/srv/irclogs.ubuntu.com/2009/04/03/#ubuntu-news.txt

newz2000Hi, I'm a little discouraged that there's been no feedback about the proposed fridge themes...21:01
newz2000maybe you've looked at them and like none, if you're holding back on feedback because you don't want to hurt anyones feelings, please just email me directly21:01
newz2000otherwise, it would be great to hear some comments... what you like about various things, if a great departure from the ubuntu website would be good or if you prefer the ones that share the rounded box on brown background21:03
newz2000https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Website/FridgeTheme - put your comments on that page directly or email the news team list or email me, matthew.nuzum@canonical.com21:15
Tumiei've jaunty now :)21:28
joeynewz2000, I'll have a look now21:48
newz2000thanks21:48
joeynewz2000, I'll make the decision if nobody else weighs in :-D21:48
newz2000today just guide, monday we'll decide21:48
* newz2000 is a poet today21:48
joeyoh wow21:49
joeyso many new ones!21:49
boredandbloggingnewz2000: I replied a few minutes ago21:56
tychePersonally, I like Sand & Mercury's Entry21:56
newz2000Make sure to say what it is you like or dislike since the goal here is to get people active for the last couple days21:57
newz2000I personally think we can do better than what we've seen yet21:57
boredandbloggingyup21:57
tycheBut partly that's just to piss off boredandblogging, who I know likes tripmxkay's Blue Ground Mockup.  Hee hee21:57
boredandbloggingheh21:58
boredandbloggingi'll try to be more detailed21:58
tycheSeriously, tripmxkay's Blue Ground Mockup isn't bad.21:58
tycheBut I just CAN'T let boredandblogging get away with beating me to it.21:59
boredandbloggingi liked trip and sand21:59
boredandbloggingheh21:59
tycheYea, it was a real toss-up between the two.21:59
tycheWhichever, they would both need some work to allow for login of administrators, etc.22:00
joeynewz2000, (et al)  - emailed my opinions22:00
tycheAnd, to be a bit contrary, I don't like the way the UWN was set in there.  But that can be worked on, too, in tripmxkay's Blue Ground Mockup22:01
tycheToo difficult to read.22:01
joeyI have a preference for a new site layout22:02
tycheThe Developers conference madrid was well done, though.22:02
joeynot just a re-color of the existing layout22:02
joeybut that's just my own opinion22:02
joeyThe Fridge has looked the same since it was started22:02
newz2000boredandblogging: you picked one that was in the normal ubuntu layout and one that was different, do you have an opinion on if it stays rounded or breaks out?22:03
newz2000tyche: you too22:04
tychenewz2000: What do you mean by "breaks out"22:04
newz2000does not have the rounded box on the coloured background22:04
tychejoey: Well, if you want REALLY different, see http://www.azloco.com/22:05
* joey hands tyche the sledgehammer 22:05
tycheAH!!!  A maul.  Is it named "Darth"?22:05
joey:-)22:05
newz2000Also, question #2 - do you like seeing a full-post on the homepage or would you prefer a post teaser?22:06
tycheAs to breakout - I like the rounded corners.  It separates things better.22:07
tycheAs to full-post or teaser, I suppose my UWN work is showing,  but I'd prefer teaser.22:08
joeyI like rounded corners too.  Even on the 2nd one I suggested, if those boxes were rounded it would look nicer22:08
joeytyche, as in http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Main_Page  ?22:08
newz2000by rounded corners I mean the whole page in a rounded box like ubuntu.com is22:08
tychenewz2000: Yep.  That, too.22:08
tychejoey: YES!22:09
joeynewz2000, I can live with rounder or breakout.  Rounded is a bit more interesting as long as it scales well22:09
tyche(Please understand that these are just my personal opinions, and in no way are reflective of the opiinions of a REAL person)22:09
joeytyche, how about a LARGE teaser....22:09
joeytyche, one where it's more than a blurb but shorter than the whole story?22:09
* joey goes off to find an example22:10
tychejoey: For examples without pictures, see UWN 135.  I'm not against pictures, we just don't use them on the UWN.22:10
joeytyche, yah.  I'm thinking a good summary vs a headline22:11
tycheIt does mean having someone who can go in and see what the information is, and encapsulate it into a briefer form.22:11
tycheYep22:11
joeywe don't have a high enough volume to mandate a headline so...why not make use of that22:11
tycheThat's what we try to do with the UWN22:11
