Grey icons

[+thebruce0]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

Edited December 12, 2012 by thebruce0

[+Original A1]

It's too gloomy. And the DNFs have gone from blue to grey which makes me feel bluer!!

 

Please change back - it wasn't broke, so didn't need fixed, imho.

 

[+UMainah]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

 

I like these much better. Good job.

I'd leave the "Note Posted" icon square though, so it looks less like the "Log your visit" icon. I think the "Note Posted" icon is a square, so as to look like a Post-it ® note.

[+thebruce0]

I like these much better. Good job.

I'd leave the "Note Posted" icon square though, so it looks less like the "Log your visit" icon. I think the "Note Posted" icon is a square, so as to look like a Post-it ® note.

Thanks, and yeah that's reasonable. The note icon size wasn't a biggy, just a minor adjustment I dropped in on a whim just thought the note icon was really big, using the entire icon size, like no other icon does. Maybe square but a couple of pixels smaller all around? *shrug*

[+Ladvanice]

To bad, don't like the new icons.. i miss the color

[4wheelin_fool]

There is nothing wrong with the new icons, after a month or so everyone will be used to it. It only indicates that Groundspeak seems to be trying to intentionally annoy the small segment of cachers who have associated OCDs.

Edited December 12, 2012 by 4wheelin_fool

[+Totem Clan]

There is nothing wrong with the new icons, after a month or so everyone will be used to it. It only indicates that Groundspeak seems to be trying to intentionally annoy the small segment of cachers who have associated OCDs.

I agree with you for most part.

Most of the post here are just knee-jerk reaction to something new and differetn. Change will always stir up frustration.

Regardless of that there are some flaws in the new system that should be fixed, such as the PMO icon looking like a coin. Also the R/G colorblind issue should be corrected. Now would be a good time to fix them instead of waiting until everyone has adjusted to the new icons.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

I've never seen such a bunch of whiny babies in my life (and I used to teach kindergarten).

 

Change is good. Embrace it and quite complaining. Geesh.

 

Change is good...sometimes.

 

Some people have found minor issues with the new icons, thus change is not necessarily good for those people.

 

Change takes effort, effort that might be better spent changing something that we've actually asked for.

[+Gustav129]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

 

Awesome set. I really like these.

Edited December 12, 2012 by gustav129

[hoteltwo]

Maybe they decided on all the grey icons to save disk space as the grey icons are less intricate. What's next, removing and no longer allowing images (photos)?

[+thebruce0]

Maybe they decided on all the grey icons to save disk space as the grey icons are less intricate. What's next, removing and no longer allowing images (photos)?

It really doesn't... it's more about number of colours and how often the pixels change than hue of the colours. The simplistic/flat-ish design of their new icons is good (less gradient/shading), but grey itself isn't really helpful to reducing file size.

 

eta: And at a fraction of 1KB each, with browser caching of the images allowed, the icons themselves aren't really a bandwidth hog, even with (a generous) million active users =P

Edited December 12, 2012 by thebruce0

[+DragonsWest]

Maybe they decided on all the grey icons to save disk space as the grey icons are less intricate. What's next, removing and no longer allowing images (photos)?

It really doesn't... it's more about number of colours and how often the pixels change than hue of the colours. The simplistic/flat-ish design of their new icons is good (less gradient/shading), but grey itself isn't really helpful to reducing file size.

 

eta: And at a fraction of 1KB each, with browser caching of the images allowed, the icons themselves aren't really a bandwidth hog, even with (a generous) million active users =P

 

If you haven't noticed, the whole site has become lower contrast. The old icons were readily recognizable for this sharp, high contrast designs. Probably too alarming to some mild mannered folk at the lily pad so this change comes about. Next the Emoticons will be reduced in contrast because they are too striking in appearance.

 

Within a few years the entire site will be done in soft shades of pastels.

[+6NoisyHikers]

 

Change takes effort, effort that might be better spent changing something that we've actually asked for.

 

Yes. +562.78

 

I was just looking at an event page and all those grey Will Attend envelopes just make me sad.

 

In computer land, grey is the colour of things that aren't available to you, that are unaccessible, like a software add-on you didn't have the money to get.

 

PLEASE bring back the colour to the icons.

[+K13]

Change, for the sake of change, is not necessarily progress. Change without explanation is often frustrating.

Thus far, I'm not liking this.

