INTERACT FORUM

Windows => Third Party Plug-ins, Programs, and Skins => Topic started by: marko on November 14, 2008, 05:43:53 am

Title: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on November 14, 2008, 05:43:53 am
(https://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/13/BlacknBlue.jpg)

My aim here was to try and create a skin with elements I quite dislike in a way that I might like them (I was bored, OK)

3 main skin turn-offs for me are dark skins, skins with full width action windows and skins with images for tree backgrounds (there are not many out there because they're hard to do as the background image constantly resizes as the action window expands and collapses)

If you spot anything that's broken or just needing a bit of TLC, please let me know.
Read from here (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=49214.msg685420#msg685420) down for current conversation...

Edit: 28/07/2015
I have begun work on trying to get this skin to work correctly with the new scaling/dpi stuff introduced during the MC20 cycle. There is a way to go still, but I think that I have fixed the main UI breaking up when it is moved away from 100%.

Download the attached zip file and extract it somewhere handy. It contains a single mjp file. Double click on that and MC will download and install the skin. When I post an update to the skin, just double click on the same mjp file and it will download and install the updated skin.

Edit: 19/08/2015
I think this is done now...
The whole skin should now scale quite nicely. Some changes have been made, most notably:
Edit: 18/11/2015
Skin updated to handle the scaling changes introduced in build 21.0.23. This means that if you are using any version of MC earlier than that, the window control buttons (close, minimise, maximise etc.) may be missing or incorrectly placed. If this is a major problem, let me know and I'll try and sort out a backwards compatible xml file.

Edit: 25/01/2018
Tag Window fix along with a bit of a change (because I can't help myself :))
If you don't like it, just let me know and I'll change it back. It's just an xml change so not a lot of work.

Updated (24/11/2019)
Added suitable colours for the new MC 26 waveform progress bar.

Updated (11/06/2022)
Integrity checked xml vs filenames. Skin should now work correctly on Linux.
Added a Spotlight button.
Set the Spotlight page background colour.
Toned down the default button brightness a little to make it less distracting, especially in places such as the 'links' manager.

Edit (04/02/2023):
Updated attached mjp file, which should now work for Linux and Mac as well as Windows.

-marko.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: gappie on November 14, 2008, 06:15:39 am
ive been clicking around and must say that i like it a lot, a bit dark isnt it :D. one small thing i was wondering about is: did you left the screenshot used for the skin manager out on purpose?

thanks
 :)
gab
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Magic_Randy on November 14, 2008, 09:28:57 am
Very nice marko. ;D

Everything appears to work just fine. I edit in the details a lot, and sometimes a skin, especially dark skins,  does not handle the colors very well when editing. Your skin works very well very well for this.

I'll continue to work with it.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: rjm on November 14, 2008, 09:55:26 am
Well done marko.

It's the first dark skin that I might use on a regular basis. I think I still prefer a white background  when editing but for play mode your skin is very nice.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: craft on November 14, 2008, 12:33:25 pm
null
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on November 17, 2008, 01:08:47 am
Thank you for your replies, I'm glad your enjoying the results.

I may have have found a small problem, or is it just my TV?
I find that when I open the right click menu on my TV screen, none of the menu entries are visible!! I thought maybe it was the pure black colour setting of the text, but it's not that. If I change it to something almost black, such as #000111, it still doesn't display correctly, while a bit of grey, #cecece for example, works just fine on the TV.

Anyone else seeing a virtually empty right click menu on the TV?

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: gappie on November 17, 2008, 01:44:52 am
it works here.  :)

Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on November 17, 2008, 02:18:08 am
Cheers gappie, gotta be summat about my TV then. Wierd. I tried to grab a screenshot to show you what I'm seeing (more or less a plain blue menu and not much else) but the captures are just fine when viewed on the PC monitor.

Strange...

Anyone else?

I used to use a DVI > HDMI cable to hook up the TV, but one day, for no good reason, it just plain stopped working, so, since then, I've been using RGB cables. Gforce 8800 GTX card. TV is 1920 x 1080

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on November 19, 2008, 02:59:44 pm
Well, I've had no joy at all in understanding why the menu contents are invisible on my TV, so I've changed the menu text colour to d0d0d0 as that does display correctly on my TV.

I've updated the download link to include this change.

