Most popular skin?

[dazzyb2k3]

Maybe this poll should point the way to a new default skin???

I personally use BlueMCE2 (Dark Version) because it's easy on the eye and has good plugin support. However I would argue it's a little two Media Portal/MCE to be made the default. Contour is much more distinctive and better suited for this purpose.

Just a thought..

PS. Tipstir - MVP's all over the world (including mine!) would be lost without your talent. Don't give up!!

[drugstore_cowboy]

Wow... GBPVR without Tipstir? I have not always agreed with all he said, but he was always thought provoking and working his rear end off for all of us. He really helped push the cause forward. My hat is off to him. Thanks for all the help!

I agree, I think that GBPVR will feel a great loss without Tipstir "in the mix". I too salute you Tipstir and all your work

On a side note:
I personally do not like answering polls like this as it tends to get competitive and the numbers may not reflect an actual representation of use. Although good intentions may have started this thread I think it could end badly.

[pcostanza]

I use Tipsters skin about 75% of the time. I change regularly as I get tired easily of the same thing but always come back to one of T's goodies.
Thanks for the ride.

[Old Dog]

I think that GBPVR will feel a great loss without Tipstir...

Say farwell to Tipster, follow this link...
http://forums.nextpvr.com/showthread.php?t=12424

Although good intentions may have started this thread I think it could end badly.

That sounds like a good challange, how about we get this thread back on track?

[nightwalker]

I agree, I think that GBPVR will feel a great loss without Tipstir "in the mix". I too salute you Tipstir and all your work

On a side note:
I personally do not like answering polls like this as it tends to get competitive and the numbers may not reflect an actual representation of use. Although good intentions may have started this thread I think it could end badly.

I agree with the sentiment of the second paragraph, If you add up all the votes taken it's nowhere near the amount of people i see here regularly. It's not even a good cross section, just an indicator of the skin of the month. . I would sure hope Tipstir isn't leaving on the basis of that alone. It would be a mistake on his part. The skins are the artistic part of this pvr thing and as any artist will tell you, you gotta have a thick skin or you need to do something else.

[McBainUK]

It should also be said that if plugin designers follow a standard template for text names, colors, button styles and placements, etc, skins could natively support all current and future plugins. But most of the time, with the exception of Tipstir, the skins are designed for the plugins the designer uses and relies on the community to help skin the others that he/she does/cannot use. Getting the main menu skinned so it looks attractive is pretty easy, but then getting all of the various plugins to work with that style is what is difficult and VERY time consuming. Fortunatly, I've been blessed to have the help of a few members make Contour as successful as it has been.

This is part of the community, ie it is quite easy to develop for a selection of requirements. Covering all users and plugins does indeed take time. Prehaps skinners could have helpers, people who will follow the style of the skin and help with skinning plugins etc. This should be coordinated ofcourse, else there would be a problem with different versions going around, people repeating work etc. This coordination could take place off-forum as this thread is getting a bit silly in length, espically as its basically a conversation between a few skin developers. (maybe it could be moved to the developer section)

On another note I asked skiners for their thoughts on standards ages ago, got no response.

I agree with the sentiment of the second paragraph, If you add up all the votes taken it's nowhere near the amount of people i see here regularly. It's not even a good cross section, just an indicator of the skin of the month. . I would sure hope Tipstir isn't leaving on the basis of that alone. It would be a mistake on his part. The skins are the artistic part of this pvr thing and as any artist will tell you, you gotta have a thick skin or you need to do something else.

Feel guilty now, prehaps I should have called it "Most used skin at the moment by the peope who vote poll". Good luck for the future tipster

[kayleigh]

I voted for the Collection, but the skin I'm using is such a hybrid of so many skins (and I'm still tweaking all the time), it's hard for me to have just one skin

[wtg]

Feel guilty now, prehaps I should have called it "Most used skin at the moment by the peope who vote poll".

You shouldn't feel guilty. Even though it's not a scientific poll... perhaps it only reflects the most popular among frequent board posters/poll takers, but it's results are still worth something.

If I were a skin or plugin designer and found that only a couple people were using the fruits of my labor, it's time to ask myself if it's really worth the effort. I mean, it might be disappointing to come to that realization, but it's still worth knowing. I'd hate to think I kept laboring diligently, maybe even having high download statistics, only to find out much later my skins or plugins weren't really "sticking".

And besides, I can see from the remarks I'm not the only one that now has another skin to go investigate because of the responses to the poll.

Keep the polls coming!

[capone]

Blue, because I can make the little changes I like (background and menu layout), and know it will be compatiable w/ all plugins.

It's also like wallpaper and Windows. I don't care about it much because I am too busy using my computer to see what is behind it all. The menus are usuaully the things we see the least of because we are busy using GB to watch things.

If there were a standard for themes making them as naturually compatible as Blue, I would use others.

[Jeff]

Here is what I am using. It is based off of BlueMCE2 with the green orb task images. I've also changed the button definition to include the task image, which works well off of the MVP but not well with a mouse on a PC since the buttons now actually overlap (based on the icon height) even though they do not overlap on the screen.

Jeff