Re: [pgadmin-hackers] [Design Update] Visual design of query editorand results table

On Thu, Apr 13, 2017 at 4:43 PM, Robert Eckhardt <reckhardt@pivotal.io> wrote:
>>>> Is that a new shade of gray? How many do we have now? It looks to me
>>>> like it's starting to get messy, with too many different variations of gray
>>>> plus the light blues used for the codemirror gutter and alternate rows in
>>>> the grid.
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, it is a darker shade of gray. Are you concerned with the number of
>>> variations on gray, or that the grays are not used appropriately?
>>
>>
>> Both really.
>
>
> The shade of gray, I think, doesn't really matter that much and remaining
> consistent within the app is fine as long as there is sufficient contrast.

I disagree. There should be a defined set of colours, otherwise the
application will look haphazard and random. The use of different
contrasts can help focus the user on the appropriate part (or parts,
which are also often important) of the screen.

> The use of gray is intentional. The idea being that the eye should be drawn
> only to the area the user is actively working on.  In the picture the area
> of focus is the query text editor and the blue bar above it actually draws
> the eye there. After the user decides they need to inspect the results
> adding blue there makes those results pop.

Exactly.

> Let me state what I think your concerns are:
>
> The application is becoming too monochromatic and washed out
> the application is becoming too 'flat'

Right - and for an example, just Google for the fallout after
Microsoft flattened the look of visual studio. Many people were vocal
that they didn't like it and felt it made it harder to use.

> I think we agree that both of these things could be problematic, my guess is
> where we don't agree is on the line.
>
> Here are the assumptions we are designing to:
>
> users are going to be on the application for multiple hours per day
> a softer aesthetic makes it easier on the eyes for long term use.
> color is important to make the product appealing
> use of color should be intentional and done to change the users focus.

Right - but we also need to keep in mind that there are usually
multiple areas of the screen that the user needs to be able to focus
on quickly - for example, the text editor may be the primary area, and
button bar the secondary. They need to be clearly delineated so that
users can quickly discern each area, and focus on either as needed.

However, we should also not ignore other important visual indicators.
For users with multiple query tools running at once (perhaps in
different databases or on different servers), the info bar that shows
which server you are on is critically important to help prevent
running queries on the wrong database and potentially destroying data.

> To my knowledge we haven't don't anything to make the application more or
> less flat.

Yes - the last point above for example; the info bar has been made
gray so it a) flattens the look and b) stops it standing out. I would
argue that absolutely needs to be a prominent colour; maybe not the
blue it currently is, but certainly something that makes it clearly
visible. Pastel colours are easy on the eye, so maybe the soft blue we
use, or a soft yellow would work.

--
Dave Page
Blog: http://pgsnake.blogspot.com
Twitter: @pgsnake

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