Tray Icons - looking / fonts / animation / format

[montechristos]

Hello,

I have been using POP Peeper and it is a very nice program.

However the tray icons are very bad. They seem outdated and not very nice to look at.
Would you consider changing them?

Could a plugin modify the default icons?

Many thanks

[Jeff]

The tray icons are 32-bit, so I wouldn't say they're outdated in that regard. But I did have sasha (the icon designer) base them off my original icons for continuity. We've also discussed changing them slightly, but I never got around to doing anyting with them.

Are you a graphics artist? If so, if you make a prototype I'll certainly consider it.

[montechristos]

Unfortunately I am not a designer, so I cannot really help.

For the message count icons, you can add some kind of 'lighting effect' to make them a little nicer. Maybe a little smaller too? Not just round with a number in the middle.

Moreover, I would add the icons in a resource bundle, that could be customizable, which would allow people to experiment with their own.

For the logo icon, it is yours to select, but it also looks a little oldish.

PS: This is supposed to be a constructive comment, I really like the application.

Tell your designer to take some ideas on the lower part of this page
http://www.freebuttons.com/index.php?page=product

[Jeff]

The icons that show the numbers are done entirely programmatically, that is, there are no actual resource icons. I suppose it would still be possible to make them look nicer, but the problem is that we're talking about a 16x16 area so there's not a whole lot of room for special effects. As for making them smaller... ummm... not sure a lot of people would agree with that

I would add the icons in a resource bundle,

That's being considered as well. Along with toolbar icons and some other graphics. ETA TBD. Probably not v4, though.

[montechristos]

The icon text can be created automatically on top of an existing icon?

Please compare with the PopTray icons for number of messages received and tell me which you prefer...

Maybe a plugin for allowing the user to specify/create the icon given the number of messages and color?

[montechristos]

I just found and read a thread with Sasha about icons

It looks as if the icons were being improved in the past but for some reason they didn't make it?

[Jeff]

Please compare with the PopTray icons for number of messages received and tell me which you prefer...

Since you asked, I prefer PP's because it's bigger and easier to glance at. However, I don't use that particular feature, I use the rotating colors -- I'm not interested in the exact number of messages, just which accounts have mail. That being said, I do not necessarily consider just my own needs (otherwise, PP wouldn't even have any webmail services ), and listen to visual enhancement requests since they're not something that I usually pay attention to naturally. I've added your request to my notes, and specifically, what I wrote down is that the appearance could depend on the number of messages, ie. a bigger bubble when there's 10+ messages, and a full bubble if there's 100+ (some of us do get that many).

It looks as if the icons were being improved in the past but for some reason they didn't make it?

If what you read was specifically about the tray icons, I mentioned that earlier. They were mostly color variations on the classic silver PP mailbox, but had nothing to do with the rotating numbers. Assuming you never saw the pre-v3.0 icons, believe me, the icons look MUCH better now that I didn't draw them myself...

[darkan9el]

I think the icons look cute and instantly recognisable, ok so they don't look like all the glass icons or reflected icons floating around at the mo, and yes they look a bit windows 98, but slightly retro has its own style and class, and as we all know style is in a class of its own and floats gracefully above fashion and is not so fickle.


I say keep them little cutie's

[Jeff]

Thanks for your feedback darkan9el

[Vasistha]

I'd like to add to this thread.

Me and a friend both use Pop Peeper its is a great program and does everything you need it to do. I myself was wondering if you could inform us where or how to edit the icons of the program just for personal use?

Thanks.

[TucknDar]

Hi, new POP Peeper user here! Finally the mail checker I was looking for

However I do support the request for some new icons. Looking at my tray now, there are several icons and POP Peeper really stands out... in a negative way, unfortunately. This is obviously not a very big deal, but I'd sure be happy to see something a little nicer. Maybe even let the user choose between a couple of alternatives, that way those who prefer the current icon would be happy too

Thanks for making such an excellent program!!

