Essence-1080p [WIP] - Looking for tester/contributor! (2 Viewers)

[n4orcer]

Re: Essence-1080p - Progress Updated!

Hi there!

Made some progress on the skin, but I have a few issues i'm trying to correct, but im running out of ideas here. Anyone of you that have an idea of what could cause the following two screenshots?

This is how it should look:


This is how it looks for some movies, but not all.


It looks like for some reason when you select some movies most of the labels become hidden, any ideas?

 

[emphatic]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-11

I think that your design will look much better if you put some marginals between your text fields inside the boxes and the boxes themselves. Putting text that close to a straight line looks very cramped and is hard on the eyes as well.

Emph

 

[DieBagger]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-11

Imo you should try to define for whate screensize/distance to screen you are designing your skin because from the first screenshots it looks like it's designed for either a REALLY large LCD or a pc monitor that stands directly in front of the user.

Good luck with your skin

 

[n4orcer]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-11

I think that your design will look much better if you put some marginals between your text fields inside the boxes and the boxes themselves. Putting text that close to a straight line looks very cramped and is hard on the eyes as well.

Emph

Yeah, the first version had no margins at all, so I have changed that now. But from the screenshots where do you think it need more margins?

Imo you should try to define for whate screensize/distance to screen you are designing your skin because from the first screenshots it looks like it's designed for either a REALLY large LCD or a pc monitor that stands directly in front of the user.

Good luck with your skin

Hehe, I know what you are talking about. The first screenshots is from before I increased the size of the fonts. I had not tried it on my 42" LCD TV before and when I did I could barley read the text so that have been rectified since the screenshots in the first post.

Thanks for you comments, keep them coming.

 

[emphatic]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-11

Yeah, the first version had no margins at all, so I have changed that now. But from the screenshots where do you think it need more margins?

In all places where you have text basically, but as a clear example: that info box in Moving Pictures. The labels are almost on top of each other, and very close to all edges. In all directions around them. A design will look 100% better with space around the elements involved (the text). Just keep all of the text info in it's horizontal position, make the surrounding box 50 pixels wider and 20 pixels taller, then move it 25 pixels to the left and 20 pixels up. Then move the labels for director, writer etc. further apart vertically. You will notice that everything will look better instantly.

Emph

 

[n4orcer]

Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-11

Been a while since I updated! The project is not dead, i'm just busy doing boring stuff as trying to fix bugs and creating dialogs/menus and so on!

Yeah, the first version had no margins at all, so I have changed that now. But from the screenshots where do you think it need more margins?

In all places where you have text basically, but as a clear example: that info box in Moving Pictures. The labels are almost on top of each other, and very close to all edges. In all directions around them. A design will look 100% better with space around the elements involved (the text). Just keep all of the text info in it's horizontal position, make the surrounding box 50 pixels wider and 20 pixels taller, then move it 25 pixels to the left and 20 pixels up. Then move the labels for director, writer etc. further apart vertically. You will notice that everything will look better instantly.

Emph

I have increased the font size on all text elements now and tested it on my 42". The result are much better and it's not hard to read, I have also added a bit more space between text elements and image elements, does it look better now in your eyes?

 

[Spragleknas]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-21

This is starting to look interesting. Nice to see some cool details, like removing mini-icons in MovPic etc.
I guess BHS is going to have "drop down" menus? If so

You might get more tips/help etc if/when you release xmls+gfx.

 

[n4orcer]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-21

This is starting to look interesting. Nice to see some cool details, like removing mini-icons in MovPic etc.
I guess BHS is going to have "drop down" menus? If so

You might get more tips/help etc if/when you release xmls+gfx.

Thanks!

Yeah, BHS will have "drop down" menus, if I can get the bloody animations to work! :'( Having lots of problems with those atm, they refuse to do what I want them to!

I want to have menus/dialogs all slide from the left side to their position when they are focused/windows open. But it refuses to work! For example, The category list of MP, I now have it at a position to the left, below the weather/time. I want the background/"buttons" to slide in position when the windowopens. But I can only get the "buttons" sliding in to position, the background wont slide in. But it works when I choose something and comes back, then both slides in.

Anyone know if there are any restrictions regarding animations and listcontrols/actiongroup or groups that could cause this?

Here is the code for the image that is the background, all works if I choose a category and then returns to the category list but not when I go from myHome -> Movingpictures.

	<control>
            <type>image</type>
	    <posX>-1</posX>
	    <posY>345</posY> 
            <width>364</width>
            <height>390</height>
            <texture>gui.common.menu.background.left.png</texture>
            <animation effect="slide" end="0,0" start="-400,0" time="200" Delay="125">WindowOpen</animation>
            <animation effect="slide" end="-400,0" start="0,0" time="200" Delay="125">WindowClose</animation>
	    <animation effect="slide" end="0,0" start="-400,0" time="200">VisibleChange</animation>
	    <animation effect="slide" end="-400,0" start="0,0" time="200">Hidden</animation>
	    <visible>!Control.HasFocus(50)</visible>
	</control>

I'm planning on releasing my current build once I get the menu's and animations to work. So hopefully later today or tomorrow if I can solve those annoying problems!

 

[n4orcer]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-21

I have packaged the latest revision of the development build of the skin. You can download and find it on the google projects page here. I have updated the project page with progress on each component and source files are available from there aswell.

This is a development build and there are lots of features/plugins not working!

BasicHome is a mockup version so far, but fully functional.
myHome is pretty much done apart from sounds and animations.
Moving Pictures is working in list mode though the details view is not complete yet.
Video Overlay is from the old version and not updated to work on the new BasicHome/myHome yet.

Please report bugs on the google projects site for easier tracking.

Thanks,
n4orcer

 

[Spragleknas]

Re: Essence-1080p - Updated 2010-03-21 - Development release available!

Hi.
Gave it a spin, and liked the simplicity - esp. of list view in MovPic. Hopefully you will continue with this minimalistic design, meaning cutting useless stuff (several identical pictures, counting up + down + total time of music etc).

BUT: The text is to small to be pleasant to read. It is readable, but it is not "eye friendly" over time.

Also, I believe the font, Segoe, is only supplied w/Win7. Ref: Segoe - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia