Topic: Default 9.1 skin -- Metal (Read 10078 times)

JimH · « **on:** September 12, 2003, 12:06:48 pm »

How about this one for a default skin:

Download here:
http://www.musicex.com/mediacenter/mc_data/skins/metal.mjp

Though it is similar, this one is not based on JC's work on Brushed Metal. We did it before that skin was out, but didn't release it.

mkutsen · « **Reply #1 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:12:54 pm »

It looks too much like iTunes! Possible copyright issues?

ashawley · « **Reply #2 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:28:22 pm »

I sure like it. It's far enough off that I don't think Apple could say/do anything.

I mean they didn't invent stainless steel for criminy's sake.

Adam

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:34:33 pm »

Adam's correct, in my opinion.

zevele10 · « **Reply #4 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:37:26 pm »

It looks cool ,soft ,nice.
I'am sure it is a good default skin.

knickelfarz · « **Reply #5 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:48:27 pm »

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It's far enough off that I don't think Apple could say/do anything.

Quote

Adam's correct, in my opinion.

Mmh, not sure, they sued others for less as far as I can remember...

Anyhow it's a nice skin (needs some polish in some details, but that's not the problem, I think). But if there's a need for a new default skin, shouldn't give it MC a little bit more "own personality"?

BTW, what's wrong with PixOS as default?

Omni · « **Reply #6 on:** September 12, 2003, 12:53:24 pm »

Nice! And it works with my DFX plug-in, too, unlike that other new BZero skin.

Unsolicited, I know, but here's where I rate the skins:

(1) BZero (but too buggy, so unusable)
(2) Metal
(3) PixOS

Omni

Doof · « **Reply #7 on:** September 12, 2003, 01:01:07 pm »

While they didn't invent stainless steel, they may have something to say about how similar the rest of the UI looks when compared to iTunes. There HAVE been UI lawsuits in the past...

Unless of course this all has something to do with this big undisclosed mysterious future announcement of Jim's and rumors of an iTunes for Windows contract...

Kurt Young · « **Reply #8 on:** September 12, 2003, 01:07:13 pm »

Haha! Woot @ Doof!

I don't buy it though... if Apple was partnering with JRiver, then Steve wouldn't have had to work so darned hard getting the playcounts and ratings into MC9.

Here's hoping that Apple never buys JRiver out. Anyone who has experience with Apple's tech support or support forums knows why I'm saying that.

The metal skin looks nice; please include a matching mini-me skin and send SonixMedia, Fluxion, and Eutow out to the pasture once and for all.

Rands · « **Reply #9 on:** September 12, 2003, 01:39:50 pm »

As long as PixOS is an option, I don't care about the other ones.

Doof · « **Reply #10 on:** September 12, 2003, 02:20:42 pm »

What doesn't look right is the dropdown button next to the search box. It's flat, and is on what looks like a rounded bar, so it looks funky.

JimH · « **Reply #11 on:** September 12, 2003, 02:32:56 pm »

If anyone thinks changes should be made to a certain skin, please start a new thread, and we'll consider them.

fex · « **Reply #12 on:** September 12, 2003, 02:41:38 pm »

Go for Metal. I just love it. My favorite one.

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** September 12, 2003, 03:08:02 pm »

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Sorry JimH,

it says "Invalid Package File". Cannot install it!

I just checked and it works. Try using IE.

ZRocker · « **Reply #14 on:** September 12, 2003, 03:20:50 pm »

One problem with the skin:

Click on a the currently playing track in Playing Now. The highlighted current selection is unreadable because of the dark-blue highlight background with a black font. The font color needs to be lighter (if a dark-blue highlight color is used).

LonWar · « **Reply #15 on:** September 12, 2003, 03:54:36 pm »

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Well, they say a picture is worth a 1000 words...

Sorry man, I thought you were talking about the Black skin... That's the one that I thought the search box should be light yellow.

