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Paint.net 3.35 ( Ugly background )


Jelle Mees

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I never saw something like that, but I'm just going to throw around the possibility that you are using a custom design for your windows and that design is messing with it...

I've been using this XP Theme for more then a year now and this is the first release where I see another background :|

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Ok change to the default XP theme, and see if the background remains...

It changes with every theme. Strange though, Photoshop doesn't do it.

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In this latest release, Rick changed the background from a light gray to dark gray gradient into a solid gray color.

It seems to me that he accidentally used a "system" color instead of a real solid gray color.

No, I purposefully based the background color on the system colors. There was no "accident". If you don't want a green background then don't use a system scheme that has lots of green in it ... pretty simple.

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

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In this latest release, Rick changed the background from a light gray to dark gray gradient into a solid gray color.

It seems to me that he accidentally used a "system" color instead of a real solid gray color.

No, I purposefully based the background color on the system colors. There was no "accident". If you don't want a green background then don't use a system scheme that has lots of green in it ... pretty simple.

Come on Brewster. You had a nice beatifull program and now you are screwing with people that have been using Paint.net from the start. I've been using Paint.net and my XP theme for years. I've used every beta version and reported every bug I encountered. I worked in a PC-shop and installed Paint.net on every single PC I formatted.

And now I would have to change it just because ONLY YOU think that a sytem color is better. If you don't change it back in the next release there is only one word for your action, stubborn.

Change it back to the way it has been for years. Seriously, don't force me to change my entire windows design just so that I can work with a decent background in Paint.net, software I use on a daily basis.

A software interface should never change depending on wich OS or theme you're using. Come on, change it back please!

Already found another complaint about it on this page:

http://tweakers.net/meuktracker/18009/p ... t-335.html

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A software interface should never change depending on wich OS or theme you're using.
Actually the vast majority of software tries to respect the user's theme settings in order to blend in better. For example, one of Firefox 3's major goals was for it to change its look depending on the OS it ran on. Imagine if you chose XP's olive color and Paint.NET forced everything to be blue. In my opinion, it makes perfect sense for Paint.NET to match the color settings you yourself set.
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A software interface should never change depending on wich OS or theme you're using.
Actually the vast majority of software tries to respect the user's theme settings in order to blend in better. For example, one of Firefox 3's major goals was for it to change its look depending on the OS it ran on. Imagine if you chose XP's olive color and Paint.NET forced everything to be blue. In my opinion, it makes perfect sense for Paint.NET to match the color settings you yourself set.

The only thing that changes in Firefox is the browser interface, not the background on websites. Every single program I use has the XP Theme interface, but not a single program I have has that ugly ugly ugly background color. Becides, it doesn't mather wich theme I use, they all add a hidous background color in Paint.net .

Good developpers always say "if it's not broken, don't fix it!"

Not a single program on the planet gives me the ugly background I get on Paint.net, so don't post that the majority of the programs have it because I have at least 50 applications installed.

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I've had the reverse complaint before -- I had a guy send me a screenshot and he said, "Why aren't you employing professional programmers! Why aren't you honoring the system color scheme!" And it was seriously the most horrid color theme I'd ever seen, with reds and yellows and all sorts of horribleness. And then Paint.NET had its grey gradient background and it didn't fit in.

This isn't as clear cut a situation as you might think, Jelle. I ran the new theme-based background color in Vista, XP Luna (all 3 colors), and Classic, and it looked alright to me. Clearly you think otherwise, but please give me the benefit of the doubt and believe me when I say I'm not trying to make it look "ugly". It doesn't help to have you jump on my case calling me stubborn or that I'm "screwing with people", etc. Please trust that the last thing I want is an ugly piece of software with my name on it. I'm not trying to oppress your eyes or anything!

The background color was in beta for weeks and nobody complained about the color, only that they had liked the gradient. So, this wasn't even brought to my attention until just now. (The gradient had to go, however, as it was causing honest problems in the context of an image editor.)

Anyway let me think about a good way to solve this. Please remember that updates are easy to deploy quickly ...

(And in my defense, it looks great in Vista ... !)

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

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Jelle Mees don't be so cranky and loosen up, though I agree that a neutral color (gray) is better for a image editing program regardless the color scheme that the main OS uses.

So Pi although firefox does it that's normal because a browser does not rely on the color for work purposes. Now Paint.NET does rely on the background color, which IIRC was subject of change on v3.35, from a gray-ish gradient, to pure gray, so it shouldn't chnge regardless the color scheme.

EDIT: As Rick posted at the same time as I and now I've read his post...

...I'd say that both [Jelle and Rick] are right, though personally I stand by me :P, neutral colors for a image editing program are way better than theme blending, BUT an idea is that in the help menu we could have the option to 'Blend' and 'Un-blend' with the color scheme/theme the user is currently using...