Apart from that, I've not found anything else amiss, and apparently, neither has anyone else.
I trust that you are all happy with "Black and Blue" and will submit it to the skins pages over the weekend, once I've cooked up a 'skin.jpg' file to go with it ;)

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Magic_Randy on November 24, 2008, 10:13:11 pm
I've been using it for the past 10 days as my default skin.  I like it more and more each day. It kind of grows on you. 8)

Thanks...
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: croznest on November 24, 2008, 11:45:35 pm
Nice. This just might become my favorite. 
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: phalanthus on November 25, 2008, 10:43:26 am
 ;D ;D ;D
well done Marko - nice skin
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on December 09, 2008, 03:17:12 am
Because they began to bug me...

I've changed the rating stars from black (quite difficult to see) to something closer to the list text:
(https://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/13/newbnbstars.jpg)

I've also had another look at the action window...
There were a few pixels showing through at the top of some of the windows, most notably, the main window, the display window and the tag window; the one's most of us probably use the most. That has now been fixed, and the colours have been changed slightly...
Main:
(https://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/13/newawmain.jpg)

Display:
(https://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/13/newawdisplay.jpg)

Tag:
(https://www.mpw.scot/pics/ia/13/newawtag.jpg)

The download link in the first post contains these changes, and this is the skin I've submitted to JRiver.
(there's a skin manager preview image in there too ;))

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: HTPC4ME on December 10, 2008, 09:13:44 am
LOVIN it... ty Marko :)
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Magic_Randy on December 10, 2008, 09:26:01 pm
I've meddled with this enough, I think...
-marko.

I see you are still tweaking almost a month after you had meddled enough ;D

I like it a lot. I now have it as my standard for both MC12 & MC13.

Randy
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on December 11, 2008, 02:23:57 am
I know, I know :P

The only thing left bugging me now are the two small issues outlined in this post (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=41727.msg337878#msg337878). The deafening silence is telling me that these things are probably hard-coded somewhere and that there's nothing I can do about them.

Apart from those, I really do feel it's finished now... or should that be 'for now'... nah, seriously, it's finished, and submitted.
Thanks for the feedback, I'm glad you're enjoying the results.

-marko.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: BenRad on December 11, 2008, 10:53:51 am
Very nice...I'm a fan already.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: fidelio on December 11, 2008, 03:24:41 pm
I love it.

I changed the font and size slightly, to obtain better readability (e.g. text below pictures).

Thank you so much!
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: AoXoMoXoA on December 11, 2008, 03:41:48 pm
wow, very nice skin! 
I really like the textures on the crossbars
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Magic_Randy on December 24, 2008, 11:54:04 pm
marco, what Track Info skin would you recommend to go with this skin?

Thanks...
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: kurushi on November 27, 2009, 03:18:37 am
I really love the buttons on this skin.
But the leather texture on the handle is not my taste.
One of my prefered!
Good Job!
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on November 27, 2009, 05:31:46 am
kurushi, thank you for taking the time to post. It's appreciated, and I'm glad you're enjoying the results.

At the other end of the spectrum completely, I created a skin called Seamless (http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=50925.0).
I've never submitted this skin because I have a strong feeling that depending on other peoples' LCD monitor settings, not everyone will see the same things I do. There is a suggestion there that this could be down to my choice of colours, but I'm not sure, and until I am, it won't get submitted.

Getting back to "Black and Blue"...
A while back, I was asked if I could change the progress bar from dark blue to bright yellow, to help track progress when being used in a darkened room. If anyone else would like a yellow progress bar, I've attached the two files required to this post (login to access). Save the zip file then extract the contents into the skin folder, replacing the existing files.

Magic_Randy, talk about a delayed response!!! I do apologise, but I totally missed your post. I can't really offer any suggestions either as track info's are not something I use, sorry.
Anyone else out there found a track info that works well with this skin?

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Magic_Randy on November 27, 2009, 10:33:02 am
marko,

Your skin is my default. Thanks...

I found a couple Track Info skins that that kind of work, but they are not a perfect match. Suggestions by the group are welcome. I've been switching off between WishYou and NSF.

Randy
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: kurushi on November 27, 2009, 04:15:26 pm
The yellow looks good but too bright for me.I prefer the default.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: marko on June 24, 2010, 05:07:27 am
Today, I got around to making a "quick find" toolbar more fitting with the rest of this skin. See my "Edit" and attachment in the first post if you are interested.

Edit 29/07/2015:
Skin is under reconstruction. The current version can always be installed by double clicking the mjp file attached to the first post.

