Modify Colors
I admit that the Ubuntu Artwork Team has a very hard job, since themes and looks are so subjective, yet I can’t help but feel Ubuntu’s art is going downhill fast.
Brown debate aside, there are some serious inconsistencies across the entire theme.
The login screen in Ubuntu 9.04 takes a dramatic leap from anything we have seen before. It’s dark, sharp, high contrast, and brand-centric. Apart from the lack of any design in 90% of the available space, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Ubuntu does need a change and the login screen looks like a promising start, even if I don’t particularly like it’s style.
Next, we move on to the background. It looks like Ubuntu a year and a half ago. In other words it’s light, soft, blended, and brand-free. Slight inconsistency? Yeah, and did I mention that it lacks a design beyond a few abstract lines. After seeing what is possible in Ubuntu 8.04, that drives me crazy.
Whoever was in charge of the window themes actually did a decent job. Including several themes was quite smart, but I’ve been watching the Ubuntu art process for a while and this stuff is not new. If even one of these themes was designed for Ubuntu 9.04, I’m surprised. I was using Dust (one of the window themes) for quite a while before Ubuntu 9.04 arrived. Reusing a good theme is hardly a crime, though. This is the open-source world, right? The real problem is that many of the themes, not having been designed specifically for this release, do not look natural against the background. (The exception to this being DarkRoom, which first appeared in 8.10.)
The real problem with all this is that there is so much talent out there, but it never gets put together right. I’ve noticed a patten: Right around the early alphas I usually post something praising the artwork that’s already been posted. Within only a few weeks, contributors already have impressive concepts, yet, in the end, these ideas get thrown out the window in favor of whatever can be cobbled together quickly.
As I said, the Art Team certainly has a difficult job and I don’t mean to criticise them, but I can’t help but think that some real leadership is needed to pull together the talent into something consistent and impressive. Until then, I guess I’ll just have to keep drooling at Fedora’s art.
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I do think artwork is a mute point, afterall ubuntu (and linux in general) is about customization and is the easiest OS that I have ever used in doing so. That being said, I find the themes in 9.04 to be better looking that other OSs including Vista and OSX whose ‘jewel / 3-D’ looks are starting to become long in the tooth.
I never really understand why the artwork bothers people so much. Unlike Windows, everything can be changed to your heart’s desire!
I think a bigger inconsistency is the way the OS and applications seem to have differing keyboard shortcuts (and these are not always able to be changed). Sometimes Ctrl-W will close a window, sometimesit’ll kill the main app itself.
You might want to review the Fedora artwork and it’s progress and write about it.
gdm with obvious 3-D logo is old, and pretty lame. Should make it simple and subliminal.
gdm with black damask tile with hidden ubuntu logo/word is much more pro or classy look.
Since open source thrives on contibutors, marketing is everything. Screenshots are the first thing that you notice when you look at an online review and we all know that screenshots do no justice to Ubuntu. I feel that if we are wanting to grow a community that can ever compete with Win/Mac (and hence increase the number of contributers to code =better, more stable product) we cannot overlook curb appeal. I know beauty is only skin deep, but it’s what the people want!
who cares the colors, background and so on ?
Who cares the “new version” ?
It’s a good linux distro, simply update the previous, and change whatever you dislike to your liking. This s how it’s supposed to work.
Better if it’s nice out of the box, if not, bah, who cares.
That’s exactly how I feel about Jaunty. In this sense, other distros like Fedora or Linux Mint are doing much better.