BlueMCE2-X cleanup project

[Fatman_do]

One minor change...

I changed the names:

icon_empty_selected
icon_empty_overlay
icon_empty_normal

to

icon_selected
icon_overlay
icon_normal

Monday (+5GMT) I will start changing the names in MCE2 as a test demo.

Any name or path changes will only take a minute after it is done.
CommonImages

[McBainUK]

Caught up on the posts I've missed and just downloaded the commonimages.zip file from post #100. Thoughts:

# "compataiblity" with AM should not be conisiderd here - the aim is to define a set of images, plugins can easily be changed.

# 720x480 should be standard as most users have a TV set for use with GBPVR. A higher res would just be a waste of valuable CPU time. A widescreen and/or high res version of the XML's could be made in the future - but bear in mind this would double the workload.

# is there a HTML/wiki document outlinining the common images talked about in this thread yet? If not I would like to volunteer myself to work on one.

# music library2, MainMenu-AM, BaseSkinImages - what are these folders for?

# There is no List_DetailActive.png, any reason?

# What is panel_dialog.png and where it is used?

# Is there a set syntax for the underscore? (_), seems to be used randomly! For example; it is used between every word with Button_PageDown_Normal.png but only between the object and the rest of the name with List_BarNormal.png

McBainUK

[Fatman_do]

Caught up on the posts I've missed and just downloaded the commonimages.zip file from post #100. Thoughts:

# "compataiblity" with AM should not be conisiderd here - the aim is to define a set of images, plugins can easily be changed.

# music library2, MainMenu-AM, BaseSkinImages - what are these folders for?

AM and other folders are what is pulled out of earlier commonimages.zip files for reasons like you stated above. These are "specific" files that are not "standard". The Music Library2 folder is an example plugin skin MixMan just made.

# is there a HTML/wiki document outlinining the common images talked about in this thread yet? If not I would like to volunteer myself to work on one.

Go right ahead..

# There is no List_DetailActive.png, any reason?

Oversite really. No plugin uses this yet, but it can be added. Any suggestions or corrections please feel free to do so.

# What is panel_dialog.png and where it is used?

panels is the backgrounds like what is used in net radio behind text (that is not listviews)

# Is there a set syntax for the underscore? (_), seems to be used randomly! For example; it is used between every word with Button_PageDown_Normal.png but only between the object and the rest of the name with List_BarNormal.png

No rhyme or reason. All just being winged on the fly.

Feel free to tweak or make changes.

Here is a quick and dirty convert of MCE2. Just as a test bed.
Plugins may be broken or nasty results.
http://gbpvr.com/pmwiki/uploads/Skin/CleanupMCE2.zip

[MixMan]

I "grouped" the all the images so they would be close to each other, when sorted in alphabetical order. Like:

Button_MenuNormal
Button_MenuSelected

Icon_Empty_Selected
Icon_Empty_Normal
Icon_Empty_Overlay

What is the reason to "ungroup" them?
Isn't it better to come up with another groupname?

[Fatman_do]

I "grouped" the all the images so they would be close to each other, when sorted in alphabetical order. Like:

Button_MenuNormal
Button_MenuSelected

Icon_Empty_Selected
Icon_Empty_Normal
Icon_Empty_Overlay

What is the reason to "ungroup" them?
Isn't it better to come up with another groupname?

Ah that is why. Didn't "see" that before. That is fine then, put "Menu" back in the buttons if that helps.

I just thought the word "Empty" didn't suit where this image could be used. The sample skin you had didn't seem right to use an image with "Empty" in there. How about Icon_Image_.....?

What McBainUK was also getting at is there are two "Styles" there.
For the buttons, there is no "__" between "Menu" and "Selected", like in the Icon ones.

Do we use two "_" in a file name or just one with DualCase?

Too late for me tonight to see what that means. Will look at that tomorrow.
(Unless you guys beat me to it with me being about 5+ hours behind.)

I generally don't have much of an opinion on how the images are named at this stage, as long as the names seem to be self-explanitory.

[MixMan]

Ah that is why. Didn't "see" that before. That is fine then, put "Menu" back in the buttons if that helps.