Regards,
-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - New skin preview
Post by: Fabricio on August 30, 2010, 12:51:09 pm
Today, I got around to making a "quick find" toolbar more fitting with the rest of this skin. See my "Edit" and attachment in the first post if you are interested.

Regards,
-marko

Very good. I like. "ctrl+Q" and "F3", too. Bye ...
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 30, 2010, 01:22:09 pm
You're welcome. I've just added a replacement pause button to the first post too. Looks better when playing last.fm radio now.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: lostvibrations on September 04, 2010, 05:32:29 am
Just tried to install this skin on MC15, but after the "working" dialogue disappears, the skin does not appear in the skin list, even on restart.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on September 04, 2010, 06:37:21 am
I just tried the download link from the skins and accessories page and the package installer showed "working" followed by "downloading" and the skin was automatically applied.
Do other skin downloads from the accessories pages work for you?
I wonder if you have security software or windows permissions getting in the way of the process?

[direct download removed]

-marko.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Alex B on September 04, 2010, 07:36:26 am
... extract the enclosed folder to "C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center 15\Skins\Standard View\"

- actually to the "Standard View" subfolder in your MC15 program path, wherever it happens to be. For instance, C:\Program Files (x86)\J River\Media Center 15\Skins\Standard View\
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: lostvibrations on September 04, 2010, 09:22:28 am
Thanks, doing it manually seemed to do the trick! :)

Nice skin too! I'm running it at a resolution of 1920x1200. Some possible requests:

- The current file details at the top of the screen are very small, making it a bit difficult to read

But the skin has highlighted one problem; an annoying dead pixel right in the middle of my screen!!

:p
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on September 15, 2010, 12:59:13 pm
Pleased to hear you're up and running.

I've added a group header graphic for grouped lists and amended the first post.

Comments welcome.
-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on July 28, 2015, 01:41:41 am
Here you go Captor, read the "Edit" and get the download from the first post.
I will be tweaking over the next few weeks, updating some of the graphics that don't scale too well, but think that this might be useable for you at the moment. Please let me know of any issues as you come across them and I will attempt to focus on those first.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on July 29, 2015, 03:04:40 pm
Evening Captor,

How did this go for you?

Is there anyone out there running a high DPI/Retina setup willing to look at this for me?

I reckon I'm a day or two away from having the top player bar all scaled up, and am looking for someone to try the skin as it is now, and confirm that it looks a bit blurry and obviously scaled up, and then hopefully, try the upcoming update and confirm that it looks great now!

Any takers?
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 02, 2015, 07:22:50 am
Nobody?

Player bar is done and an updated skin has been uploaded. Double click the mjp file to get the update.

This is not quite as straight forward as I imagined and has required that some of the skin be udated. Changes are hopefully subtle enough not to upset anyone.

There is quite a bit to do still, but I think I will stop until I get some feedback, positive or negative, as I have no idea if this is working for those high DPI/Retina users and it would be pointless wasting time doing it all wrong...

Attached is how the Player Bar looks for me at 300% MC size setting...
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 02, 2015, 07:38:13 am
Hello again Marko


It looks like that the previous attached file I sent was the new uppdated. Your last post came at the same time when I was sending my post :-)

It looks very good! You are saying that you are working with the skin still. Can I have a which? I donīt know if others have the same whish but I can mention it anyway ant then you can consider.
It is about the scrollbar to the right. I would be happy if that was more wide (more thick). It would be more easy to find it with the mouse cursor. Maybe you could take away the small frame on left, reight and bottom and use the right frame space for widening the scroll bar? Maybe the left to.
But, hey! I am very happy with your effort to fix this original problem so donīt think to much about that whish. It is not important. Life is smiling at me again  :D
So do you think this skin will work with MC 21 now?
B.R.
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 02, 2015, 07:56:05 am
It should work with MC21, yes. It should also work with the latest MC20 builds.

I'm pleased to hear we are making some progress. If what I am doing is working as expected, the next step is to work on things like the scroll bars and splitter bars. If I cannot prevent MC from scaling up the edges, I may need to remove them altogether, which would be a shame as removing the edge around the left, bottom and right would change the skin quite dramatically.

RE: Scroll bars.
What I will do is set them up for scaling as they are now, which may be enough to make them suitably larger for you. I'll post back here when that is done, and if you still need them wider, you can let me know and I'll try and take care of it.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: JimH on August 02, 2015, 08:05:26 am
There is an option under the Tree & View menu for "Enlarge Scrollbars on Mouse Over".  I believe it requires support in the skin itself, but I'm not sure.  It works with Noire.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 02, 2015, 08:09:14 am
Dear Marko
Thank you very much! The scroolbar has always been a little bit narrow so it is difficult to hit with the cursor.
You have to look there when you do it. The best had be if not need to look. Just hit the mouse to the right and there it is on the scroolbar. That requires to take away the frame though.
But forget it. It is not important. And what you are saying about that the skin will look significant not as nice as now is a good reason to donīt do anything about that. I am sure you have already tryed out several different designs when you designed this skin in the first place.

By the way, I have read that you also have designed other skins. Were are they to be found? I donīt want to change  ;) but just curious..

B.R.
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 02, 2015, 08:21:47 am
Jim and Marko

It works Jim. So I guess it is supported in the skin. Very nice!
However, still need to aim on the scroolbar becuase of the frame when draging the mouse to the right side.
I will try this enlarging option for a while. Maybe just need to get use to it. Thanks!

B.R.
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 02, 2015, 08:56:23 am
I am struggling with a scaling problem on the left and right program borders at the moment. Hoping that I can get it figured out without having to remove them altogether. The scrollbars are independent of these. I'll let you know when I get at them.

By the way, I have read that you also have designed other skins. Were are they to be found? I donīt want to change  ;) but just curious..
See here: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=15326.msg379344#msg379344
Bear in mind that none of these support scaling at the moment. I am still learning how to use it appropriately, and Black and Blue, when finished, will be the first of my skins to fully utilise it.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 02, 2015, 01:55:48 pm
Dear Marko

OK, thank you very much.
You have another Black and Blue too. Interesting. I will check that out later when you have fixed that as well. Also Arctic looks nice.
It is nice with dark skin becuase the album arts looks much better with a dark background.
It is same with photos. I use ACDSee and have changed background color to be black. The pics looks much better.

B.R.
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 07, 2015, 11:45:15 am
Work from the last few days has been posted. Double click the mjp file to get the update.

I've added four pixels to the width of the scroll bars. Hopefully, that's enough.

Most of the 'forward facing' stuff is done now. Just a little bit of work left to do in the action window area.
Once that's done, I'll move on to the options screens.

I originally posted this skin back in 2008. Closer inspection brought on with all this scaling stuff revealed some pretty rough edges that required smoothing out, resulting in some of the stuff having to be completely redone from scratch. This means that the skin will change, unavoidably, but quite subtly, from it's 2008 original.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: William-NM on August 07, 2015, 01:55:29 pm
Thank You, marko, she's a beauty! I haven't noticed any issues [Win10, MC21, 32" 1920x1080p]. I appreciate your attention to detail and enjoyed finding this skin that I had previously missed. Nice to get  a glimpse of your 'dark side',  ;)
I also enjoy your other skins, esp. Knit-Knots.
William
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 08, 2015, 03:37:10 am
Thanks William.

Did you keep the Knit-Knots player bar with cut-outs that the new stretchy search bar kind of broke, or did you update with the new one?

I think I kind of broke the rating stars in Black and Blue with this update. They look OK until you select a line in the list... then they become almost psychadelic! I'll get that fixed in the next update. Things will pause here for a short time though while I get upgraded to MC21...
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 08, 2015, 09:40:11 am
Dear Marko
I have downloaded it now and it looks very good. And also I have (Since lasr update of the skin) I have initiated the Widen scroolbar when put the cursor on it. And it looks great.
William: Yes, isnīt she?! A beauty. I agree with that.
Thanks Marko!
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: William-NM on August 08, 2015, 12:33:17 pm
Hmmmm, I'm not sure if this is the new Knit-Knots or the old one??  The rating stars on Black and Blue aren't too wild... or am I behind a version on that one, too? (The story of my life, heh). In any case, I sure appreciate you 'skinners' - they add so much to the experience and I know how much time and thought goes into their creation.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 13, 2015, 02:01:35 pm
I'll get back to you about Knit-Knots, that doesn't look right at all, the buttons should not be that way.

A new Black and Blue has been uploaded.

Rating stars are a lot better now.
Some changes to edit/combo boxes. (feedback, or forever hold your peace :))
Some slight shading changes in many places.

The skin is almost completely scaled now. Just sliders and up/down buttons to do I think.

