An announcement on the future of reFocus (updated)
#1
Update, April 6th 2017

I guess it's time I apologize for not having followed up on a promise and about the announcement I posted earlier.

During my work on Grid it has become apparent that more work needs to be done for a Krypton release of reFocus that will meet quality standards. When I started development of reFocus the skinning engine was missing several important features that these days makes it possible to code much more efficiently. And although I definitely have rewritten big chunks of reFocus multiple times to keep up with these developments, nothing beats a fresh perspective and being able to apply these techniques right from the start.

I will just get to the heart of the matter. At this point in time I just do not have the motivation (or the time) to actively work on reFocus. The available development time is being spent on Grid, and switching between codebases takes away the focus on either. I'm not saying this is the end for reFocus (I'm not saying it isn't either), I just don't know. For the sake of not creating false hope, maybe it's best to assume that this is indeed the end.

I'm sorry for any broken promise(s) on my part, do know that it was never intended. Sorry to anyone who was hoping to see another official reFocus release. I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to reFocus in one way or another and to everyone who liked using reFocus.

To anyone interested, I will be making an announcement about a Grid release very soon.

Kind regards,

Jeroen


Quote:Hi everyone,

I have an announcement to make about the future of reFocus.

Let me make clear right from the start I have no intention to abandon reFocus. However, development on the skin from my end will be scaled back significantly. A stable Krypton version will be released as soon as possible. After that I will try to keep the skin compatible with future Kodi releases but no big new features will be added by me.

There are several reasons for this. The first being reFocus has actually become what I set it out to be and more and better, in my personal use I am not missing anything from it. I started work on reFocus probably about 7 or 8 years ago and I have released versions for all but one Kodi release. While the WIP skins section has people jumping on a new sweetheart skin (mock-up) every week or so, I cannot think of many skins that have been around consistently for such a long time.

Being prolific has never been a reason for me to start skinning. I simply wanted my own vision of a skin to come to life starting way back in 2005 or so when I started what was to become Focus, my first skin for XBMC on the original XBOX. After various mutations this led to reFocus. An appropriate name as the goal was to rethink everything and take what I had learned to the next level both in execution and design.

A couple of months ago though some new concepts started to emerge, and coupled with some old pre-reFocus ideas these have led to what is slowly starting to become a new skin. Finding time for skinning has been getting harder as I get older, so investing the time needed to do it in a way that lives up to my own standards for two skins is not a luxury I have.

So for the foreseeable future I will be spending the majority of my time skinning on my new skin which is to be called Grid.

As I said I do want to keep reFocus alive. So this announcement is also a call to the community. I am looking for people with skinning experience (or a true desire to learn) to contribute to it's future development. The main goal will be to keep reFocus compatible with future Kodi releases. Implementing new Kodi features into reFocus will be secondary. Design changes or implementing new skin features will depend on how I feel they fit in the skin.

People can of course release mods, but for the official version this is the only way for me to handle this as the skin has been a labour of love to me.

That said, great ideas by others have made their way into the skin more than once... And it goes without saying contributions by others will be fully credited.

Anyway, that's the status at the moment. But I am definitely not going anywhere Wink

Cheers,

Jeroen
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#2
Long live reFocus!

Seriously, very big thanks for all the work you have done to it.
Its been my fave skin since discovering it, very easy to edit and very pleasing to the eyes.

Looking very much forward to trying out Grid.

And very happy to see that you are not leaving Blush
3 * Nvidia Shield + Synology NAS DS218+ LG 77CX6LA + Genelec + RasPi/rAudio + Adam T5V + T7V + T10S - ArcoLinux
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#3
I love the reFocus skin and have been using it for the last 4 years! It's has only been recently that I've switched to something else with the release candidate for 17 .

I hope that Grid will be just as amazing!

[emoji1]
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#4
(2017-01-28, 21:00)Raitsa Wrote: Long live reFocus!

Seriously, very big thanks for all the work you have done to it.
Its been my fave skin since discovering it, very easy to edit and very pleasing to the eyes.

Looking very much forward to trying out Grid.

And very happy to see that you are not leaving Blush
You're welcome, thanks for all the support Smile Looking forward to show it Smile

(2017-01-28, 21:34)saltynuttz Wrote: I love the reFocus skin and have been using it for the last 4 years! It's has only been recently that I've switched to something else with the release candidate for 17 .

I hope that Grid will be just as amazing!