[JRF]

TucknDar , welcome to the POP Peeper Forums !

Some time ago the icons were object of a review/improvement , so new changes are not foreseen by now . However it will be helpful you place specific opinions and ideas , to be analyzed .

[Mitchell]

I've always loved the icons! <g> It's such a small area in the systray and it's neat that we see know exactly what's going on, i.e., the eyes going back and forth when it's checking, and then empty when there's nothing, or with a letter when there's something! Perfect for me.

I just saw this post and had to stick my oar in, too, but for what it's worth, if it comes down to a vote, I'm a-okay with them.

Perhaps what might help is to have ability to change them, i.e., personalize them? I don't know if that's a built-in capability in PP already or not. But if not, perhaps _that_ might be a suggestion to post here in this thread. That that might be the outcome of the suggestion started here. Some might like the ability to change the icon showing up in the systray.

If it already is a feature, perhaps pointing it out here and then making it a bit more apparent in the help file in future versions, or something (???).

Anyway, my 2cents worth ..

[TucknDar]

However it will be helpful you place specific opinions and ideas , to be analyzed .

Yes, you are right, that's probably more useful. But by that, would you for instance consider a set of new icons a specific idea for improvement? So if someone posted a set of new icons you'd consider them? I'd like again to add that this isn't a big deal at all, but just feel like exploring the subject a little more

While on the subject of custom icons, I realize the license does not allow for reverse engineering, but would that also include using Resource Hacker to replace icons (only in MY own copy obviously!!! Not to distribute!) in poppeeper.exe? I might not bother doing that at all, but maybe one day when I have nothing better to do

[JRF]

TucknDar , last change on PP icons was developed with an specialized collaboration , as stated in the Help>About , after long participation of all members , as recorded in the Forum topics (which I would ask you to go trough , to be aware of the limitations and requirements involved) .

So if you suggest e.g. one specific icon with another shape or color , it would start a new "wave" of ideas , to get a critical mass that would justify a reform .

About the use of Resource Hacker to replace icons in your private PP copy , I can not answer about , and I ask the developer Jeff to clarify this .

[TucknDar]

TucknDar , last change on PP icons was developed with an specialized collaboration , as stated in the Help>About , after long participation of all members , as recorded in the Forum topics (which I would ask you to go trough , to be aware of the limitations and requirements involved) .

Not sure about that About statement, I see there's info about the icon creator but I don't see anything in there about specialized collaboration, but maybe I'm misunderstanding you.

You're right about searching the forums, though. I actually did at first, and this was the most obvious thread, but searching for "tray icons" I came to page 4 of 7 before I found a thread with the info about the icon change (maybe it's linked to in another thread with a less obvious title).

Anyway, I'll just leave the topic since it's apparent that there are no plans of changing it. Oh, and to the developer I should just point out that this is so far my only little annoyance with PopPeeper... which means that so far everything else seems more or less perfect

[Jeff]

The tray icons that Sasha updated were based on the original trayicons that I had designed, this was on my request. We have discussed slight variations -- mostly different coloring schemes -- but they have remained unaltered since the re-design.

I have considered allowing an easy way to customize/skin the graphics in POP Peeper, so it's not that I'm dead-set against the idea of changing things. I'd certainly be interested in seeing a prototype of how you envision the tray icons...

[Solid]

When I set up POP Peeper to notify me about the number of new mails with the tray icon this looks like this (color depending on the account color):


Would it be possible to make these image a little smaller and smoother? e.g. like this?

[Jeff]

The reason I went with a more square-ish background is because it allows a larger font size. Using alpha blending to smooth the edges might make a noticeable difference though. I'll add this to my notes.

[Solid]

Very much appreciated, thanks.

You are doing the numbers and backgrounds with code, right?
If not, and you need images for that like the ones above I'd be glad to help out by creating them, just drop me a note then.