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Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests?

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golinux
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#21 Post by golinux »

kcin wrote:I've had a similar idea about the dog tag concept . . .
Dog tags? I would prefer not to see Debian militarized (or turned into a cartoon). But knowing the history of Debian decisions, bizarro world wouldn't surprise me.
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#22 Post by Wheelerof4te »

^It's a cute-looking dog on a dark background. Nothing militarized here. And why should cat lovers be offended in any way if the theme is meaningful? I'm a cat lover myself. Is the OP supposed to be catering to every minor trivial group on the planet, since Debian is a international distro?

Personally, I like the idea. Maybe add ten paws around the dog, purely symbolic.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#23 Post by kcin »

@golinux Thanks for your input. I do understand what you mean and have read about space fun, this is why my initial concept was moving away from literal interpretations of buster. But I do agree with some people that the name fitting the concept (if you can make it work) is good as well. Not sure I agree about dog tags being only for military, as you know they are used on dogs for owner information, but for now I decided it's not really needed in this concept.

@Wheelerof4te I like the concept of adding ten some how, but after trying it for a while I just couldn't make it work for the main wallpaper earlier. But I'll see if I can incorporate some how into other designs like the shirt or the box, but if not I will just use text. But thank you very much for the suggestions.

I've always indented to provide variations and I know not everyone wants to see dogs everywhere, so I will be conveying the concept via shared colors and such. I made a few simple wallpapers that I feel fit the theme and I will be probably using them across the proposal in different parts and also offer them as a separate wallpaper choice. I've tested them and I think they look simple but sharp. Thinking the theme will be called bestFriend, because you know the whole a dog being a man's best friend thing. For simpleOutlook proposal, I will probably just toss all the other wallpapers in the proposal and then maybe it will be made into a debian wallpaper pack or perhaps someone will use it in the future. So for now that's my plan, but always open to further suggestions or ideas.

Various wallpaper variations on buster design.
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#24 Post by Pick2 »

kcin wrote: ... I know everyone wants to see dogs everywhere
There ... Fixed that for you :) :lol:

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#25 Post by kcin »

Pick2 wrote:
kcin wrote: ... I know everyone wants to see dogs everywhere
There ... Fixed that for you :) :lol:
Thanks. :D

On a related note I've updated simpleOutlook with source files and also created bestFriend theme proposal.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#26 Post by bedtime »

I like the Dachshund idea, but I can't seem to shake it from my mind that the dog looks to be emptying its colon. The reason seems to be that its behind is a little off the ground. I'm thinking if the dog's derriere was to be on the ground—properly sitting—it would look much better. Also, it might better bring to mind the quality of stability, as the dog is more grounded—literally and figuratively; the dog is there and refuses to move but is guarding its territory. Debian is like that: stable, loyal, patient...

A wonderful concept, and with the appropriate changes, you would have my vote. I think it would be nice to give a little character to Debain and make it fun. People would then take off with designing things that the dog would do.

Could be interesting. :)

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#27 Post by kcin »

As a dog owner myself, the pose that dogs make is a bit different, so I personally don't see it myself. If you want to see, you can google image search, you'll notice how their back is arched a certain way and both legs are much closer together. The pose I have is more like the dog is excited to see someone and is waiting to raise up to greet, the back legs are in a comfortable position and the dog feels stable to me, wagging it's tale perhaps. If I was to drop the dog too low, it looks a bit odd to me, dachshund don't seem to normally sit with 1 leg on each side, they appear to prefer both legs to one side, which makes it a bit complex for this design. Sitting down fully also makes it look a bit lazy, the legs becomes much shorter, also starts to look a bit bird like in my opinion. A fully standing pose might work better on a bigger dog, but because of the way this breed is long it looks unstable to me as well. But thank you for the input.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#28 Post by golinux »

You could always animate it jumping and wagging. Moving thingies seem to be all the rage these days. :roll:

An enclosed static object in the middle of a canvas is about the worst design choice possible. The swirl works because it it more dynamic. Maybe Buster playing with the swirl would work better. Or even just a head and paw peeking out from the side reaching for the swirl or a thought bubble if you want to be corny.
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#29 Post by kcin »

golinux wrote:An enclosed static object in the middle of a canvas is about the worst design choice possible.
I would disagree, I prefer to center objects for wallpapers for a few reasons. Number one is that wallpapers aren't dynamically scalable for each resolution, if you place something to the left or right, once cut down the distance between top and bottom will not be equal and it will look off. Number two is that the center is typically not used for desktop icons so that the design is not covered up.
golinux wrote:Buster playing with the swirl
That's not a bad idea, I can see like a swirl ball and the dog playing with it. Perhaps for someone else to try, in a different design.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#30 Post by golinux »

kcin wrote:Number one is that wallpapers aren't dynamically scalable for each resolution, if you place something to the left or right, once cut down the distance between top and bottom will not be equal and it will look off. Number two is that the center is typically not used for desktop icons so that the design is not covered up.
We got around this in Devuan with narrow-small, wide-small, narrow-large and wide-large options that work reasonably on all resolutions. Here it is with custom theme and icons. If you're interested we did grub and login too. (Don't want to hijack your thread.)
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#31 Post by kcin »

