CollageIt Pro 1.6.0
All the ideas and discussions
The current setup is not appealing, nor user-friendly. The GUI should be designed so that it utilizes the current user's Windows theme settings (regardless of Windows version), including fonts, colors and overall window and control appearances.
The current skinned design has many flaws.
* The title bar is hard to see, including the minimize and close buttons. It is almost invisible when sitting on top of certain windows.
* The background color is too dark, so the text is hard to read. The "Silver" skin has a value of #eeeef4, but my theme uses #f0f0f0.
* The gradient used on the buttons has too stark of a transition. The dark part ends up directly behind the captions, so they are difficult to read. The Windows theme uses a more subtle gradient, and it only adds an outline for the default or active button.
* The "Getting Started" panel is too busy. It needs to be cleaned up to be quick and easy to read.
There are other UX (user experience) design considerations, but these are some that jumped out at me on first look.
I'm providing this information as a 12-year software industry professional with specialties in GUI design and overall UX.
* There is an uncoordinated use of different fonts. For example, the menu and tabs appear to be defaulting to "MS Sans Serif" without ClearType. My Windows 7 theme uses "Segoe UI" for all elements. The standard size is 9pt.
The current setup is not appealing, nor user-friendly. The GUI should be designed so that it utilizes the current user's Windows theme settings (regardless of Windows version), including fonts, colors and overall window and control appearances.
The current skinned design has many flaws.
* The title bar is hard to see, including the minimize and close buttons. It is almost invisible when sitting on top of certain windows.
* The background color is too dark, so the text is hard to read. The "Silver" skin has a value of #eeeef4, but my theme uses #f0f0f0.
* The gradient used on the buttons has too stark of a transition. The dark part ends up directly behind the captions, so they are difficult to read. The Windows theme uses a more subtle gradient, and it only adds an outline for the default or active button.
* The "Getting Started" panel is too busy. It needs to be cleaned up to be quick and easy to read.
There are other UX (user experience) design considerations, but these are some that jumped out at me on first look. I'm providing these suggestions as a 12-year software industry professional with specialties in GUI design and overall UX.