New Zealand
- Moderator
- #211
The skin looks great! Looks like my skinning days are over!! 
I have changed a couple of few things on my local copy (personal taste):
1. I didn't like the bold/capital fonts so I have changed them all to MC360 Body Caps, which it looks like you were using before changing to Scout Black? (judging by the "Transformers" title on the 4th screenshot)
2. I don't like blue text - I guess it reminds me of the B3W too much so I have changed all instances of this to "ffcccccc" (light grey). So far this seems to look OK.
3. common.facade.music.xml, Thumbnail Panel - added <onup>2</onup>, I know the menu is on the side but I don't like having to go all the way to the left to get to it (I'm fussy )
So only 3 things I didn't like - pretty good I reckon
Some things I noticed:
1. Screens with icons and big icons views - maybe best to remove "now playing" info as it overlays the icons? I've only checked/noticed this in My Videos, My Pictures & Moving Pictures so far but there are probably other screens/plugins that use the same icon layout?
2. Weather screen:
- 5 day forecast menu overlays the weather info slightly, doesn't look good.
- I don't have a background image (black). I take it InfoService is needed? (does the background change with the weather like I had going on in BleazleWide?) Is there a MP1.2 compatible version of InfoService? If/when there is will you include it with the skin?
3. BasicHome:
- Latest Music: "arrowing" back takes you to the next menu item (in the main menu). Is it possible to go back to the "Music" heading? (ie. in the Music sub-menu) so the User can scroll down to now playing etc...
- Latest Pics: Can't arrow over to the pics to select them - is it possible to add this?
- Latest TV recordings: Don't show until the right arrow is clicked (whereas both of the above show when "Music" or "Pictures" is selected. This may be because I can't test TV on my laptop though so maybe it's different in a setup with TV working..
(Note: After using the BasicHome menu for a bit longer going "back" (left arrow) from "Latest..." obviously goes to the default menu item (in my case Menu 3) so I guess it can't be changed - can it be done manually? I've had a quick look and the only result I get when changing the <onleft> ref id </onleft> in common.basichome.latest.xml to anything other than 77032 is that menu 1 is selected instead of menu 3 (which is no better)
- I am getting a black background quite a lot (no fanart showing) this is always the case for "pictures" (I have tried importing fanart and it shows in the C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\thumbs\Skin FanArt\UserDef\pictures directory, but not in fanart handler) but also when I select the Music menu which "usually" displays fanart.... something isn't right.
5. All screens - When the menu disappears the word "menu" flys off on the wrong angle - if this can't be fixed to disappear with the rest of the menu maybe it should be "turned off" at the same time as all of the other text in the menu? (Note: The shortcut to "Now Playing" at the top of the menu is a nice touch )
6. Video Now Playing Overlay: The video "shows through" (overlays) the tv.frame.png graphic, I don't think this can be avoided? If not maybe best to remove the "screen shine" effect from the graphic?
The above points are just my opinions so feel free to ignore them, I know how much time skinning can take so (like everyone else that has posted in this thread) I appreciate your efforts!!
Regards
Bleazle
EDIT: One more thing. When changing the view there are 3 different actions going on, I'll try to explain:
- select list - the list view only appears when you "arrow off" the menu
- select either of the icon views and the selected view appears (even though the menu is still visible) THIS IS BEST (imho)
- select either filmstrip or coverflow and the view appears but immediately disappears behind the menu then reappears when you "arrow off" the menu - why does the view disappear then reappear? Seems a bit strange to me.
I have changed a couple of few things on my local copy (personal taste):
1. I didn't like the bold/capital fonts so I have changed them all to MC360 Body Caps, which it looks like you were using before changing to Scout Black? (judging by the "Transformers" title on the 4th screenshot)
2. I don't like blue text - I guess it reminds me of the B3W too much
so I have changed all instances of this to "ffcccccc" (light grey). So far this seems to look OK.3. common.facade.music.xml, Thumbnail Panel - added <onup>2</onup>, I know the menu is on the side but I don't like having to go all the way to the left to get to it (I'm fussy
)So only 3 things I didn't like - pretty good I reckon
Some things I noticed:
1. Screens with icons and big icons views - maybe best to remove "now playing" info as it overlays the icons? I've only checked/noticed this in My Videos, My Pictures & Moving Pictures so far but there are probably other screens/plugins that use the same icon layout?
2. Weather screen:
- 5 day forecast menu overlays the weather info slightly, doesn't look good.
- I don't have a background image (black). I take it InfoService is needed? (does the background change with the weather like I had going on in BleazleWide?) Is there a MP1.2 compatible version of InfoService? If/when there is will you include it with the skin?
3. BasicHome:
- Latest Music: "arrowing" back takes you to the next menu item (in the main menu). Is it possible to go back to the "Music" heading? (ie. in the Music sub-menu) so the User can scroll down to now playing etc...
- Latest Pics: Can't arrow over to the pics to select them - is it possible to add this?
- Latest TV recordings: Don't show until the right arrow is clicked (whereas both of the above show when "Music" or "Pictures" is selected. This may be because I can't test TV on my laptop though so maybe it's different in a setup with TV working..
(Note: After using the BasicHome menu for a bit longer going "back" (left arrow) from "Latest..." obviously goes to the default menu item (in my case Menu 3) so I guess it can't be changed - can it be done manually? I've had a quick look and the only result I get when changing the <onleft> ref id </onleft> in common.basichome.latest.xml to anything other than 77032 is that menu 1 is selected instead of menu 3 (which is no better)
- I am getting a black background quite a lot (no fanart showing) this is always the case for "pictures" (I have tried importing fanart and it shows in the C:\ProgramData\Team MediaPortal\MediaPortal\thumbs\Skin FanArt\UserDef\pictures directory, but not in fanart handler) but also when I select the Music menu which "usually" displays fanart.... something isn't right.
5. All screens - When the menu disappears the word "menu" flys off on the wrong angle - if this can't be fixed to disappear with the rest of the menu maybe it should be "turned off" at the same time as all of the other text in the menu? (Note: The shortcut to "Now Playing" at the top of the menu is a nice touch
)6. Video Now Playing Overlay: The video "shows through" (overlays) the tv.frame.png graphic, I don't think this can be avoided? If not maybe best to remove the "screen shine" effect from the graphic?
The above points are just my opinions so feel free to ignore them,
I know how much time skinning can take so (like everyone else that has posted in this thread) I appreciate your efforts!!Regards
Bleazle
EDIT: One more thing. When changing the view there are 3 different actions going on, I'll try to explain:
- select list - the list view only appears when you "arrow off" the menu
- select either of the icon views and the selected view appears (even though the menu is still visible) THIS IS BEST (imho)
- select either filmstrip or coverflow and the view appears but immediately disappears behind the menu then reappears when you "arrow off" the menu - why does the view disappear then reappear? Seems a bit strange to me.