The "options" frame is impossible to scale correctly with the current skinning engine as it is doing weird stuff with the margins. I am still thinking about this, may ask for opinions before finalising.
Until then, check out the latest changes and let me know if I broke anything or you want something changed back...

-marko.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 15, 2015, 04:57:00 am
Dear Marko
I have tried it today and it looks very good to me. You did not broke anything :-)
And the options fram looked good as well in my eyes. There was some changes in the audio input though. Suddenly it was my surround receiver that was default. I think that had nothing to do with the skin. Maybe I by accident change that before. Anyway, easy to change back to the audio receiver.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: William-NM on August 15, 2015, 10:04:03 pm
Hi, Marko
I did a reinstall of Knit-Knots and applied the new playerbar files. I think it looks as intended now. I'm quite fond of it, anyhow.  :)
Black and Blue is also looking very polished and professional these days, no issues on my system.
Thanks for the awesome skins, they make me feel good all day long, heh.
William
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 16, 2015, 12:25:17 am
Dear Marko
Here you have a printscreen on my Black and Blue too. I have a 50" Piononeer Kuro Plasma screen. It looks very nice.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 19, 2015, 01:00:55 pm
Nice one. Thanks for the feedback Captor, and William.

Captor, is that you back on the upgrade trail now? I do hope so :)

I have updated the first post, and uploaded the latest work that, feedback pending, I would like to call 'final'.

Enjoy.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on August 23, 2015, 05:35:17 am
Dear Marko
Sorry for late reply. I have been out of town.
Yes that is me back on the upgrade trail for now. And it looks very good. Very good job indeed!
So this is the final update then. Thank you very much for all your effort! Now I see forward to play music again :-)
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: spanky1406 on August 26, 2015, 03:19:19 pm
Very nice skin. It's my favorit skin in the moment.
Thank you marko for your work.

spanky
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on August 29, 2015, 03:47:32 am
Thank you. Glad you're enjoying it.

Would still love to hear from anyone running one of those high DPI displays as I still have no idea if all that scaling work I did actually works...

Anyone?
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on November 18, 2015, 12:04:18 pm
The release of Media Center 21.0.23 on the main board will have broken this skin slightly as JRiver changed some of the skin scaling from this build forwards.

I have updated the download to fix that (just double click your saved mjp file to update) but, this means that the skin is no longer backwards compatible.
If you update to build 21.0.23 and find that you're missing window buttons (Close, Maximise etc) then update the skin to correct that.
If you have not updated, do not update the skin until you have updated MC and see a problem.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: William-NM on November 18, 2015, 04:43:13 pm
Thanks for keeping your skins current  :D
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 28, 2015, 09:34:27 am
Dear Marko
Now it works again. And me too, thank you for keeping the skin up-to-date.
Why must it be this way that you have to correct the skin now and then after JRiver updates?
Should not JRiver updates be stable about the skins?
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on November 28, 2015, 02:39:29 pm
The introduction of scaling blew things out of the water. For years skins were seamlessly backwards compatible... Then scaling happened. The packaged skins carry the required updates for the skinning engine changes, so they always work, regardless.

I don't think this affects all third party skins. My seamless skin is fine with the latest mc versions for example, but, it doesn't support scaling, nor does it have platform specific stuff like the black and blue skins do.

They don't change this too often really. Scaling is reasonably new and by now, is practically fully baked. Bookmark the skin thread and let me know if you have any issues in the future. I'll still be here, and will try to fix any that arise.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 28, 2015, 03:57:36 pm
Dear Marko
Thank you very much for explaining. And thank you very much for being here for us  :-)
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on January 25, 2018, 03:08:14 am
That's the squishy tag window expand/collapse buttons sorted out for this one.

I changed the tag window design a little while I was at it, bringing it back to something a lot closer to the original black & blue skin.

If you don't like it though, let me know and I'll put it back the way it was with a solid coloured background.

Archive on the server has been updated, so just double click your mjp file (available in the first post if you need a new one) to download and apply.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on January 25, 2018, 02:26:31 pm
Just noticed that this skin will be ten years old this year. How insane is that! Where does the time go :)
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: JimH on January 25, 2018, 06:40:40 pm
Congratulatons, Mark. 

I think the time goes where my hair went.

You've been around the forum for almost 14 years now.  You've made it a better place.  Thank you.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 07, 2019, 12:00:50 pm
Hi Marko, do you think the skin Black and Blue will work with MC26? I haven only MC22 so I donīt know what happend after that.