[+Geo-Ewoud]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

 

Wow looking good!

[Pup Patrol]

I've never seen such a bunch of whiny babies in my life (and I used to teach kindergarten).

 

Change is good. Embrace it and quite complaining. Geesh.

 

Did you teach those children that folks who don't agree with your opinion are "whiny babies"?

 

And that they should ridicule someone for stating their opinion?

 

How rude. Sheesh.

 

 

B.

[Pup Patrol]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

 

That's much, much, better! 2 thumbs up!

 

Can you work your magic on the trackable icons now? The new ones suck.

 

 

 

B.

[+thebruce0]

That's much, much, better! 2 thumbs up!

 

Can you work your magic on the trackable icons now? The new ones suck.

 

Thanks... though, I actually don't mind the trackable icons heh

The (tiny) symbols next to the bug at least actually make sense, both by shape and colour... though sort of makes me think of a CITO

[+Academy61]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

Themes:

RED - problems with a cache/negative cache availability

GREEN - related to cache availability/location

BLUE - Attention grabbing (DNF will of course be the most common, and won't appear alongside event announcements)

YELLOW - FIND COUNT INCREASERS (Finds, Attends, Webcams)

GREY - Informational

 

Other notes:

Will attend: used a 2nd shade to visually make it pop away from notes. Note & Will attend shapes are sufficiently different, imo. And will attend really is just a form of note as it serves no other purpose.

Maintenance done: Added a checkmark to separate the shape from the NM icon

Needs archival: It's really an informational note, but provides a potential alert to finders, so added the RED exclamation over a grey Archival icon. It's not yet archived, but it should be (or needs reviewer attention)

Coordinates altered: changed the shape to better imply motion, no need for a large grey block

Note posted: shrunk the width a bit to feel more like a sheet of paper than .. a square?

Reviewer note: adjusted size to match the grey note (dog ear is already a good 'note' theme)

 

Those seem, to me, to be a little more intuitive, by shape and by colour. For the most part, the new log icons seem fine, there were just a few things that just didn't feel right.

 

And that DNF should not be grey.

 

That's much, much, better! 2 thumbs up!

 

Can you work your magic on the trackable icons now? The new ones suck.

 

 

 

B.

 

Yes, much better. And my request for you would be to change the PQ icons. That page especially is too gray, and that's where I spend most of my time.

 

And, I just noticed, if you change the reds to orange then we have a Geocaching color scheme going on.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Academy61

[jholly]

While I'm mostly indifferent to the changes (didn't the D/T stars used to be red?), it seems like another instance of TPTB changing the things they want to while ignoring the changes we want. As illustrated in my signature.

 

No matter how furiously we bang away at our keyboards, no matter how viciously we stab at our little Jeremy voodoo dolls, they know we're not going anywhere with our $30/year. The focus remains on coaxing $30/year out of the ever-increasing crop of new players.

Your Venn diagram has an error. You show a slight overlap between what Ground speak works on and what users want. In reality they are separate entities.

[+JJnTJ]

 

Your Venn diagram has an error. You show a slight overlap between what Ground speak works on and what users want. In reality they are separate entities.

 

[+The A-Team]

For anyone wondering what the new icons mean, I whipped up this list.

Add these ones, which will sneak under the radar:

(removed since I exeeded my image limit in a single post)

Some more new icons for the list:

...

My intention wasn't to detail every single change to the website, but just to clarify the meaning of the cache and trackable log type icons, which is primarily what is being discussed here.

 

FWIW, I really like thebruce0's proposed set of icons, and he has demonstrated what I was talking about in some of my earlier posts. Within less than a day, a user has already produced a much better solution. If Groundspeak had asked for improvements/suggestions relating to a new set of icons before making the change, they could have had a much better end-result without all the headache.

[+Packanack]

And Groundspeak actually pays people for this?!? Change for the sake of change is seldom a good idea. This is a prime example. Can we get the generic icons back?

OMG. scrolling the thread and hit Harry's post and I see the line that I was actually thinking. They pay people for this ? It is endless tweaking . And Harry is right. Start doing Harry Dolphin Puzzle Caches and you start thinking like him. Scary.

[Pup Patrol]

FWIW, I really like thebruce0's proposed set of icons, and he has demonstrated what I was talking about in some of my earlier posts. Within less than a day, a user has already produced a much better solution. If Groundspeak had asked for improvements/suggestions relating to a new set of icons before making the change, they could have had a much better end-result without all the headache.

