My version of proposed covers for LO v4.0 user guides

I have modified Klaus-Juergen's proposed designs and put my versions here:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Development/TemplateForV4
(GS samples in PNG, plus source files in SVG)

and here: http://www.odfauthors.org/libreoffice/english/getting-started/draft-lo-4.0
(GS sample only, PNG)

Notes regarding the back cover: I've left quite a bit of blank space
at the bottom for the barcode, and I have removed the footer text,
which would have been partially obscured by the barcode when the cover
is reduced from A4 to 6x9-inch size for the printed books. I may
further modify the text.

K-J: Please note that the label "Impress" is missing from one of the
icons in the row of icons on the back and front cover. I added it on
the GS front cover, but I have not yet added it on the other versions
of the row of icons because I wasn't sure how to do that where it is
greyed. (I'm not very experienced with using Inkscape or other SVG
editors.)

Yes, I know that decisions regarding v4.0 branding may mean that these
covers will be a bit out of date. However, I'm running out of time and
wanted to have something to use. It's easy to substitute covers later,
if necessary.

Comments welcome.

--Jean

For reference, K-J's original proposals are here:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:K-j/Drafts/Concept-GIn#Documentation

I am now looking at cover sheets (title pages) for the stand-alone
chapters. When I have something to show you, I will put samples on the
same pages linked below.

--Jean

Hi :slight_smile:
I like the book-covers as they are.  On my current screen some of the colours look a bit off but that's fairly clearly the monitor i'm using.  Draw's yellow looks a little dull but i'm sure it's usually a heavier, richer golden (redish gold rather than the cheap bright gold sold at high-street jewellery stores).  Calc's green looks a lot too pale and yet fluorescent.  On other monitors i'm sure it's stronger and darker.  Both a lot more like the blue of Writer or the purple of Base.

Hmm, now i check the icons off the menus on this machine i see they look the same.  So it is this machine's monitor.

I've thought a lot about the layout too but finally realised that the way it is looks quite perfect.  I wondered about the title and the main icon being further up the page but i really like the way the main icon stands on the smaller icons showing the other modules/apps.  Then if the title was much higher, say halfway between the main icon and the top-bar, then it would be tooo far away from the main icon.  Also moving the smaller icons up a bit would just look awkward.  At the moment they are well grounded on that footer-bar.

So, the design made me look at it for a while, which makes it a success imo.  If people think it's a little strange somehow but can't quite put their finger on it and end up thinking or even better, arguing and discussing it then it raises the profile and makes even more people aware of the guides.  A definite winner!

I think i would like to buy these just to be able to physically hold the book and see how it felt in my hands.  So, very much a winner!

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

Hello

I have had a look at the designs, but would like to raise one point.

Are the designs going to be used in all types of LO user guides or are they only going to be used for the printed user guides that users can purchase?

What concerns me is the design for the pages inside a user guide - the headers and footers. The design at the moment would use too much ink or toner if a user printed their own user guides they have downloaded. Also, in my opinion, coloured headers and footers will be overpowering if used on every page. Plain header and footers make a page more user eye friendly.

Regards

PeterS

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com

Hi Peter,

Hello

I have had a look at the designs, but would like to raise one point.

The designs are only first proposals for discussing. So I appreciate your comments.

Are the designs going to be used in all types of LO user guides or are
they only going to be used for the printed user guides that users
can purchase?

My intentions were:
to make a unique footer with a graphical sign to show of which module we talk on this page. First I thought about taking the special logo. But this would maybe divert from the text in the footer.
The header was following the cover design. When the header will be changed because of the new branding [1], the header can/should be changed in the same way.

[1] http://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/msg05257.html

There can be some more variations for the header:
white background, simple LibO-logo, logo of module or only a colored rectangle.
We can leave the header completely and only have the colored footer (and - of course - we can let it be as it is).

We can play with the footer to show the informations in a different way.

What concerns me is the design for the pages inside a user guide
- the headers and footers.

> The design at the moment would use too much ink or toner

if a user printed their ownuser guides they have downloaded.

I don't know, but do you think that someone who is printing 360 pages (GS guide) would think about ink or toner?

> Also, in my opinion, coloured headers and footers will be overpowering
> if used on every page.

Plain header and footers make a page more
user eye friendly.

For this it was only a proposal for talking and finding a catchy design.

Thanks for your feedback and I hope of more opinions and comments.

I have modified Klaus-Juergen's proposed designs and put my versions here:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/Development/TemplateForV4
  (GS samples in PNG, plus source files in SVG)

I wondered why you have another font than I but then ... (see next point).

K-J: Please note that the label "Impress" is missing from one of the
icons in the row of icons on the back and front cover. I added it on
the GS front cover, but I have not yet added it on the other versions
of the row of icons because I wasn't sure how to do that where it is
greyed.

