from this thread:
http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=MediaCenter;action=display;num=1054926807Matt wrote:
must use skins...
Media Center is no longer frame based -- meaning we do all the drawing of the title bar and borders. This makes it impossible to let Windows do the drawing of the main frame.
There are other skinning-only features that exist and that we'd like to do in the future. Drawing everything gives us a lot of freedom.
Keep in mind that just because we draw something instead of Windows drawing it doesn't mean it'll be slower. With a well designed architecture, it can even be faster.
So if there are bugs or slowdowns with skinning please let us know and we'll fix them.
Thanks.
(p.s. if you'd like to discuss this more, please start a new thread)
Matt, of course, we'd like to know about the features that can only be implemented by using skinning.
My two main reasons for not using/liking skins are:
1) On my current system the interface is less responsive when skinned. Specifically, scrolling through the library in the track view is
much slower and dialog boxes take longer to appear (ie., clicking the Options button on the Toolbar).
2) Even if I had a newer system, I still like to control (through Display Properties/Appearance) how
my Windows environment looks on
my computer. I don't use Desktop Themes or wallpaper and skinning is always the first thing I turn off when installing new software. I prefer the generic, gray Windows interface and don't appreciate it when programs ignore my settings and force their own look/colors on me.
That's my 2¢, feel free to throw yours in.
Thanks,
Rob
Media Center Registered 9.0.180 -- C:\Program Files\J River\Media Center\
Microsoft Windows 98 SE
Intel Pentium III 731 MHz MMX / Memory: Total - 261 MB, Free - 138 MB
Resource Info: System - 63 %, GDI - 74 %, User - 63 %
Internet Explorer: 6.0.2800.1106 / ComCtl32.dll: 5.81 / Shlwapi.dll: 6.00.2800.1106 / Shell32.dll: 4.72.3812.600 / wnaspi32.dll: 4.60 (1021) , ASPI for Win32 (95/NT) DLL, Copyright © 1989-1999 Adaptec, Inc. / Aspi32.sys: N/A
Ripping / Drive E: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Drive F: Copy mode:ModeBurstBigBuffer CD Type:Auto Read speed:Max
Digital playback: Yes / Use YADB: Yes / Get cover art: No / Calc replay gain: No / Copy volume: 32767
Eject after ripping: Yes / Play sound after ripping: No
Burning / Drive E: PLEXTOR CD-R PX-W1210A Addr: 0:0:0 Speed:8 MaxSpeed:12 Use MJ Engine:Yes
Test mode: No / Eject after writing: Yes / Direct decoding: Yes / Write CD-Text: Yes
Use playback settings: No / Normalization: None