Best Regards
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: JimH on November 07, 2019, 12:22:34 pm
It should. You download MC25 and try it.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 07, 2019, 12:58:30 pm
I can download and try without having the license for MC25 or 26?
OK I try that. I hope it will not mess up with my very well working MV22, though.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Awesome Donkey on November 07, 2019, 02:22:52 pm
Considering marko has kept up with MC changes over the last few years, it should work fine in MC26. I don't see any reason why it shouldn't, according to the changelog.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 07, 2019, 03:42:25 pm
OK, thank you very much :-)
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 08, 2019, 10:17:18 am
Sorry, one more question. If I install the MC25 now and get problem, will it then be difficult to uninstall it? Without affecting my old MC22?
Do I have to upgrade my MC22 or do I have to make a new installation with MC25?
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Awesome Donkey on November 08, 2019, 11:42:12 am
Each major MC install is separate from any others you may install, so yes you can install multiple versions of MC on the same machine at the same time. MC25 and MC26 won't effect MC22's install and vice versa.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 08, 2019, 11:44:35 am
Each major MC install is separate from any others you may install, so yes you can install multiple versions of MC on the same machine at the same time. MC25 and MC26 won't effect MC22's install and vice versa.
But my settings from MC22 will still follow to MC25? I mean skin for example and playlists and so on?
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Awesome Donkey on November 08, 2019, 12:28:11 pm
If you use any extra skins, you'll have to manually copy those over to MC25 (or MC26), settings (library, playlists, etc.) transfer best when doing a library backup in MC22 and doing a library restore of that backup in MC25 (or MC26).
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 08, 2019, 05:35:48 pm
OK, thank you very much for the support. Very helpful. I will give it a try during the weekend.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on November 24, 2019, 08:45:14 am
Thanks AD, for one reason and another, my free time has evaporated lately.

Updated (24/11/2019)
Added suitable colours for the new MC 26 waveform progress bar.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: Captor on November 24, 2019, 09:29:12 am
Thanks Marko,
Black  and blue is still the most beautiful skin!

B.R.
Captor
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on May 04, 2022, 04:19:39 am
Hello marko,
I like the look of this wonderful skin.
Trouble is my olde eyes cannot cope with Dark Skins.
Any chance you can swap the black bits (the dark bits) for white (light), please.
thanks,
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on May 04, 2022, 12:22:31 pm
Hello marko,
I like the look of this wonderful skin.
Trouble is my olde eyes cannot cope with Dark Skins.
Any chance you can swap the black bits (the dark bits) for white (light), please.
thanks,
Hi MB, I just checked, and, I do still have most (maybe all) of the original psd files for this skin, so that's a positive ;)

It's honestly not quite as simple as just 'swapping' something in or out. An MC skin is literally a house of cards. Change one thing always affects something somewhere else.

That said, it's an interesting idea. I'll make a start and see where it goes and get back to you. I must warn you though, my time for these kinds of projects has all but evaporated, so progress will be quite slow.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on May 04, 2022, 06:03:24 pm
Hello marko,
Wow such a quick reply. A sign of a busy person.
Quote
If You Want Something Done, Ask a Busy Person To Do It
I can wait. I can be patient.
thanks,
🙂
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: HPBEME on May 08, 2022, 10:55:22 am
It's honestly not quite as simple as just 'swapping' something in or out. An MC skin is literally a house of cards. Change one thing always affects something somewhere else.
Marko is downplaying the effort involved - creating a skin is a monumental task. Granted, having all the existing image elements completed where one "only" needs to modify colors does lessen the work involved, but it is still a huge time sink.

In the interest of saving my friend Marko's time, have you tried going to the menu bar View/Skin/Skin Effects… yet?  From there, you can adjust the brightness/contrast levels of any skin.  It can take a bit of tweaking/experimenting with those controls to get the skin to both look good and still be readable, but if your patient, you can generally come up with a combination that you may like better than the original skin.

In that same dialog box, there is also an Effects drop-down menu. Try selecting the Invert option, which makes dark skins light, and light skins dark. Granted, there are very few skins that look good when you invert the colors - in fact most look god-awful. But there are a handful that actually look really good inverted. Unfortunately, I think Black and Blue is one that does not look so great, which has nothing to do with the skin designer. One does not design a skin with a plan to make sure it also looks good with the colors inverted. It is only by happenstance if that turns out to be the case.

