Topic: Skinning Improvements

[Tsorovan]

i) Separate colours/fonts for file info/mini-mode time display (font_main/color_main currently controls both)

ii) Some of the Output Options buttons (button_amp, button_interp, button_ramp) are, er, slightly retarded in how they presently work: first a tick (onoff.bmp) for the first mode, then another bitmap for the other states; the bitmaps should ideally contain all states except for the disabled, and get rid of the onoff thingy altogether for those buttons.

Say for example I want to make the ramping button like this (textual, not iconic):

panel_output.bmp:
"Ramping: Off"

button_ramp.bmp:
1) "Ramping: Normal"
2) "Ramping: Sensitive"

This is currently impossible. The only states possible are:
"Ramping: Off"
"Ramping: Off" and ticked
"Ramping: Sensitive" and ticked

In fact, I think all multiple state buttons should have this functionality as the onoff.bmp tick is a bit limited. Sure it might help making smaller skins when it comes to file size/memory footprint, but not by much. Maybe make it optional (skinconfig.txt)?

iii) Not important but could be nice, have mentioned this before, but can't hurt again: alternate sliders, settable in skinconfig.txt. Still 2-component. Instead of having the slider_horiz/slider_vert bitmaps as a movable position marker, make them function like the level meters. That is, bitmap should be made as if the slider is set at 100% and then at runtime, only show the first n pixels of it along the X-axis (Y for slider_vert of course). This would make nice fillable sliders. I'm sure you all have knew the whole procedure just by me saying "fillable slider", but countless years on this crappy Internet has taught me to give as much information and clear examples/descriptions as possible, because there will always be some guy who's confused.

So, to make it TOTALLY clear, here's a picture of the not-so-good CoolPlayer.


I'm sure these will sort of be a crux, backwards compatibility-wise, but with some good checking routines, it should be possible, yes? Just such a simple thing as a version identifier in skinconfig.txt would make it really easy to make it slightly more modular, without introducing bloat.

Feel free to expand upon this thread, o ye faithful skinners.

[Brightguy]

i) Separate colours/fonts for file info/mini-mode time display (font_main/color_main currently controls both)

Yeah, I suppose it could be spilt into two different fonts.  It is a small limitation.  We only use 7 different fonts now, so I don't see a problem with another being added.

ii) Some of the Output Options buttons (button_amp, button_interp, button_ramp) are, er, slightly retarded in how they presently work: first a tick (onoff.bmp) for the first mode, then another bitmap for the other states; the bitmaps should ideally contain all states except for the disabled, and get rid of the onoff thingy altogether for those buttons.

I do see your point here...  You could eliminate the need for the onoff.bmp in the left panel altogether by also making an active button for the equalizer and reverb.  This would allow the skinner to use any shape for those buttons as well.  Since the onoff.bmp always appears in the same spot; it makes it hard for different-shaped buttons here.

iii) Not important but could be nice, have mentioned this before, but can't hurt again: alternate sliders, settable in skinconfig.txt. Still 2-component. Instead of having the slider_horiz/slider_vert bitmaps as a movable position marker, make them function like the level meters. That is, bitmap should be made as if the slider is set at 100% and then at runtime, only show the first n pixels of it along the X-axis (Y for slider_vert of course).

This was how the volume meter really worked on "Vintage".  Except for the vertical sliders, it showed the bitmap only from the middle.  (So if the slider was in the middle no fill was shown.)  This isn't a necessary effect, but I'm sure some would have fun with it.