[mxlance]

Warning!
unskilled skinner at work!

i have been working on a mod of aeon nox 5/silvo.
i would like any feed back and suggestions you would like to share.

these are only mockups at this time but i have done testing to be sure i can, with some help from here, do this. i hope!

these are only graphic changes no change to the current nox 5 functions if it is not in the code now i can can live without it.

goals:
1) combine elements of my two favorite skins aeon not 5 and metropolis with ideas of my own or borrowed from other skins.

2) readability - from a galaxy far far away. (testing on an old sdtv to be sure. if it looks good on it it will look good anywhere)

3) its all about the fanart and the posters and the rest.

so here it is let me know if you approve or if you think i should just keep it to myself.

one last point the working title for my mod is ANtropolis.

thanks

watch gallery

[mikeSiLVO]

Interesting look My first suggestion is to start and not wait for somebody else's approval (you have mine if that helps) imho it never hurts to have more choices. Second suggestion prepare for frustration, when I first started I can't begin to tell you how often I wanted to smash my keyboard into the wall just trying to move a simple label or image or add something new and not being able to do it because of one simple missing character or closing control tag. Third suggestion, Have Fun!

[mxlance]

@mikesilvo164
"interesting look"
man thats like saying "well i like the colors" or saying "can we just be friends?"

i hope to start the actual mod next week. not sure when fun will happen, i think i just did that part.

thank you for all your past and future help

[mikeSiLVO]

@mikesilvo164
"interesting look"
man thats like saying "well i like the colors" or saying "can we just be friends?"

i hope to start the actual mod next week. not sure when fun will happen, i think i just did that part.

thank you for all your past and future help

ha... No not that... just not what I expected is all. If you ever need help I'd be glad to offer any assistance.

[Warner306]

It definitely doesn't suck. I've tried just about every skin I can get my hands on and your design beats most of the skins that are out there. I'd have to try it myself and see what it looks like with the content I watch. But you are far from unskilled. I sometimes wonder how many people leave Kodi due to a lack of attractive designs to choose from. You are above the curve.

As one last side to that, I hope this is not another skin that starts and isn't finished. Too many promising skins never make it to the end. You should post in the WIP section when you are ready for testing. A lot of people there are looking for something new.

The only thing that jumps out as ugly are the media flags you are using. I know Mike uses them too, but they look too inconsistent in size and appearance.

[Mario S.]

Looks good i like the idea with the menu on the top and the colours!

[Warner306]

I would also look at simplifying the Video Info screen, which is very important in any skin. The attention paid to the production crew, cast and video information looks inconsistent in terms of its size and placement. The top rows, in particular, look too big/spaced-out.

[mxlance]

thank you for the feed back.
one thing i learned in my early testing was that what works in pixelmator does not always transfer to kodi well.
so text size and placement is not exact at this stage. also the media flags are something that my need addressing after the basic design is in place.

and mike you may wish you never made that offer.

thanks again

[mikeSiLVO]

thank you for the feed back.
one thing i learned in my early testing was that what works in pixelmator does not always transfer to kodi well.
so text size and placement is not exact at this stage. also the media flags are something that my need addressing after the basic design is in place.

and mike you may wish you never made that offer.

thanks again

Believe it or not... I actually find this fun... then again it may be just because I am weird.... Anyway... feel free to post in my thread, your thread, or send a PM

[mxlance]

thank you
one question did you have any experience with any kind of coding before skinning?
before i started using kodi i avoided it like the plague. i can not even type. two fingers that is.
so i am starting from below beginner level.

[Warner306]

thank you
one question did you have any experience with any kind of coding before skinning?
before i started using kodi i avoided it like the plague. i can not even type. two fingers that is.
so i am starting from below beginner level.

I had previously mentioned posting this as WIP skin, but, given your experience, that might not be a good idea. What works for your content might not work for their content. The number of dialogues and possibilities can be endless. That's why many skins are never finished. To keep it fun, my advice would be to only accept requests that reflect what you want to see. You may eat up too many hours of your life in attempting to create a skin that can do everything for everyone.

I just mod. I've designed a couple of simple websites in my past life as a marketing professional. As a student with free time, I do this to tweak the skin to include the features I want. I know some of the code I add to the skin is sloppy, but it is satisfying to understand how the skin works. The basic concepts are very simple, but only the professionals should create a complete codebase. It's too easy to create incompatibilities by not having the required coding hours. I would guess it would take thousands of hours to get to the point that you can create almost bug-free code.

bryanbrazil has accomplished exactly what you have set out to do by creating a combination of Refocus and Aeon Nox. His skin is called Mimic. I have no idea what his experience is, but he would be a good guy to talk to.

[mikeSiLVO]

thank you
one question did you have any experience with any kind of coding before skinning?
before i started using kodi i avoided it like the plague. i can not even type. two fingers that is.
so i am starting from below beginner level.

I had started to try and teach myself Objective-C... so I had some understanding of very basic things. Didn't help much though... I learned from doing and changing and eventually to read the code kinda like a phrase or paragraph. Take for example visibility conditions... when I see !IsEmpty(ListItem.Tagline) you could read it as not empty tagline or when tagline is not empty. Don't know if that helps but that is what worked for me.

[mxlance]

@Warner306
in the beginning i had delusions of learning and creating my own skin.
in the words of jeremy clarkson "how hard can it be?"
now i know that a basic mod is all a can dare attempt.

thanks

[mxlance]

@mikesilvo164
that is encouraging and helpful.
now we will see if the old cat can learn new tricks.

thanks

[Warner306]

I noticed no one else has replied, which is likely due to the fact that this mod is really a new skin as opposed to something that resembles Aeon Nox. You would likely get lots of feedback in the WIP section, but I would advise you post your mod when finished so others have something tangible to work with.