Obviously it is Marko's call if he is willing to put in the time, but as he indicated, it may be quite a while before he could complete such a task. The options I list above may get you what you need in the meantime.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on May 08, 2022, 01:22:15 pm
HPBEME, wow how helpful you are!

I shall give you suggestions a try - ha, but don't tell marko, I have patience.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on June 09, 2022, 05:48:52 am
Hello @marko,
I would say life is getting in the way of "these kinds of projects", and why should it not. Life comes first.
If you wish, tell me you wish to put it aside all together.
🙂
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on June 11, 2022, 03:17:52 am
Hello @marko,
I would say life is getting in the way of "these kinds of projects", and why should it not. Life comes first.
If you wish, tell me you wish to put it aside all together.
🙂
I like to think I don't miss much, but, I missed this, so apologies for the late reply.

I recently found out that Linux is a case-sensitive thing, which means that any case related discrepancies between the xml and the actual files will cause a skin to break on Linux. I need to go through the skins and check them all. To give you an idea of how tight time can be, I found this out maybe two weeks ago or so, and so far, I've got two skins done. The rest must come first.

I've not forgotten about your request, but from your end, it's probably best to assume it has been "put aside altogether" for now as it could be many months before I would be able to start, and then some months more before it would be ready.

If I get to it, it will happen quietly, and then you may get a surprise in the future when you have long forgotten about it :)

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on June 11, 2022, 03:18:18 am
Updated (11/06/2022)
Integrity checked xml vs filenames. Skin should now work correctly on Linux.
Added a Spotlight button.
Set the Spotlight page background colour.
Toned down the default button brightness a little to make it less distracting, especially in places such as the 'links' manager.

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on June 11, 2022, 04:45:20 am
@marko,
thank you for your courteous  reply—and I like quiet surprises.
🙂
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on November 11, 2022, 09:38:35 am
...just wondering. Any developments. What have I missed. Not too bothered if there is no change, just asking 🙂
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on November 11, 2022, 11:42:40 am
There's no change. Sorry. See this...
Updated (11/06/2022)
Integrity checked xml vs filenames. Skin should now work correctly on Linux.
Added a Spotlight button.
Set the Spotlight page background colour.
Toned down the default button brightness a little to make it less distracting, especially in places such as the 'links' manager.
I still haven't finished all of the other skins yet ::) Which will give you some idea of how limited my 'me' time is. I miss my 'me' time, but for sure, do not miss working 6 nights constant nightshift. Seems everything in life is a trade-off, no pleasure without a little pain :)

-marko
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on November 11, 2022, 12:06:37 pm
Nevermind, I am not unduly bothered, just concerned about what six nights on the trot is doing to you. Please take care of your self my good man.
😎
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: marko on February 03, 2023, 10:44:12 pm
Edit (04/02/2023):
Updated mjp file attached in first post, which should now work for Linux and Mac as well as Windows.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on February 04, 2023, 04:37:14 am
Ooooh, thank you Marko,
Giving it a go as we chat.
Had to fiddle with the mjp file.
Wouldn't run by right clicking open, run as admin.
So tried Open with, and then picked a launcher.
Cannot remember doing that before, but perhaps I did.

Rewind, remember I said:
"Trouble is my olde eyes cannot cope with Dark Skins.
Any chance you can swap the black bits (the dark bits) for white (light), please.
thanks,

Well I still find there is not enough colour contrast between (off white) text and skin background for me to see things clearly. Regretfully I shall have to return to my default skin which is opus mc blue.

I wish I could use your one Marko, but I am struggling to see text and read stuff. Its a shame.
Thanks anyway,
🙂👍
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: JimH on February 04, 2023, 07:32:06 am
Had to fiddle with the mjp file.
Wouldn't run by right clicking open, run as admin.
You should never need to run as admin.  MC owns the mjp filetype and will execute the file's contents.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: MusicBringer on February 04, 2023, 09:28:21 am
Yep, I found that out, afterwards.
Thanks anyway for taking an interest.
Title: Re: A bit of black and blue - a dark skin you might like
Post by: EnglishTiger on February 05, 2023, 06:15:09 am
ET TrackInfo Plugins are available for Marko's Black and Blue Skin and all his other skins.
You can read about them here -  https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,134776.0.html  (https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,134776.0.html)
or View and Download them here - [URL] https://englishtiger.uk/index.html [/URL}