Closing Notes
I'm writing this on a new post for better visibility.
The changes that I've proposed wouldn't take a minute to implement. I've already create a dump file of my .CSS edits and pushed it to GitHub : https://github.com/Wulfcastle/UI/blob/master/unpacked.css
I've not made any "major" design changes (barring the header, my reasoning explained in the above post), just subtle changes here and there intended to get a more consistent look and feel throughout the whole UI.
You guys could literally copy/paste this over your current app.css and double-check the changes in less than a minute. Why not use the changes that I've proposed, changes that the community seem to agree with me, instead of wasting time developing a theming system for the Crypti Client, which let's face it, no one would use to it's full potential. NXT have already tried integrating theming into their client, and virtually no one in their community uses it, I've seen 2 themes pop up from a community 1000x greater than our currently, and neither of those themes are used by anyone.
Rather make the changes now, to the UI as a whole than waste valuable time, developing themeing support for the Client UI (which could take > 50 hours), time which you guys could use to build Apps for the DApps Store or time which you guys could use to fix bugs/stabilize the client better/improve usability etc.
It would be far more productive to make the changes to the UI now as a whole, based on community feedback, and mould the UI into something that everyone in the community agrees with, rather than create a system where each community member has to individually tailor their UI to their preferences, because that is just never going to happen.
I'm writing this on a new post for better visibility.
The changes that I've proposed wouldn't take a minute to implement. I've already create a dump file of my .CSS edits and pushed it to GitHub : https://github.com/Wulfcastle/UI/blob/master/unpacked.css
I've not made any "major" design changes (barring the header, my reasoning explained in the above post), just subtle changes here and there intended to get a more consistent look and feel throughout the whole UI.
You guys could literally copy/paste this over your current app.css and double-check the changes in less than a minute. Why not use the changes that I've proposed, changes that the community seem to agree with me, instead of wasting time developing a theming system for the Crypti Client, which let's face it, no one would use to it's full potential. NXT have already tried integrating theming into their client, and virtually no one in their community uses it, I've seen 2 themes pop up from a community 1000x greater than our currently, and neither of those themes are used by anyone.
Rather make the changes now, to the UI as a whole than waste valuable time, developing themeing support for the Client UI (which could take > 50 hours), time which you guys could use to build Apps for the DApps Store or time which you guys could use to fix bugs/stabilize the client better/improve usability etc.
It would be far more productive to make the changes to the UI now as a whole, based on community feedback, and mould the UI into something that everyone in the community agrees with, rather than create a system where each community member has to individually tailor their UI to their preferences, because that is just never going to happen.
So @Wulfcastle, I had a chance to sit down today and review your last couple posts. Let me address some thoughts I have in regards to what you posted.
Navbar / Sidebar
For starters, while the site is based on material design, I don't know that it was ever the designers intention to stick to it 100% and that can be seen in some of the elements. For the Navbar header and the box shadow, I don't dislike your version, but I don't think the current version is wrong or bad design either. I still like the bold header and don't even mind it next to the darker sidebar. However, I do agree that dropping the inset / shadow from the sidebar might be better. This is a change I would support.
Tables
I definitely agree that some changes could be made to the tables. You will see that he uses double borders on some of the sections and creates very heavy lines in the header and sub header sections. I dislike the heavy lines and dividers that are in the current version. At first it didn't really bother me, but they really stand out over time and could definitely use more subtlety. I don't dislike the alternating colors to differentiate rows in the tables, but that is a design decision that can obviously go either way. I, visually, prefer to see alternating colors. It helps me read tables. It definitely doesn't need the heavy lines on all of the borders though.
I will continue to discuss it with the team and make sure that we address some of your points as soon as we can all get together and discuss it and come to a decision. I can't promise it will be overnight but we WILL get to it.
First off, let me apologize for what happened yesterday. I was really stressed out with some things in my own life, and I was out of line, I realized today that I was at fault and I admit that fact. I took that stress out on you and the team and for that I am sorry. Thank you for replying despite whatever was said yesterday.
I agree with what you posted. The header has grown on me a bit to some extent, so it's really preference based, nothing wrong with keeping it.
What are your thoughts on the color palette that I've recommended? The color palette though would only make any major change to the header itself, and to the header blocks, which have top-borders using some bland and repeated colors (in my opinion)?
From the new feedback that you've given me this is how I've redesigned the dashboard.
Main Changes
- I've kept the header
- The new color palette (shown above) has been applied to the dashboard, with slightly lighter and warmer colors
- I've replaced the dull grey header block with a warmer purple taken from the Crypti Logo
- The header is a warmer shade of blue
- Padding has been added to items within the sidebar
- I've removed the box-shadow from the sidebar (which you agreed on)
- The color of the the "Send" button and the "XCR Balance" background have been replaced with a lighter shade of the new header colour
- The old icons in the header blocks have been replaced with slightly larger ones (around 110% their original size) with the same colors as the new color palette.
- I haven't made any changes to the font.
