The 'About Lazarus' Form

[Aruna]

Take your image, delete the old one and rename your image to the old one's name...
Rebuild Lazarus...That is all.
If you do it like that you don't even have to touch the sourcecode.

Hi @Thaddy sorry this will not work.

When I was testing my first attempt at a splash logo I tried your suggestion and it did not work. Then I investigated further and saw the splash_logo.png though it is there in the /images folder the IDE never uses it directly. The splash_logo is inside the splash_logo.res file and that is what is used when one re-builds the IDE. Test it again if you do not believe me.

So to get it to work the steps I followed are:
1 - Copy the file into your lazarus/images folder
2 - Change into your lazarus/images folder
3 - Run ..\tools\lazres  splash_logo.res splash_logo.png  (Windows)
4 - Run ../tools/lazres splash_logo.res splash_logo.png (Linux)
5 -  Start your Lazarus IDE
6 - Select Tools --> Configure 'Build Lazarus' --> Clean All
7 - Click Build - and done!

[Aruna]

Makes it look like a programming language for Elizabethans, little old ladies with black dresses and lace collars, and mid-C20th types who insisted on lace doilies on the table and could afford the extra punched cards to store foibles like that. Sorry.

Please do have a look at the attached screenshot. You might change your mind. ( I think it looks majestic and for me Lazarus is majestic )

Also I'd echo what's been said about rebuilding and would suggest that working out how to do this before volunteering changes is always a good idea.

@MarkMLI I repeat, I never volunteered anything. Please read my original post. I created a splash_logo from scratch, and I liked the end result. I felt I should share it with the community and ask for some feedback. That is all.  I am starting to think maybe that was a bad idea so in the future I will keep my creations to myself. That way no one is upset.

[Aruna]

The graphic attachment from "Reply #4" resembles the style of an obituary, where the empty black center is a place to enter the personal data of the deceased.

Hi @VisualLabThank you for your feedback. I appreciate your perspective on the graphic attachment from "Reply #4." I understand how the design could be interpreted in that way. I intended to create a layout that is both functional and respectful, and I will certainly take your observations into account as we refine our approach. If you have any further suggestions or concerns, please feel free to share them.

( On second thoughts maybe I should advertise that graphic to all the major funeral parlors in town? Never mind, it was just a passing thought..)

[Aruna]

The current Lazarus "About" dialog is OK (i.e. it doesn't need any changes, there's no need to make any changes).

With all due respect that is 'your' opinion @VisualLab.

There are hundreds if not thousands of people out there who use Lazarus yes? On the forum it says Total Members: 21317, so yes if you're happy with it that is fine. But there may be others who like to see change. Be it the splash_logo or maybe some new functionality or just folks like me who like to tweak and twiddle the code to see what may be possible ( or not. )

Remember why Open Source came to be? Open source refers to software or projects that are made available to the public with their source code accessible and modifiable.  This means that anyone can view, use, modify, and distribute the software.

So if I or anyone else wishes to change anything we should be free to do so? It is for our own personal use. At no time did I suggest that the splash logo should be used in Lazarus.

But there could be some minor improvements & beautifications in the "New..." dialog. But it's not a pressing need. Besides, it would have to be both tasteful and ergonomic.

Minor improvements such as? Please give me an example of what you consider tasteful and ergonomic? Thank you.

[TRon]

I have been working on a new logo and would love to get your feedback.

I like the drawing but for me personally the congruence is a bit overwhelming (a bit too much "in your face").

Any thoughts or suggestions for improvement would be greatly appreciated.

The ancient Greek also carved their scribblings in stone, e.g. somewhat like this. Perhaps that might be an idea to use for the actual displayed information. Maybe it is able to help distract from the congruence as well (don't know as I didn't tried. My graphical skills are none whatsoever)

[Aruna]

I like the drawing but for me personally, the congruence is a bit overwhelming (a bit too much "in your face").

Thank you @TRon for your feedback! I appreciate your perspective on the drawing. I understand that the congruence might feel a bit intense. Could you provide more details on what specifically feels overwhelming?  Was it the black and white cheetah images? Or the black and gold mandala background? Or the darkness of the drawing in general? Or all the things I mentioned?

