Re: [Gaim-cabal] Status icons again

[Etan R. <de...@ed...>]

On Tue, 26 Sep 2006, Sean Egan wrote:

<snip>

> More updates:
> Hylke made an MSN butterfly, and I updated
> http://gaim.sf.net/sean/some-more-protocols.png
> He also made some emblems: http://gaim.sf.net/sean/emblems.tar.gz .
> The bot is awesome. The die is pretty cool, and some of the others are
> still being worked out.
> I'm adjusting well to the Purple Orb. Other variations of circles:
> http://gaim.sf.net/sean/person2.png
> http://gaim.sf.net/sean/person32.png

I don't think we want a smiley for our icon, to start with I just don't 
like it, but also it's a bit too close to our current Yahoo icon for my 
liking.

I really like the idea of putting something in the purple circle, but I 
don't like the + I think it's going to be too easily confused with an 
expander (that is you might think the + was an emblem of sorts). I was 
thinking maybe a 'P' for an M&Ms like feel.

> Re: clock vs notepad. What do you think of making a notepad the icon
> for EXTENDED_AWAY and making AIM's "away" an EXTENDED_AWAY state? This
> way the metaphor makes a bit more sense. I'm thinking of a little shop
> with one of those "We'll be back in 15 minutes clock signs" versus a
> shop with a "Gone Fishing" sign, or something. I don't know. In either
> case, AIM users will be happy with a notepad and MSN users will be
> happy with a clock.
>
> In either case, I'm getting used to the clock. It doesn't take long.

I think I like that idea.

> Question: iChat and the clients it inspired use a 16x16ish icon in
> what we consider Big List. What do you guys think of:
> http://actsofvolition.com/images/screenshots/gaim/gaim-mock-16px.png
> as opposed to
> http://gaim.sf.net/sean/gaim4.png ?
>
> It seems like iChat and its inspired clients all use variations of the
> randomly colored orbs, and so it makes more sense for them to be
> small, since 22x22 icons of green circle doesn't gain much over 16x16
> pixels of green circle. Our icons tend to be more detailed so we can
> benefit more from the additional 8. Still, my girlfriend is convinced
> Gaim will be ugly as long as those additional 8 pixels are there.
>
> Thoughts?
>
> -s.

I think if we were going to go with some sort of small icon in the big 
list we would need the icon to take up exactly the size of the top row 
of text, this may or may not be the case I can't tell from the shot. 
Other than that I think I like the extra color/stuff with the large 
icons, though perhaps a middle size might be something to consider.

 	-Etan