Icons

[bergerjac]

This is a discussion about the icons.

@feinstaub @bergerjac Could you work out common set of images?

https://github.com/bergerjac/gitextensions/blob/left-panel/-main/UiProgress.png

See also images changed by @bergerjac in this folder https://github.com/bergerjac/gitextensions/tree/left-panel/-main/GitUI/Resources/Icons.

@jbialobr @bergerjac For the first version of the tree I suggest using the existing appliction icons. Creating some grayscale versions of the branch icon (GitUI\Resources\Icons\originals\branch-led-orig.png), the tag, stash and remotes icons is easily done.

[bergerjac]

I'd suggest using grayscale icons for UI elements which are always visible and indefinite (branches, stashes, remotes, etc).

Colored icons are optional for contextual elements (menus, right-click menus, etc.).

In any event, left-panel/-main is at least 40 hours away from master merge-able; icon issues are probably better for a full-range discussion with multiple users.

[feinstaub]

using grayscale icons for UI elements which are always visible and indefinite (branches, stashes, remotes, etc)

Sounds logical on the one hand. On the other hand this seems to me more like a style theme mostly found on Mac software. In Windows I hardly find any application that makes use of grayscale icons (e. g. folder icons in trees are mostly yellowish, Microsoft products also have colored icons etc.). In the end it is a matter of taste; I like the grayscale usage in SourceTree (http://www.sourcetreeapp.com/img/screenshots/st_feature_history.png) where the remote branches have the grayscale version of the branch icon. Most other icons seem to have color.

[bergerjac]

seems to me more like a style theme mostly found on Mac

I use Apple products rarely, so am unaware of the UX benefits. However, Apple has always been touted for the best UX/UI, so I would probably lean towards their methods. (This may not be the best reasoning, but it also stands to reason that Microsoft typically gets gouged for having bad UX.)

I think grayscale helps to highlight special cases. For instance, the current active branch could just use a yellow/gold icon (instead of bold text) and it would easily stand out (similar to remote-tracking branch HEAD).

I currently develop with VS 2012 and have been using the icons from the Visual Studio Image Library, which are all in grayscale.

left-panel still has a lot of polishing needed. I think after/if it gets merged to master we can let other developers weigh in on the icons issue. (Changing icons is really quick; not a big refactoring.)