Author Topic: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6  (Read 3308 times)

Offline rhomberg

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How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« on: March 25, 2019, 06:01:42 AM »
Dear Photo Mechanic Team,

is there an easy way to fix the appearance in PM6 to look more like PM5 was designed?
I find there to be a lot more visual clutter in the new version that feels very, very foreign to a Macintosh and that distracts from the pictures.
Trends in software tend to go for a cleaner look and usually try to avoid overfilling a UI.

Examples:
# The filenames are now weirdly large (can't find an option to adjust)
# Unnecessary rounded borders appear now around each image, cluttering the view (can't find an option to remove)
# Lists now have an unnatural contrasty zebra look, that distracts and makes black text harder to read on dark grey
# PM6 uses a dark blue on a dark grey as a selection color, which is clearly not ideal (can't find an option to adjust)

Thanks and best,
Matthias
« Last Edit: March 25, 2019, 06:07:40 AM by rhomberg »

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #1 on: March 25, 2019, 06:46:38 AM »
Dear Photo Mechanic Team,

is there an easy way to fix the appearance in PM6 to look more like PM5 was designed?
I find there to be a lot more visual clutter in the new version that feels very, very foreign to a Macintosh and that distracts from the pictures.
Trends in software tend to go for a cleaner look and usually try to avoid overfilling a UI.

Examples:
# The filenames are now weirdly large (can't find an option to adjust)

I made them larger because some users find the smaller font hard to read because it was too small.  Perhaps I will add a preference.

# Unnecessary rounded borders appear now around each image, cluttering the view (can't find an option to remove)[/quote]

You can adjust your colors in the Preferences dialog in the Contact Sheet settings.

# Lists now have an unnatural contrasty zebra look, that distracts and makes black text harder to read on dark grey[/quote]

This is because PM6 is built on a newer macOS SDK and on a newer macOS system than before.  The OS is doing this but there may be a way to override it and if so I may be able to make it a preference.

# PM6 uses a dark blue on a dark grey as a selection color, which is clearly not ideal (can't find an option to adjust) [/quote]

Not adjustable.  I see a lot of contrast in your sample images.

-Kirk

Offline rhomberg

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #2 on: March 25, 2019, 07:10:59 AM »
Dear Kirk, thank you so much for your very fast reply, I didn't expect to get in contact with the actual guy behind the code :)

# Borders around each image
I can't make the borders disappear, it seems there is only a global "label color" that affects both the label and the border. Maybe an "show boders" option could be great?
I don't know how other people react to all those lines in their contact sheers, though. Maybe it's just me, of course.

# Zebra look
I understand! Maybe if you use the macOS SDK there's a way to tone it back to like everywhere else, the finder for example?

# Dark blue on dark grey
That's right, there's a lot of contrast! ;D That's because of some labels on the folders. Maybe that even substracts from the contrast between the dark blue and the dark grey. I will stop using color labels in folders that are shown in Photo Mechanic 6.

# Text size
Please, if anyhow possible revert that to it's original state? :) Maybe an option "make text larger" for the visually impaired could be added? But they can also adjust the screen to a lower resolution. Anyways, since all the other text stayed small and only the labels are large now, the affected people couldn't make their way to the files anyway... (jk) ;) Please make it uniform again for a consistent look.


Best, Matthias

Offline rhomberg

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #3 on: April 10, 2019, 04:00:46 AM »
Dear Team,

here is another example of a very unfortunate UI design that was perfectly fine in PM5. No explanation needed I guess. I hope you are digging into the details, thanks!

(I would be very grateful for an option to just keep the UI and controls from PM5 just with a modern 64 bit basis. The UI needed no changes IMHO.)

Offline Hayo Baan

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #4 on: April 10, 2019, 06:33:49 AM »
Since I am using the "Dark Mode" (see Accessibility tab in Preferences), also in PM5, I never noticed the bad UI colours. With dark mode everything actually looks quite good. However with light mode things are looking quite off. @Kirk, I'm sure the colour palette (especially the accent colours) can be tweaked to be less hideous.
Hayo Baan - Photography
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Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #5 on: April 10, 2019, 06:47:31 AM »
Since I am using the "Dark Mode" (see Accessibility tab in Preferences), also in PM5, I never noticed the bad UI colours. With dark mode everything actually looks quite good. However with light mode things are looking quite off. @Kirk, I'm sure the colour palette (especially the accent colours) can be tweaked to be less hideous.

They sure can.  But there are higher priority tasks that need addressing first.

-Kirk

Offline Hayo Baan

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #6 on: April 10, 2019, 07:05:29 AM »
Since I am using the "Dark Mode" (see Accessibility tab in Preferences), also in PM5, I never noticed the bad UI colours. With dark mode everything actually looks quite good. However with light mode things are looking quite off. @Kirk, I'm sure the colour palette (especially the accent colours) can be tweaked to be less hideous.

They sure can.  But there are higher priority tasks that need addressing first.

Agreed :D
Hayo Baan - Photography
Web: www.hayobaan.nl

Offline rhomberg

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #7 on: April 10, 2019, 07:08:28 AM »
Thank you very much – that's great to know that they might come around to it eventually.

Maybe put the highest priority of those on the countless borders around the images please to make them disappear.  ;D

Offline Kirk Baker

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Re: How to restore cleaner PM5 visuals in PM6
« Reply #8 on: April 10, 2019, 08:39:18 AM »
Thank you very much – that's great to know that they might come around to it eventually.

Maybe put the highest priority of those on the countless borders around the images please to make them disappear.  ;D

You can do that yourself by adjusting your color preferences.  My thumbnails don't have a border around them.

-Kirk