New Zotero, new icons?

mnlngl
Hello all,

Speaking from the perspective of somebody who is deeply embedded in design processes: The new Zotero is amazing, but the icons feel so dated! They do not compile that well on higher resolution screens.
Would it be an issue to start thinking of bolder, new icons? There are plenty of cross-platform open source initiatives out there. I'm sure the app would look great.
  • adamsmith
    Not to argue the design part, but Zotero should (and does for me) look fine on HDI -- on what set-up do you have problems with rendering and for which icons specifically?
  • Griszimek
    Hello,

    I have been noticing this too for a while - the icons just don't look very crisp on my Thinkpad Helix (1920 x 1080). I'm not sure if it has something to do with rendering, maybe more with the use of shadows etc.

    Zotero has never let me down and I appreciate its functionality and stability, but from a design standpoint it still looks like a program from the Windows XP era, even after the last update (the Mac version is more beautiful).

    New icons would probably be a good step to give it a more modern appearance.
  • Griszimek
    Speaking of the UI - I guess you don't have the ressources at the moment, but a dark mode would be great for those of us who work at night!
  • bwiernik
    If you are having issues with icon appearance on Windows, try to right click on the Zotero icon on the task bar, right click on the application icon in the context menu, choose properties, click the Comparibility tab, and then choose “Override DPI scaling” and select “Application” from the dropdown menu. Windows 10 sometimes interferes with applications doing their own dpi scaling.
  • dstillman
    @bwiernik: Overriding DPI scaling should no longer be necessary in 5.0.36 and up.

    @mnlngl, @Griszimek, try the latest Zotero beta to see if that helps. If that doesn't help, take a screenshot of the beta that shows the problem, upload it somewhere, and provide a link.

    Technical details: Our cut-off for using the 2x icons was a DPI of 144 (1.5x in CSS terms). The Thinkpad Helix used by Griszimek supposedly has a DPI of 190, but it's possible that a different Windows scaling setting could put that between 96 (1x) and 144. The beta lowers the threshold to 120 DPI (1.25x).
  • mnlngl
    Thanks a lot for the responses. I'm on an apple 2017 mbp 13". There are no specific issues with the rendering of the icons, just the fact that they look pretty out of date and that a facelift on that zone would make the app look awesome.

    I know I may pass as being banal and superficial, as this may seem only like a cosmetic issue. But, design processes cannot be ignored in 2018, as they dovetail with useability, workflow, and of course new user retention. Just saying.

    To end on a positive note: Zotero is just as important to me as my operating system, so I'm not just being picky.
  • dstillman
    Oh, you said "do not compile that well on higher resolution screens", so I assumed you were referring to the rendering — which is what @Griszimek was referring to (but that was only an issue on Windows). It's certainly fair to argue that famfamfam/Fugue icons are dated, but to be clear, we're using high-res versions of nearly all icons now, so the resolution wouldn't really have much to do with it.

    New icons are planned, but they're unlikely to happen before a broader redesign, which is unlikely to happen before a major architectural change to the Zotero codebase (switching to Electron) that's probably a year or so off.
  • alistaircom
    I posted this a few days ago about the conference icon not rendering in hi-res: https://forums.zotero.org/discussion/71010/minor-issue-question-why-are-icons-and-coloured-tags-blurry-only-for-conference-papers#latest

    What is interesting is that the icon *and* the colour swatches seem to render in low res, which is odd.

    A screenshot:
    https://i.imgur.com/l8m74ev.gif
  • dstillman
    @alistaircom: Answered there.
  • Griszimek
    edited April 5, 2018
    Thanks a lot for the responses, they clarified a lot!

    The update to the latest version of Zotero didn't change the appearance of the icons on my Thinkpad; I think the rendering is fine and the icons just don't look that crisp because of their use of shadows and gradients. As mnlngl has said, they look also a bit old-fashioned by now.

    I can live with that - Zotero is a great product and the most important thing for me (and my PhD thesis) is reliability.

    Nonetheless it's good to know that you are also keeping an eye on the appearance of the software with a planned redesign in about a year. This answers all of the concerns I had for some time about Zotero, I am looking forward to it!
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