Acknowledged
7 months ago

automatically resize the app icon instead of issueing the warning that the app icon will be resized

we all know the warning:

WARNING: vivoactive3: The launcher icon (40x40) isn't compatible with the specified launcher icon size of the device 'vivoactive3' (40x33). Image will be scaled to the target size.

is it really that bad that the icon will be resized? is it worthy of raising a warning and polluting the build output? 

to answer the question:

I don't think it's worth it.

In the new app I'm writing I went to the trouble to create resource overrides so that each device has the icon prebaked in it's preferred resolution. I had to create 47(!!!) resource override folders just to get rid of this warning.

What I'm doing manually (resizing the icon and saving it in it's specific resource folder) is nothing different than what the compiler does automatically if the icon is not in the desired icon size.

I think:

- this warning has no (/not much) benefit and should be removed.

 

peterdedecker
  • 7 months ago

    > I think Garmin should be preserving the aspect ratio of listing images when they're auto-resized for the store, instead of squashing all the non-square images into squares, such that a huge proportion of the app listings look terrible on the CIQ website.

    And in fact this is done properly in Connect IQ app, but not the CIQ website.

  • 7 months ago

    Also, you completely ignored my example where resizing an icon from 40 x 40 to 33 x 33 makes the icon look bad.

    Not only does it look bad due to the resizing itself (especially with the limited number of colours available on a MIP display), at 33 x 33 it's noticeably smaller than all the other 40 x 40 system icons. I assume that a 40 x 40 icon which was resized to 33 x 33 for a 40 x 33 watch would have a similar problem (it would probably be noticeably narrower than all the system icons which would presumably max out the full 40 x 33 real estate)

    People who care about the appearance of their launcher icon (and app store listing image) may be in the minority, but that doesn't mean it's an invalid concern.

  • 7 months ago

    > What is annoying is that you even get the warning when you leave it to the default iq image

    For apps where the launcher icon is significant (device apps and widgets), I would argue this is a good thing.

    > I see many people who do not create their own app icon

    Right and this goes back to the idea that the behavior of the majority of people (or many people) is not necessarily ideal.

    I don't think Garmin wants devs to use the default launcher icon for apps that will appear in the activity/app launcher or the glance list.

    I think Garmin should actually pay *more* attention to detail for this kind of thing.

    I think the default app icon should use transparency, instead of having a grey background.

    I think Garmin should be preserving the aspect ratio of listing images when they're auto-resized for the store, instead of squashing all the non-square images into squares, such that a huge proportion of the app listings look terrible on the CIQ website.

    > What is annoying is that you get the warning for projects where the app icon is nearly meaningless (data fields and watch faces)

    This isn't a bad point. Then again if you use on-device Connect IQ store app, the launcher icons are displayed for every installed app. Yes, most watch faces have the default IQ icon.

    One could argue that nobody uses the on-device CIQ app, perhaps because the UX is bad. Then it becomes a chicken and egg scenario: they're not using it bc it sucks, and it sucks bc they're not using it.

    > What is annoying is all the work you need to do to get rid of the warning

    Is there a specific reason why you need to get rid of the warning given that you don't care about the issue it's referring to?

    Why isn't providing a command line option to suppress the warning an acceptable solution? Only two extremes are possible? The warning is either there (and many people hate it) or it's not there (and the people who might benefit from knowing what's happening will be left in the dark).

    > What is annoying is that the warning pollutes build output (without good reason imho)

    The reason is to let the dev know that their app icon may not look nice after Garmin resizes it.

    > TL DR get rid of the warning :)

    You could've simply asked for that in the bug report title instead of also asking for something that's already been done from day one (auto-resizing the app icon).

  • 7 months ago

    > I understand that the warning is annoying though.

    What is annoying is that you even get the warning when you leave it to the default iq image (I blame guilty and I see many people who do not create their own app icon)

    What is annoying is that the warning pollutes build output (without good reason imho)

    What is annoying is all the work you need to do to get rid of the warning

    What is annoying is that when using resource overrides it makes the project less manageable (due to all the base level folders you have less of a birds eye view on your project structure 

    What is annoying is that you get the warning for projects where the app icon is nearly meaningless (data fields and watch faces)

    /end rant

    TL DR get rid of the warning :)

  • 7 months ago

    TL;DR the fact the launcher icons are so small (with so few pixels), and have so few available colours (on MIP devices) is actually an argument that automatic resizing is not always the best course of action (assuming the source isn't SVG).

    I understand that the warning is annoying though.