I can't see any problem even not in your svg. There are all impress icons and labels. Maybe you can send me a screenshot.

(I'm not very experienced with using Inkscape or other SVG
editors.)

I'm obviously not.
I didn't recognize at all that in all the proposals a font was used which I hadn't installed on either of my computers. (Peinlich)
So Inkscape uses another font. That is the reason why your proposal has another look at the fonts.

To make it grey I only changed the opacity from 100% to 40%.

If you need some more information let me know.

Hello Klaus

After some more thought I have a couple more comments on the design.

At the moment, the template used for user guides has coloured headings 1,2 and 3. These do stand out very well on the page and are reasonable easy to locate on a page. Using coloured headers and footers could reduce the visibility of headings, especially if a heading appears at the top of the page just below the header.

Some of the colours proposed for the different user guides could clash horribly with the green used for the headings at the moment. To match the colour used for headings with the colour used for headers and footers is not recommended because some of the colours proposed would not stand out on a page and would probably make the page design look very amateurish. Also it would mean having a different template for each user guide if the heading colour is going to be different in each user guide.

Using each module logo in the header is a good idea because it would not be detracting from the info on the page, but no colour in the header or footer. Again this idea means different templates for each user guide to accommodate the different icons. Template management then becomes a problem if there are any universal changes required in templates.

I think using the LibreOffice logo in all the user guides is the simplest and easiest to maintain when any changes are made to templates. It would also put LibreOffice branding on every page of a user guide. The front and rear covers of each user guide should show the logo (icon) for that LO module.

Having a distinct design for LibreOffice is a good idea and would look professional, but catchy design is not so good an idea as it could make the user guides look amateurish.

From my own experience in technical publications, users, especially inexperienced ones, like simple and clean designs because they are easy to use and refer to. I have seen too many user guides that look good until you try to use them. Also, too many user guides and computer books I have come across have had such a busy page design that it made the books difficult to read.

The cover designs and the chapter title page designs look good. It is the page design that I would like to be as simple as possible.

Hope my comments help.

Regards

PeterS

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com

I do not think the proposed interior design is suitable, for several
reasons including the ink/toner issue. The coloured headers and
footers are also IMO unnecessary. They will most definitely NOT be
used for the printed guides, regardless of whether people want to use
it (or a modified version) for the free PDFs.

--Jean

I agree with all of PeterS's comments (deleted here).

I'd also like to thank Klaus-Juergen for his proposal, which in
general I think is very good.

I will upload to the wiki a screenshot of the problem icons that I
spoke about elsewhere.

--Jean

The missing labels may be related to the differences in available
fonts. Perhaps I need to install the font you used?

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/File:WG-iconbar.png
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/File:WG-back-iconbar.png

--Jean

Hi Jean,

The missing labels may be related to the differences in available
fonts. Perhaps I need to install the font you used?

No, in your proposal it has the same font "M+1 p". So I don't know why
it isn't displayed. Maybe a bug?

Hi all,
taking some "deep thoughts" about the designing of headers and footers
for the new 4.0 documentation, playing around and looking on different
technical and graphical guides to see how the headers and footers were
made there, then I made some new proposals.

Have a look at:

https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/User:K-j/Drafts/Documentation#Documentation

Every chapter gets a coulored sign of the module about what the chapter
is talking.
The footer gets a new direction:
- no black line as separator to text
- The chapter's name is on the outer side of page with a separator to
page number
- On the left page I put the chapter (heading0), on the right page the
heading1 to get a better orientation for user.

If the guide is printed as a book in the current style it is much more
difficult to read the chapter in the footer as it should be a point of
orientation.

I tried to play with three proposals (for writer only):
- The writer logo; but I don't like it in that way. It looks like
"horns". Maybe it should be put out of page line. But it is difficult
because the icon very high and tall.

- Only using the symbol of the writer icon. But we don't have good
symbols for all parts, especially not for the general chapter.

- A triangle. The first idea was to use a rectangle, but to get it
better to Libo maybe we can use a triangle.
When the coloured edge is printed as a whole book you will get a
coloured tab at the outside of the book looking on the top and the right
of the book (don't know how to call that exactly in English). I can send
a photo for private.

I made a screenshot to have a first look and a pdf to see, how it looks
with some more pages.

If you think we shouldn't change anything on header or footer, tell it
please. But I think, the "old" style is an old style from the last century.

Hello Klaus

I like the page style with the Writer icon in the header. Reasonably uncluttered and easy on the eye. Also it gets the user recognising the Writer icon without any wonder of what does it stand for.

Regards

PeterS

Peter Schofield
psauthor@gmail.com