Help make new default skin

[reven]

Nothing too exciting. This thread sort of ground to a half with no flashy new community created skin, so unfortunately you'll still get the same old blue skin

what about dottore's skin on post #293 i really liked the look of that one, a completely new design, but its simple and neat. much better than the blue one, and since most of it appears to be basic shapes it should load in around the same time as the blue one.

[Lucas_24]

I aggree, I really like that design, very professional looking

[sub]

Dont get me wrong, there have been a few good screenshots from Dottore and other suggestions in this thread. I was just commenting that this thread hasnt yet resulted in a skin being developed which we can use to replace the blue skin.

Hopefully the few skinning enhancements I've made will help spur on some skin development after the release, which (if we're lucky) may result in a new skin sometime in the near future.

....personally though, I'm not yet that convinced with the horizontal menu. I'll have to see a completed skin that uses it before I decide if I really like it. Dottore now has the tools he needs to make that skin, so hopefully we'll be able to see it in action soon.

[reven]

fair enuff.

[dottore]

so hopefully we'll be able to see it in action soon.

you will, i'm just working on this skin. it will include both, a horizontal and a vertical menu.

it'll take me some time though....

[ricklous]

I hope you guys dont mind me throwing my two pennys worth into the pot?

Im not sure how many users GBPVR has (Sub?) but maybe the 34-page thread points to the userbase being big enough to diversify in what its looking to use GBPVR for?

ie some use it for the bells and whistles, and others use it just because it dosnt try to force anything on them that they dont want and that it works every time they boot the PC up, and others use it due to the high WAF factor that it seems to have.

So, maybe we need to come up with a bundle of default skins for specific levels of user rather that just one 'catchall'?

For what its worth, maybe a good starting point would be a 'simple but effective' skin along the lines of JDStarlings collections (profesional, slick looking and very high WAF in my experience), and alongside that, a 'bells and whistles' one like dottores eagerly-awaited horizontal one to show off all the optional tricks available. If sub requested that plugins be wrote in the first instance just for the advanced skin, and leave the simple one 'untouched' that would leave the simpler skin as an always-available fall-back incase anything went tits-up when experimenting with plugins in the advanced one...

This would also demonstrate to the potential user how powerful the skinning abilities are, as you could have two vastly different skins sat side by side working perfectly out of the box.

Anyway...i guess thats two pennys worth...so i'll shut up now...

Rick

[Old Dog]

A community skin need not, and probably should not, be the work of a single developer. (But avoid a hierarchy.)

This thread has served well as a brain storming session but as with most such sessions it will not actually lead to an end product. If we really wish to move forward on a new community skin we need to be more orderly in identifying what needs the new skin should address. We don't need solutions, we need goals.

How can we establish a concrete set of goals?

[ricklous]

we could let the community vote on what it thinks is important?:confused:

like, pose the question for a week, Does a default skin need high WAF as a priority? with a yes/no vote...

might give us some 'higher level' goals to tinker with?:confused:

of course democracy doesnt always lead to the best being number one lololol

[reboot]

I disagree.
This is Sub's baby, he alone should decide what it looks like.
Thankfully, he's left enough of it public so the rest of us can develop plugins and themes/skins.
As much as I like tinkering with skins, the basic blue is a perfect starting place for new users. Once they get adventurous, then they have a multitude of choices.

[Old Dog]

From what I have read, sub doesn't want it left up to him.

Sub has identified a problem; the skins don't have "curb" appeal (my interpretation). He has asked the community to help him find a solution.

So far, the community has simply fantasized and asked him to do more things for them (myself included).

Simplifying the Problem

Rick's suggestion to use The Collection as a starting point has merit, but only to a limited degree.

The plug-in skins in The Collection are better than Blue's, so using them as a starting point for plug-in skins is OK. (Note: If I didn't believe they were better, I wouldn't have created them, but they do have deficiencies.)

On the other hand, none of The Collection's main menu's would help sub at all. They are not unique. Most are simply based on wallpaper. The one that isn't uses task images that are obviously derived from those in another PVR project.

The look of the main menu is 10 times more important to "curb" appeal than 10 plug-in skins combined.

What should be the goals for a new main menu skin?

-David