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[dwex]

These are current as of 8.0.199:

- The docs in the developer zone are out of date. For example, Align="Scroll" for INFODISPLAYS is not documented.

- Tooltips are broken; they clip if the player is too close to the right edge of the screen. I have a skin that is designed to sit in the lower-right corner of the screen, with buttons up the right side, and an infodisplay along the bottom. All the tooltips for my buttons are basically invisible since they get clipped by the right edge of the screen.

- You cannot move the Mini-me player by clicking & dragging inside the visualization. Interestingly, you can select inside the equalizer & drag, as long as your mouse is not on top of a thumb. In the playlist, dragging moves the list. Since the visualization window doesn't take mouse input, you should be able to drag it from there.

- It would be nice if there were other Align="Scroll" options for INFODISPLAYS. I don't particularly like the Cylon-eyes style scroll; I'd rather have it wrap around or something.

- Why does Align="Scroll" keep scrolling when play is stopped? It's a little annoying. Especially when the skin is transparent (on Win2k/WinXP).

- How come the visualization doesn't display when the skin is transparent?

- It would be nice to be able to make the transparent-when-inactive property a per-skin attribute rather than a Mini-Me-Mode attribute.

- I would like to be able to have windows that display when Mini-Me gets focus, and are hidden when Mini-Me loses focus. Is this possible?

- Is there any way to enable DSP control in Mini-Me? Any plan to add it?

- Is there a policy on submitting skins cribbed from other players (commercial or non-commercial) and converted to Metamorphis? Assume for the sake of discusion that the original skin author can't be contacted for permission...

Thanks much.

[Kerensky]

Dwex, great post. I was actually going to post something simliar to voice my concerns and suggestions about the skinning engine soon. I particulary agree with your comments about the docs in the development section. Not only are they not up to date but I personally don't find them to be as detailed as they should. For instance I'm still having trouble trying the find our how to correctly layer parts like playlists and visualizations on top of the main player. Here are some suggestions I have for the skinning engine:

1. With sliders, the thump .bmp should be able to have a mouseover image also instead of just a up and down image.

2. Mini-me skins should be able to display the left media tree pane, instead of just the playlist pane.

3. Along with the equilizer function, add simple treble and bass functions (this is a more general MJ8 suggestion.)

4. Instead of having to use standard fonts, include support for skinned fonts. This is where, with .bmps, you can map out a alphabet, and numbers that the player would use instead of a regular font. Quintessential and Coolplayer already support this with their skinning engines and it's one of the coolest features I've ever seen.

5. Add support for skinning of more MJ features like ripping, encoding, CD burning, and a options button.

6. Whenever visualizations are disabled the pane shows a "Media Jukebox: The One that Plays All" banner. Make it so instead of this banner you can add your own to display.

7. I agree with Dwex, in addition to the "cyclone" style of scrolling, a wrap around style should be added.

8. When the mute function, I'd like a way to keep the mute button displaying the down .bmp while the player is muted.

9. With playlists in mini-me mode, there should be the ability to customize what info in displayed. The default seems to be Track # - Artist - Song Name - Song Length. This may be possible already, but I haven't been able to find out how.

10. With the skins I make, I like to have the play and pause buttons in exactly the same place (sort of layered on top of each other.) So when the the player is playing, the pause button is displayed, and when the player is stopped or paused, the play button is displayed. I know this is probably possible right now in MJ8 with a javascript code, but it would be nice if this effect/layout was easily built into MJ. I know the Windows Media Player provides a easy way to to this.

I know some of these probably seem like nitpicking, but they're important features to me. I have made several skins for other players and I would like to be able to completely port them over the MJ8.

[JimH]

We appreciate the detailed comments and sooner or later, we'll try to address them.  Please remember that we are in beta right now so many things are unfinished.

[dwex]

Absolutely understood, and in no way intended to be a flame. But beta is the best time to raise these sorts of issues, I would think. This is a pretty powerful skinning engine, and really cool things can get done...

BTW - has a security analysis of the skinning engine been done? Given that it supports scripting, the LAST thing we want to have happen is for people to create MJ skin viruses (that would be acne, wouldn't it :->.

[Doof]

- How come the visualization doesn't display when the skin is transparent?

Originally the vis was visible when transparency was on, but it had the weird effect of showing through other windows if mini-me wasn't also set for Always on Top. And there were other problems as well, so it wound up the way it is now.

Transparency in Metamorphis skins is kind of messy anyway. Take a look at Echelon while it's transparent and you'll see what I mean. Especially with the EQ drawer closed. Or Rotar with all of it's arms out.

- Is there a policy on submitting skins cribbed from other players (commercial or non-commercial) and converted to Metamorphis? Assume for the sake of discusion that the original skin author can't be contacted for permission...

Not sure what their stance is. I have seen other people do this with other players, and they always credit the original author. I'm not sure if permission was ever asked, either. I'm also not sure about the ethics of this. On the two I submitted, I set Microsoft as the skin author and I only gave myself a little credit for converting it to Media Jukebox.

8. When the mute function, I'd like a way to keep the mute button displaying the down .bmp while the player is muted.

10. With the skins I make, I like to have the play and pause buttons in exactly the same place (sort of layered on top of each other.) So when the the player is playing, the pause button is displayed, and when the player is stopped or paused, the play button is displayed. I know this is probably possible right now in MJ8 with a javascript code, but it would be nice if this effect/layout was easily built into MJ. I know the Windows Media Player provides a easy way to to this.

I'd like to see this as well.