Ooops

sraymond · « **Reply #16 on:** September 12, 2003, 04:14:15 pm »

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One problem with the skin:

Click on a the currently playing track in Playing Now. The highlighted current selection is unreadable because of the dark-blue highlight background with a black font. The font color needs to be lighter (if a dark-blue highlight color is used).

My feedback is that it's hard to see the current selection EXCEPT when it's hightlighted. I suggest a stark contrast (green, anyone?) to help see it. At first, I didn't even notice that the current item was being "highlit".

Maybe it's easier on lower resolutions, but at 1280x1024 on an LCD, I just can't see it.

Scott-

ZRocker · « **Reply #17 on:** September 12, 2003, 05:59:50 pm »

I modified my version of Metal to be more highlight friendly/readable and can see the current playing track easier, see:

ZRocker · « **Reply #18 on:** September 12, 2003, 06:08:07 pm »

No MUTE button in this skin? How do you mute using this skin?

nila · « **Reply #19 on:** September 12, 2003, 08:38:44 pm »

Agree with someone's comment about the skin should have matching Mini-Me and Track-Info and hairstyle.

If 9.1 is going to be released - it should be released as a full package visually.

The old v9 skins dont work so 9.1 should be released with it's current 3 official skins (PixOS, Black, Metal) and their mini-me counter parts and a track info page for each skin.

Aesthetics count a lot when selling a product.

For v10 it'd also be nice if a concept of 'skin sets' could be introduced so we could have complete sets for: Hairstyle, Mega-Me, Mini-Me, track info. - Just add two extra pages to 'Skin Manager' - a page to let us chose the hairstyle skin and a 'Skin Set' page that lets us chose, save etc. combindations of all the skins to change at once - also including track info pages

Shelly · « **Reply #20 on:** September 13, 2003, 12:20:06 am »

I can't get real entusiastic about this skin. It's clean looking and easy on the eyes, but also bland. The color green used in the player and search bars does not compliment the grey, IMHO. Frankly, I'd prefer to see PixOS used as the default skin. Doof's Track Info and MiniMe project wonderfully enhances the skin.

NoCodeUK · « **Reply #21 on:** September 13, 2003, 08:05:21 am »

Nila,

Any 9.1 skins will work you just need to change the mjms version to 3.0 in the main.xml file

Adam

nila · « **Reply #22 on:** September 13, 2003, 09:51:09 am »

Yeah I know - I meant v9.0 skins or earlier though.

There aren't that many - luckily the ones that there are though are REALLY good.

There's a really strong collection right now.

nameless · « **Reply #23 on:** September 13, 2003, 01:14:00 pm »

I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that knickelfarz's Windows skin be the default.

MachineHead · « **Reply #24 on:** September 13, 2003, 06:46:09 pm »

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I can't get real entusiastic about this skin. It's clean looking and easy on the eyes, but also bland. The color green used in the player and search bars does not compliment the grey

I agree. However these can be changed, provided you want to do a little editing. For all background colors I changed to CECAC8. Matches the metal a bit better. I also changed the current selection to a green shade instead of blue.

The player and search are image based but could be color modified with Photoshop or something similar.

Shelly · « **Reply #25 on:** September 13, 2003, 06:51:56 pm »

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I agree. However these can be changed, provided you want to do a little editing. For all background colors I changed to CECAC8. Matches the metal a bit better. I also changed the current selection to a green shade instead of blue.

The player and search are image based but could be color modified with Photoshop or something similar.

Good idea - I think this will be a good project for me to learn some basic skinning skills.

MachineHead · « **Reply #26 on:** September 13, 2003, 07:01:47 pm »

Shelly,

If you want to see what I did, here is a link to the XML file. You should save your current copy somewhere in case you do not like what I've done. That way it is easy enough to replace it back to current state.

To save you may have to right-click and save target as... then open with notepad.

The File

Shelly · « **Reply #27 on:** September 13, 2003, 07:27:50 pm »

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Shelly,

If you want to see what I did, here is a link to the XML file. You should save your current copy somewhere in case you do not like what I've done. That way it is easy enough to replace it back to current state.

