Design Team/Proposals/Home View/Freeform icon size

What size should the icons be in Freeform view? Should they always be the same size?

discussion
from 2011-02-13 Design meeting: [09:05] #topic Issue with icon size in Random Layout home view [09:05] as background, when we added the spiral, I upped the maximum size of icons to Medium when there were just a few icons [09:06] if you switch to Random View, it ends up making the icons Standard size when you move them. [09:06] Question is: what size should icons be in Random view? should the size change wit density? [09:06] walterbender: is it possible to have the behave as they did before and avoid needing to make a new specific choice? [09:06] (let's not spend a lot of time on this one: pretty minor point) [09:07] quick question: by random view, i assume you mean freeform? [09:07] garycmartin: sure: I can make them all map to standard size. (yes freeform -- it is called random in the code) [09:07] is there a screenshot posted somewhere? [09:08] christianmarcsch: I didn't make one... I could while we move on to the next topic [09:08] walterbender: thanks, that would help. [09:09] walterbender: If we go with scaling the icons based on count, then free form patterns people make would need shuffling as the size scaled, would be frustrating I think. [09:09] garycmartin: I agree... [09:09] garycmartin: so probably we should just pick one size. [09:10] garycmartin: but the old code just assumed a maximum size... doesn't really handle the situation properly [09:10] walterbender: could we pick one size for random view, but still have the other view scale? [09:10] christianmarcsch: yes. [09:10] walterbender: the freeform layout does not have such a hard limit on the number that can fit in a fixed layout (which is where the auto scaling really helps). [09:10] garycmartin: agreed. [09:10] so the question is simply, what size? [09:11] so I will make a screen shot or two to show you [09:11] ok, perfect [09:11] walterbender: what is the size of the icon that is directly under the large central XO? Seems like that should the the default in that zoom view. [09:11] garycmartin: that is Standard size [09:12] garycmartin: actually, I find it confusing sometimes that that icon doesn't move and the others do, so I would argue a different size would help (or some other distinction) [09:13] walterbender: yes fair point, especially in freeform layout where icons can clobber near there. [09:13] well, let me make the screen shots... meanwhile, shall we discuss the Mute button? [09:13] walterbender: (but it still seemed about the right size ;-) [09:13] garycmartin: yes. I agree [09:28] so, i agree that if we had to go with one size, standard size probably works best [09:28] medium looks good, but will only work for a small number of icons [09:28] i also see walter [09:28] 's point about differentiating the icon below the XO [09:29] christianmarcsch: well, you can pack quite a few in if you have all the screen even at Medium size [09:29] walterbender: visually, i'd be inclined to go with medium [09:29] probably 100 or more [09:29] walterbender: can we have a larger hit mask area around the central XO icon in freeform mode to make sure there is reasonable white space? [09:29] * silbe whispers: Let's drop it... :D [09:29] garycmartin: I like that suggestion [09:30] garycmartin: the whitespace would help, and we may not need to otherwise differentiate the size of the icon [09:30] let me make some more sketches based on this feedback and maybe we can revisit this through email? [09:30] ok [09:31] one thing i'd add: [09:31] it would be nice if we could also make the icon under the XO medium, with added whitespace [09:31] I need to check, but I don't think Freeform puts any protected zone around the center of the screen... leaves that to the user. [09:31] christianmarcsch: I'll try that option as well [09:32] #agreed that walter will present more sketches in an email thread

As per the discussion, these screenshots have a Medium icon and more space around the central XO