Topic: New Mini-me skin (UPDATE) (Read 14831 times)

JC · « **on:** June 29, 2003, 06:24:05 pm »

I've started work on a new mini-me skin similar to the brushed metal theme I posted last week. I would appreciate comments based on this screenshot.

Current plans include:

Visualization Panel display on the left of the main player
Equalizer Panel display on the right of the main player
Playlist position slider modified to match the theme
Mute button added to the left of the volume slider (as in the mega-me skin)

What type of track information do you typically display in the mini-me mode? Currently, it displays

Album (Artist - Song) which means it has to constantly scroll. What type of information would you like to see?

Thanks for your comments. Making mini-me skins is a bit more flexible which means it's more fun

JeffB · « **Reply #1 on:** June 29, 2003, 08:26:31 pm »

That looks very nice so far.

What I would like to see in track information is 'Song by Artist' similar to Listening to.

You don't really need the 'List Styles' button on a mini-me skin.

Instead of cluttering the display with a mute button, why not make right click on the volume slider the mute button. The position indicator can turn a nice candy red color when muted.

You need to skin the reliefs around the controls the same as the rest of the skin.

nila · « **Reply #2 on:** June 29, 2003, 11:58:20 pm »

What I'd like to see is instead of choosing which fields to display (like pinning it to artist - name or whatever)

Have this as one option maybe for beginners - but make an identical one with it using just one field: myField or something.

That way we could all just create our own calculated field to show whatever info we wanted.

In fact, I think it'd be GREAT as a feature of MC if it had a field as default called: mini-me display that it checked to see if it existed and used it for the skins

That way everyone could customise exactly what info they see.

I personally would like to see:

artist - name [rating]

nila · « **Reply #3 on:** June 29, 2003, 11:58:50 pm »

And just one comment - EXCELLENT Mac styled Skin.

VERY pretty

NoCodeUK · « **Reply #4 on:** June 30, 2003, 12:43:44 am »

That is very sweet. I liked the Mega Me and this is nice too. Personally I would prefer Tract Name (Artist - Album) if there was gonna have to be a default...

Adam

Ingo · « **Reply #5 on:** June 30, 2003, 01:28:29 am »

this looks great.

please don't do any scrolling for the display. making it configurable using a calcualted field seems to be a good idea to me ;-) .
how about having an alternate display like in latest MC build(s)?

Ingo

JC · « **Reply #6 on:** June 30, 2003, 04:21:20 am »

Thanks for the comments everyone. I still have quite a bit of work to do before this will be complete. I still have some odd behavior occasionally that I need to track down.

As for the configurable display ... There is no way for the skin to allow the type of customization available in the mega-me version (9.1.208 ). As far as I know, this will have to be added by JRiver. The only way to have a semi-configurable display at the moment is to utilize Nila's idea (very innovative, btw).

Great ideas everyone ... I hope to have this skin completed this week sometime.

Doof · « **Reply #7 on:** June 30, 2003, 07:38:24 am »

You could easily program the skin's script so that it checks for the value of a field (like "MiniMeDisplay" or something) and if it's empty, just use ARTIST - NAME or whatever.

I just don't know what metamorphis would do if you check the value of a non-existing database field...

JC · « **Reply #8 on:** June 30, 2003, 07:45:18 am »

Quote

You could easily program the skin's script so that it checks for the value of a field (like "MiniMeDisplay" or something) and if it's empty, just use ARTIST - NAME or whatever.

Ummm ... perhaps easy for some

I'm not sure of the correct javascript necessary to check database fields. The few track info keywords (utilized in the main.xml) are all I know how to use. Since they don't include calculated fields, I'm at a bit of a loss.

If anyone has a link to a primer on how this type of interaction is accomplished, it would be very much appreciated.

Thanks

Doof · « **Reply #9 on:** June 30, 2003, 07:59:07 am »

Well, actually.... now that I dig a little deeper I see that there doesn't appear to be a way to retrieve data from a custom-made field like that...

Hmmm...

I'm not sure if there's any other way this could be done, other than just allow different presets that the skinner comes up with for the enduser to pick from.

Of course, the enduser could always open up the main.xml file and tweak it themselves, but they'd still be limited to the predefined trackinfo elements that have been included in the metamorphis engine.

Kurt Young · « **Reply #10 on:** June 30, 2003, 09:38:48 am »

I suggest slightly smaller play/pause/prev/next buttons.

Can't wait for the final versions of both skins... I trust you'll let us know, aye?