I just thought the word "Empty" didn't suit where this image could be used. The sample skin you had didn't seem right to use an image with "Empty" in there. How about Icon_Image_.....?

What McBainUK was also getting at is there are two "Styles" there.
For the buttons, there is no "__" between "Menu" and "Selected", like in the Icon ones.

Do we use two "_" in a file name or just one with DualCase?

Too late for me tonight to see what that means. Will look at that tomorrow.
(Unless you guys beat me to it with me being about 5+ hours behind.)

I generally don't have much of an opinion on how the images are named at this stage, as long as the names seem to be self-explanitory.

Yes, I agree the naming is inconsequent right now and we can change this. The most important thing is that the naming is easy to understand and that skinners that wants to add new images does it in the same "manner"

I like a _ separator, it easier to see that the images are grouped that way,

What about:

Group_SubGroup_Image.png

And I also agree that "empty" is not that describing. So what is it icon background? icon panel? icon frame?

Another thing.....in BlueMCE2 thy have default listview icons and "image" listview icons.....and I think that Reven might have defined this?
Something to devide upon.....since the list image icons are so small it is hard to see what the image shows.

[McBainUK]

OK, I've started work on the Standard Images Proposal list, including naming syntax and I must say its currently all over the place! Probably due to the fact that the list is being decided on by swapping zip files of images rather than having a simple written list - easy to get distracted.

Image name syntax proposal: Item_[State]_[Size/Usage]

examples:
Button_Selected_Main
Button_Selected_Popup
FolderIcon_Music
ListBar_Selected
ListDetail_Selected
ListIcon_Selected
Background_Main
Background_Plugin
PanelBackground_Wide
PopupBackground_Wide

Also has the placement of images been discused? How about a folder for each group? Allows easy swap out of image 'sets'.
|Buttons
|-Button_Selected_Main
ListItems
|-ListBarActive
|-ListDetailNormal
|-ListIconActive
|-ListIcon_Selected
Icons
|-RedBulletBallIcon
etc

Thoughts?

[Fatman_do]

OK, I've started work on the Standard Images Proposal list, including naming syntax and I must say its currently all over the place! Probably due to the fact that the list is being decided on by swapping zip files of images rather than having a simple written list - easy to get distracted.

Image name syntax proposal: Item_[State]_[Size/Usage]

examples:
Button_Selected_Main
Button_Selected_Popup
FolderIcon_Music
ListBar_Selected
ListDetail_Selected
ListIcon_Selected
Background_Main
Background_Plugin
PanelBackground_Wide
PopupBackground_Wide

Also has the placement of images been discused? How about a folder for each group? Allows easy swap out of image 'sets'.
|Buttons
|-Button_Selected_Main
ListItems
|-ListBarActive
|-ListDetailNormal
|-ListIconActive
|-ListIcon_Selected
Icons
|-RedBulletBallIcon
etc

Thoughts?

Dottore suggested sub-dividing the images into folders. Nothing concrete has come out of it yet. I have been looking at the names again, but I haven't come up with anything yet.

I like the ListIcon_Selected, ...._Normal, also can be used as ListIcon_Folder, ListIcon_ParentFolder, ListIcon_Music, ect.

But then I thought, maybe Icon should be used only for "Icon mode" list items.
Icon_Folder, Icon_ParentFolder, Icon_Selected, Icon_Normal.

And "List" is for List mode.
List_Folder, List_ParentFolder, ......

Never ending circle of ways to go about it.

[McBainUK]

Thought process - ListIcon is a natural follower to ListBar.

[Fatman_do]

Thought process - ListIcon is a natural follower to ListBar.

Yes, it follows somewhat.

Then again, keeping the images focused on what is in a list display....

ListView_Active
ListView_Folder (small folder graphic used in listmode)
ListView_Normal
ListView_ParentFolder (small folder graphic used in listmode)
ListView_Selected
(not sure we need "music, video, and photo mini-graphics like mixman pointed out.)

ListViewDetail_Active
ListViewDetail_Normal
ListViewDetail_Selected

IconView_Active
IconView_Folder
IconView_Music
IconView_Normal
IconView_ParentFolder
IconView_Photo
IconView_Selected
IconView_Video

Background_List or List_Background

Seem to follow well and explain better where to use.