Community Project - IRC Channel is #mp-skins on EFNet (2 Viewers)

[misterd]

Hi all,
this idea is fantastic and if I find the time, I can help with xml.

But as mentioned before, some people like more darker skins like PM III or they like skins like clarity etc. Therefore it would be cool, if MP has an option to support different mods of one skin. So the work on xml has only to be done one time and more people will accept the skin.

Greetings
MisterD

 

[RubaDuck7]

mofux:

If the changes are significant enough, there would be quite a few benefits to start using XAML (which is still XML) and WPF as a presentation platform.

For instance, using MS's Expression Interactive Designer, skinners could do all the layout work visually, instead of handcoding the markup. Making a rich web-frontend on top of the same classes shouldn't be too hard either, as a subset of WPF can be run in a browser. I've looked into this technology a bit, and it's amazing how easy and flexible it is to do cool stuff. Of course, if you go hog wild using the 'heaviest' features (3D etc) the hw requirements for your app grows as well, so you have to careful.

I saw some mention of migrating to XAML/WPF a while ago in the forums. Obviously this is less than trivial, even if MP seems to use a similar, but more primitive model currently. But here's hoping!

Marshall:

Having a skinning project to see who's good at what and what kind of UI styles people like is quite different to making the next official skin for MP, don't you think? A good idea, but with a different goal.

Any good UI most be predictable, so that if you have used some part of it, you have an idea of how things work elsewhere as well. This is actually one of the great opportunities for improvement in MP overall (very much IMHO of course). Making the line between core features and plugins etc transparent. Having a task-based UI instead a list of separate programs. Making a plan for how the whole thing should work and then making the plugins work within that plan.

MisterdD:

Since you mentioned color schemes etc. Using XAML you can have a central style sheet controlling the overall look of the UI, much like CSS and HTML pages. So changing the look of all the elements wouldn't be very hard at all.

 

[marshall]

Having a skinning project to see who's good at what and what kind of UI styles people like is quite different to making the next official skin for MP, don't you think? A good idea, but with a different goal.

Agreed. I didn't word my comment very well, I meant that this would be a test to work through the logistics of group skinning. It isn't really a tested model yet, so there might be some hurdles.

For UI styles, it seems like there will have to be just 1 (maybe 2) people who make decisions about the style of each skin. Other people who help will have to accept that they are not "the artist" but rather "a worker" who helps the artist's vision come together. (Of course, opinions are still great, and possibly influential).

Once the group skinning model gets going, then other "artists" can pitch their ideas to try to get "workers" to help make them reality. Different designs might get different workers depending on what styles they wanted to see produced.


If XAML supports style sheets that would be a nice improvement; there is a lot of duplication of information in the skin files that could be eliminated with a style sheet. That would make it less of an ominous proposition for new skinners as well as reducing the chances for error.

 

[carreno]

me, I am a worker .

:wink:

 

[RubaDuck7]

Heh, well...

I agree with you, marshall, that the best designs come from small design teams, often just one person. Constant feedback is still crucial, even if the group as a whole don't get to make the final call on every single detail.

Re: the artist and 'worker' scenario I'd like to add that my experience is that all the different parts of making a piece of software tends to have a creative component, they're just different.

Interaction design - defining what screens are needed, how they
work and how you navigate between them.
Visual design - final layout, pictures, animations etc.
Architecture - designing what the underlying classes/objects are and how they work together, database structure etc.
Coding - Implementing the different classes etc in the most efficient way possible.

Some of these obviously may not apply when making a skin. Oh, well.

Re: XAML, styling power is *very* extensive, to the point where UI controls are just behaviors. I.e. a button still looks like a button by default, but you can remove everything and start from scratch, making it look however you want. Since a button in XAML/WPF is just something you can click, a hyperlink is also, technically, a button. It just looks different. Weird, but *very* flexible.

There are huge amounts of information about WPF/XAML on the web, for anyone who's interested.

 

[carreno]

News?

 

[mofux]

hi, i'm still alive and this is up and running - as there is enough interest i will try to create an IRC channel for us and setup a sourceforge cvs account where the skin will be developed in...

i've been very busy the last days (time again for writing examns ) but when i got the time i did some tests on bringing my mockup from the first page to live! and i must say - it worked very well because the mockup already provides alot of gfx!

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Mockup:::

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What finally was possible with MP's skinning enigne:::

enjoy and be prepared to get started

btw... the work i already did isnt a MUST to go - we can go in each other direction... it's just something to let you see that this is not DEAD!

 

[zombiepig]

mofux - the only criticism i have with your work is that your screenshots always prominently feature dashboard :roll: !!
[rant]gah... i HATE chris carraba :evil: [/rant]

(sorry - had to get that off my chest...)

good luck with your exams! i like the direction this skin is heading!

 

[Bram]

And a Dasboard Confessionals album with a Al Di Meola cd cover
Al Di Meola is great music.

I like the idea of having a new skin different form the rest. I'd love to try it.

 

[mofux]

sorry, i don't wanted to feature them in any way - i even don't listen to them that much but i like those cover-images and the long name is good to show how the skin handles long texts

more 2 follow soon