JC · « **Reply #11 on:** July 02, 2003, 02:41:04 pm »

As promised (to Adam), here is an updated screenshot.

This is the fully expanded version, the completely collapsed version is similar to what I posted earlier. The mute button isn't located properly and I'll be changing the sliders so they are more in "tune" with the progress bar indicator in the player. Temporary placeholders for the moment.

Summary of skin:

Equalizer 'slides' out from underneath the main player. (Transparency users needn't worry, the EQ actually disappears when "retracted")
Subdued buttons for a more subtle look (versus the brushed metal Mega Me skin). Minimize, Mega-me, and Close buttons are in the lower right of the main player.
No track rate information is displayed (do you guys want to see this info in mini mode?)
Player displays "NAME by ARTIST". Rotates the display if too long, otherwise, display is left justified (can't find a way to rotate or center).
Requires the Lucida Grande font on your computer. Apparently the skin can install the font, but I will need to test this with an install file (any volunteers?)

As always, comments are requested, and appreciated.

Thanks!

iCamp · « **Reply #12 on:** July 02, 2003, 04:21:07 pm »

Thank you for taking on this project...MC was badly in need of a good mini-me skin. IMO, previous to yours Amped was the only good one.

I think the latest screen shot looks fantastic...when will it be available??

ashawley · « **Reply #13 on:** July 02, 2003, 05:44:08 pm »

:drooling:

Can't wait JC...it looks awesome.

Forget all the bells and whistles, get it out and in the hands of users so we can then give you some feedback after we've played with it.

C'mon, we can deal w/the bugs.

Adam

JC · « **Reply #14 on:** July 02, 2003, 08:26:03 pm »

Quote

:drooling:

Can't wait JC...it looks awesome.

Forget all the bells and whistles, get it out and in the hands of users so we can then give you some feedback after we've played with it.

C'mon, we can deal w/the bugs.

Adam

Well, since you put it that way ...

Adventurous type who want to try installing a new mini skin can click on the installable link here.

As I mentioned, there will be modifications coming, but if you want to play around with the skin in its current state, feel free.

BTW - the mjp link above should open and run fine in IE. I tried it in Firebird and it wants to open the text in a new target window. You can save link as ... then run the mjp file and it should install fine.

As always, comments are appreciated

nila · « **Reply #15 on:** July 03, 2003, 12:27:45 am »

Just tried it - VERY nice

Only point - the graphics for visualisation window etc aren't clear - I thought the visualisation window was a button for shuffle play - thats what it looks like

Otherwise a VERY nice combo - this and the mega me skin.

They should definitely be put with MC as default skins.

(are the buttons round? they look like they've been squashed a bit and look like eggs?)

nila · « **Reply #16 on:** July 03, 2003, 03:39:58 am »

It forgets it's settings between uses- resets position, display windows etc

LonWar · « **Reply #17 on:** July 03, 2003, 03:53:57 am »

Very cool man....

The only thing.... The buttons and the sliders, can you make them darker... My poor eyes can't see them all that well.....

(And NO I am not old!!)

knickelfarz · « **Reply #18 on:** July 03, 2003, 04:31:17 am »

Quote

They should definitely be put with MC as default skins.

No doubt, this skin is very nice ... but by selling it with the MC installer, JRiver might receive a letter like this:
http://www.aqua-soft.org/images/LetterFromApple.jpg
Also take a look at this thread:
http://www.designtechnika.com/main/comments.php?id=28&catid=1&highlight=Y%5C%27z+Dock

I think users can make, post or install every skin they like...but a company has to be careful in some cases

Kurt Young · « **Reply #19 on:** July 03, 2003, 11:02:10 am »

I.. love... this... skin!!

Woot!!!

nila · « **Reply #20 on:** July 03, 2003, 11:45:31 am »

Copyright - it's the killer of the world - there should be some clause somewhere in the law about: 'Within reason'

Anyway - still a great skin

JC · « **Reply #21 on:** July 03, 2003, 12:16:10 pm »

Quote

It forgets it's settings between uses- resets position, display windows etc

I doesn't forget everytime, but occasionally, this happens to me as well. It was one of the bugs I mentioned. Apparently, it has trouble reading the state.xml file occasionally. If it "forgets" everytime, then MC is unable to write the state.xml file.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as I've started from scratch twice trying to figure this issue out. If anyone can consistently replicate the "forgetfulness", I would appreciate any feedback.

Thanks!

