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Say hello to Octicons

github.com

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Re: Say hello to Octicons

#111

Post by cookiecaper »

kijin wrote: post #30
huhtenberg wrote: post #7

Good idea, but, sorry, don't like 'em. Neither the execution nor the conceptualization. The execution is too detailed. Details, regardless of how pixel-perfect they are, do blur upon quick glance, and the more details there are, the more it looks like a gray blob. The execution is also inconsistent - why the book is 3D, but the rest is flat? Except for the coffee mug that is neither. The conceptualization is off too.…

Completely agreed. The icons are not only excessively detailed for their small size, but also sit rather awkwardly in relation to the rounded-rectangle container. The top right corner of every Github page now looks like the notification area of an old Linux desktop with an amateur-designed theme. Every minor redesign Github has released over the last couple of years increasingly reek of "designed by programmers". But…

Interestingly it seems that "real designers" are whomever you like the most. It seems mostly to be a matter of taste.

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#112

Post by philh »

Nitramp wrote: post #79
ori_b wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No. It's like expecting that when I adjust my seat to fit my leg length, the doors still work. I like the text to be readable without me leaning in and destroying my vision. The fact that I'm forced to override font sizes for usability because sites don't respect my default settings is bad enough. When they break because of it, it becomes terrible design.

+1 on the font size - that's a big problem in particular if you happen to have a large screen. But forcing everything into the same font seems a bit excessive; I've actually seen a couple of sites make really nice use of fonts, and you can still install an extension that turns your page into an "easy reading" mode on a key press. What do you do about fixed width vs proportional fonts?

> forcing everything into the same font seems a bit excessive;

Worst case seems to be that you go to a site and it's not quite as pretty as it might be, but still perfectly readable. I'd take that in exchange for not having to press a button to make a site more readable.

Can you give examples of the sites you're thinking of?

edit - that should be "worst case provided sites aren't using fonts to display nonstandard icons".

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#114

Post by shocks »

kylemaxwell wrote: post #106
shocks wrote: post #100

We should tell them we don't like it instead of just commenting in a HN thread. Tweet them, or something. Bitbucket looks great still.

I'm not a fan of Bitbucket for various reasons, but your point is well-taken - I tweeted them just now myself: >generally like the octicons, except (a) some are too detailed, and (b) the colored bkgrds are confusing. (still a fan!) Then again, I'm pretty sure GitHubbers will be watching this thread. ;)

My comment on their "Making of" blog post expressing my criticisms was deleted without reply, how friendly!

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#115

Post by onetwothreefour »

xbryanx wrote: post #3

The file view icons seem way too washed out. I'd like more visual contrast so that I can see what is a folder and what is a file. Not all of us have 20 something eyeballs duders.

Bring back the yellow folder icons!

Also, the entire design has terrible contrast. It's just dark on dark on dark. And every color has been stripped out.

Ugh.

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#116

Post by mdehaan »

I believe you used to be able to click on the "forks" and "watchers" button to see who is forked or watching. Now the button defaults to "unwatch" when looking at the project page.

I find these new icons confusing as well. It took me a long time to figure out the one icon was an eye with a "X" on it for "unwatch". Not sure why the branches in "your fork" travel upwards as well, as I've never seen a source control diagram do that.

And my default user/organization/project icon is no longer an octocat but a book with a fork on it. I miss the octocat.

I think this is a classic problem when a graphic designer doesn't have enough meaningful real work to do :)

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#119

Post by eps »

gdubs wrote: post #50
brcrth wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you force a behavior through your browser but when it doesn't work you blame the site? Ok...

So if, say, an older user forces all text to be large and it renders a site unreadable, you would blame the user?

Why would an older user want to enlarge text only, and not the images and other page elements? He wouldn't. He would be using either Ctrl-+ in the browser or an OS-level zoom.

Re: Say hello to Octicons

#120

Post by Sevein »

kijin wrote: post #69
amirmc wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The redundancy is a little irritating. I could tell what buttons did simply from the text (and they were useful) e.g 'unwatch', 'your fork' etc. Now there's more space taken up with the text and the icon. The icons don't seem to provide additional info in any way. Perhaps that's because Github would like to switch from text to icons eventually (with text+icons in the interim)? I hope not, as it would mean way too man…

> Perhaps that's because Github would like to switch from text to icons eventually? Like Gmail's new icon-only interface? I hope not! It's difficult enough for people to figure out what Gmail's icons represent.

Well, the differences between them are quiet significant! Gmail's icon are too horsey.
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