GBPVR Has Split Too Many Ways

[psycik]

Actually this thread surprised me, I didn't think his comments were inflammatory at all and I think things have been taken out of proportion....or maybe I just didn't read it properly..

Its a tough call skins and plugins, cos it's up to what skin the developer primarily uses, although sun did say many moons ago that at a minimum he wanted developers to implement the blue skin.

[whurlston]

Actually this thread surprised me, I didn't think his comments were inflammatory at all and I think things have been taken out of proportion....

I agree. I didn't see his comments as inflammatory either and I didn't take offence. If I sounded like I did, it was due to lack of sleep.

[carpeVideo]

Having programmed a few things for GBPVR I know you can't expect plug-in developers to make sure that all skins are available, heck, whatever I do is in my spare time and any testing I do is just my own general use.

Rather than being inflammatory - maybe there is something constructive to come out of this.

First, to the original poster you can probably use the community skin and copy the correct files into it from the blue for a plugin that isn't skinned your way. Then you'll get most of the skin you want and blue for the plugin.

Second, is their a way to improve skinning error messages so its obvious what the issue is (at least in the plugin you could have a routine that calls the skinning methods to do this). And should GBPVR always read the blue skin and return that information if the desired skin info is not available?

Third, since a good chunk of the skinning is really color and background should skinning be split in a way so that a skinner could do most of a color schemes and standard buttons but positions would be inherited from blue if no overriding info is available from the new skin information?

[Fatman_do]

This is what I added to the skin page of the wiki.

Compatibility

Skins listed below are designated as being compatible with a certain version of GB-PVR. This denotes being able to support the features of GB-PVR as provided in its default form. Third party plugin and utility support is not conditional, and may only be supported by the default blue skin. Periodically, these plugins are updated to add new features and 3rd. party skins may not have the proper files to function in a timely manner. It must be assumed that any plugin release will be incompatible with any 3rd party skin unless stated otherwise. Any concerns or request, please post in the plugin and skin support forums.

I'll add a similar statement to the CommunitySkin page.

[ACTCMS]

This is what I added to the skin page of the wiki.

I'll add a similar statement to the CommunitySkin page.

Would it be worth while adding a complimetary bit to the Plugins section, along the lines of:

Unless stated otherwise, plugins should work with the default Blue skin. Although other skins may support specific plugin versions (as documented in the Skin section), newer versions of plugins might work only with the default Blue skin. Support for new plugins/plugin versions by other skins will normally be announced in the forum.

Very vague, but you get the idea...

Alex

[Hairy]

I know you could probably stick a fork in this thread. But I'd like to add my 2c.

There is probably no surprise in the fact that I don't agree with the whole way you have raised, arguably a valid frustration, LewE. For me it shows a fundamental lack of understanding about the GB community (or any free online community) and GB is just that, a community. sub provides a fantastic piece of software with an astonishing level of support - all for free. I feel, that this generosity then encourages others to add to the user experience by providing additional element - again for free. Through all of this I think the compatibility, for a non commercial piece of software, is excellent.

I can understand how you felt that the frustrations you've experienced had a greater validity. But I think if you were to take a step back and view GBpvr and it addons individually, you'd see that the upgrade process runs pretty well. Like for most software, the onus of compatibility is on the softwares' default setup, any alterations then need to filter down to the addons. I'm at a loss to think of the last plugin released that didn't include skinning files for the "default" blue skin and as for addons like the Community Skin I personally feel that they do a pretty good job of maintaining compatibility, you could probably count on one hand the number of times fatman_do hasn't released a compatibility version by the weekend of any significant update, all that takes time. I know that for me personally the themes that I've done take roughly 100 hours each, which works out as 20/30 hours a week, (it probably shouldn't but it does). I'd hate to think what it take for those poor souls who write and edit code.

So for me there in-lies the rub, your post lacks the sensitivity of someone who understands how this community works. The funny thing is that you could have raised this (phrased differently obviously) in the wishlist section and there you could have raised your frustration and maybe learnt a little more about this community.

I personally believe you received a fairly balance response to what you raised and how you raised it.

[Hairy]

SPF 50 my arse. Apply every two hours....right. I look like a Christmas ornament.

Well what do you expect, you're supposed to put it on all over - not just your arse. Thats where you went wrong, never mind you'll know for the next time.



Sorry couldn't resist.

[zehd]

In true GBPVR community fashion, a flame war is handled most gentlemanly.

I won't be so patient. If someone slings shit they shouldn't be surprised to get a splatter on themselves...

With due respect to my fellow developers and all of the skinners I would say you have all been far too polite.

I believe that at no time should any plugin developer have to work on a skin other than 'Blue' compatibility. Period.

Skins are bells and whistles. One should always turn off bells and whistles when troubleshooting. Sub writes GB-PVR for general use with 'Blue' and that is all that a plugin 'need' be compatible with.

Non-proactive/developing-users have no 'right' to demand anything even if it's disguised as a positive suggestion.

The forum and wiki are plastered with suggestions to revert to 'blue' in case of trouble and one should not 'expect' anything else.

The Community Skinners are doing a great job of 'reactively' adjusting and patching skins after the release of a new plugins, but there should be no tolerance of even crtisicisms of the way the community is handling the release of a new plugin. The system is working more than well enough, in some cases, far better than commercial software.

For consistency sake, I would urge plugin developers to NOT include any modded skins in their release, and if they have modded something because they use the Community Skin themsleves, they should pass it on to the Skinners to release the modded skin in the next Community skin release.

And saying that there is confusion on the naming of the executable (gbpvr.exe and pvrx2.exe) is downright silly. PVRX2.exe has been existing from 18 months ago. Lots of reference to the old and new GUIs, but there was never any indication the products name, GB-PVR was to change...

Can a moderator close this thread please!

[philly_phenom]

Think of it as buying Vista and getting a free copy of XP in case your hardware won't work with Vista.

I disagree.

More like getting a free copy of Vista w/ a free copy of XP in case your hardware won't work w/ Vista

[whurlston]

I disagree.

More like getting a free copy of Vista w/ a free copy of XP in case your hardware won't work w/ Vista

I just knew someone would call me on that. I considered that but it's hard to get a free [legal] copy of Vista.