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[Maeghaus]

I thought I'd dabble in creating a skin for my MC 24 program in Windows. I've never even thought about it before, but I've been working on a skin based on Maverick07 for MC 18 since I needed something to view the tutorial. My inspiration is Modern Cards: Dark which has a nice gold Player Bar, but I wanted to expand on it and maybe develop something original.

I've had good luck so far. I've even replaced some of the colors with textures. But I've hit a snag. I don't know how to change the background for the List, Display, or Content windows, especially in Split View (it seems changing the profile of one changes them all). I managed to find the solution for Tree View but there doesn't seem to be an equivalent graphic for Lists. Note that the old skin was for MC 18 and earlier and the Standard View folder contains less items than, say Modern Cards, which has an Image.xml file (mine does not).

Attaching a couple images on my progress and where I am at now. I changed the text color to white so naturally it looks like blank spaces on the interface.

-- Maeghaus

[JimH]

Have you found this wiki topic?
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Standard_View_Skinning_Tutorial

[Maeghaus]

Yes the tutorial was the thing that got my interest in starting a project. My learning curve is smoothing out. However, the tutorial doesn't seem to mention anything about backgrounds beyond the basic Top Border one. I've got the page on my browser tabs as a reference, and I've read it a few times. I haven't gotten to the more advanced stuff yet, but I looked at that section too and I haven't figured out a solution. Perhaps it's mentioned but I don't know what name the graphic could be, or if it is an XML control item.

--Maeg

[Maeghaus]

Hey Jim I found how to change the background color in the XML file under List. Now I wonder, can you create a texture graphic for it or is it restricted to use Hex numbers only? I like the black background but am curious.

-- Maeg

[Awesome Donkey]

Some of the backgrounds (along with text colors, highlight colors, etc.) are controlled via hex values in the main.xml file and not with images. My advice would be to pick a section of the skin you're working on (e.g. like the tree or the list, etc.) and go to that section in main.xml and experiment with the hex values. When I first started out making skin mods, it was a trial and error process.

[Maeghaus]

Awesome Donkey,

Trial and error is how I am learning (I always have a standing backup version in case something doesn't work out). If you'll pardon me, the name of my skin wasn't inspired by you, but a phrase we used in bowling whenever a strike happened: "Awesome Sauce!" I think my meds have just about kicked in...

I saw your post on the Modern versions you were working on, so I downloaded the skins you posted. I'll use them in MC 24 on Windows, and maybe if I'm adventurous I'll try them in Ubuntu. I've never actually tried the MC in Linux, so I guess I should.

If I come across anything in your skins that I'd like to use, I'll be sure to notify you. I'm going to post my progress in the next couple of days, maybe sooner.

-- Maeg

[Awesome Donkey]

Use anything you want if you desire.

[marko]

maeghaus, this is exactly how I got into standard view skinning away back when...

I borrowed a bit from here, and a bit from there, and a bit from somewhere else, and after a while, The Fly was born.

Creating a good skin is a time consuming adventure, especially so now, if you want to create OS specific stuff and provide scaling. It can be a good way to unwind also... never allow it to become 'a job' that needs to be done... that sucks all the enjoyment out of it