Unified ODF Icons - Specification

Specification Status
Author	Lutz Hoeger
Last Change	Nov. 20, 2009
Status (Help)	Standard

Abstract

A new set of document icons (a.k.a. mime type icons), which gives ODF documents a clean and unique visual identity, and removes any product or vendor specific brand.

References

Reference Document	Check	Location (URL)
Prerequisites	[passed/failed]	n/a
Product Requirement, RFE, Issue ID (required)	[available]	http://qa.openoffice.org/issues/show_bug.cgi?id=104806
Accessibility Check (required)		See accessibility section for check list
Test case specification (required)	[available]	http://www.openoffice.org/nonav/issues/showattachment.cgi/65747/odf_icon.html
GullFOSS announcement, incl. motivation for this change		http://blogs.sun.com/GullFOSS/entry/unified_odf_icons
Graphical specification of the new icon design		http://odftoolkit.org/pages/ODF-Icons
Specification of System File Type Registration		http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/File:Oo-system-filetypes-v3.odt
Specification of OOo File Open Dialog File Type Registration		http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/File:Oo-filedlg-filetypes.odt
Project Home Page		http://wiki.services.openoffice.org/wiki/Unified_ODF_Icons_-_Project_Home_Page

Contacts

Role	Name	E-Mail Address
Developer	Mikhail Voitenko	mav@openoffice.org
Product Manager	Lutz Hoeger	lh@openoffice.org
Quality Assurance	Thorsten Martens, Olaf Felka	tm@openoffice.org, of@openoffice.org
Documentation	Uwe Fischer	ufi@openoffice.org
User Experience	<First Name, Last Name>	<User@openoffice.org>

Detailed Specification

All icons for OpenDocument files shall be replaced by a new design, removing product and vendor specific brand elements. This includes all occurrences on the OOo user interface as well as representations of these files on desktop systems, where icons are used instead of previews (e.g. Windows XP). New Icons for non-ODF files shall be introduced, which match the ODF-icon style.

ODF files

The list of OpenDocument files includes:

• .odt (Text Document)
• .ott (Text Document Template)
• .ods (Spreadsheet)
• .ots (Spreadsheet Template)
• .odp (Presentation)
• .otp (Presentation Template)
• .odg (Drawing)
• .otg (Drawing Template)
• .odb (Database)
• .odf (Formula)
• .odm (Master Document)
• .oth (Text HTML Template)

Non-ODF files

Other document types (non ODF), which users assign either manually to be opened with OpenOffice.org, or that are assigned automatically by the installation program of OOo, shall use non-ODF icons. Reason: Other files are most likely not in OpenDocument format, so they should not be displayed as ODF files. Instead, each OOo sub-application (Writer, Calc, ...) shall use their own default icon for such files. These default icons resemble their ODF-equivalents, but include a neutral banner instead of the ODF one.

Common Specification for ODF and non-ODF files

All icons are listed at http://odftoolkit.org/ODF-Icons.

The list of icon occurrences includes:

• Any desktop representation of such files (incl. folder views, and "New" pop-up menu, where applicable); see the Specification of System File Type Registration
• Appearance in OOo Start Center
  • Note: don't change the icon for "Templates..." (no regression; hasn't been in sync before)
• Appearance in OOo QuickStarter (where applicable)
• Appearance in OOo window caption
• Appearance in OOo "Standard" tool bar: "New" button and drop down
• Appearance in OOo Menu "File - New";
  • Note 1: use the "Empty" ODF Document Template icon for entry "Templates an Documents"
  • Note 2: use the "Empty" Non-ODF icon for entry "HTML Document"
• Appearance in OOo "File - Properties - General" dialog
• Appearance in OOo "Open/Save" dialog: system dialog and OOo dialog (see Specification of OOo File Open Dialog File Type Registration)
• Appearance in OOo "Templates and Documents" dialog: places pane and file list
• Appearance in OOo "Template Management" dialog (Organizer): "Commands" button - "Reset Default Template" pop-up menu

Accessibility

Accessibility is the responsibility of the I-Team, beginning with UX, DEV and QA, to ensure that the following requirements are fulfilled:

1. Is the feature fully keyboard accessible?
   (Ex: "I can go everywhere and use every function using the keyboard only"
   n/a
2. Have I specified visual alternatives for the case that the specified feature includes audio as output?
   n/a
3. Are text alternatives for all icons and graphics available?
   n/a
4. Don't provide important information in colors alone
   (Ex: marking important information hard coded in red)
   yes
5. Does the specified feature respect system settings for font, size, and color for all windows and user interface elements?
   n/a
6. Have I ensured that flash rates do not exceed 2 hertz for blinking text, objects, or other elements? In any case, try to avoid flashing UI elements
   n/a
7. Ensure that assistive technology (AT) (like ZoomText or Orca) is able to read everything.
   n/a

Known Issues

• Loss of the all color language (save a blue rectangle that indicates an ODF file).
• Possibly incorrect badging "ODF" on Apple Mac OS X according to Apple Human Interface Guidelines, Icons

Later

• Design solution for preview-based icons (e.g. Windows Vista, Windows 7, Mac OS X)