle icon which is perfectly findable for the target group in the rare case it is needed is perfect. A colorful, detailed icon might disproportionally distract and thus diminish user experience. Point is - use the right tool for the right job, and thanks to the author for providing a specific tool!
  - jkoberg 6y ago
    The proper identifier for a rarely used feature is a WORD .

nyanpasu64 6y ago

I've looked into Linux XDG icon packs as a source of freely licensed in-app icons optimized for multiple pixel resolutions. Tango (last updated 2009), Humanity, and Oxygen (forgot what Gnome icons are called) are, in a way, the last of breed for multi-colored icons. Practically no modern icon themes released within the past few years have toolbar icons with outlines and colored fills. These icons have outlines. On the plus side, they look decent on any color background (though Humanity icons have too light-colored borders, which can make light icons hard to see on light backgrounds). On the minus side, the outlines look noticeably blurry when rescaled instead of picking the nearest integer size. Monochrome icons are less damaged by resizing. However, they can become essentially invisible black icons on a dark background (or vice versa), so often come in light/dark variants. Apparently KDE has an extension to XDG icon themes called "FollowsColorScheme", where the renderer will automatically recolor -symbolic icons. (Documented at https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/1181 https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/1181 )