Application Look

[rh]

When I look at the menu, none are checked. I'd like to try them but the default looks nice already and I don't want to loose the ability to get it back.

[DThor]

You won't, I forget which one it is, but you can get back default somewhere, I've definitely played with those several times and always got back to default.

IMHO, the default is the nicest looking. The others all seem to be quite dated colour configurations. Good if you live in the past, or you're running on an unusual configuration, I guess.

DT

[EDIT] Yeah, it's the last one, VS 2010. You're right, it never actually shows a tickmark.

[rh]

Thanks, no wonder I like the default. I use VS 2010 at work!

[thuvia]

All of the choices look fairly dreadful. I selected "Windows Native", which is the least jarring. I presume this is the fault of the toolkits provided by Visual Studio which NewsBin relies on. But if that's the case, where's the NewsBin ribbon?

(Actually I must admit that NewsBin 6 looks a fair bit tidier than NewsBin 5. But it's the functionality and workflow that really count, and you don't want to be rolling your own UI Toolkit!)

[thuvia]

I changed my mind. "Windows native" seems to have everything light grey except silly bright blue tab bars and bright yellow tabs.

Is this a problem with not making the custom controls conform to the native colour scheme?

Other stuff like monochrome icons without text and tabs you'd cut your fingers on, I'll try to get used to, since that seems to be the fashion...

[DThor]

You will never, ever please everyone. FWIW, I would say the overall reaction is people are liking it, just based on the posts. Certainly, I look back at screenshots of v5 and go 'ugh', quite honestly. I think it might grow on you.

DT

[thuvia]

Coherent design isn't a matter of taste.

Certainly the use of toolkits which have had some design thought put into them make V6 tidier than V5, but I think a little extra care in finishing the job would give a still better impression to those who aren't aesthetically impaired.

Again, this is far from the highest priority for power users of NewsBin (though it might affect new sales!), and I don't expect the developer of a $20 niche application to bring in a team of pro designers, but paying attention to the OS vendor's UI Design Guidelines is something which is achievable (I won't pretend that Microsoft's are perfect, nor that their toolkits necessarily make it easy for the developer, though I'm no expert here; they do at least try to provide an appropriate API: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb773178(v=VS.85).aspx).