Most popular skin?

[McBainUK]

thanks wtg.

True, I'm going to try contour and the collection at some point.

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".

But I my case I write plugins for fun :eek: And also to use them myself, so thats at least one user
Although knowing your work is used/liked is certinally a boost. But many of users may not be forum members, so polls / posts etc can only be a guide.

Thumbs up to all plugin writers, skiners and esp sub, who must all feel like throwing in the towel sometimes.

[Old Dog]

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

Don't feel guilty. What ever you call it, no matter what different people perceive, it is a valuble poll.

And it shoould be done periodically.

-David

[Torque]

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)

Moving dialog offline would be a bad move... skin and plugin progress/status would be unavailable for those that aren't on the design team.

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

I apologize for not seeing your thread about making a plugin easier to skin. But it really should be self explanatory... follow Sub's "template" for all the base plugins included with the application and more than likely your plugin will be easier to skin or even require no skinning at all to make it part of the application. Simple things:
- keep elements named correctly (NormalButtonImage vs. ButtonNormalImage -- that little incorrect element name has added another 20+ minutes to re-skin the plugin)
- if possible, use the same layout for the plugin compared to the others. If you go off with some radical new layout, the plugin may just be left out because it won't work with the skin theme, or could be skinned but would look out of place.
- account for overscan when you design your plugin -- if you've crowded in so much stuff to the very edges of the screen, skinners don't have much room to customize your plugin other than change some colors.

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.

I disagree, but i can see partly where you're coming from as visual appearance doesn't mean as much to you as it does others. You do see the menus ALOT if you were viewing Pictures, reading the RSS news feeds, listening to your MP3 collection, and watching all the shows you recorded. If you're just watching Live TV all the time, then the TV Guide and Live Guide would be about all you see.

I don't see why people are getting all bent out of shape and think this is a contest. I saw the thread as what McBainUK intended, mearly what's popular. Hell, I didn't even vote because I didn't want to skew the results. I didn't design my skin for people here... I designed it for my wife and I and relatives that I've talked into using GBPVR. I posted it in the default skin thread Sub had posted to see if there was any interest in it. Since there was, I put more effort into polishing it for folks outside my family. I was actually surprised there were so many people using it.

[McBainUK]

Moving dialog offline would be a bad move... skin and plugin progress/status would be unavailable for those that aren't on the design team.

True, but it should be in the developer section.

follow Sub's "template" for all the base plugins included with the application and more than likely your plugin will be easier to skin or even require no skinning at all to make it part of the application. Simple things:
- keep elements named correctly (NormalButtonImage vs. ButtonNormalImage -- that little incorrect element name has added another 20+ minutes to re-skin the plugin)
- if possible, use the same layout for the plugin compared to the others. If you go off with some radical new layout, the plugin may just be left out because it won't work with the skin theme, or could be skinned but would look out of place.
- account for overscan when you design your plugin -- if you've crowded in so much stuff to the very edges of the screen, skinners don't have much room to customize your plugin other than change some colors.

This is good stuff, should be in the development section of the wiki.
Questions tho, What do you mean by "keep elements named correctly", you mean the same as sub's?
How much does overscan take up? On ,my setup it's only about 5 units of the screen on a 780x640 background.

[wtg]

thanks wtg.
But I my case I write plugins for fun :eek: And also to use them myself, so thats at least one user

I'm sure there are others like you too, who wrote their own to look and function like they personally wanted it to, and then decide to make it available for others in case they might like it too. However, if you did that and then came to find out no one else had your same tastes, you might decide publicly posting it wasn't worth the effort.

Adding support for plugins you don't use, packaging for download, providing support, dotting every i and crossing every t is a good amount of work. I know I'd want to know if I developed a skin or a plugin but no one else was interested. I wouldn't waste my time on things I didn't care about and no one else did either.

Even if this was intended as a popularity contest (which it clearly wasn't and isn't), no developer should take it personal even if no one else cared for their work. People like what they like... and we learn a lot by finding out what those things are.

[McBainUK]

Adding support for plugins you don't use, packaging for download, providing support, dotting every i and crossing every t is a good amount of work. I know I'd want to know if I developed a skin or a plugin but no one else was interested. I wouldn't waste my time on things I didn't care about and no one else did either.

Can see what you meant now, its the extra time you put in to make it work better for others.

Even if this was intended as a popularity contest (which it clearly wasn't and isn't), no developer should take it personal even if no one else cared for their work. People like what they like... and we learn a lot by finding out what those things are.

Amen.

[Old Dog]

David,

Its not so much the polls it's other things, but if you or any of the other skinners need help just let me know. I can be reach on YM, AIM and GAIM for instant chatting. I'll be around but now like I was before..

If you and the other skinners would like me to add some ideas or changes I would be glad to help. Otherwise it's just to hard for one person to support all the plugins. The G-Guide II project was mostly for MVP users not for the PC well it could be use for it though. Anyone of you who want's to improve the G-Guide II skin go right ahead..

Thanks for all of you and the kind words

I know my family and friends at work as also joined in. Well only two people the wife and the boss. Everyone here is starting to like GBPVR, just a lot of them just don't know what it's for really.

Tipster, maybe we could work together a bit. I think its safe to say that I'm a little more conservative and alot slower than you. I have noticed your skins becoming more conservative, I'm really impressed with your latest. And you might enjoy things more at a little slower pace.

In any event, everyone knows that you have alot to offer.

Best Regards,
David

[Old Dog]

Can someone make this thread sticky for a while?

[McBainUK]

Can someone make this thread sticky for a while?

Why?

[Old Dog]

There are probably alot of users that only visit the forum occasionally.

On the other hand, inorder to keep the information current, the poll needs to be reset periodically. Once a month? Every two months? I dunno.