UI overhaul

[volsa]

So I was customizing the theme a bit as some elements felt way too "big" on GNOME, especially the Alt + Tab and Workspace Switcher. After doing so I got the following results (compare it with your local installation):

I also changed the background color on the active element inside the Alt + Tab switcher, as I felt it was way too "colorful". Finally I customized the overview within the GNOME Shell, so that
a) the search bar doesn't have a border radius of 20
b) the search bar, once active, doesn't change it's background color and
c) the search results don't have a font size of 1.5em (which is way too big).
Again, compare it with your local installation (I might add some screenshots with the vanilla Arc theme if needed)



Any thoughts on this @fossfreedom @NicoHood @jnsh :)?

p.s. sorry for the pings

[jnsh]

My philosophy has been to never change the visual design if possible. Unless there's very good reason for it, such as usability issue, upstream change, or clear inconsistency with rest of the theme.

I've already reduced the workspace-switcher size on my own fork, since it was easily overlapping the screen.

I don't see much difference on the alt-tab switcher compared to my fork, apart from the active background color. I can't really think of a good enough reason for changing it though.

For the search-bar, changing the design to be closer to other search bars around the theme suite could make sense. I wouldn't change the active background though, since I think most active search bars use the blue $selected_bg_color background. I've also already reduced the search results font-size based on upstream gnome-shell theme changes.

[volsa]

I don't see much difference on the alt-tab switcher compared to my fork, apart from the active background color.

I just checked your fork and it seems like you kinda fixed the padding on the alt-tab switcher. It isn't "fixed" here though.

I can't really think of a good enough reason for changing it though.

I personally didn't like the blue background on applications such as Spotify, as it becomes too colorful imo. So that was a subjective change on my side, but I figured I'd include it here anyways.

For the search-bar, changing the design to be closer to other search bars around the theme suite could make sense. I wouldn't change the active background though, since I think most active search bars use the blue $selected_bg_color background.

Yup, just checked it myself and you seem to be right. I, however, don't think a blue background on any search bar is a good idea, any thoughts on that? Also as a side-note, the search bar in the GNOME Tweaks application doesn't seem to use a blue background (not sure if that's on purpose)

[jnsh]

I, however, don't think a blue background on any search bar is a good idea, any thoughts on that?

Personally, I don't see anything specifically wrong with the blue search bar. You could argue that the readability is not the best with white text against the blue background, but since you type it yourself, and there aren't usually a lot to read, I don't think this a large problem (the theme isn't really designed with bad-sighted people in mind anyway).

For me, the issue is that the theme was originally designed by someone (@horst3180 ), who is not around any more to give his opinion. Design is always subjective, and there's no objective way to determine what looks good. What may look visually pleasing to you, might not look good to others. That's why there should be one main designer who makes those decisions, and keeps the theme coherent. Applying even small design changes, like changing the alt-tab active color or active search bars, from multiple contributors can easily result in the theme turning to a visually inconsistent mess in the long run.

Since the original designer is not around, for anyone to attempt to take charge of refining the visual style, is like changing someone else's piece of art. Additionally, changing the design is not fair for old users who are used to specific look. For those reasons, I think the only way to maintain the theme is attempting to keep the original visual design as it is. Any larger visual changes belong to separate forks.

Sorry for long post, but hopefully this explains better the "philosophy" I explained above. I'm not active on this project, so I can't comment whether they might be interested on your changes. I'm always welcoming for any suggestions for improvements to my own fork though, as long as they abide the above guidelines :)