golinux wrote:
kcin wrote:Number one is that wallpapers aren't dynamically scalable for each resolution, if you place something to the left or right, once cut down the distance between top and bottom will not be equal and it will look off. Number two is that the center is typically not used for desktop icons so that the design is not covered up.
We got around this in Devuan with narrow-small, wide-small, narrow-large and wide-large options that work reasonably on all resolutions. Here it is with custom theme and icons. If you're interested we did grub and login too. (Don't want to hijack your thread.)
I like the muted and basic design, very corporate. I think that wallpaper demonstrates in some ways what I mean, because the logo is not centered or at least adjusted properly it feels very off balance to me. The consistency between up down relation should be 1 part top and 2 parts bottom, but it doesn't line up properly depending on the resolution.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#32 Post by golinux »

kcin wrote:
golinux wrote:
kcin wrote:Number one is that wallpapers aren't dynamically scalable for each resolution, if you place something to the left or right, once cut down the distance between top and bottom will not be equal and it will look off. Number two is that the center is typically not used for desktop icons so that the design is not covered up.
We got around this in Devuan with narrow-small, wide-small, narrow-large and wide-large options that work reasonably on all resolutions. Here it is with custom theme and icons. If you're interested we did grub and login too. (Don't want to hijack your thread.)
I like the muted and basic design, very corporate.
Muhahahaha. You are a real comedian!
I think that wallpaper demonstrates in some ways what I mean, because the logo is not centered or at least adjusted properly it feels very off balance to me.
Did you actually look at the wallpaper without the windows and icons? It is very well balanced IMO. In any case, what happens here makes no diff to me since I've moved on from the train-wreck that Debian has become . . .
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#33 Post by cds60601 »

"In any case, what happens here makes no diff to me since I've moved on from the train-wreck that Debian has become . . "

If you don't care, why participate in this thread or the forum for that matter?
I think it may be a valid question since it just seems a tab contradictory to me (Well, that's the way I'm reading. Others may not see it that way).

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#34 Post by kcin »

golinux wrote:Muhahahaha. You are a real comedian!
I'm being serious, corporate design tends to be very clean and well developed. Search for corporate design and you'll see what I mean. Large corporations spend millions to create a consistent design to convey their branding, it's often not even noticeable it's so good.
golinux wrote:Did you actually look at the wallpaper without the windows and icons?.
Yeah, I looked at the wallpapers, just used the screenshot as an example. In my opinion there is a slight discrepancy in balance which varies based on the resolution. It's not a big deal, but I tried to illustrate what I meant. You see how the teal bar and the yellow bar have identical height, as they cut half way through the middle positioning of the logo? However the pink bar does not correspond to the same position, it should either be 1 full bar or exactly 1/2 half bar to bring balance, this varies based on resolution and creates imbalance in my opinion. The logo is also far too close to the left and on a smaller resolution would be covered up by desktop icons. This is why I prefer to use centered designs for desktops, irrelevant to the size of the desktop the design is always symetrically balanced when recut or centered. Otherwise you'll need to create a separate design for each resolution, moving each element each time.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#35 Post by golinux »

@kcin . . . it's a good thing then that we have many choices and are not forced to use anything we don't want (though that is starting to change with creeping lock-in) . . .
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#36 Post by Wheelerof4te »

I really liked the old Wheezy theme. It was very classic, but felt powerful at the same time. I have found something similar on the artwork page for Buster, a theme called Loose Tail:
https://wiki.debian.org/DebianArt/Themes/LooseTail

I guess it's reddish because Buster wears red collar?
I'm happy to see your proposal there, as well. I'm torn between these two at the moment.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#37 Post by kcin »

@golinux, yes very true.
@Wheelerof4te That's cool. But personally from a design perceptive the blurring and lens flair is throwing me off on that theme.

Drew another dog, based on what people have said earlier. Not sure if I like it. Thoughts?
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Last edited by kcin on 2018-07-30 13:32, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#38 Post by None1975 »

kcin wrote:@None1975 thanks.I also made this today, kind of looks like the old OSX style background.
Very nice. Keep a good work.
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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#39 Post by NFT5 »

If I may offer a few suggestions/observations.....

If I were a designer, and I'm not, I'd be looking in the "what does your (Debian/non-Debian) desktop look like" threads. For a start these are likely to give a better idea of what people actually like and therefore use on their desktop.

Then consider what people are doing with windows, particularly the popularity of making them semi-transparent. Also the use of black or dark backgrounds as the trend continues away from the MS look of white bordered by blue.

Then think about what the major desktops are doing with their themes, window border colours where greys seem to predominate.

Also take into account how the major icon sets will look on the background. Easily found or lost in a sea of similar and/or contrasting colours?

Considering these things I think that a dark background with a pattern or picture/drawing that is soft and muted, not contrasting, is probably going to work best with transparent or semi-transparent windows - where the content of the window (text at least) isn't going to be lost against the colour of the desktop theme.

I think that Devuan were on the right track, although I'm not a fan of their violet grey, with their Ascii theme, but then lost it with grey on grey on grey. Still, that's just my opinion, but if you were to come up with with something that people could look at and say "Hey, I'd like that as my desktop" then you'd be on a winner.

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Re: Making a Debian Buster theme proposal, thoughts/suggests

#40 Post by debiman »

i like the idea with the dachshund, but it'd have to be much more stylised than your last example.
i liked the previous (outlined) better, but the half-sitting position makes me think it's about to take a dump...

make it even more stylised than that (and why not go with picasso there).

related; i think the debian swirl needs some updating. the shape is ok, but make it much smoother & stylised and maybe re-color it. that particular shade of red/pinkish is just so 1999...

fun fact: did you know that even the swirl is taken from toy story?

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