To save you may have to right-click and save target as... then open with notepad.

The File

Many thanks!!!!

jleerigby · « **Reply #28 on:** September 14, 2003, 11:04:20 am »

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Shelly,

If you want to see what I did, here is a link to the XML file. You should save your current copy somewhere in case you do not like what I've done. That way it is easy enough to replace it back to current state.

To save you may have to right-click and save target as... then open with notepad.

The File

Thanks MachineHead. I like. I just added <Colors InactiveBlend="FFFFFF"/> to the toolbars section.

Polonio · « **Reply #29 on:** September 14, 2003, 02:52:02 pm »

Default skil should be spectacular. This one is just fine, it is clean and nice, but I don't think it is enogh. IMO, the gray color is not a right election for a default skin. I prefer PixOS.

You should work also the icons and buttons...

digitaltrapper · « **Reply #30 on:** September 15, 2003, 01:13:30 pm »

I get a "failed to load skin error... reverting to default" when trying to install it. I am using 9.1xx245, could this be why??

Doof · « **Reply #31 on:** September 15, 2003, 01:32:42 pm »

Yes, most likely.

graham131 · « **Reply #32 on:** September 22, 2003, 01:39:28 am »

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Yes, most likely.

Weird Jim,

Getting invalid package when trying to install to my PC (using IE), my laptop was fine.

Any ideas?

graham131 · « **Reply #33 on:** September 22, 2003, 01:42:50 am »

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Weird Jim,

Getting invalid package when trying to install to my PC (using IE), my laptop was fine.

Any ideas?

Sorry forget it. all sorted thanks

mrsnarky · « **Reply #34 on:** September 25, 2003, 03:25:09 pm »

I really love this skin, so I was wondering if you are going to release any newer versions, to keep up with visual changes in MC. I tried the current (only) version with MC9.1.260 and I notice that the Action Window isn't snuggled down to the bottom of the left pane like it is with PixOS. Also, the Action Window itself looks rather "flat".

BlueGlow · « **Reply #35 on:** September 25, 2003, 05:35:47 pm »

Hi Jim,
The "metal" look is my favorite right now so my vote is yes on the Metal skin as default.

Related Thoughts:
--The docked Action Window title bar has several inconsistencies, there is a "line" in the center where one side is darker, small rectangles above and below the Show/Hide icon are darker.
--I find the darkish metal menu backgrounds harder to read. I prefer a simple light grey background for menus with no bitmap.
--I'm not crazy about the bottom toolbar status text on top of the metal. It breaks the illusion. Can that text be turned off?
--I agree that Media Center needs a more distinct identity. When I recommend it the name is often confused with Windows Media Center. Visually the metal look is fantastic, I was already using Brushed, but most people will assume it's iTunes when they see it.

slikvik · « **Reply #36 on:** September 26, 2003, 01:53:36 am »

I prefer PixOS as well.

I've never really 'got' Metal (and even worse, wood!) UI's. It's like have a fake wood dashboard in a car!

Putting metal onto a computer screen just looks IMHO a bit cheap.

Personally I think the Hairstyle design should stay as it is. It's the perfect 'Family' Living room type design. At the same time I would also like a bit of unity, so how about a Hairstyle type skin (in terms of colours etc.)

Vic

Sam · « **Reply #37 on:** September 26, 2003, 07:48:03 am »

The metal menus are a bit much for me.
I've switched back to JC's Brushed Metal.

phelt · « **Reply #38 on:** September 26, 2003, 12:51:47 pm »

I know a lot of work goes into making skins, so if the artist who made the new metal skin is reading, do not take this personally...

I think all metal skins look cheesy. Before switching to computers I used to do a lot of airbrush art, and throwing some chrome or metal into a painting was a passe cop-out back then. When I see it used as a primary thematic element I am reminded of pegged pants, Izod shirts with the collar up, Member's Only jackets, and other atrocities of the late 80's and early 90's. But that's just me

While I'm not wild about the powder blue used for the PixOS skin, it is significantly different and fairly attractive. I hope it remains available in succeeding versions of MC. I have deleted the new metal skin.