Doof · « **Reply #22 on:** July 03, 2003, 12:51:53 pm »

JC> Take a look at the Windows XP skin I made. I had problems similar to what you're describing with the state.xml and I had to code around it a bit. It might help, no guarantees, though.

The LoadSkinState() function doesn't seem to do what the SDK says. Or at least, I couldn't get it to work the way they said to use it.

JC · « **Reply #23 on:** July 03, 2003, 01:56:42 pm »

Quote

JC> Take a look at the Windows XP skin I made. I had problems similar to what you're describing with the state.xml and I had to code around it a bit. It might help, no guarantees, though.

The LoadSkinState() function doesn't seem to do what the SDK says. Or at least, I couldn't get it to work the way they said to use it.

Thanks for the help Doof ... I'll take a look at your solution to hopefully find a workaround.

BTW - did anyone have trouble getting the font to display properly?

ashawley · « **Reply #24 on:** July 04, 2003, 09:57:35 am »

No problems w/the font for me JC. 'Course I've already had Lucinda Grande installed as part of the Brushed Blue visual style from Iceman's Emulation site that I referenced a while ago.

Adam

JC · « **Reply #25 on:** July 05, 2003, 09:09:33 am »

New version has been posted (same link as before).

Highlights:

Less frequent amnesia, but still there
Improved tracklist postion slider (more iPod-esque)

I'm not sure if this will update properly, but I assume so. If not, just delete the "Brushed" folder from your MiniSkins folder and then install the skin from the link above.

Still working on the amnesia, so haven't spent any time on interface changes ... Even fluxion has the occasional amnesia, so I'm beginning to think it's a bug. I posted it in the 9.1 thread.

Enjoy!

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #26 on:** July 05, 2003, 12:57:47 pm »

JC, look's great

. i think will use this one for my default player in the mini mode . keep up the good work

GRAYDOG · « **Reply #27 on:** July 05, 2003, 01:21:00 pm »

Hey JC how about an exspandable visualization window you know a pull down corner or maybe a floating screen?

JC · « **Reply #28 on:** July 05, 2003, 09:01:53 pm »

Quote

Hey JC how about an exspandable visualization window you know a pull down corner or maybe a floating screen?

Resizing windows in mini-me skins is not possible as far as I can tell.

You may want to try using the visualiztion pane in windowed mode from the mega-me skin. It's resizable and can be pinned on top of other windows.

Thanks!

kiwi · « **Reply #29 on:** July 05, 2003, 11:19:44 pm »

quick comments/questions:

How do you set it up so that the visualization and EQ don't come up when I switch to it?

A mini-mini-me might be very cool, just have the bare functionality, one strip that would fit into the space where the top title bars of amps are.

I don't know whether it's an option anywhere, but it would be awesome if there was some edge resisitance when moving the mini-me window around. i.e. I'd like to throw it right to the edge, or the top corner, and with some edge resistance, it would be easier. (This might be something that JRiver would have to add.)

Otherwise, it's an awesome theme.

kiwi

JimH · « **Reply #30 on:** July 06, 2003, 02:25:36 am »

JC,
Beautiful job on both skins! Very nice to see them develop.

Jim

JC · « **Reply #31 on:** July 06, 2003, 11:20:32 am »

Okay, another update ...

Highlights:

Amnesia issue still occurs, I've posted a bug report. I can't find a way around the occasional "forgetfulness" of the skin position, etc ...
Updated sliders for the Equalizer
Added skin preview image for the skin manager
Adjusted the volume and mute button positions.
Added "idle" animation in the visualization window when the player is paused.
Removed many extraneous images from the skin folder

Skin can be found here (same location as before). IE users can click directly on the link, Firebird (and possibly others) can save target as ... then run to install the skin.

Hope you enjoy ... I don't know about screen edge snapping, but if I can find a way to do it, I may make a titlebar only version.

Comments, as always, are appreciated.

phelt · « **Reply #32 on:** July 06, 2003, 01:30:57 pm »

JC - Great work on the skins. Some comments, with apologies in advance if there are issues that I don't understand:

Play button triangle drop shadow drops to the left and not the right (like your mega me brushed skin) making the triangle seem more off-center and not matching the other buttons.

No mouseover colors for playback buttons? I thought you did a great job of this with the mega-me.

Position slider button is quite small at higher resolutions (also true for the mega-me). This may be something I just have to live with... I know too well the issues of designing and trying to take multiple resolutions into account.

Fonts are quite large in track info area above position slider - is this something I can change in the skin definition? I should look for that, and the possibility of altering track info displayed...