[emoji1]
Thanks man Smile The version for 17 on Github shouldn't give you too much trouble on the RC btw.
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#5
@Jeroen, firstly thanks for your contributions, over a long time. Independent skinners are a huge part of what makes kodi what it is today.

Now your post made me want to try refocus. On my Krypton test machine (a linux laptop) I installed your repo and tried to install refocus. I get an error that the dependency on xbmc.gui 5.3.0 couldn't be satisfied.

What am I doing wrong? (1st thing is probably posting in the wrong thread, direct me elsewhere by all means).
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#6
(2017-01-31, 10:14)nickr Wrote: @Jeroen, firstly thanks for your contributions, over a long time. Independent skinners are a huge part of what makes kodi what it is today.

Now your post made me want to try refocus. On my Krypton test machine (a linux laptop) I installed your repo and tried to install refocus. I get an error that the dependency on xbmc.gui 5.3.0 couldn't be satisfied.

What am I doing wrong? (1st thing is probably posting in the wrong thread, direct me elsewhere by all means).

I haven't used my repo for a long time, I think the version on there might even be pre-Jarvis. I'll put up a notice or remove it altogether as it only causes confusion at this point.

If you want to try it out, just grab a zip from Github. I'll submit a Krypton compatible version to the Kodi repo asap.

Cheers Smile
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#7
Thank you.
If I have helped you or increased your knowledge, click the 'thumbs up' button to give thanks :) (People with less than 20 posts won't see the "thumbs up" button.)
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#8
Thanks for all your work on reFocus Jeroen, it's the only skin I have used for Kodi.

The key point for reFocus to me is it's intuitive simplicity and classy graphics. The fact that my partner and our 7 year old (was 5 when she started using it) can zip around it with no trouble is a real testament to your hard work and ability to fend off requests for pointless features (even some of mine Wink).

It's nice to know that you will be looking for support to keep reFocus running through the various Kodi upgrades.

I'll take a look at 'Grid' to satisfy my curiosity.
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#9
You really scared me there buddy..

Also from me a lot of gratitude for all the work you've done! (Re)focus has been my skin for years and years. And it's still such a joy to use on a daily basis. That's pretty unique, same as i believe you are as a person [FLUSHED FACE]

Don't waste your time investigating stuff i mention if you don't experience it and nobody else reports it, please.

I'm too very curious about your new project: Grid!

Much love!!
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#10
Jeroen

I really love Refocus, I also want to upgrade to Kodi 17 .... You mention a Refocus version on Github
That works with Kodi 17 the only version I see on your github is Refocus 3.2.1 and I DL it and I get errors
When I go to install.

Can you post a link to the correct version on Github

Thank you

Randal
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#11
Latest version for Krypton from git:
https://github.com/jeroenpardon/skin.ref...master.zip
3 * Nvidia Shield + Synology NAS DS218+ LG 77CX6LA + Genelec + RasPi/rAudio + Adam T5V + T7V + T10S - ArcoLinux
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#12
Thanks for your work, Jeroen. XBMC and ReFocus have been synonymous to me over the last few years. It's something I use and appreciate everyday.
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#13
Great work on the ONLY skin I use!!!
Would follow Grid, if reFocus is anything o go by then it should be as good if not better.
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#14
(2017-02-01, 23:03)Slurrrp Wrote: You really scared me there buddy..

Also from me a lot of gratitude for all the work you've done! (Re)focus has been my skin for years and years. And it's still such a joy to use on a daily basis. That's pretty unique, same as i believe you are as a person [FLUSHED FACE]

Don't waste your time investigating stuff i mention if you don't experience it and nobody else reports it, please.

I'm too very curious about your new project: Grid!

Much love!!

(2017-02-05, 03:18)ZwartePiet Wrote: Thanks for your work, Jeroen. XBMC and ReFocus have been synonymous to me over the last few years. It's something I use and appreciate everyday.

Always good to hear people beside me still use it after so many years, thanks for the kind words Smile

(2017-02-05, 07:17)juus Wrote: Great work on the ONLY skin I use!!!
Would follow Grid, if reFocus is anything o go by then it should be as good if not better.

I sure hope so Smile Even though I am still far off from a release or even preview, development is actually coming along nicely and faster than I anticipated. I am really excited about where it's going and it feels like a breath of fresh air Smile
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#15
reFocus has been my default skin on Kodi installs since I first found it. I simply can't find anything that feels and looks as good to me on the TV. Thanks Jeroen for all you hard work!
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An announcement on the future of reFocus (updated)1