Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!wuarchive!uunet!cbmvax!peter
From: peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: New "Style Guide" menus question.
Message-ID: <22689@cbmvax.commodore.com>
Date: 25 Jun 91 20:12:30 GMT
References: <3412@shodha.enet.dec.com> <22626@cbmvax.commodore.com> <3442@shodha.enet.dec.com> <22665@cbmvax.commodore.com> <3452@shodha.enet.dec.com>
Reply-To: peter@cbmvax.commodore.com (Peter Cherna)
Organization: Commodore-Amiga, Inc.  West Chester, PA.
Lines: 72

In article <3452@shodha.enet.dec.com> ridder@elvira.enet.dec.com (Hans Ridder) writes:
>But if I want the "3D look", don't I have to use the same pens as the
>workbench?  How can I get the "look" and match the Style Guide?
>
>Hmmm.  Maybe I'm stupid.  There are pen numbers in the IntuiText
>structures used for the menu items.  These are either set by GadTools,
>or myself.  I've always set the pen colors to 1,0 (text,background).
>How will the system changing fix this?

We have the following pens:

TEXTPEN - Used for regular text.  For a public screen, it's a pretty
good idea to make this pen 1, since older applications typically use
pen 1 for text.

SHINEPEN - For bright edges of 3D objects.  Should be whitish.

SHADOWPEN - For dark edges of 3D objects.  Should be blackish.

FILLPEN - For filling active areas like window frames and highlighted
buttons.

FILLTEXTPEN - For rendering text over FILLPEN areas.  Should be the
same as TEXTPEN unless that would make it illegible.

BACKGROUNDPEN - Should be zero for now.

HIGHLIGHTTEXTPEN - For special text.

Now, we wanted black text on the Workbench, so pen 1 had to become
black, for existing text-generating programs.

Menus, however, aren't rendered based on pens.  The menu items are
colored based on their imagery, which can be an Image (any color) or
an IntuiText, which can have a FrontPen and/or a BackPen (JAM1 or
JAM2).  So you have partial control.

However, the menu panel area itself is rendered in window BlockPen,
surrounded by a trim of window DetailPen.  Window Block and DetailPens
are also used to render old-style proportional gadgets.  So you can't
adjust those pens without screwing up the look of prop gadgets.
Finally, the Amiga-key and Checkmark are "designed" as pen-zero on
pen-one.  So you're pretty much stuck with pen-zero on pen-one menus.

Had time permitted, we would have extended the set of screen pens to
include a couple for menus and maybe proportional gadgets.

>>Increased use of the shadow, shine, etc. pens in the future should
>>mitigate the effect of color problems in the future, as it is no
>>longer just an absolute register situation; instead you get one
>>level of indirection.
>
>OK, now I'm really lost.  Where does the indirection come from?

The indirection is that Intuition uses the pen-mapping you supply
for most of its functions.  Again, a few areas (like menus) don't
yet go through the pen-array.

>
>>		andy
>>I disclaim all responsibilities, all shapes, all sizes, all colors.
>                                                      ****** ^^^^^^
>Hmm... Maybe this explains it! ;-)
>
>-hans

     Peter
--
Peter Cherna, Operating Systems Development Group, Commodore-Amiga, Inc.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!peter    peter@cbmvax.commodore.com
My opinions do not necessarily represent the opinions of my employer.
"Gosh, didn't he have anything positive to say at all?"