tycheFirst, using teasers leaves more space on the front page for more entries.22:12
tycheSecond, they don't end up scrolling off before people can read them.22:12
newz2000So do I understand correctly that you guys are preferring a look that has teasers instead of full stories on the homepage?22:13
tychenewz2000: That's MY opinion.22:13
joeytyche, how about this format? http://www.faz.net/s/homepage.html22:13
newz2000I'd call that a teaser22:13
joeyk22:14
tycheFormat for teasers, though I can't really read German, is good.  Format for the page doesn't meet the needs of the Fridge, I don't think.22:14
joeyso I don't have a strong preference but I'd lean towards a dedicated column for articles and those articles had a 1 paragraph teaser in them22:14
joeys/in/for22:15
tycheYep.  That sounds about right.22:15
newz2000and needs to accommodate sometimes having an image and sometimes not22:15
joeycorrect22:15
joeyso, tyche and I seem to agree :-D22:15
tycheOh, definitely.  But from my point of view, the addition of images is an "extra", rather than a default that has to be canceled out.22:16
joeyagree there too22:16
joeymaybe on 1/3 of the stories will have pics22:16
tychejoey: Of course (SCHLUUUUUURP).22:16
tycheHee hee22:16
tycheYou think it would be that high?22:16
joeypreviously no, but lately, I think22:16
boredandbloggingpics aren't that hard, plenty of CC out there22:17
tycheMaybe.  I haven't seen that, myself.22:17
newz2000I might suggest using compfight to grab cc images22:17
boredandbloggingyup22:18
boredandblogginghope my replies to the thread don't seem harsh22:18
newz2000so everyone likes sand and mercury, what about it would you like to see continued?22:18
joeynewz2000, s/everyone/everyone but Joey who thinks it is pretty but too close to the Fridge theme/22:19
joey(not to be construed as a veto)22:19
newz2000well, everyone thought it worthy enough to mention. :-)22:20
boredandbloggingi like the fact that it actually highlights a story, know I sound like a broken record about it22:20
joeyyeah because it has pictures22:20
joeytake away the pictures and it falls aparet22:20
joeyapart22:20
newz2000boredandblogging: that black box at the top?22:20
boredandbloggingnewz2000: yes22:20
* joey pulls them up again22:21
newz2000how often does the ubuntu community (fridge,uwn,etc) create original content that could be featured like this?22:21
boredandbloggingwe can choose to use it for the latest post or something specific if need be22:21
joeyIf we could combine some of the colour elements and highlighting from Sand with the format of In Progress, I'd find that quite pleasant to use22:22
joeythe In progress mockup doesn't rely on pics22:23
joeywhich as tyche pointed out, we have little of22:23
joeyif we always had pics, in progress falls apart22:24
newz2000I agree that's key22:24
joeyin progress looks rather bland though due to lack of styling22:24
joeyif we gave it a facelift it would be more appealing I think22:24
joeynewz2000, could we ask those guys two things?22:25
tychejoey: you mean the Fridge in progress by MadsRH?22:25
joeynewz2000, 1) do a 2nd mockup of Sand w/o most of the pictures22:25
joeytyche, yes sir22:25
joeynewz2000, 2) see if we could get a little more "effect styling" to In progress?22:25
joeyI don't know if they would be willing to do that22:26
newz2000I'll bet they would22:26
joeyespecially since we may not use their items22:26
tycheOK, That's not bad, but I see the problem of putting pictures in it.  It would overblow the "style" of the page.22:26
joeyI'd like to see the sans-picture Sand mockup to prove to myself if it will fail with no pictures22:26
joeytyche, yeah so we'd only have the VIDEO picture and then a picture, maybe, with each teaser on the left column22:27
joeytyche, so, 2 stories max plus video22:27
joeythat sound right?22:27
newz2000ok, will you guys be around for 20min or so? I think I might write this up and then pastebin it so you can check it out before I send it22:28
joeyI will be22:28
boredandbloggingshould be22:29
newz2000ok, let me see if what I can pull together22:29
tycheWell, the  teaser for the UWN takes up a lot of space, at least the way johnc4510's been doing it, so far. I think there'd normally be room for 2 picture teasers or picture and non picture teasers.22:29
tycheAlso, we don't always have Videos that would be advertised.22:29
joeyI kinda feel like Sands and In Progress are on a see-saw.  One has too much, the other too little :-)22:29
