Icons in xplorer2 0.47

flexigon · Post by **flexigon** » 2003 Oct 14, 16:12

Although I like icons in menu's... I don't like the ones used in the new version of xplorer2 because of the 3D-popup-effect on the icons. This really looks crappy on XP with the default (and almost every other) theme applied. Maybe this can be changed to just plain flat icons (like the Favorites menu in Windows Explorer)?

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 14, 17:19

i didn't even try this in XP so i can't tell
but you can't tell x2 menus crappy! what about those of office .NET etc? Totally lame!

flexigon · Post by **flexigon** » 2003 Oct 14, 18:11

Well... I can't argue with you there...

Nevertheless, I don't mind the 3D-ness of the icons when highlighted. It's just that the XP theme will not display it correctly (only the dark shadow on the bottom+right is shown). More (mostly older) applications suffer from this problem because the light shadow system color is in fact white in XP because by default the so-called "flat-menu-look" is enabled. This was never taken into account for most "older" C++ Win UI libraries (which I assume you are using).

All I can do is suggest that you take out the 3D thing completely and just show the icon normally when it is highlighted, like for instance the Start Menu and many other menus in Windows itself, otherwise the menu will never look right when custom themes are applied to Windows - which would really be a shame.

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 15, 09:28

i just saw XP menus and things are indeed not perfect -- although i can't share your pessimistic appraisal of the situation

i tried it the "favorites" way but that sucked even worse since the present icons are so color starved

until we get an artistic director for x2 who takes on the job of designing cool rich color icons, i wouldn't worry about it

flexigon · Post by **flexigon** » 2003 Oct 15, 10:05

I cannot be *really* pessimistic about any part of this great application

I understand waht you're saying, but... hmm, you said that you tried the Favorites way, can't you just include an option somewhere so that the user can decide if he wants to use it? If not then some way to hide the icons completely would be nice too.

The menu icon thing is really the only thing about x2 that sucks IMO (pretty sad eh...

)

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 15, 12:40

trust me you'll hate it "favorites" style even worse since the "blue" background is merged with the icon transparent bits and looks like s#@$

flexigon · Post by **flexigon** » 2003 Oct 15, 13:15

Ok then... I'll take your word for it

In any case thanks for trying. I'm sure it will be improved somewhere along the long long road to version 1.0.

I'll end my ranting about the icons here and now.

kev · Post by **kev** » 2003 Oct 16, 23:11

nikos i think flexigon might be on about exactly the same thing as i asked u months ago, namely flat toolbars. with them the 3d effect is completely removed, and u told me two ways of getting them...
altho my memory is vague can in not be achieved simply by including the manifest file along side the x2 exe? and there is also a registry tweak that will switch them on... and xplorer2 becomes extremely pleasing to the eye on xp

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 17, 08:28

the manifest file affects many things, including flat toolbars, but the new icons-in-menus code is something i wrote, that doesn't take any notice of visual styles.

right now i am experimenting with 256 color bitmaps and let's see if that looks any better

flexigon · Post by **flexigon** » 2003 Oct 26, 23:18

I really like what you've done with the icons in v0.48

Thank you!

What else has changed in this release?

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 27, 07:37

some changes under the covers
like now you can abort reading some folders when it takes too long with the ESCAPE key

Post by **nikos** » 2003 Oct 31, 07:32

BTW, the new toolbar buttons may look better in flat style mode (for pre-XP windows). To have flat toolbars just set bShowToolbar in mainframe settings to 3. I don't think this is mentioned in alpha.txt

oh no! I'm becoming fashion conscious!