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That dark-olive background doesn't look too bad, actually. I would have thought that with your liking towards the olive colour in your scheme, you would have revelled in the background colour. Perhaps you need time to adjust to it; you said you've been using default Windows themes for many years now, it's bound to be a shock to suddenly be presented with that stark difference.

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Jelle Mees don't be so cranky and loosen up, though I agree that a neutral color (gray) is better for a image editing program regardless the color scheme that the main OS uses.

So Pi although firefox does it that's normal because a browser does not rely on the color for work purposes. Now Paint.NET does rely on the background color, which IIRC was subject of change on v3.35, from a gray-ish gradient, to pure gray, so it shouldn't chnge regardless the color scheme.

EDIT: As Rick posted at the same time as I and now I've read his post...

...I'd say that both [Jelle and Rick] are right, though personally I stand by me :P, neutral colors for a image editing program are way better than theme blending, BUT an idea is that in the help menu we could have the option to 'Blend' and 'Un-blend' with the color scheme/theme the user is currently using...

The only reason why I am so cranky is because the program I've used for many years, the program I've installed on at least 300 computers, the program that I recommended to every family member who wanted to edit their pictures, the program that I would like to see become a full photoshop replacement, is now so hideous that it hurts my eyes!

On my PC I have a lot of Adobe software and Sony Soundforge wich I use for sound-editing and not a single one of them has a system-color as a background. They all have a grey background. The argument "vast majority of software tries to respect the user's theme settings in order to blend in better" doesn't make any sence when all the professional software I have does not change the background depending on wich theme is installed.

I honestly don't beleave that someone actually complained about the grey background, a background that you will find in any sound/movie/image editing software. If someone complains about something that is perfectly normal, just ask him to name a peace of software that does what he wants, that will shut him up, simply because that software doesn't exist. Well, it might exist, but it will probably be some crappy peace of software and not pro-software like Adobe Premier or Adobe Photoshop.

Oh well, I made my point and I stand by it. I hope you guys understand my frustration with something as simpel as "a background".

I can honestly say that I use Paint.net every single day.

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The only complaints about the gradient background were from the guy who stated -- and very correctly, I might add -- that it was causing tonal misjudgements or something. Basically, having a lighter color around the image at the top, versus darker at the bottom, made it harder to judge tones in the image itself. The other complaint was from the guy with the hideous color scheme, which I am not worried about.

For reference, here's how Paint.NET looks in the 5 standard themes across Vista and XP.

Vista screenshot

pdn335vista.png

XP - Luna Blue

pdn335xpLunaBlue.png

XP - Luna Olive Green

pdn335xpLunaOlive.png

XP - Luna Silver

pdn335xpLunaSilver.png

XP - Classic

pdn335xpClassic.png

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

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Here is a replacement for PaintDotNet.Core.dll. Close Paint.NET, drop this into the installation directory, which is usually C:\Program Files\Paint.NET, and then restart Paint.NET.

It will force the background color to be #C6C6C6 (the color you see in the Vista screenshot). However, if you don't like that color then you can set the registry key, HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ SOFTWARE \ Paint.NET \ BackgroundColor , to the hex color of your choice. It should be a string (REG_SZ) and be 6 hexadecimal digits, such as "c6c6c6" or "ffffff" (without quotes). To make this affect all users on the computer, set the same key except go into HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE \ *.

Anyway, tell me what you think. I am not planning on having this registry key around in the next update to 3.xx, and in 4.0 if it's important enough then I'll have a setting in some dialog for it.

PaintDotNet.Core.3113.zip

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

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Beatifull, the .dll file changed it back to normal. Paint.net is beatifull once again :D

Will this dll work in future releases? Because then I'll make a backup before I update to the next version.

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I sure hope it didn't take too much time away from our version 4 to fix that cutuffall up. As you can guess I really don't care what color the background is or what theme you use as long as its not black. :wink:

I enjoy what ever you put up there for us Rick, its a fine program and I appreciate you sharing your expertice and time working on this first class artwork program for us all.

ciao

OMA

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As you can guess I really don't care what color the background is or what theme you use as long as its not black. :wink:

actually black wouldn't be a wrong choice to a background color because it's neutral :D so is gray and white, everything else is just ... er ... not-neutral?? anyways just a thought...(I'm getting way to much obnoxious)

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Grey is the default color in the majority of the editing software. Nobody can or will complain about it simply because it's the standard.

When you go for black or system colors or anything else people aren't used to, you risk getting unsatisfied users.

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I blogged about it here, http://blog.getpaint.net/2008/07/10/pai ... ackground/ , and have been getting responses back that say "Yes, grey is the answer." Now the question is ... which grey? #808080 and #7f7f7f are "50% gray" by one definition, but don't take gamma into account.

The Paint.NET Blog: https://blog.getpaint.net/

Donations are always appreciated! https://www.getpaint.net/donate.html

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