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Hi,
On Wednesday 08 September 2010 21:06:29 Philipp =C3=9Cberbacher wrote:

quoted text
> Excerpts from Arnold Krille's message of 2010-09-08 19:18:54 +0200:

> > On Wednesday 08 September 2010 16:35:31 Andrew Bryant wrote:

> > > Previously:

> > > > That's actually a neat idea, color for immediate visual feedback. I

> > > > imagine the problem is the colors. What would be sane? I guess three

> > > > basic colors and interpolate between them?

> > > > low =3D blue

> > > > middle =3D yellow

> > > > high =3D top

> > > >=20

> > > > It needs to be rather intuitive. I guess the more colors the less

> > > > intuitive it will become. Maybe two are enough.

> > > > I wonder which color would best represent 'low' or 'bottom'.

> > > > Blue, black?

> > >=20

> > > I suggest you keep it simple, i.e. only two colours if possible, but

> > > make them configurable for the benefit of those with visual

> > > disabilities.

> >=20

> > Two colors simply isn't enough. You need a color for low, a color for

> > middle and a value for high. And then you haven't even looked at a

> > fourth color for mute/off.

> > And fading from green directly/linear to red gives an ugly brown in the

> > middle. It looks much nicer to go across yellow. And then you can really

> > use that third color to stand for a special step, not just "in the

> > middle of the slider".

> If all you want is 'middle' and that doesn't need to be well defined,

> then two colors will do. I suggested blue because of the ugly brown you

> get between green and red. With blue the middle will likely be some kind

> of purple, which may or may not be optimal. Maybe black to red would be

> nicer, it just gives you an increasingly bright red.

I don't want 'a' middle, I want a special middle. Like 0dB between -48dB an=

d=20

+12dB (the middle doesn't have to be in the geometrical middle). And I want=

 to=20

know when that special middle value is reached by looking at the color.
> Mute/off, if required, would be the same as the lowest setting.
There is a difference between mute/off and the lowest setting. At least the=

re=20

can be.

Software-mixers might not make that discrete step between off and almost=20

silent. But some hardware mixers in devices do make that difference. And th=

ere=20

it will make a difference to your ear whether the signal is attenuated by 3=

6dB=20

or muted.
> > If these colors are taken from the color-scheme the user has chosen, I

quoted text
> > feel confident, that these are suitable for all kinds of color-blindness

> > (otherwise the color-scheme is chosen wrongly). But I don't know (yet)

> > which color roles to use from the color-schemes...

> To what kind of user chosen color scheme do you refer to?

The one the user choose for his desktop. Which is the only real way to=20

compensate for visually impaired people (if thats the political correct nam=

e).

I don't like this every-app-chooses-its-own-colors at all. Though I do=20

understand that sometimes you need more colors, but that still is different=

=20

from "I define my apps colors on my own because I think that is cool". The=

=20

later results in apps with black text on dark-gray background in an otherwi=

se=20

very light desktop-environment =3D> bad. Or in apps with white window backg=

round=20

while the rest of the desktop is optimized for on-stage-in-the-dark with bl=

ack=20

background and red foreground =3D> bad. Or it results with using two collor=

s to=20

"distinguish" which half visually impaired people can't discriminate =3D> b=

ad.
Thats why I really advocate using the systems color-scheme as much as possi=

ble=20

(and a bit more) every time the discussion regarding colors comes up.
Have fun,
Arnold
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