The ancient Greek also carved their scribblings in stone, e.g. somewhat like this. Perhaps that might be an idea to use for the actual displayed information. Maybe it is able to help distract from the congruence as well (don't know as I didn't tried. My graphical skills are none whatsoever)

My friend @TRon I have the greatest respect for you and I highly value your thoughts. ( Why? Because you gave me your time and dug deep into the source code to find 'ftString' was hard coded when I was trying to sort a string column numerically. Not many people will have the patience to do what you did. I have respect for this)

That being said and no offense and with all due respect we are now in 2024 and we have access to tools that they did not have access to when they were building those stone pillars or scribblings in stone. All I am saying is we do not have to remain stagnant and limited to what we have now simply because that was how things were done way back then. Unless there is a benefit to the user community in remaining in the past? I will try to do a stone scribble effect for what it's worth and see if the text is more legible. Thank you for pointing this out.

don't know as I didn't tried. My graphical skills are none whatsoever

We have Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all the screenshots you see were not created frm scratch by me. That would have taken considerable time. I used GEMINI and typed in:

Code: Text  [Select][+][-]

1. Logo Design: A sleek, stylized cheetah head or full-body silhouette.
2. Text Placement: "Lazarus" positioned below or beside the cheetah logo.
3. Colors: Use a color scheme of a blue gradient

And the generated results are what you are now looking at in the screenshots. Please try it and take it for a test drive you will be surprised at what it can do when it comes to image generation.

The other thing I noticed is a lot of people got upset/fired-up with my splash logo. What if we have multiple splash logos that the end user is given the ability to choose? Then those who want to stick with the original logo can do so and those that wish to change to a new logo are able to do so? Everyone stays happy? Or we leave things the way they are and most people will be happy. ( and I use my logo as and when I please and am happy. )

[TRon]

I understand that the congruence might feel a bit intense. Could you provide more details on what specifically feels overwhelming?  Was it the black and white cheetah images? Or the black and gold mandala background? Or the darkness of the drawing in general? Or all the things I mentioned?

To make sure I was only referring to the first image (and their respective colorschemes) that you posted. I thought the colours looked just fine as well as the mandala background. It is the symmetry of the opposing images that I found to be a bit distracting.

My friend @TRon I have the greatest respect for you and I highly value your thoughts.
...

Don't worry. It is all good. Like I said my graphical design skills are non existent so I am easy to please in such matters.

It is fair enough that you have a (strong) opinion on what you deem fit for your graphical creativity. Please don't waste time on something that was just a idea that popped into my head.

Talking about stagnancy then I wonder about pillars, cheeta's and Delphi references et all e.g. as if Lazarus isn't able to stand on its own legs. But that is from a pure personal perspective.

We have Artificial Intelligence (AI) and all the screenshots you see were not created frm scratch by me. That would have taken considerable time. I used GEMINI and typed in:
..

Ah yes, ofc  .

It did not occur to me when seeing that first image as to me it looked something that was manually drawn.

fwiw I believe there is nothing wrong with the second image and yes that looked more like being crafted with ML 

The other thing I noticed is a lot of people got upset/fired-up with my splash logo. What if we have multiple splash logos that the end user is given the ability to choose? Then those who want to stick with the original logo can do so and those that wish to change to a new logo are able to do so? Everyone stays happy? Or we leave things the way they are and most people will be happy. ( and I use my logo as and when I please and am happy. )

People seem to get upset pretty quick when it comes to art.... perhaps because only their own interpretation is deemed the right one ? IRL paintings seem to have a similar effect and opinions seem to be influenced by time as well.

I have no opinion on the suggestions made simply because they do not influence functional behaviour of either the language or the IDE.

[dbannon]

Aruna, how about setting your sights a bit lower ?  If not a splash screen for Lazarus, an image we can use in our own applications promoting FPC/Lazarus ?

Attached is the splash screen for my app, note its not full screen (my app is a "keep out of the way until needed sort of thing). I wanted, after some discussion a few years ago on this forum, to make sure my end users know that what they are using is made with FPC and Lazarus.  Best I could do is scale down an existing image but its not, IMHO, very satisfactory.

Could you make a better image ?  One that users like me would use to promote FPC/Lazarus to the general community ? It would need to -

• Be no bigger than my example, perhaps smaller ?
• Mention "Free Pascal" and "Lazarus" in, roughly, equal prominence ?
• Be usable in both light and dark themes.
• Look fantastic (obviously).

A challenge ?

Davo

[Martin_fr]

What if we have multiple splash logos that the end user is given the ability to choose?

That would be against the point, wouldn't it?

The logo(s) aren't just something "pretty to look at to pass the time". (where highly "pretty" is subjective, and also not the point).