Altogether some very nice work!

JC · « **Reply #33 on:** July 06, 2003, 03:58:06 pm »

Quote

JC - Great work on the skins. Some comments, with apologies in advance if there are issues that I don't understand:

Play button triangle drop shadow drops to the left and not the right (like your mega me brushed skin) making the triangle seem more off-center and not matching the other buttons.

Never noticed this, but you are definitely correct. Blame Photoshop's desire for "global light", but I've corrected this. Thanks for the catch.

Quote

No mouseover colors for playback buttons? I thought you did a great job of this with the mega-me.

With the blending color change, the rollover seemed a bit too busy to me. I'll post a version with the rollovers to see what everyone prefers.

Quote

Position slider button is quite small at higher resolutions (also true for the mega-me). This may be something I just have to live with... I know too well the issues of designing and trying to take multiple resolutions into account.

Hmmm, I run 1600 x 1200 and designed both of the skins for this resolution. Making it larger seems to deviate a bit from the original theme I am trying to emulate

For me, the smallest elements seem to be the minimize, mega-me, and close buttons. I've never had an issue with the position slider. Is this a small element for others as well?

Quote

Fonts are quite large in track info area above position slider - is this something I can change in the skin definition? I should look for that, and the possibility of altering track info displayed...

This is indeed configurable in the main.xml file, but I could drop the size a few notches. Discussion earlier on what should be displayed yielded some interesting ideas (see Nila's post above), but as of yet, I can't figure out how to place a custom field in the display.

Quote

Altogether some very nice work!

Thanks! Glad you enjoy it!

JC · « **Reply #34 on:** July 06, 2003, 04:08:35 pm »

Yet another update. Highlights below:

Repaired incorrect play button graphic
Reduced track info display font in the main player window
Added rollover effect to the main player buttons

Skin can be found here (same location as before). IE users can click directly on the link, Firebird (and possibly others) can save target as ... then run to install the skin.

nila · « **Reply #35 on:** July 07, 2003, 12:05:49 am »

JC - LOVE the roll over effects on the buttons

VERY nice looking job with the blending.

Any chance of posting a version that instead of using any specific fields just uses one field called:

minimefield

or something that u tell us what it is so we can do calculated fields for it??

Ingo · « **Reply #36 on:** July 07, 2003, 02:04:48 am »

jc,

thanks for the great work.... I think I'm going to start using MiniMe again (after quite some time....)

a few things I noticed:
- volume slider doesn't have a roll over effect (I think it's the only 'button' that doesn't)
- playlist/vis/eq-buttons don't have a roll over effect while their targets are visible

and one thing: I hate (ok... don't like) this scrolling track info stuff (and animated no-visualization-visualization ;-) ). I think it's ok while MC is active, it's constantly grabbing my attention while running in 'background' (while I'm reading/writing something in interact).
Could you change this or give some starting instructions to allow me to stop the scrolling?

Ingo

LonWar · « **Reply #37 on:** July 07, 2003, 04:35:49 am »

Excellent skin..........

JC · « **Reply #38 on:** July 07, 2003, 08:07:35 am »

Quote

jc,

thanks for the great work.... I think I'm going to start using MiniMe again (after quite some time....)

a few things I noticed:
- volume slider doesn't have a roll over effect (I think it's the only 'button' that doesn't)
- playlist/vis/eq-buttons don't have a roll over effect while their targets are visible

and one thing: I hate (ok... don't like) this scrolling track info stuff (and animated no-visualization-visualization ;-) ). I think it's ok while MC is active, it's constantly grabbing my attention while running in 'background' (while I'm reading/writing something in interact).
Could you change this or give some starting instructions to allow me to stop the scrolling?

Ingo

Since the rollover is popular, I suppose a similar effect for the volume knob would make sense. I'll add one tonight.
Rollover for Vis/EQ/PL buttons is actually there, but is very close to the "active" color. Therefore it appears there is no change. I'll try for more unique colors without blending into the gray too much.
Actual "hate" ... WOW! I would like to have two alternate displays ... but AFAIK, the mini-me skinning engine can't support two different versions. I'll gladly post instructions to the board (or send you a PM) on how to remove these elements.

Thanks!

JC · « **Reply #39 on:** July 07, 2003, 08:12:10 am »

Quote

JC - LOVE the roll over effects on the buttons

VERY nice looking job with the blending.

Any chance of posting a version that instead of using any specific fields just uses one field called:

minimefield

or something that u tell us what it is so we can do calculated fields for it??

