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Author Topic: New skin: Mano  (Read 6830 times)

PeterS

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New skin: Mano
« on: October 01, 2007, 02:39:40 pm »

Testing now. Coming in the next few days.

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MrHaugen

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2007, 04:06:38 pm »

That looks great!
Looking forward to it
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2007, 08:25:32 am »

Looks good, I love what you've done with the volume control.

AoXoMoXoA

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2007, 08:39:05 am »

Testing now. Coming in the next few days.

tease  :P

Looks nice can't wait for a full look and a test-drive.
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the-order

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #4 on: October 03, 2007, 10:10:47 pm »

Cool, don't see very many new skins coming in for Media Center 12.  I look forward to trying this one out.
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #5 on: October 04, 2007, 09:26:51 am »

Cool, don't see very many new skins coming in for Media Center 12.  I look forward to trying this one out.


There are a few more in the pipeline, so look out for them soon. We'd like to see more user created skins too, so let know how we can help.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #6 on: October 04, 2007, 10:35:35 am »


There are a few more in the pipeline, so look out for them soon. We'd like to see more user created skins too, so let know how we can help.

More feedback on certain issues could be useful.

For example why is it that on the "Burn Disc" action window
the checkbox uses a different colour to that of all the other action
windows?

If you load up my skin (More work is happening on this in the background/life is busy!),
the text disappears because the action window is black.

Why does the close button on popup windows not have a hover action?

There's quite a few others but I'm supposed to be working!  ;)

PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #7 on: October 05, 2007, 10:59:08 am »

Any screenshots to illustrate the problem? We can work through them one by one.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #8 on: October 07, 2007, 07:58:16 am »

Cheers Peter,
Attached is a screenshot of the Burn Disk action window.
As you can see 'Close Disk' is black.

However all the other text for my action windows
is set to white.

I think someone might have pointed out somewhere that if I
changed some other text colour it changed the Close Disk text colour
however this caused knock on effects causing other stuff to go out.
As far as I can see there's no reason why 'Close Disk' couldn't be
the same as all other action window text.

PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #9 on: October 08, 2007, 02:33:06 pm »

Mr ChriZ,

1. I had a look at your screenshots and see what is going on now.

Yes, indeed the "Close Disc" text is black.

The value that sets the color is found in the Main.xml document (not under <ACTIONWINDOW> where you might expect to find it  ;) but under <FRAME>

<FRAME>
    <Colors Text="000000" DisabledText="6D6F81" Face3D="DDDDDD" Shadow3D="6D6F81" Hilight3D="D2D2DC" />

You will need to change the Text="000000" value to switch it from black to another color.

I tried a value of 81A1B7 (the same color as your AW title text) and got a better result. Please note though that if you change this color it will have a knock-on effect on other parts of the program, including text on many dialog boxes - system info dialog box, Record sound dialog box etc. Please check these for readability when making the change.

Of course, it would be better to be able to control these values independently and we will look at how we can give skinners that flexibility.

All these color values are hard to remember, so one tip for skinners is to print out a copy of the Main.xml document for a particular skin and mark it up to indicate what color value will affect which part of the program. Some are more obvious than others.

2. <why is it that on the "Burn Disc" action window
the checkbox uses a different color to that of all the other action
windows?>
Some checkboxes are default and the same for all skins (Options dialog box) and others are can be defined through the Frame_CheckBox graphic.

3. <Why does the close button on popup windows not have a hover action?>
It can. Check out PixOS skin as an example. It uses a Frame_CloseButton image with 3 states as well as a MainFrame_CloseButton.


PeterS
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #10 on: October 09, 2007, 01:02:08 pm »

3. <Why does the close button on popup windows not have a hover action?>
It can. Check out PixOS skin as an example. It uses a Frame_CloseButton image with 3 states as well as a MainFrame_CloseButton.

Yup, but it doesn't work. 
My skins got three states too, but hovering the mouse over
the close button causes no change.

Cheers for the other answers.  My vote goes for getting
checkboxes skinned with the action window as a high priority  ;)

PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #11 on: October 09, 2007, 02:08:30 pm »

<My skins got three states too, but hovering the mouse over
the close button causes no change.>

Look under <Frame> in your main.xml
MainFrame_CloseButton.png should be Frame_CloseButton.png and a corresponding graphic should be in your skin folder.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #12 on: October 09, 2007, 03:52:41 pm »

 :-\ Check it out on the PixOS skin,
it's not working.

PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #13 on: October 09, 2007, 04:30:54 pm »

You're right. There appear to be only two states (Normal and Pressed). Even though the xml suggests three. I'll look into it.
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #14 on: October 10, 2007, 12:29:34 pm »

The Mano skin is now available on the Skins page for download. Please report any issues here. Thanks.
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #15 on: October 10, 2007, 01:38:34 pm »

Looks good!  Like the menu's especially.  :)

Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #16 on: October 10, 2007, 01:52:54 pm »

There's an interesting bug when you change from skin to skin,
sometimes the action windows don't get updated properly.
This caused some of your colours to get shown on my skin,
and I liked the result!

the-order

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #17 on: October 10, 2007, 09:29:21 pm »

Excellent skin, nice work. :)
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MrHaugen

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #18 on: October 13, 2007, 07:52:03 am »

I have to say I got a bit dissapinted.