 

Exactamundo.

 

 

B.

[+Roman_Jaromer]

I didn't like this new changes.

Possible variant from "thebruce0" is better, but old icons is the best.

Why don't you prefer to correct errors and does not improve the promotion of languages ​​and other subjects to improve ...

[+The_Incredibles_]

thebruce0 should be hired by Groundspeak!

[+team psychophysics]

thebruce0 should be hired by Groundspeak!

+1

 

Additionally, let's go the whole hog. Add hiDPI icons for enhanced view on "Retina"-Displays!

[+teamvoyagr]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

[knowschad]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

 

The top half sure looks Christmas-y!

[+Simrebel]

def like the icons by thebruce0

Not sure what the new icons look like I use a tampermonkey script that changes them so they all show up as broken links right now untill the script gets updated I guess

[+Don_J]

I've never seen such a bunch of whiny babies in my life (and I used to teach kindergarten).

 

Change is good. Embrace it and quite complaining. Geesh.

 

I'll whine all I want. I have a freaking 22" LCD monitor and I'm looking at little grey blobs that hurt my eyes, and I'm paying for it to boot. If the subject doesn't interest you, go post carp in some other one, because some of us have a very serious problem distinguishing what the icons are, especially the grey ones. I have glasses for reading and glasses for long distance. Do I need to get a new pair made just for geocaching.com icon recognition?

 

When the page that a web site is presenting hurts their customer's eyes, they have a problem. If whining about it gets their attention, then that's what I'll do.

[+Don_J]

There is nothing wrong with the new icons, after a month or so everyone will be used to it. It only indicates that Groundspeak seems to be trying to intentionally annoy the small segment of cachers who have associated OCDs.

 

Having a desire to be able to read and understand a web page is OCD?

Guess I'll run out and ask my doctor for some anti-psychotics.

 

Or maybe Groundspeak can send all of us some of those special glasses like they do at the 3D movies.

[+Panther&Pine]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

Agreed. Very nice.

It shouldn't be too difficult for them to use yours if you let them.

[+puczmeloun]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

Agreed. Very nice.

It shouldn't be too difficult for them to use yours if you let them.

 

Yes, this is logical. Could GS take a look at that? Consider? Use?

[+Semper Questio]

I've never seen such a bunch of whiny babies in my life (and I used to teach kindergarten).

 

Change is good. Embrace it and quite complaining. Geesh.

 

I'll whine all I want. I have a freaking 22" LCD monitor and I'm looking at little grey blobs that hurt my eyes, and I'm paying for it to boot. If the subject doesn't interest you, go post carp in some other one, because some of us have a very serious problem distinguishing what the icons are, especially the grey ones. I have glasses for reading and glasses for long distance. Do I need to get a new pair made just for geocaching.com icon recognition?

 

When the page that a web site is presenting hurts their customer's eyes, they have a problem. If whining about it gets their attention, then that's what I'll do.

 

Bravo

[+thebruce0]

Agreed. Very nice.

It shouldn't be too difficult for them to use yours if you let them.

Thanks, and yeah they're more than welcome to. Though I'd suggest re-creation as that image was a rough mockup; the hues don't all match and some smilies are just resized and could be cleaned up... but I'd certainly not be against them adopting the changes (that was the hope after all )

[+frinklabs]

In the IT business, we call this "a solution in search of a problem"

 

Hopefully someone familiar with Greasemonkey will script an icon replacement routine.

[+NYPaddleCacher]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

Agreed. Very nice.

It shouldn't be too difficult for them to use yours if you let them.

 

Yes, this is logical. Could GS take a look at that? Consider? Use?

 

The thing is, a proposed list of new icons should have been posted in the forums, and suggested revisions like the list theBruce0 made could have been suggested, all *before* they were implemented. For some odd reason, GS seems to like to surprise it's users with new developments rather than trying to engage it's user community in the design process.

 

BTW, all traces of the old icons will be removed in a week.

[+Castle Mischief]

After going back and looking at the new icons again, I have to admit that even to my sub-40-yr-old eyes they grey ones are fuzzy against the off-white of the forum background. I can imagine they must be really hard to read for some of you old coots.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Castle Mischief

[+DragonsWest]

After going back and looking at the new icons again, I have to admit that even to my sub-40-yr-old eyes they grey ones are fuzzy against the off-white of the forum background. I can't imagine they must be really hard to read for some of you old coots.

