[9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[Jason Catena]

A quick edit frees acme from its "heavy grid prison", a la Tufte.
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/acmenogrid.jpg

Jason Catena

Re: [9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[Jack Norton]

Jason Catena wrote:
> A quick edit frees acme from its "heavy grid prison", a la Tufte.
> https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/acmenogrid.jpg
>
> Jason Catena
>
>
How about no grid whatsoever (while you're at it)?  There is plenty of
contrast there to forego any kind of hard devisions.

However, I end up with the same conclusion: why?  Is the 'grid' that
distracting?  Also, if you have two text files open side-by-side, and
your lines are long enough to wrap, you would have a glob of
incomprehensible text in the middle.  I think at least a moderately
thick grid is a necessary evil.

-jack

Re: [9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[Jason Catena]

On Wed, Sep 30, 2009 at 15:43, Jack Norton <jack@0x6a.com> wrote:
> Jason Catena wrote:
>> A quick edit frees acme from its "heavy grid prison", a la Tufte.
>> https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/acmenogrid.jpg
>
> How about no grid whatsoever (while you're at it)?

I believe in a subtle or invisible grid to lay out text in columns,
divide columns into files, directories, and output, and whitespace to
separate them.  I seek to minimize, not deconstruct.

> There is plenty of contrast there to forego any kind of hard devisions.

I agree that all you really need are left-justified columns of text to
show a grid (eg a newspaper).  The remaining structural elements
(dirty button, scroll bar) are functional, so it would change acme too
much to remove or hide them, and would be counter-productive.

I used wily for a few years and took out the heavy black horizontal
and vertical window lines from it as well.  In comparison, Rob's color
scheme provides much better separation of tags and windows, so
removing them has less effect on the interface.

> However, I end up with the same conclusion: why?

To increase the ratio of visible, contrasting pixels used to indicate
data, program state, and commands, to pixels used to dress the screen.

> Is the 'grid' that distracting?

The black lines around each window currently have the most contrast
(black on beige and light blue), and largest scope (right to left, top
to bottom) of any element on the screen.  By giving them the least
contrast (white on beige and light blue), text and commands become
more prominent.  The lack of lines between tags serves as leading
(vertical space between horizontal lines), making each tag easier to
read.

> Also, if you have two text files open side-by-side, and your
> lines are long enough to wrap, you would have a glob of incomprehensible
> text in the middle.

I did not remove the scroll bars or dirty bits, which serve as gutters
between columns.  I agree that without them, run-on text in adjacent
columns would be very difficult to read.  Fortunately, their
functionality makes them easy to keep.

> I think at least a moderately thick grid is a necessary evil.

I agree that you have to have a grid.  I think we disagree on how
heavy and obvious you make its structural lines.

> -jack

Jason Catena

Re: [9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[Ethan Grammatikidis]

On Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:43:28 -0500
Jack Norton <jack@0x6a.com> wrote:

> Jason Catena wrote:
> > A quick edit frees acme from its "heavy grid prison", a la Tufte.
> > https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/acmenogrid.jpg
> >
> > Jason Catena
> >
> >
> How about no grid whatsoever (while you're at it)?  There is plenty of
> contrast there to forego any kind of hard devisions.
>
> However, I end up with the same conclusion: why?  Is the 'grid' that
> distracting?

To provide an additional perspective, I don't think the grid bothers
me directly, but something about acme irritates me so much I strongly
avoid acme for anything creative and generally loathe starting it up
even though I appreciate it's great technical qualities and excelent
interface _ideas_.  I thought my problem was with the tag text, but
Jason's screenshot made me think again.  Maybe my problem is with how
the tag text interacts with the grid and I could get away with just
removing the thick black bars, or maybe I should try the Times font.
I think the former more likely.


--
Ethan Grammatikidis

Those who are slower at parsing information must
necessarily be faster at problem-solving.

Re: [9fans] acme without a heavy grid (SFW)

[J.R. Mauro]

On Tue, Sep 29, 2009 at 7:25 PM, Jason Catena <jason.catena@gmail.com> wrote:
> A quick edit frees acme from its "heavy grid prison", a la Tufte.

If you look in Envisioning Information, he recommends no borders for
all windows, except the focused one, which is yellow. Sam does this
(with a different shade that isn't as loud)

> https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/502901/acmenogrid.jpg
>
> Jason Catena
>
>

[9fans] (no subject)

[Pablo Alonso Salas Alvarez]

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