wrong icons in toolbar

[Andreas E.]

The toolbar shows different icons than one would expect from the tooltips (and actions). This can have serious consequences, for example with the "clear all" button disguised with an "add a document" icon.
1. "Clear all" shows "add a document" icon
5. "attach as pdf to email" shows "edit" icon
15. "use the hand tool" shows the blue "repeat" icon
(25.) "exit" button should not be there at all according to Gnome HIGs

Ubuntu 13.04
gscan2pdf 1.0.4

[Jeffrey Ratcliffe (jeffreyratcliffe)]

I hadn't read the Gnome HIG[1].

The stock items for gtk+2[2] in some cases aren't very clear.

You imply that I should use gtk-clear for "Clear all", but the brush icon doesn't say "clear" to me.

I picked the edit icon for attach as PDF to email, as one would be editting an email. Do you have a better suggestion?

Similarly, there isn't a hand icon to pick for the hand tool.

[1] https://developer.gnome.org/hig-book/3.0/toolbars-appearance.html.en
[2] https://developer.gnome.org/gtk2/2.24/gtk2-Stock-Items.html

[Rolf Leggewie (r0lf)]

pinging Andreas for further discussion

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

I see now why the issue is not so obvious. It depends on the icon theme. I've attached a screenshot with the default icon theme under Ubuntu, which has subtle differences from the old gnome 2 theme. For a new document it shows a paper with "+", and for "Edit" it shows a just pen. One could of course blame it on the Ubuntu icon designers. But I believe we have to see it from a different perspective:

The stock items represent semantics/meanings. Designers design an image to match a meaning, and developers choose an item id by meaning. When we start to pick images by visual similarity and use them for a different meaning, we get into problems like this. And even with the "right" icon theme, I feel a pen with paper evokes to me a different idea than a pen with letter (or even letter with paper clip for attachment). Same for "new" as "clear" and "refresh" as "hand/move/pan".

In that case it's maybe better to include the missing icons if the stock don't match enough.

[Jeffrey Ratcliffe (jeffreyratcliffe)]

Well yes, obviously if there isn't a stock icon that matches, then a non-stock one would be better. I'm no artist, so if someone cares to design better icons, I would be glad to include them.

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

I designed two icons for "attach as pdf to email" and "use the hand tool".

The action and icon for creating a new document (or here: a new scan) is quite common, so I'd suggest to change the tooltip to a positive meaning, and maybe hint in the tooltip or a popup that the current scans will be cleared thereby. Example for the tooltip:
"Create a new scan. (Clears all current scans.)"

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

Second attachment…

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

[Expired for gscan2pdf (Ubuntu) because there has been no activity for 60 days.]

[Jeffrey Ratcliffe (jeffreyratcliffe)]

Very nice, thank you. You will see your hard work in the next release.

Please confirm that you have licensed your icons under GPL3.

Your point about the new icon is fair. I wonder if the icon is correct, as it only implies a new document for those who scan each document separately. I tend to put a whole stack of unrelated sheets in the feeder, wait for the scanner to do its thing and save the pages in small selections.

[Andreas E. (andreas-e)]

I agree with GPL3 for the icons.