 

As a 50+ year old coot I gotta tell ya. I am a-squinting at 'em. Trying to figure out what they are and what they are trying to tell me. If the goal was to confuse me, it's working.

[+thebruce0]

And yep, the PQ page is awful now... it's like the design is implying some kind of anti-colour prejudice or something. There really doesn't seem like any good reason to force those prominent grey icons throughout the layout there... it's like in-your-face grey, when colour seems most natural.

I mean really, who uses grey lightning bolts? Anywhere? Doesn't feel right at all...

[+The_Incredibles_]

I could see how all this grey would be difficult for some people to see. Maybe Groundspeak doesn't wanter older folks playing the game.

[+Gustav129]

One thing I do like are the dates for the "Last Logged" for my Trackables are on bold blue box on my profile. I looked there because there's thread about a bunch of bogus logs with no email notifications.

[RedShoesGirl]

...

 

Within a few years the entire site will be done in soft shades of pastels.

 

...kind of like how the forums look now. bland. i remember when the new forum look was rolled out and folks had a fit. didn't do any good. what the PTB want is what they will get and it matters not a whit what people say. remember, the number of people reading and commenting on the forums is minute compared to the overall number of cachers. who, if they don't like the icons probably wouldn't say anything and just go about the business of finding caches..

[AZcachemeister]

No matter how furiously we bang away at our keyboards, no matter how viciously we stab at our little Jeremy voodoo dolls, they know we're not going anywhere with our $30/year. The focus remains on coaxing $30/year out of the ever-increasing crop of new players.

 

BINGO!

 

 

Hey, wait a minute!

These forum emoticons are stale and uninteresting.

 

Could we get them all redesigned too?

[+Harry Dolphin]

I suggest we all refuse to log any more DNFs until they give us the blue back.

 

 

I will not be logging any more DNFs (and may have to go back and change the ones I've logged to notes.) That Blackface icon is racist, and I do not want to be associated with racism.

[+NeverSummer]

A few suggestions I whipped up, thanks to The A-Team's convenient list...

 

This is a nice set of icons.

Agreed. Very nice.

It shouldn't be too difficult for them to use yours if you let them.

 

Yes, this is logical. Could GS take a look at that? Consider? Use?

 

The thing is, a proposed list of new icons should have been posted in the forums, and suggested revisions like the list theBruce0 made could have been suggested, all *before* they were implemented. For some odd reason, GS seems to like to surprise it's users with new developments rather than trying to engage it's user community in the design process.

 

BTW, all traces of the old icons will be removed in a week.

Now that is wonderful. Makes sense for each log/icon type. Good sizes, nice accent colors, and clearly shows what it is that the log was/is. If applied to coins/pubs in a similar way, this is a VAST improvement over what was dumped on us.

 

So, I hope TPTB are listening. If not, this needs to get emailed to them ASAP for review.

 

This is what collaboration looks like, Groundspeak. Take some time to get feedback on a beta version, and the feedback can make a stronger product.

[+MartyBartfast]

 

The thing is, a proposed list of new icons should have been posted in the forums, and suggested revisions like the list theBruce0 made could have been suggested, all *before* they were implemented. For some odd reason, GS seems to like to surprise it's users with new developments rather than trying to engage it's user community in the design process.

 

BTW, all traces of the old icons will be removed in a week.

 

While I don't like the new icons much either but did Coca-Cola engage it's "community" before changing the recipe? Or Microsoft before changing Windows XP -> Vista -> Windows 7 -> Windows 8? or any number of other companies making changes to their products? Sometimes it seems we expect more from GS than we expect from other companies.

[+niraD]

That Blackface icon is racist

Really? Are the yellow face icons racist too? How about the red face icon? And are the green face icons somehow offensive to anyone? And isn't the violin associated with the music of the Imperialist West?

[+Harry Dolphin]

That Blackface icon is racist

Really? Are the yellow face icons racist too? How about the red face icon? And are the green face icons somehow offensive to anyone? And isn't the violin associated with the music of the Imperialist West?

 

Sorry that you have never studied history and culture. Try it sometime. Maybe they'll put up a swastika icon next?