tyche(And yes, I noticed WHICH one that person used.  Hee hee)22:30
joeyright but that was part of the requirements that newz sent out to the team.22:30
tychejoey: Yes, there I'll agree with you.22:30
tycheHowever, I also like the idea of a plain (or at least graduated) single color background, like a paper was laying on a desk.  It makes it easier to scale for larger screens, without making one feel that something is missing.22:31
joeytyche, my fear of Sands is that if you go look at it now, and then remove the pictures, you'll see http://fridge.ubuntu.com/ as it is today :-)22:32
tycheWhat we did with azloco.com was to scale the middle area, so the columns remained the same size.  It works for us, but I don't think it would work for the Fridge.22:32
joeytyche, yeah I like that paper on the desk look too22:32
tychejoey: Good point.  But could we put a background around Fridge in progress?22:33
joeysure!22:33
tycheOther minor things, like "Latest headlines" being instead "Selected from the Planet"22:33
joeyin fact, I hope so!22:33
joeyoooh that's an interesting idea Craig22:34
tycheLOL22:34
tycheWell, isn't that where we usually get our headlines from?  The UWN does it by getting links from outside.  But the Fridge is more of an insider resource.22:35
joeyPlanet Poop22:35
joeyer22:35
joeyPlanet Press22:35
tychefrom the Planet.22:35
joeyFridge doesn't today but it could.  An "Overheard on the Planet".... column would be interesting22:36
tychejoey: I hope you realize that what we're suggesting would require a chief editor and at least one or two contributors to keep it flowing.22:36
joeyso, I've been meaning to speak to you about that.....22:36
* joey grins.22:36
tycheWhich means that we'd have an internal organ and an external organ.  I'll let your imagination fill in the blanks.  Hee hee22:37
newz2000ok, while I catch up on what you've been discussing, read this and tell me what needs added: http://pastebin.com/d257747822:37
joeytyche, so I had an idea for one of those boxes22:38
joeytyche, an automated google news search for the title of Ubuntu with a required word of Linux (to prevent sport stories)22:38
joeyI have a feed URL but it is a mile long22:39
joeyhttp://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&as_scoring=r&as_maxm=4&q=ubuntu+linux&as_qdr=m&as_drrb=q&as_mind=4&as_minm=3&as_maxd=3&output=rss22:39
newz2000what would be cool is to feature cc licensed photos that embody the spirit or idea of Ubuntu on a weekly basis22:39
tychejoey: BTW, you DO realize that a "joey" is a type of clown, hence I don't take your grin as meaning anything.  So there!  Hee hee22:40
joeynewz2000, 2 comments:  1) wtf! use paste.ubuntu.com :-)   2) the "in progress" comment might be a little contentious but I like it :-)22:41
joeytyche,  =)22:41
tychenewz2000: In general, I think you captured our thinking.22:42
tycheAs to the CCed photos, that might be more difficult, but not impossible.22:42
newz2000yeah, a future idea22:42
joeynewz2000, before you hit enter...22:43
joeytyche, boredandblogging -  question22:43
tychejoey: I tried something like that when I first started with the UWN, but the danged thing was useless.  It always came in on MONDAY.22:43
joeytyche, boredandblogging -  do you want the Fridge to be a) bright, colourful, and busy,  b) clean, colourful, and simple,  or  c) something else?22:43
boredandblogginghow about a happy medium?22:44
boredandblogging:-P22:44
joeyboredandblogging, sure... give me adjectives22:44
newz2000boredandblogging: no, you have to pick22:44
joeythose creative guys love adjectives :-)22:44
tycheThe basic structure should be clean, to allow someone to make more of it when necessary or applicable.  But it does need the color outside to differentiate "PAGE" from "BACKGROUND"22:45
boredandbloggingi do prefer simple22:45
tychesimple, to my mind, equals clean.22:45
tycheIt makes it easier to scan and read22:45
joeyok, so I hear  clear/simple as a winner as I agree there too22:46
tycheBusy detracts from the messages being delivered.22:46
joeyboredandblogging, what about outside & background?22:46
newz2000I saw cool script that pulsed the background colour gradually through every shade in the rainbow22:46
boredandbloggingi have no opinion about colors as long as its not grey22:46
tychenewz2000: That would be busy.22:47
boredandbloggingnot really22:47
joeyok, I agree with tyche  that we should try a mockup of differentiation of page vs background22:47