BlueGlow · « **Reply #39 on:** September 26, 2003, 07:26:20 pm »

phelt,
Funny, I do a lot of UI and graphic design and my initial reaction when Apple introduced the brushed metal look was also, "Hey! Who broke out the kitsch?". But after growing tired of other skins I tried Brushed and found it wears very well. It's clean with a little bit of texture and I don't mind seeing it all day long. PixOS was close for me, but too pastel. A darker, bolder PixOS would probably appeal to me as well, but for now I think Brushed is the best MC skin available.

BG

kiwi · « **Reply #40 on:** September 27, 2003, 03:01:17 am »

I like the look. The action windows metal top and bottom have an edge in the gradient.

Also, it might look nice with a rounded border, if that's possible. (like the outside edge of MC.)

kiwi

LisaRCT · « **Reply #41 on:** September 27, 2003, 06:23:21 am »

Nah, not enough of an eye-catcher.

1- The default skin needs to be some real sweet eye-candy so it makes an impact

2- No matter what you say, this is too close to J.C.'s skin to claim it is anything other than his work, I think it is unfair to him and all his hard work to do so at this point.
Using the 'JRiver Brushed Metal' as the default skin, overshadows and eclipses J.C.'s work. In all fairness, why didn't you guys release it while his skin was in it's early phases of development to save him the time and effort of 'duplicating' you work?
. . . . . sorry, just being honest.

3- The default skin is important to first impressions and can help make MC9.1 stand out from the crowd, while I like the brushed metal look, I don't agree that this skin does that.

8thNote · « **Reply #42 on:** September 27, 2003, 03:07:15 pm »

My two personal favorites are this skin and the Windows Media skin. I like them both over PixOs because they are not so bright and visually overpowering. I like a darker interface that is pleasant, crisp, and clean to my eyes. The Windows Media skin is my first favorite, Brushed metal is my second.

lOth · « **Reply #43 on:** September 27, 2003, 05:20:15 pm »

I'll keep using PixOs (especially now that Doof has realeased a stable and nice looking mini-Me and plans on making an HS) but if I had to choose a second one I would prefer JC's skin over this one:

_ nicer scrollbars
_ bottom menu bar is smaller
_ action window looks better
_ the 'brush' is better tuned to JC's mini-ME skin

This is all only according to my own taste of course, others might prefer the new default I guess. As for me, I think you should keep PixOs as the default (with an update?) and give credit to JC for having released a great (IMO the best) looking brushed metal skin (I'm with Lisa on this one).

LisaRCT · « **Reply #44 on:** September 27, 2003, 06:22:14 pm »

thanx 10th

also, wasn't the brushed metal skin associated closely with iTunes?
Do you want to release MC9.1 as a clone of someone else's design? Or as it's own entity?

I think it is good enough to stand on it's own and should look the part.

Doof · « **Reply #45 on:** September 27, 2003, 06:40:25 pm »

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thanx 10th

also, wasn't the brushed metal skin associated closely with iTunes?
Do you want to release MC9.1 as a clone of someone else's design? Or as it's own entity?

I think it is good enough to stand on it's own and should look the part.

I couldn't agree more.

chaznet · « **Reply #46 on:** September 29, 2003, 12:20:55 pm »

The skin is great, easiest on the eyes I've yet to use on my laptop -- if only there were a mini-me version...?

kiwi · « **Reply #47 on:** September 29, 2003, 02:53:11 pm »

There is! Well, not exactly the same... but close enough. Go to the 3rd party skins...

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=Other_Plugins;action=display;num=1062956003

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Author Topic: Default 9.1 skin -- Metal (Read 10078 times)

zevele10

fex

sraymond

nila

nila

nameless

MachineHead

MachineHead

jleerigby

phelt

LisaRCT

LisaRCT