Visual XLobby Skin

by **dalanik** on Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:07 pm

Hiya all!

Well... I spent most of the weekend beside my notebook researching and learning xLobby skinning...

After initial doubts that xLobby is able to do what I needed, I learned that most faults are indeed in skins, missing default buttons or illogical arrangement of buttons, or buttons overlapping or such...

So after downloading all available skins and trying 'em, I decided that not one is good for my purposes and the way I use HTPC.

Don't get me wrong; All 3-4 skins I found and downloaded from here are excellent and I like 'em all, graphically they're perfect.. but in a way of functionality...

I still don't understand how people use those skins with the remote control unit... I.e. latest I downloaded (Colby skin) is really visually great... (I'll probably steal a couple of buttons for my skin :-)

but as far as navigation is concerned... how does one navigate i.e. from the movies list (pics) onto buttons that are located on the LEFT side of the pics, when left/right keys in the movies list go next/prev page!??!? And this is only ONE example so you'd know what I'm talking about... All those skins are great looking but since I use Remote Control they're extremely HARD to navigate, and then most of them are simply LOADED with buttons, pics and info, so it doesn't show well on TV screen (too small, unreadable).

Such things made me create my own skin... with the purpose of being EASY to navigate via keyboard (remote up/dn/left/right/OK buttons) AND have good visibility on a TV set (typically 70-80 cm).

Don't hold your breath it's still being developed, and I used Jowaldo's skin as a starting point. Also, I'm not a graphics designer, so most of the buttons and graphics were snatched from other skins, I just created new backgrounds etc.. If anyone's interested I'll share it later this week when I finish SEARCH overlays....

Sorry, no picture yet, It's on my notebook, and I'm in the office right now...

Cheers,
D.

by **dmkw** on Mon Apr 26, 2004 2:46 pm

Hi dalanik,

I'd like to see your skin as I'm looking for a one that looks good on a TV and works well with a remote. Look forward to seeing it soon.

by **dalanik** on Mon Apr 26, 2004 3:03 pm

I can send you the "draft" version day after tomorrow (I'm not in the office tomorrow whole day, gone to Microsoft TechNet :-)

and at home i use only dialup (slow).

I might also manage to improve it a bit by that time. Beware that it is in HEAVY "alpha" stage... :-)

Main menu is OK (easy), pictures part is pretty much OK, videos part is OK (but could use a bit of tweaking) and music is done, but when I tested it on the TV set I was not satisfied with visibility, so it'll have to undergo major changes... Other stuff stayed mostly the same as in jowaldo's skin (internet etc, I don't use it for the time being).

I also want to implement text-lists for music and videos, pictures are nice but impractical when you have like 8000 mp3's and 250 movies :-)

D.

by **l0th** on Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:23 pm

I'm really interested as well, especially in that:

with the purpose of being EASY to navigate via keyboard (remote up/dn/left/right/OK buttons) AND have good visibility on a TV set (typically 70-80 cm).

and this was definitely a good idea:

I used Jowaldo's skin as a starting point

since IMHO this is the best skin available now.

I also want to implement text-lists for music and videos, pictures are nice but impractical when you have like 8000 mp3's and 250 movies

And go for that too!

can't wait...

by **Twit** on Mon Apr 26, 2004 7:30 pm

Can't wait for your skin.

Have tried to make my remote only skin (posted it). But I am more autistic than artistic.

If you need someone to try it out on a really crappy 74cm TV with remote only. mail me mailto:pilfold@mweb.co.za

Later
Simon.

by **dalanik** on Wed Apr 28, 2004 9:07 am

Hope this works... some pics... don;t expect too much for the time being, i'm still reconsidering layout and changing much... the thing i discovered is that the only logical layout is to have buttons at the bottom and top (not left or right of the list) because l/r buttons scroll page at a time...

I must stress that this is only a layout test, not a finished skin; I know that I have like 3 different shades of blue color for buttons - I'll get that right later when I finish the layout, to me now major concern is navigation...

notice that some buttons (i.e. on the music page) are still from the original skin... well, i'm working :-)

well, let's see if I get the images right...

if you can't see the pics, goto http://www.freewebs.com/lanik/index.htm

D.

by **Twit** on Thu Apr 29, 2004 5:37 pm

looking good!

by **dalanik** on Sun May 02, 2004 6:12 pm

Twit wrote:looking good!

Thanx. Made a lot of changs during the past couple of days, but now I believe I managed to get it into some pretty useable stage. At least Pic/Music and Movie screens are finished, with lists, now playing etc. Internet/Webcam/News stuff stayed pretty much the same (only changed buttons to be in the same style), have yet to do overlays for filter...

Anyway, is there a way to have ABCD... buttons on screen, and then when you press the button you go to the position in a list where film (or artist) starts with that letter? And how?

mind you, NOT filter the list, but GO in list to the first record in DB starting on certain letter?

Also, does anyone know of any web space where I can upload the skin? I could upload it now since it's pretty much (like 70%) finished, so you can criticize :-)

Dalibor

by **Twit** on Mon May 03, 2004 4:16 am

Dalibor,

Check this thread for your letter pick solution:

http://www.xlobby.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1289&highlight=show

As for webspace maybe you could ask matt.

Later
Simon.

by **mattdisaster** on Mon May 03, 2004 3:22 pm

Drop me an email, mailto:mattnorman82@snet.net and i'll be glad to help you out.

-mattt

by **dalanik** on Sat May 08, 2004 6:39 pm

OK, I finaly got it to alpha stage. All main sections are finished, have yet to do search overlays.

Anyway, here it is, hope the link works:

http://www.volweb.cz/lanik/index.htm

(there's "download" link wich you neet to rightclick and go "save as...")

Any comments welcome! :-)

Dalibor

by **jmatienzo** on Sat May 08, 2004 7:49 pm

Great skin,so much easier to use with a remote. Is there a way to fix the problem when you fisrt start the skin, everytime it start it always has the photoicon-phototext & exiticon-exittext on the screen at the same time until you go to the main menu quit nav button then the exiticon-exittext goes away. Great skin i'm testing it on my HT right now so far so good,tks.

by **Twit** on Sun May 09, 2004 4:51 am

Dalibor,

Just loaded it now and noticed the bug (in xlobby) - you will see the volume slider at the top only works on the music pictures screen and not the others. When you create a multi screen button xlobby does not seem to remember the front/back order. Like your progressbarbackground.

Later
Simon

by **dalanik** on Sun May 09, 2004 7:27 pm

[quote="Twit"]Dalibor,
Just loaded it now and noticed the bug (in xlobby) - you will see the volume slider at the top only works on the music pictures screen and not the others. When you create a multi screen button xlobby does not seem to remember the front/back order. Like your progressbarbackground.
[/quote]

Thanx, I will fix it. I'm right now adding "videos" section (for home videos). Somehow I think they shouldn't be in the same folder as movies :-)

D.

by **dalanik** on Tue May 11, 2004 12:00 pm

OK, here's the updated version of my skin.

v0.13

* fixed double images on startup screen
* fixed volume slider order
* added videos section for home videos (using database called VIDEOS)
* rearranged buttons a bit to be more logical
* added (still in works) volume adjuster overlay (with +/- buttons to adjust volume)

download from:

http://www.freewebs.com/lanik/dl.htm