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[Marko]

Following from the introductory thread where we saw the bzero skin for the first time....


The above thread seemed to demonstrate that this skin needs some tweaking. It would be nice if it "worked" out of the box saving us the need to use notepad and photoshop to smooth it out a little.

For my part, I followed shelly's lead and took the dimples out of the top toolbar because the toolbar buttons simply didn't look right on top of them. The white backgrounds have gone too.

Now, while the colour of the backgrounds is purely subjective, it seemed pretty unanimous that the white had to go. I also notice that maximised isn't actually maximised, there's a few pixels of whatever's underneath still showing at the bottom.

Is there any chance this gown could be returned to the dressmakers before the big day for a few nips and tucks, possibly let the hem down a little too?

-marko.

[iCamp]

It's a nice skin in the sense that it's different but is this supposed to be the stock skin that MC 9.1 will "ship" with?  

I'd say it needs a LOT of tweaking before making it the standard skin.  A re-thinking of the over all design, IMO.

Luckily, we've been treated to some fantastic user skins in the past few months.

[JimH]

The above thread seemed to demonstrate that this skin needs some tweaking. It would be nice if it "worked" out of the box saving us the need to use notepad and photoshop to smooth it out a little.

That link works without tweaking for me.  Please tell me if it doesn't for anyone else.

[Shelly]

Jim,

I think that the consensus of the previous thread indicates that most of us like the style of the dress, but that to be the most flattering to the bride, the trim needs some modifications.  Bringing color back to the icons, removing those distracting dimples and changing the background color has made a huge difference.  I've never known a bride that didn't want to look gorgeous on her wedding day.  

Shelly

[MidPack]

JimH,
The skin worked fine for me too, but then I don't seem to have most of the problems I see people posting about.
My favorite skin so far was Brushed Metal, but BZero is my new favorite, way cool.

[Marko]

both the links and the skin work for me too, that's not the point.

The point is that, while it is a nice looking skin, it is by no means achieving its full potential.
MC doesn't maximise properly using this skin and top toolbar icons don't look right at all with those dimples beneath them.
Regarding choice of colours etc which are purely personal preferences, it seems that most users 1st reaction was to dive for their hex colour codes, so perhaps the colour schemes should be reconsidered.

Shelly, thanks for your comments, I concur with your suggestions.

icamp, you stress that it needs "a lot" of tweaking....
what, where, suggestions??

To finish on a positive, I really like the windowless "currently playing" info area.
Nice touch.
-marko.

[AndyCircuit]

This is a nice skin but I'll use it for playback only. Tagging for example is not easy to do. If I highlight text for cut and paste it's hard to see what's highlighted (background dark grey, highlight dark blue and text black). For this it's better to stay with PixOs IMHO

Very cool    

[knickelfarz]

I think it's a nice skin for "freaks" as it is. If it should replace PixOS as the standard/default skin, it really needs some tweaking to get more suitable for versatile use...

[nila]

Now that I've tweaked it a bit I quite like it though not a big fan of dark skins.

I found the white bg way too intense a contrast - hurt my eyes a bit.
Also - the dimples I dont think should be there as default - with any toolbar items (I'm guessing it was designed without any in place) it just looks like it's messing up which isn't a good first impression. Also - the deliberate space under MC when maximised while maybe a nice trick makes it confusing and makes you think you dont have MC maximised.

I tweaked it a bit to look like this thou:
http://www.hostrus.co.uk/tmp/black-mc.jpg

and now love it - Already know one person doesn't like my bg colour choice - I find it really mellow thou

[ashawley]

Sorry, just my opinion, but I think that black skins are very, well specific to certain types of folks.  I certainly wouldn't think it would be wise to make it the default skin.  

PixOS is much better as a standard IMO.  I too am fond of Brushed Metal, but I can understand why you don't want to go that route.

As a side note, it would be good to spruce up all the icons (such as the tree item ones).  They don't seem consistent to me.  The tree item icons at one point where changed for the children of Media Library, but they were never updated for the others in the hierarchy (Playing Now, Playlists, CDs, DVDs & Handhelds etc).  Just looks "funky" to me.  

Adam(S)

[friendly]

I guess what I'm wondering is why not stick with the PixOS skin.  It looks fine, and it's very straightforward, basic, but also attractive.  Just make this new skin available as another option, but not the default skin.

Well, as long as PixOS is still an option, I guess I can just switch over to that very easily.  

Good vibes,
Eric

[MGD_King]

I guess what I'm wondering is why not stick with the PixOS skin.  It looks fine, and it's very straightforward, basic, but also attractive.  Just make this new skin available as another option, but not the default skin.

Here! Here! That's a great idea! Although I love the new skin, for a basic default skin, PixOS is the one.

I just figured out how to edit these skins, now I'm having a blast!!!!

[iCamp]

icamp, you stress that it needs "a lot" of tweaking....
what, where, suggestions??

Sorry, I was trying to be polite.  I like the skin as a nice alternative skin to use every now and then but as the skin intended to show MC to the world I think it's a major mistake.  I agree with Ashawley's statement:

Sorry, just my opinion, but I think that black skins are very, well specific to certain types of folks.  I certainly wouldn't think it would be wise to make it the default skin.  

Design is very subjective but look at the competition.  No one uses such a dark skin as their default design.  Sure, it's nice to stand out from the competition but ask yourself why no one else uses such a dark design.

Beyond just being dark it looks as disjointed as the new Metallica album sounds.  The black, yellow, blue and gray just don't fit together in any cohesive way.  It just looks amatuerish.  I really don't want to sound mean but I think all of this is fair criticsm.  

If you want a new "bridal dress" hold a skinning competition and give away a lifetime MC license to the winner.  In addition to getting a fantastic "bridal dress" you'd end up with a ton of great alternative skins.  (oh, and don't forget the mini-me skin either)

[Shelly]

I guess what I'm wondering is why not stick with the PixOS skin.  It looks fine, and it's very straightforward, basic, but also attractive.  Just make this new skin available as another option, but not the default skin.

I think that the goal of creating a new skin was to set 9.1 apart from previous versions of the product and that's probably a good marketing strategy.  Whether the new skin is the default or alternative, it has to be revised!

[Polonio]

I also think this black skin is ont the right default skin. I prefer PixOS.

I dont know what is all this staff you are lately talking about (alpha blending, methamorfosis,...), but I expected something really aswome.

MC9.1 has improved a lot versus 9.0 or MJ8, however, WMP and RealOne are still way better looking.

I know WMP and RealOne just look nice. MC9 is a lot better in any other aspect.