Ver 3 Weaker graphic design distracts

[ooutline-ml.5.haelo at spamgourmet.com]

I fully agree with these observations. The first thing that I noticed
when I loaded up the beta was a certain degree of "gaudiness" to the
over-all look and feel. I think the selection widgets are the most
distracting to me -- especially when multiple items are selected.
Doing a select all creates a very visually confusing window. Multiple
selections also feel a bit rough, especially when a parent and its
children are selected together. The extension of the line on the left
is redundant and informationally obscuring, and the right side has an
awkward white patch where the curve of the child meets the straight
edge of the parent. The amount of white space in between selected
items, in addition to the bolder, curved line around the shaded
background areas, creates far too much visual detail which conveys no
information.

The only status type widget I like better is the checkbox. OS X's
default check box was never meant to be used inline with a document,
the way it gets used. I do agree with the first comment though, it is
a little bolder than it needs to be, especially when mixed together
with all of the other available widgets. The other status symbols are
too much, though. They are either too bold, or in some cases not
instantly informative enough. Whether or not a note is collapsed is
not readily obvious by the icon, for instance. When an item is
selected, you cannot instantly see whether or not it has a note,
because the Create Note and Expand Note icons look nearly identical.

As for the icon: I actually would not mind it that much if the light
bulb were removed. The contrast between ochre and blue with white
outlining is distinctive and interesting. It stands out on the dock
nicely where OO2's icon had a tendency to get lost, visually speaking.
The lightbulb is a bit -- over the top, I think, and is somewhat
confusing. What does it mean? I don't use a light bulb to make
outlines, I use a pen and paper.

-A.