Wave - New skin for NPVR

[soccerdad]

It is now my default. I like the colors and contrast.

[whurlston]

My wife has decided it's now our default skin as well.

[pcostanza]

Off topic Hairy, I see in your screen shots that you are using Channel logos......anything special needed for that? I completely forgot about trying it with NPVR.

[whurlston]

I had my channel logos in "Media\Channels" and it just picked them up. I didn't have to do anything special.

[Hairy]

Cheers folks,

If those who are using it could just give their impressions on the basics: text sizing/ legibility and general element positioning, over the next few days - that would be great.

[whurlston]

Cheers folks,

If those who are using it could just give their impressions on the basics: text sizing/ legibility and general element positioning, over the next few days - that would be great.

I came across a couple of issues in using the Videos skin for my Netflix plugin.

ListSelectionMetadata Element:

1. I changed the text fields to allow long filenames to wrap to two lines and set it to be valign="Bottom" so that it doesn't add a gap if it only needs one line.
   
2. I moved the text fields up slightly to account for longer descriptions.
   
3. What's "@name2"? I changed this to "@name" for the Netflix plugin but I left it alone in the Videos\videos.xml
   

Code:

    <Element name="ListSelectionMetaData" location="40,19" size="62,72" alpha="255" alphaFade="true">
        <RoundedRect location="0,4" size="100,92" fillColor="#080b0f" borderColor="Horizontal:Transparent-#A0007bff" radius="2.5" borderWidth="0.25"/>
        <Text visible="@hasMetaData" text="@name2" location="34,27" size="60,12" font="Title" valign="Bottom" wrap="true"/>
        <Text visible="@hasMetaData" text="@description" location="34,40" size="60,60" font="MetaText" wrap="true"/>
        <Image visible="@hasMetaData" source="@previewImage" location="3,20" size="28,60" fixedAspectRatio="true" />
        <Image visible="!@hasMetaData" source="@previewImage" location="12,15" size="70,70" fixedAspectRatio="true" />
    </Element>

CoversItem Element:

1. I removed the "@name" element because it was also displayed right below in the CoversSelectionMetadata element.
   
2. This also allowed me to make the @previewImage larger to fit the space.
   

Code:

    <Element name="CoversItem" location="0,52" size="18,31" alpha="255" alphaFade="true">
        <RoundedRect location="0,0" size="100,100" fillColor="Vertical:#f2f8ff-#d9ebff" borderColor="Black" radius="1.5" borderWidth="0.5"/>
        <Image source="@previewImage" location="2,2" size="96,96" fixedAspectRatio="true" />
    </Element>

My images show the boxart thinner than they should be because I have a reflection on the image.

[Hairy]

Excellent suggestions whurlston, cheers. I'll incorporate these changes as I'm tinkering further.

How do you find the text sizing. The TVGuide.xml uses 1 point smaller text, I'm thinking of appling this globaly (ie. 14pt/12pt/10pt). I personally prefer it, but then again I'm not looking at it from 2/3 meters away.

What's "@name2"? I changed this to "@name" for the Netflix plugin but I left it alone in the Videos\videos.xml

It's a carry over from sub's default skin. It might have something to do with "@hasMetaData" and "!@hasMetaData" ???

[whurlston]

Excellent suggestions whurlston, cheers. I'll incorporate these changes as I'm tinkering further.

How do you find the text sizing. The TVGuide.xml uses 1 point smaller text, I'm thinking of appling this globaly (ie. 14pt/12pt/10pt). I personally prefer it, but then again I'm not looking at it from 2/3 meters away.

Everything on the guide is clearly readable (even for my wife). The text on the other screens did seem a little large to me. I've viewing on a 47" 1080p from 15 ft (3 m) away.

The show details text seems a little smaller than the grid show text. Is that the case? The details text is sufficiently large for me.

What's "@name2"? I changed this to "@name" for the Netflix plugin but I left it alone in the Videos\videos.xml

It's a carry over from sub's default skin. It might have something to do with "@hasMetaData" and "!@hasMetaData" ???

I think I figured it out. One has the brackets on folders while the other does not ( and maybe one or two other small changes). I don't use them on my plugin so I couldn't tell the difference.

[Hairy]

The show details text seems a little smaller than the grid show text. Is that the case? The details text is sufficiently large for me.

Yeah it is, in this neck of the woods I think most people use Radio Times for listings and they can get a little wordy. So I always try to squeeze in 3/4 lines for the description. It maybe a little small for some but the show popup uses larger text, so I figure that if folks have any difficulty they can look at the popup.

I think I'll reduce the text sizing globally and see how it goes.

I think I figured it out. One has the brackets on folders while the other does not ( and maybe one or two other small changes). I don't use them on my plugin so I couldn't tell the difference.

I think it might actually be to distinguish between how the "@name" is used for two different situations. The actual file name in the standard views (like the list view) and the name value from the meta data xml.

[soccerdad]

I think the font on the guide show names could be a little smaller, more like the size of the channel names. We have a 42"lcd from about 10 feet away. It is very readable.