Don't get me wrong, it looks nice, but would do good of a little more work.
I lOVE the upper left part and the menus, but the scroll bars, display area need a more smooth touch and the spacing\separators between different windows etc is left out. My opinions only...

I'll probably be doing some work on it my self some day, if no one else is up to it. Because it's such a darn nice start.
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KingSparta

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #19 on: October 13, 2007, 09:07:11 am »

I think it looks nice, I will stay with the Noire however

Maybe A Poll?

Ideas: Jello, Gel, Plastic, Titanic (Iron Riveted) Medal, Roman Themed, Leather (With Studs), Lace For The Ladies, Maybe Pink Too (We Had A Pink Stove Once It was From The 50's And 60's).
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #20 on: October 13, 2007, 09:18:53 am »

The scrollbars thumbs are very difficult to differentiate.
I think scrollbars are the most difficult part to skinning
I can't explain why but I'm on my 7th generation of scrollbar now
I think and I don't think I'll ever be entirely happy with the result!
I'm not sure about the white line around the action window either.

ThoBar

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #21 on: October 14, 2007, 08:07:00 am »

(We Had A Pink Stove Once It was From The 50's And 60's).
Were those the days of the pink or sky-blue fridge as well?
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #22 on: October 15, 2007, 08:55:21 am »


We Had A Pink Stove Once It was From The 50's And 60's.

I think I had the same stove at a place I lived in a few years ago. It was old, but I didn't replace it because it was such a talking point. Got a picture somewhere.
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #23 on: October 15, 2007, 09:10:08 am »


... the scroll bars, display area need a more smooth touch and the spacing\separators between different windows etc is left out.

If anyone has ideas for improving elements, you can submit them here. That way those who want to use them can add them to their own skins.
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #24 on: October 19, 2007, 11:45:11 am »

Mano skin updated. Thanks for the suggestions.

Version 1.0.01

Download zip here and extract to your skins folder:

http://www.jrmediacenter.com/images/miscellaneous/Mano.zip

- New rating stars. Old ones were invisible in the AW tagging window.
- brighter color for (burn, rip, download) progress bar.
- Revised scrollbars. More obvious, but still subtle.
- Removed white border from AW. Added accent to separate open AW items.

Let me know if you find any issues. We'll post the update on the download page next week.
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bennyd

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #25 on: October 20, 2007, 01:26:40 am »

Nice skin, the only thing (personally) I don't like is the action window having a black background.
This is because you don't notice the difference with the left border which is also black. Maybe a small line to differentiate the border from the action window ?
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #26 on: October 23, 2007, 11:43:26 am »

Maybe a small line to differentiate the border from the action window ?

I thought about that, but the line bumps up against the icons and makes it look cramped. I'll have another look. Thanks for the suggestion.
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MrHaugen

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #27 on: October 24, 2007, 01:57:10 pm »

There are still a couple things I think should be corrected in this skin.

1. Scroll bars. It's very hard to see what position it's in. Why don't you "steal" the scroll bars from the Noire skin and darken the textures? I love the scrollbars on that skin.
2. Spacing. There is got to be some lighter texture to mark the space between objects. Like all the fields in the tag window is one example. I think this should be done with a white or light gray color. Not the blue one used some places.
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #28 on: October 24, 2007, 03:26:38 pm »

There are still a couple things I think should be corrected in this skin.

1. Scroll bars. It's very hard to see what position it's in. Why don't you "steal" the scroll bars from the Noire skin and darken the textures? I love the scrollbars on that skin.
2. Spacing. There is got to be some lighter texture to mark the space between objects. Like all the fields in the tag window is one example. I think this should be done with a white or light gray color. Not the blue one used some places.

"Corrected" is often a subjective term when it comes to skinning.  ;D

An updated build was posted on the download page with more obvious scrollbars. I know what you mean about spacing in the AW Tag window. It is not always that easy to fix. Although we have one of the most flexible skinning engines around, sometimes color values fight.
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MrHaugen

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #29 on: October 24, 2007, 03:39:37 pm »

"Corrected" is often a subjective term when it comes to skinning.  ;D

An updated build was posted on the download page with more obvious scrollbars. I know what you mean about spacing in the AW Tag window. It is not always that easy to fix. Although we have one of the most flexible skinning engines around, sometimes color values fight.

Yea, I know. Bad choise of words :)
Where exactly are the new version? Version 1.0.0 only at the plugin download page.
And the link a couple of posts up I have allready tried (1.0.01)...
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bennyd

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #30 on: October 24, 2007, 03:46:35 pm »

I think the new version looks nice.

Thanks for the changes
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PeterS

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #31 on: October 24, 2007, 03:53:35 pm »

Yea, I know. Bad choise of words :)
Where exactly are the new version? Version 1.0.0 only at the plugin download page.
And the link a couple of posts up I have allready tried (1.0.01)...

Apologies. Not on the dl page, but yes, at the link in this thread:
http://www.jrmediacenter.com/images/miscellaneous/Mano.zip
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skeeterfood

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Re: New skin: Mano
« Reply #32 on: November 05, 2007, 03:42:37 pm »

I have an issue with the scrollbar handles.  On my first attempt to grab the scrollbar, I clicked in the area "outside" the scrollbar, instead of on the scrollbar because my eyes were drawn to the light area.  If there was some sort of outline on the scrollbar to graphically define it as a click-able "object" I think it would be easier to figure out.

-John
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