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Skin Icons Discussion

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markf2748:
 :) Carrying on... here are my new top-level Tree Icons based on Segoe Fluent Icon Font (SFIF) (Audio unchanged), displayed in View>Skin>ThunderStorm.  For a little pop, and to subtly enhance contrast, the color plates include a gentle vertical linear HSL gradient (fixed Hue, 100% Saturation, gradient in Lightness only).

The Smartlist icon updates MC29's default by combining SFIF EA80 Lightbulb with List Lines.  Again I emphasize modern simplicity to improve readability at very small scale.  In the Images tier of the tree I replaced the Camera icon with SFIF E91B Photo (could also use SFIF E8B9 Picture).  That seemed more appropriate since in this image library I store album artwork rather than my own photography.  Also icons resembling E91B are ubiquitous for pictures nowadays, while the camera typically represents a device, like a cell phone camera.

To try these for yourself, see Marco's old post:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,56830.msg385670.html#msg385670
Then use my two attached files which of course use 64x64 px: (1) SmallIcons.png and (2) Images.xml.txt renamed to Images.xml.
You may need to end process/restart both Media Center and Media Center Server for the changes to take effect.

MC 29.0.87   Win 11 Pro (64-bit)

markf2748:
Updated/extended previous post attachments, with SFIF E716 People replacing the old artist icon and cleaned up:

Playlists:
* I'm using SFIF F168 Grouplist to represent a collection of Playlists or Smartlists, distinct from the Playlist or Smartlist icon itself.  I think it helps.
* The Playlist and Smartlist icons are clearly distinguishable in both shape and color, yet have consistent 3-line lists in common.  They can be tweaked for extra room in the lower right corner, for example as shown for a large Playlist Favorites star.  Similarly, large "+" Action Circles can be added for their Custom Toolbar icons.

 Drives & Devices:
* Replaced the old multi-color Compact Disc icon with a simple custom monochrome icon which depicts the CD Drive instead of the CD Media.
* Replaced the old narrow official USB icon with cleaner SFIF E88B USB, which in my mind better represents generic attached devices.
* Replaced old hard-to-read Explorer icon with SFIF EC4E ThisPC.

Attached are my 256x256 ViewHeaderXX.png icons.  They reside in the MC installation folder .../Data/Custom Art
Note: MC appears to conflate labeling between USB devices and Handheld devices.  So I used the USB icon (SFIF E88B) in ViewHeaderHandheld.png in order to get an appropriate View Header for my external USB drives, instead of SFIF E772 Devices.

HPBEME:
Nice work on all these icons Mark.  It is not my personal style preference, but I can appreciate the effort.  If I somehow manage to magically find the energy and time, I might produce a similar set using an icon style I have mentioned in previous posts, i.e., icons without any button background.

markf2748:
I just updated 10 icons in the Options menu in a proposed modern style with color plates, and added a few more new icons elsewhere.  The new icons also appear in the Customize Toolbars menu.  All tested to work with skin ThunderStorm.

Attached is my whole set of 64x64 px icons (which includes some unchanged old ones mixed in).  As usual, to try them drop all three of the attached PNG files into MC installation folder .../Data/Custom Art .
If you use my SmallIcons.png, then download and rename the attached Images.xml.txt to Images.xml and drop into folder .../Data/Custom Resources .
For changes to take effect, use Windows Task Manager to End Process for both Media Center and Media Center Server, then relaunch MC.


--- Quote from: HPBEME on October 04, 2022, 11:49:22 pm ---I might produce a similar set using an icon style I have mentioned in previous posts, i.e., icons without any button background.
--- End quote ---
It would be straightforward to turn the color plates into monochrome solid, PNG transparency, or remove them entirely, and apply a contrasting foreground color to the line art, all in the individual icon SVG files.  Then reassemble them into new PNG files for ...Data/Custom Art .  Another approach (maybe this is what you are suggesting):  For icons that have select-able state, simplify by removing the plate/button altogether, show the selected state by filling the icon with color, show un-selected state by removing color fill leaving just the outline.  That could be tried now for MC's dual state icons such as the Playing Now/Playing from... and maybe to some extent for the Custom Toolbar icons.

I find it interesting to look at Microsoft's design for static icons in the Win 11 22H2 Settings menus:  top level icons are filled color without plates/buttons, while sub-menus are simple clean monochrome (lots of SFIF :)).  Other Win menus, such as Control Panel, include a hodge-podge of legacy colored artwork icons (some way too complex for small scale) with occasional plates/buttons.  I still favor updating MC to simplified modern artwork while evolving the MC style.

Apparent Bug (?):  Custom Art for MC's new icon <ClearPlayingNow> does not get picked up from my ../Data/Custom Art/SmallIcons.png, so my custom ClearPlayingNow icon does not show up in the Custom Toolbars Menu.  AFAICT this is a MC bug.
Temporary Workaround: If desired, overwrite the <ClearPlayingNow> image in MC30's .../Default Art/SmallIcons.png with my updated "broom" icon attached below.

MC30.0.15  Win11 22H2 (64-bit)

mvandyke:
I tried the install process and go the options to work properly but not the other two.  Your images.xml file has images out of order - is that correct?

Will try a couple of other things.  Thanks for the work.

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