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[cascius]

Well hello everyone!

I'm new to these forums and just started making my own MC Mega-me skin.  It is based on the itunes' adaptation made by JC and also the StyleXP theme I use on my desktop (Metallica-Snow)

I started working on this last night and I 've already done 1/2 the job. Unfortunately there are some things I can't figure out how to change/fix.  That's where I need your help.

Here's a list of the questions:

1.  Can I assign a background Image to the tree box? If not, can someone pinpoint the code in the main.xml file to change the background color?

2.  I can't seam to find the right code for alternative background color of the file list. Can
someone pinpoint it out?

3.  I would like to change the way the frame separators look. (The separators used to resize the frames.) How can I do that? (background + arrow & grab area graphics.)

4.  There is an unwanted white edge (3-4 pixels) on the left of the vertical scrollers. Why do I get this? How can I remove it?

5.  Is there a way to move the SearchBox to the right of the DisplayBox? Or to rearrange icons around the frames?

6.  I'd like the display box to light up when hovered. Any tips on how to do it?

To help you answer those questions I've included the following:

    The code can be found here
    The following is a screenshot with corresponding question marks:




Thanks in advance for helping me out with this skin.  I will make it available over the week end.

-Cascius

[knickelfarz]

1.  Can I assign a background Image to the tree box? If not, can someone pinpoint the code in the main.xml file to change the background color?

Assigning a background image to the tree or other lists is not possible. In the <TREE> section, change the value for the "Back" entry to define the color.

2.  I can't seam to find the right code for alternative background color of the file list.

Change the entries for "Colors" in the <LIST> section...

3.  I would like to change the way the frame separators look. (The separators used to resize the frames.) How can I do that? (background + arrow & grab area graphics.)

By default, these colors are defined by the <Colors> entry in the <FRAME> section of the main.xml. But these entries will also change the appearance of other things, the colors for the Action Window's "Tag Info" background, for example.
For recent versions of MC 9.1 you can add a "Splitter" entry to the <MAINFRAME> section of the main.xml to define these colors separately. Take a look at the main.xml of "BZero" or "BlueSteel" skin for examples.
You can not change the look of the arrow or the grab area graphics, but they will be drawn with the colors you difined.

4.  There is an unwanted white edge (3-4 pixels) on the left of the vertical scrollers. Why do I get this? How can I remove it?

It's not part of the scrollbars, it's the way the lists are drawn. But the color of that "edge" will change with the background color of the list.

5.  Is there a way to move the SearchBox to the right of the DisplayBox?

The position of the SearchBox is fixed.

Or to rearrange icons around the frames?

Don't know what you mean exactly... The order and the amount of toolbar icons in the different toolbars can be set in "Options > Tree & View Settings > Toolbars" or by right clicking on the according toolbar...

6.  I'd like the display box to light up when hovered. Any tips on how to do it?

That would be possible for mini-me skins by adding some JScript, but not for MEGA-ME skins...

Maybe you also would like to take a look at this:
http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/DevZone/Megamorphis.html

[cascius]

Thank you so much knickelfarz!

You've answered all my questions and you recommended MEGAmorphis SDK, which looks like a pretty well written guide.

Thank you once again,

-Cascius

[knickelfarz]

The MEGAmorphis SDK is not up-to-date in all parts and some things that were added for skinning MC 9.1 are missing... but it helps a lot and you can find out almost everything of the rest by taking a close look at other skins - if not, don't hesitate to ask

[cascius]

Thanks.

I'm currently working on a new set of icons to match that theme.

Btw, how does the skin look so far?

[kiwi]

I really like the overall look.  I like the way that the action window is not separate.  Have you tried making the border smaller...  like the Z skin?  

Another thought... have you tied a bottom status bar inset similar to blue steal's?  I don't know how it would look, but it might look very nice.  It wouldn't draw one's attention to it as much.

kiwi

[cascius]

Yes, I had the same thing in mind for the action pane, that was just a quick try to understand how the graphics worked in that section.

As far as the bottom status bar, I'll look into that when i get a chance.

Thanx for the feedbacks,

-Cas

[nila]

That skin would depress me with it's rating icons - constant reminder of what I cant afford

[kiwi]

That skin would depress me with it's rating icons - constant reminder of what I cant afford

Yeah, I actually much prefer clean geometric shapes.  i.e. nicely shaded stars or spheres, etc.  to the mini iPods.  I find that visually, they are hard to look at.

just a random, off topic thought.  If MC can go through and figure out what albums are complete v. incomplete, maybe it could also generate a calculated "album rating".

kiwi

[kiwi]

any update?

[cascius]

sorry about the delay, gona start working on it again tomorrow.

Peace,

Cas

[kiwi]

How's it going?

Let us know whether there's anything we can do to help.

kiwi