newz2000I was kidding. (well, I have seen it but I'm not really suggesting we use it)22:47
tycheI agree with boredandblogging, but would say colors instead of pastell.  Using a graduated background would be fine, too.22:47
joeyI agree with not grey :-)  You too tyche?22:48
tycheYep22:48
joeyok, 3 things we agree on them22:48
joeyer then22:48
joeyer right22:48
tycheI also think it should be outside the "standard" Ubuntu colors.22:48
joeyhmm, so explain that a little more tyche22:48
* newz2000 needs to get clarification on this22:48
tycheSome cool color, such as blue or green, not the tan/orange of Ubuntu.  There can be such a thing as too much of a good thing.22:49
joeynewz2000, we agree so far on a) not grey, b) clear/simple, c) colours not pastels, d) differentiation of page vs background22:49
joeyfor a mockup22:49
tycheLeave the Ubuntu colors to the Ubuntu.com pages22:49
newz2000ok, so does twitter's homepage do this? (except for the pastel part) http://twitter.com/22:49
joeytyche, so I think I'm not with you on this one.22:50
joeytyche, I'd rather have more white than colour22:50
joeytyche, more google vs over zealous ubuntu brown22:50
tycheHmmm.  Maybe, depending on how the "watermark" was done.22:50
tychejoey: I'm talking just about the background.  That's the area that would be scaled into or out of, depending on the size of the individual's screen and resolution.22:51
joeytyche, more zoozimps than Sunset (to use a gmail theme example)22:52
joeytyche, ah I see22:52
tycheFor example, I'm running a 1440 X 900 screen.  The colored background simply means "OK, I don't need to look there."22:52
joeyyeah, same here22:52
joeysame screen size even on my work computer22:52
joeyI'd rather the background be subdued22:53
tycheBut on a 1024 X 768 screen, that area would be reduced, but the main page would appear to be the same as the 1440 X 90022:53
joeyI find with very bright backgrounds (newz - like the canonical wiki) that my eyes cross and start bleeding22:53
tycheYep, subdued is possible (just add more black, and cut the value of the color)22:53
joeytyche, you don't like the brownish slate currently on ubuntu.com ?22:54
tycheI think it's fine for ubuntu.com.  I think the Fridge should be different from it, though.22:54
tycheI'd even go with a brushed steel look22:55
joeyhmm we may not agree on that one. I'm more an apple style guy vs a microsoft style guy22:56
tychebrushed steel does not equal grey.  Brushed steel is actually (graphically) a combination of thin white and black lines, vertically.22:56
newz2000joey: ok, so not grey, coloured. But not pastel and don't make your eyes bleed.22:57
tycheAnother color is raw sienna, done as a graduated top to bottom22:58
joeynewz2000, do we have a new background planed for jaunty?22:58
newz2000for the desktop or the web-page?22:58
newz2000desktop: yes, two, website: no22:58
joeynewz2000, web22:58
newz2000no change. There'll be a homepage banner again.22:59
joeyyou know tyche and boredandblogging, I actually find the newer moz header quite nice. What do you think?  https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/thunderbird/addon/958422:59
* newz2000 pretends joey didn't just say that22:59
* joey laughs.23:00
joeyHow about a Nokia beta blue tyche?  http://betalabs.nokia.com/23:00
* tyche joins newz2000 in ignoring joey's comment.23:00
joeynewz2000, do you think we could change the web background?23:00
joeynewz2000, or would it meet with resistance?23:00
newz2000you mean change the fridge theme's background periodically?23:00
tychejoey: The nokia one is interesting, and an example of what I meant by graduated.23:01
joeynewz2000, no... just something different from the current Ubuntu one. I'm wondering if someone in Marketing or Mark would get upset23:01
newz2000for the fridge or for ubuntu.com?23:02
tyche(Yea, I know.  I'm back to sucking up to the boss)23:02
joeytyche, you know, I really like the ovi look.  e.g.  https://mail.ovi.com/playr/login23:02
joeynewz2000, fridge23:02
newz2000no one will mind23:02
tycheOvi = too much white on white.23:02
* joey nods at both of you. :-)23:03
tycheToo much like Mondrian23:03
joeyso newz2000, how about with that email and the adjectives above... you include a prompting for a different low-key background23:03
tychejoey: See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Mondrian_Comp10.jpg23:04
newz2000low-key?23:04
newz2000oh, I thought you were saying the opposite23:04
joeynewz2000, by low-key I mean somewhere between bright orange bleeding eyes and mud shale ubuntu.com23:05
