Bluecurve Theme Modification Experiments

[Thomas J. Baker]

On Mon, 2004-10-04 at 21:58 -0300, Steven Garrity wrote:
> I've been thinking about ways to modernize the RedHat/Fedora Bluecurve 
> theme lately and have started trying my ideas out in practice.
> 
> My first goal is to improve on the Windows95-esque battleship-grey that 
> colors all of the UI chrome. See this screenshot of Windows 98/2000/XP 
> evolved: 
> http://actsofvolition.com/images/screenshots/Display-95-through-XP.png 
> Note the subtle color difference between 98 and 2000 - but it makes a 
> huge improvement.
> 
> I was looking at this screenshot of an XFCE beta 
> (http://xfce.org/images/screenshots/xfce42.png)  and was wondering why 
> that main start menu looked so good (even though it was just using the 
> bluecurve icons). It turns out it's a soft-beige rather than the 
> battleship grey.
> 
> So, I've tried this out with Bluecurve. The only change so far is that 
> th primary chrome is now slightly softer and more beige than grey. Some 
> elements that are still pure-grey (alternative list backgrounds, 
> depressed buttons, etc) will look a bit odd next to the new beige, but 
> I'd do them to.
> 
> Here are before and after screenshots  - open them in tabs and switch 
> back and forth to compare:
> http://actsofvolition.com/images/screenshots/bluecurve-before.png
> http://actsofvolition.com/images/screenshots/bluecurve-after.png
> 
> The updated theme is here: 
> http://actsofvolition.com/images/screenshots/Bluecurve-2.tar.gz
> (once installed, you have to have to go to "Theme Details"  and choose 
> Bluecurve-2 in the "Controls" tab).
> 
> Thoughts and feedback are welcome - particularly from those who maintain 
> the current Bluecurve theme in Fedora. I'm much more interested in 
> trying to help improve the defaults than I am in maintaining an optional 
> theme.
> 
> Thanks,
> Steven Garrity
> 

Don't know if you've ever noticed but the Bluecurve theme already has
some color variations (Go to Preferences->Theme->Theme Details). I use
Bluecurve-BerriesAndCream; it's very close to the colors you've chosen. 

tjb
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| Thomas Baker                                  email: tjb at unh.edu    |
| Systems Programmer                                                  |
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