Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

rc1 is working smoothly, but I must admit that the new splash screen is not as good as the former one: What's the meaning of those coloured dots?

Simplicity is the base of the elegance...
What do you think?

Well I was going to start a topic myself the other day but decided not to spend the energy on it. Now that a topic has been started, I feel I might as well speak my mind on this as well.

First of all, the entire look of OOo 3.0 RC1 is just terrible, unprofessional, not to mention a step back from the 2.x releases. The splash screen is obviously ugly and there were many within that same contest that looked better and more professional. I mean, those dots... I just don't get it. The new Galaxy icon set stands out like a sore thumb just like the splash screen, so in that regard, they match quite well. It all looks very Fisher-Price to me. The new desktop and shortcut icons stand out as well.

The new look does not necessarily match the OS. Personally, I use Windows XP SP3 with the Classic theme. In Calc, for example, when you select a bunch of cells, the corresponding letters and numbers along the X-axis and Y-axis are coloured in a dark blue which, again, stands out and looks terrible.

What is Sun doing with OOo these days?.... (no need to answer)

I've been using OOo since 1.0.3 steadily and have been using Lotus Symphony lately throughout the beta phase and each release so far. I still use OOo 2.x for the majority of my work and I enjoy the way it looks much more so then OOo 3.0 RC1.

I feel much better now having said what I've wanted to say for the last few days.

Cheers,
Dave

DaveD wrote:
The splash screen is obviously ugly

Whether it is ugly or not is surely in the eye of the beholder, nothing can be obviously ugly

DaveD wrote:The new look does not necessarily match the OS.

Bit difficult as it is a multi platform application, and I would think 99.99% of users could not care less about it fitting in with their particular eye candy set-up.

I like that Galaxy theme! But I agree they have a funny look for a professional tool. But you can switch to the former "Classic" theme.

I like RC1 splash screen also, except these strange dots of course. They're obviously ugly indeed.

Cambirder wrote:Whether it is ugly or not is surely in the eye of the beholder, nothing can be obviously ugly

I agree with you 100%, everybody has their own preferences. I should have said that I personally thought it was ugly and that was my own personal opinion.

Cambirder wrote:Bit difficult as it is a multi platform application, and I would think 99.99% of users could not care less about it fitting in with their particular eye candy set-up.

True enough. No eye candy on my system though. Hence that Windows Classic theme. I like to keep things simples and not so flashy.

Hagar de l'Est wrote:I like that Galaxy theme! But I agree they have a funny look for a professional tool. But you can switch to the former "Classic" theme.

I like RC1 splash screen also, except these strange dots of course. They're obviously ugly indeed.

I was a big fan of the Galaxy theme in the beginning, but now I seem to prefer the previous one. But that's certainly a good thing, having many choices of icons for OOo. I'm glad that they kept the "Classic" theme in there.

I would absolutely love that splash screen if those dots were gone. It is very well done and professional, with the exception of those dots. But then again, that's another good thing about OOo since it's quite easy to change the splash screen.

Cheers,
Dave

DaveD wrote:I would absolutely love that splash screen if those dots were gone.

The new splash screen design was open for votes, and the one with the dots was the one the most people voted for...

Do you have the address where that kind of vote takes place?

Co-ordinated through the OOo Wiki: http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wik ... /Proposals
and... a mailing list more than likely... one the many many.

Issue 54361.

Many thanks!
There are some wonderful proposals, at least I'll be able to use one of these screens.

the rc1 splash screen mostly works for me. Two changes I would make - make the birds white or some other lighter color and get rid of the colored dots/circles. Other than that it is very nice and clean. The beta one is darker than I like.

I liked the beta one much better. Even without the dots the new one is just too messy.