Those images are part of a brand. The "Lazarus brand". The have and should have a recognizable character. Once you seen it (or a few times), if you see it again even without any text, you should immediately associate it with Lazarus.
Brand logos can change over time, but usually in tiny steps over long time. And usually keeping some of the original idea.


That said, of course anybody is free to modify there personal installation, and share that as the wish.

But I don't think we will have an official "logo customization feature" or "logo customization repository".

[Aruna]

It did not occur to me when seeing that first image as to me it looked something that was manually drawn.

You have an incredible eye for attention to detail @TRon. Yes, the first image was manually created from scratch. No AI tools were used. I have attached a zip file with the gimp *.xcf file for anyone interested.

fwiw I believe there is nothing wrong with the second image and yes that looked more like being crafted with ML 

Yes all the others were created with Gemini AI.

People seem to get upset pretty quick when it comes to art.... perhaps because only their own interpretation is deemed the right one ?

Very true...

IRL paintings seem to have a similar effect and opinions seem to be influenced by time as well.

Yes time does influence everything. One's current environment will also determine how one thinks/feels about certain things.

I have no opinion on the suggestions made simply because they do not influence functional behaviour of either the language or the IDE.

Yes you are correct. I never meant to upset anyone, lesson learnt the hard way :-)

[Aruna]

Aruna, how about setting your sights a bit lower ?  If not a splash screen for Lazarus, an image we can use in our own applications promoting FPC/Lazarus ?

Certainly! If a splash screen for Lazarus isn't feasible right now, I'd be happy to help create an image that we can use in our applications to promote FPC/Lazarus.

Attached is the splash screen for my app, note its not full screen (my app is a "keep out of the way until needed sort of thing). I wanted, after some discussion a few years ago on this forum, to make sure my end users know that what they are using is made with FPC and Lazarus.  Best I could do is scale down an existing image but its not, IMHO, very satisfactory.

I will try and run/check your app later today.

Could you make a better image ?  One that users like me would use to promote FPC/Lazarus to the general community ?

It would need to -

• Be no bigger than my example, perhaps smaller ?
• Mention "Free Pascal" and "Lazarus" in, roughly, equal prominence ?
• Be usable in both light and dark themes.
• Look fantastic (obviously).

Of course! I'd be happy to work on a better image (as time permits me to do so)

A challenge ?

A challenge would be riding that bicycle across your austrailian dessert as you once pointed out to me .  :P

[Aruna]

The logo(s) aren't just something "pretty to look at to pass the time". (where highly "pretty" is subjective, and also not the point).

Hmm.. I never thought of it that way and yes your right.

Those images are part of a brand. The "Lazarus brand". The have and should have a recognizable character. Once you seen it (or a few times), if you see it again even without any text, you should immediately associate it with Lazarus.Brand logos can change over time, but usually in tiny steps over long time. And usually keeping some of the original idea.

My apologies @Martin_fr that is very different. I am sincerely very sorry for all the strong opinions I had regarding this. A brand huh? Better late than never I guess. I learned something useful today. Once again I am really sorry for causing anyone to get upset. You all knew better while I did not. I do now.

That said, of course anybody is free to modify there personal installation, and share that as the wish.

I will continue experimenting as I always have and see where it takes me 

But I don't think we will have an official "logo customization feature" or "logo customization repository".

Well I am thinking maybe my repo will soon have a logo customization feature purely so that I can teach myself how to go about doing this.

[Martin_fr]

Those images are part of a brand. The "Lazarus brand". The have and should have a recognizable character. Once you seen it (or a few times), if you see it again even without any text, you should immediately associate it with Lazarus.Brand logos can change over time, but usually in tiny steps over long time. And usually keeping some of the original idea.

My apologies @Martin_fr that is very different. I am sincerely very sorry for all the strong opinions I had regarding this.

No apologies needed. You are welcome for your opinion. And also welcome for any critic you may have.
And there have been others before you.

IIRC, some of our logos underwent some change. But small enough, so the general ability to recognize them remained. (hopefully it did).
E.g. https://gitlab.com/freepascal.org/lazarus/lazarus/-/commit/d0e4914408c7e6c14d02c436def0845e8f03106d

[Curt Carpenter]

As a visual that resonates with multiple important attributes of the Lazarus brand (speed and rapid development (the cheetah), continuity and stability over time (the Delphi reference), contemporary and up-to-date (typography), hands on (paw!)) I give the current logo three thumbs up.  Does anybody know who created it?

[Aruna]

Could you make a better image ?

See if you like the attached images.