Thanks for the compliment ...

AFAIK, the only info available is via pre-defined track keywords. I know of no way to access a calculated field as I agree that would be a nice solution.

Pre-defined keywords (from Skinning SDK):
General Info:

* ARTIST - artist name
* ALBUM - album name
* NAME - track title
* TRACK# - track number
* GENRE - genre
* YEAR - year
* COMMENT - comment

Time keywords:

* ELAPSED_TIME - current time of the track
* REMAINING_TIME - time left in the track
* TOTAL_TIME - track duration

Playback Info:

* SAMPLE_RATE - samplerate of the track
* BITRATE - bitrate information
* CHANNELS - number of channels
* PN_TRACKS - total number of tracks in current playlist
* PN_POSITION - position of current track in the playlist

Ingo · « **Reply #40 on:** July 07, 2003, 08:17:14 am »

jc,

yes... I know, it's realy black and white. I love this skin, but have a very strong dislike ;-) for that scrolling stuff in background.
so, now I'm looking forward to see the final stuff...

Ingo

nila · « **Reply #41 on:** July 07, 2003, 08:57:50 am »

pity.
Maybe ask for it as a feature request

JC · « **Reply #42 on:** July 07, 2003, 01:27:18 pm »

Quote

pity.
Maybe ask for it as a feature request

I agree that it would be excellent to have in there (especially if all mini skins utilized it).

However, access to any fields other than those listed appears to be unavailable.

nila · « **Reply #43 on:** July 07, 2003, 11:57:35 pm »

a bit of Matt nagging later and hopefully we can get it

8thNote · « **Reply #44 on:** July 08, 2003, 11:07:05 am »

I like the skin, but I'm getting frustrated that I have to hide all the "extras" everytime I switch to Mini-me from the Mega-me view. I also always have to reposition it.

Anyway to make it remember the last location and "extras" settings? I hide the eq., the visualizations, and the track list.

JC · « **Reply #45 on:** July 08, 2003, 02:14:13 pm »

Quote

I like the skin, but I'm getting frustrated that I have to hide all the "extras" everytime I switch to Mini-me from the Mega-me view. I also always have to reposition it.

Anyway to make it remember the last location and "extras" settings? I hide the eq., the visualizations, and the track list.

This is the "amnesia bug" mentioned in the posts. Unfortunately, as the behavior occurs in most mini-me skins (fluxion, amped2, SonixMedia, etc ...) it appears to be a bug. The previous state of the player is written to a "state.xml" file in the skin's directory. When relaunching the skin, the previous information should be read and the player restored to the previous location with the same windows active.

However, in my case, this does not occur properly about 1 out of 10 times. When it "forgets" the previous state, all the defaults are used which means ...

player in center of screen
all additional windows active

I see no way around this currently as even the skin written by JRiver (fluxion) has the same occasional amnesia. Unless someone else knows of a "fix" (I've posted in the developers forum), it will continue to have occasional amnesia

JC · « **Reply #46 on:** July 08, 2003, 02:16:53 pm »

Quote

5. Fixed: Media Center was not remembering state of mini-me player.

From the 9.1.211 thread ...

Perhaps this issue is resolved with the newly released beta?

*hopes*

I'm still at work, so I can't check. I have my fingers crossed though.

8thNote · « **Reply #47 on:** July 09, 2003, 04:26:08 am »

It would also be nice if the menu background stripes were more faded. As dark as they currently are, it's somewhat hard to read the menu text.

Or I guess you could make the menu text a little more bold.

JC · « **Reply #48 on:** July 09, 2003, 06:59:33 am »

Quote

It would also be nice if the menu background stripes were more faded. As dark as they currently are, it's somewhat hard to read the menu text.

Or I guess you could make the menu text a little more bold.

AFAIK, the menu background comes from your mega-me skin. If you are using the most recent Brusked Metal Mega-me, that's where the stripes are defined. Otherwise, a different background will be displayed.

So, no explicit control over the menu background is available, it just uses the mega-me background.

JC · « **Reply #49 on:** July 14, 2003, 07:49:07 pm »

Ummm .... I just realized that I never actually posted the version with the volume rollover. As I made updates to the mega-me skin, I checked and the volume rollover version was never posted.

Sorry for the delay

Installable MJP file. Firebird (and other browser) users know the "Save As ..." drill. IE users can just click away.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: New Mini-me skin (UPDATE) (Read 14831 times)

nila

nila

nila

nila

nila

phelt

nila

nila

nila