* joey grins.23:05
newz2000ok23:05
newz2000is a texture / image / gradient good or bad?23:05
* joey looks at tyche and boredandblogging 23:05
joeyum. Dunno for me. I'm open for mockups23:05
tycheA background should be exactly that:  Something that falls into the background and doesn't detract from the main interest - in this case, the Fridge23:06
newz2000ok23:06
* joey admits to be partial to Novel/Suse green23:06
tychenewz2000: Texture, done right, is good.  Gradient is good.  Image is POSSIBLY bad23:06
joeyyeah, depends on the image423:07
newz2000how about this? (NSFW) from ubuntu calendar? http://www.marcus-fischer.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/ubuntu-calendar-march1.jpg23:07
newz2000oh, right, it has the ubuntu brown so it won't work23:07
joeyright but his website might work  http://www.marcus-fischer.com/23:08
joeylook at that background tyche23:08
tycheWell, you might also get some flak from Ubuntu-Women23:08
tycheThat is nicely done23:08
tycheThe drop-shadow works, too.23:09
joeyyeah, love the drop shadow23:09
joeylook at how he's bowed the top here:  http://www.marcus-fischer.com/?page_id=223:09
joeyerr, well, the whole site I guess23:10
joeyI didn't notice until just now :-D23:10
tycheYep.  He's got two things going at the same time.  The graduated background, and the highlights and drop shadow from where he places his light source.23:10
tycheAnd he carries that over into the upper band of the "page", by showing where the light source is.23:11
newz2000ok, that's it. No more feedback.23:12
tycheFor a physics student at the University of Hamburg, he shows remarkable ability in graphic design.23:13
newz2000I'm going to get this ready and pastebin for one more review.23:13
newz20002min23:13
newz2000(that could be a stock wordpress theme)23:13
tycheThen SOMEONE has VERY good taste23:13
newz2000I agree, that is remarkably good23:14
tycheThat sort of thing is plain, but makes a statement at the same time.23:14
newz2000http://pastebin.ubuntu.com/143732/23:15
newz2000I need to add something there about avoiding ubuntu title font and over-styling the text.23:16
joeynewz2000, just missing one thing23:18
joeynewz2000, a big thanks to everyone from the Fridge team23:18
newz2000good plan23:18
joeynewz2000, maybe "put together a new plan" could be "put together a new plan or revise an existing one"23:19
tycheLooks good, especially with joey's addition.23:19
newz2000ok, got it23:20
newz2000I'll send and copy the news team23:20
tychejoey: RE: " [14:36] <joey> so, I've been meaning to speak to you about that....."  So, what did you want?23:22
joeynothing but to harass you :-)23:23
tycheAh.  OK.  NP23:23
tycheI stand harassed.   Hee hee23:23
joeynewz2000, one more thing..23:25
joeynewz2000, thank you very very much for your help!23:25
newz2000my pleasure23:25
tycheBTW, as a follow up to my follow up comment to that:  I was once told, "It takes a wise man to play a fool."  This was told to me by the head of Clown Alley for Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Baily Combined Shows, Inc.23:25
joeyI'm sure boredandblogging and tyche would agree23:25
tycheYep.  Definitely.23:25
newz2000sometimes getting other people to do work is more fun than doing it yourself23:25
tychenewz2000: Ah, yes.  Delegation of authority by a lazy man.  Hee hee23:26
newz2000lazy? Its easier just to do it yourself.23:26
newz2000:-)23:26
tycheI Heartily approve.  LOL23:26
joeytyche, why do I get the feeling you delegated all of your work and you just pretend to be retired now? :-)23:30
tycheNope.  I actually retired.  But before I left, I tried to have everyone up to speed on the idea of sharing ideas and ways of "short-cutting" the work without sacrificing quality.  Some of it actually managed to carry over, after I left.23:33
joeyah ha! I see.23:33
tycheHowever, I'll admit to being a lazy man.  I work VERY HARD at being lazy.23:33
joeyDoes anyone know if my email about the sun shipping Ubuntu laptops made it to the news list or did I send it to the wrong place again?23:34
tycheIt's on the Ubuntu-news-team list.23:34
tycheI get it as a digest23:34
joeyok good. :-) I'll wait to see if anyone wants to do it before I do23:35
tychenewz2000: Your post just hit the mailing list.  Looks good.23:37
newz2000cool23:37
newz2000I think I'm going to go eat some dinner23:37
newz2000catch you later gang23:37
tycheEnjoy23:37

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