Step Sequencer expand row header button looks like "Play"

[Starship Krupa]

This issue was pointed out by @Kevin Perry: the turny triangle arrow buttons you click on to expand a row look like little "play buttons" that are supposed to actually play the notes in the row.

I concur. Fortunately, the issue is easily addressed via Theme Editor and small changes to 3 images.

All that needs to be done is make the #4 cells of Step Sequencer/Expand Row and #1 cell of Step Sequencer/Collapse row triangle/arrows have a transparent background. With no background, they have no rectangle surrounding them, and so look like what they're supposed to be: arrows that indicate the state of a collapsible view.

The next thing is that you need to edit Step Sequencer/Track Control Background (selected) to lighten the square where the button is superimposed. Make it the same lighter shade as the area just to the left give it all one look:

With those changes, the turny triangles will not look so much like "Play" buttons.

Observe the effect on Blue Ice:

I will be uploading new versions of all of my themes in the next 24 hours to include these changes.

[sjoens]

I fix mine to point up & down. Not sure why a view opening arrow would ever point sideways. 

[Starship Krupa]

12 hours ago, sjoens said:

Not sure why a view opening arrow would ever point sideways.

MacOS Finder and Windows Explorer have been doing it that way for decades. Like it or not, it's a modern UI standard.

Cakewalk does it that way in other locations as well. The Add Track flyout is the first that comes to mind. My themes also use it for opening and closing folders.

I've updated all of my themes to make it more clear.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Starship Krupa

[sjoens]

To me a + & - would make more sense. If we're talking "dropdown" arrow, a window is going to open below the arrow button, so it makes no sense to me for it to point in any other direction.

Of note is the Inspector Display button arrow which points down, yes, but the window has nowhere to open but up, in most cases. So I change arrow to point up.

Then there's the Browser collapse arrows that sometimes get confused and point up instead of right. No control over that one.

Edited December 22, 2021 by sjoens

[Starship Krupa]

The Browser buttons get messed up on changing theme. The way to shake it off is to click the Plug-ins tab.

This is my current form of Dock, Drop, and Dockbar buttons:

As you see, the "docking options" button is the "hamburger," a widely recognized icon for "options," the "Dockbar Left" button is a large single arrow with a bar to indicate that a panel will be closing or opening. I've also made the "dock" button as large as it could be for better visibility.

The "docking options" button just had to go. Initially it looked weird next to the Track Inspector tab, whose stock icon is also the hamburger, so I made the Track Inspector icon a Big Mac, with 4 lines.

I've gotten so used to my own themes with their customized buttons that the stock stuff looks odd to me. I guess that's a risk of customizing something to be the way I want it.

[Colin Nicholls]

I realize that for everyone the end goal would be different, but I'm very tempted to create a Mercury-Fixed and Tungsten-Fixed (King James Revised Standard) that incorporates all the tweaks and "corrections" that theme designers have introduced over the years, . I know I have some... and @Starship Krupa even more. How far is too far? Do you think we could agree on which to include, and what they should look like?

Pre-Post button
Instrument/VST icon reversal
Console Link Lock button
Expand/Contract panel iconograpy
Add/Remove iconography
Dock/Undock/Options
Record Button Text (OVR/SOS/STEP) -- this is a controversial but personal favorite
Track Phase (not sure if this is a thing)

I'm sure there's more but I'm not at my DAW right now...

 

 

Edited December 22, 2021 by Colin Nicholls

[sjoens]

All I know at this point... Starship's Track Inspector's Icon is making me hungry.

[Starship Krupa]

9 hours ago, sjoens said:

Starship's Track Inspector's Icon is making me hungry.

Swipe away, mate. I consider image swipes from my themes to be high compliments.

10 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said:

Pre-Post button
Instrument/VST icon reversal
Console Link Lock button
Expand/Contract panel iconograpy
Add/Remove iconography
Dock/Undock/Options
Record Button Text (OVR/SOS/STEP) -- this is a controversial but personal favorite
Track Phase (not sure if this is a thing)

Also adding "Markers" to the Markers Module!

The YLIP open padlock is incorporated everywhere there's a padlock in my themes. Arpeggiator, for instance.

As far as iconography, I've gone with +/- in places where something is being added or deleted, X in places where something is being closed or cleared, adding a bar or bars to arrows that open panels, the turning triangle for panel expansion wherever appropriate, and no double arrows.

I like to use as much of the arrow buttons' pixels as possible for greater visibility.

Why would adding text to the Record button be controversial? Localization issue? I've backed off from adding text to buttons for that reason.

Man, I would love to see or come up with a better way to indicate in/out of phase. I understand that in the Cakewalk visual language, grey=in phase, but if there were some more definitive way to show it, I'd like that. 

Here's what my current folder iconography looks like. Turny triangle to the left to open the folder, and arrow-with-bar to the right to expand and contract the header:

It's not perfect, but given the constraints of having to overlay an existing UI, it's the best I could come up with. I like it better than the +/- for opening the folder, because to me, +/- means I'm adding or deleting something. Also, the stock tiny "+" is hard to see.

[Starship Krupa]

P.S., I think the Mercury/Tungsten Revised Standard Edition is a great idea. I can do up the Tungsten if you want to take Mercury. There are lots of swipeables in Blue Ice that could drop right in. Blue Ice uses the same blue that Mercury does.

For Tungsten-based themes, there are other little tweaks like clearer grid lines in the Piano Roll and darkening selected clip backgrounds so that it's easier to see which ones are selected.

[Starship Krupa]

Another one for the list: swapping the "x" of Remove Take Lane for the "-" of Remove Automation Lane.

[Colin Nicholls]

22 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Man, I would love to see or come up with a better way to indicate in/out of phase.

Challenge accepted. See Mercury RS.