Icon no longer follows theme

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

In this pull request, the desktop file icon has been changed from system-file-manager to pcmanfm-qt.

Most desktop themes don't have specific icons for specific file managers, but instead have a single system-file-manager.svg. As seen in Breeze.

If I have pcmanfm-qt pinned to the task manager, the icon looks weirdly different from the rest there.

Won't it just be better letting the desktop theme control which icon to show? Is there a reason for having a specific icon for pcmanfm-qt?

tsujan commented 1 week ago

So many apps have their own icons, whose styles may be different from those of Breeze, Oxygen, etc.

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

I have fixed it for Breeze at this pull request.

tsujan commented 1 week ago

That's the correct way, although the author(s) of an icon set might want to make new icons with the style of their set.

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

I have made a more sophisticated version of the icon, in case you want it here:

pcmanfm-qt

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

To be honest even this icon doesn't work as well on Plasma, where the default icon follows tint, it's simpler, and it's the same as folders. So it's more meaningful.

I doubt this change will work well across other themes and desktops either, and I also doubt people are going to make a custom icon for pcmanfm-qt.

If they do something about it, they most likely will reuse the system-file-manager icon.

palinek commented 1 week ago

@tsujan @stefonarch Why didn't we start to include/provide our own fallback icon in <prefix>/share/icons/hicolor/... (ref. Icon theme spec, default-icon-theme spec),when we changed the used icon name to something not standardized by Icon naming specification?

tsujan commented 1 week ago

Why didn't we start to include/provide....

If I've understood your question correctly:

We don't want to override the standard icons of a set; that would be wrong.

Here "standard" means "minimal". Apps can go beyond it — so many do — and put their own icons in the hicolor folder to be distinguished from similar apps. Then the creators of icon themes could make their own icons for well known apps. That's the usual practice.

palinek commented 1 week ago

put their own icons in the hicolor folder to be distinguished from similar apps. Then the creators of icon themes could make their own icons for well known apps. That's the usual practice.

Exactly. And blame on me, that I missed, we already do it (icons/pcmanfm-qt.svg). I was fooled as the referenced commit/PR in this issue doesn't contain addition of the icon itself.

Sorry for noise.

tsujan commented 1 week ago

I have made a more sophisticated version of the icon, in case you want it here:

It looks good, but it should be compatible with the set you put it into — in this case Breeze. I can't judge because I don't use Breeze.

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

The question I have is if you prefer the new icon as default.

tsujan commented 1 week ago

IMO, it isn't OK to change an icon just to make it more compatible with a certain icon set.

If my preference was relevant, I'd say "no".

es20490446e commented 1 week ago

I just want it to look professionally made. The current one doesn't reach a bare minimum.

Last chance: decide if you want it here, or if I put it somewhere else.

old

new

tsujan commented 1 week ago

I made it so intentionally: simple and flat, not 3D or embellished. Whether that can be interpreted as "bare minimum" is a matter of personal taste.

es20490446e commented 6 days ago

Too flat creates issues

If you see flat logos, you will notice they rarely have lines.

Because when they have they look amateuristic. As being drawn in Microsoft Paint.

But that kind of icons don't work well on UI, because they frequently mix with the background color.

Hence a middle ground usually works better across the spectrum. Having an almost flat icon but with subtle gradients, lines, and maybe 3D.

Neutral colors shall have no tint

Also the color palette shall be the right one. In particular neutral colors like grey or brown shall not have a tint, or they will look Paint like and even distort the visual perception of surrounding elements.