White on white

[TomGutman]

I know it's a bit late, but somehow this issue has not been posted before.

Who came up with the idea that a color scheme that is best described as white on white, where important distinctions are made based on subtle variations in various shades of off white, would be something useful or desirable? While it may satisfy somebody's aesthetic sense, IMHO it just adds another layer of difficulty and unpleasantry to the product. Windows has a whole section devoted to allowing a user to specify their preferences as to things like colors and sizes. MC' seems to delight in thumbing its nose at Windows and the user.
__________________
� � � � Tom Gutman

[ValeryOchkov]

On 9/18/2009 4:35:49 PM, Tom_Gutman wrote:
>I know it's a bit late, but
>somehow this issue has not
>been posted before.
>
>Who came up with the idea that
>a color scheme that is best
>described as white on white,
>where important distinctions
>are made based on subtle
>variations in various shades
>of off white, would be
>something useful or desirable?
>While it may satisfy
>somebody's aesthetic sense,
>IMHO it just adds another
>layer of difficulty and
>unpleasantry to the product.
>Windows has a whole section
>devoted to allowing a user to
>specify their preferences as
>to things like colors and
>sizes. MC' seems to delight
>in thumbing its nose at
>Windows and the user.
>__________________
> Tom Gutman

I think each second my WebSheets on MAS/MCS has variables with white color on white sheet. One little example - variables with white color on in plots markers:
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_055_Ivisible_Marker.png
See too pictures from the chapter "Invisible variable" from my book "Mathcad 14 for students and engineers"
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_048_Invisible_Plus.png
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_050_Invisible_Unit.png
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_051_Invisible_Function.png
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_052_CN_Format.png
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Mathcad_14/Chapter1/1_053_Sparse_Matrix.png

See the article too
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/Invisible/Eng/Index.htm
Val
http://twt.mpei.ac.ru/ochkov/v_ochkov.htm

[mzeftel]

We are looking at the overall color scheme right now, and meeting with a designer to see what we can do to add more contrast.

Mona

[TomGutman]

Anybody giving any thought to just following Windows standards and using whatever the user specified in the appearance tab? Or is the one size fits none mentality to far ingrained in the product?

I don't like being so negative, but what I am seeing in the way of responses brings to mind the metaphor of rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
__________________
� � � � Tom Gutman

[Ninetrees]

Gets my vote.

Rich
http://www.downeastengineering.com/