Kodi Community Forum

(2016-06-14, 09:58)BobCratchett Wrote: [ -> ]That would be one of those teething troubles with the repo that I spoke about - I made a mistake in the script I'm using to package the skin which meant the wrong file was deleted I've just pushed an update to the repo.

(The latest version of Skin Shortcuts is on the repo also, so no need to manually install it from git )

No problem. I installed SkinShortcuts manually because I wasn't sure if this problem was related to iqConq or the Script. All fine now.

But how do I delete main menu items now?

Focus the menu item you want to delete in the list on the left and bring up the context menu.

Ok, thanks. Last question and then I stop bothering: what would I need to edit to reduce the overlay that darkens non selected items (movie posters etc). To make them a bit brighter. A thing that bothers me with most Kodi skins.

For library views it's easy enough - colors/defaults.xml (or whichever .xml file relates to the colours you've chosen in Interface > Skin) and change the value of DiffusePosterNF.

Widgets on the home screen are harder than they should be (and indeed harder than they will be now I've noticed that they're not using the DiffusePosterNF value - so you won't have to do this after the next update) - they're defined in shortcuts/template.xml. You need to find the templates for the home screen layout you're using (the two templates '<other include="vertical">' if you're using the vertical menu) - then within them adjust all instances of '88f1f1f1' to whatever value you want.

Note, when I update the templates to use DiffusePosterNF, I'll probably adjust the value to that used by the widgets (which is slightly lighter). Also note that you'll need to backup your changes, as whenever the skin is updated it will overwrite them.

Quote:Option to disable home widget fanart; Horizontal home screen curve

thank you so much for bringing this options!!! AND that fast!!!


Got some more questions:


I use a 4k Oled with my htpc and so I use 3840x2160p. When using this resolution i got this thin line on every cover... looks like its 2 pixels wide. Any chance to remove this?

watch gallery

Is there a way to deactivate the "stop" button like the one on the second pic?


And last question:

Where can I change the color of the unfocused (darkened) home menu items like series, movies aso. I would like to get a litte more visible grey tone for the greyed out items.

The only image that is displayed in the area where you're seeing the black line is the shadow image which doesn't have any black lines down the side so I'm unlikely to be able to do anything about this. It looks like Kodi is just having difficulty rendering things perfectly at that resolution.

The 'stop' icon is the watched indicator I knew I should have added an option to disable that on the home screen at the same time as the fanart - I'll add it as an option in the next update. In library views, it can be disabled from the sidebar ('Icons').

There are a couple of choices for the unfocused home menu items color - Settings > Interface > Skin > Colours - 'Home Alt' has them darker. (Don't use 'Dark' as it's currently quite broken - it's on my todo list!)

This stuff is in the log. No visual issues though. Just wanted to let you know.

Thanks for the heads-up. I really need to find the time to do some cleaning up of the skin

How did you get on with adjusting the darkening of unfocused items? If you found a good balance do let me know - might save me some time when I'm unifying the library and widget views!

Hello Bob,

I want to progress from translator/tester to skinner, and since I have the utmost respect for your coding skills, I wanted to ask your advice on a good path to learn skinning. I am a young (50) IT professional, and a fast learner. I understand in general that Conq is a good skin to learn skinning with, and your mod is already Krypton compatible, which is the version of Kodi I would like to start at in skinning. Would you agree this would be a good skin to learn with? What other tools would you recommend? Thank you for your help and guidance.

Regards,

Bart

Huge applauds for anyone who wants to learn skinning and, as someone who is your senior in years, believe me when I say that if I can do it then so can you

Conq is a fantastic skin to learn from. I can't honestly say the same is necessarily true of igConq - things like the widgets use a far more complex system than Conq (utilising Skin Shortcuts Templates feature, which the author of Conq - a genuinely skilled skinner - is on record as saying confuse him!), and I haven't spent the same time making sure everything is commented or even shared when necessary between windows.

However, I suspect your aim isn't to learn how to create a whole skin but rather than extend the brilliance that is Nox Silvo/MadNox - as such I'd highly recommend looking at what changes you want to make to the relevant skin, and (1) find out where in the skin that is (2) Find out where that fits into the whole skin structure (is it one of the general xml files, is it done via an include, etc) (3) play around until you can break it (4) Fix it - but fix it as YOU want to see it.

My other advice would be to make use of the community. You already know how strong the Nox community is - they'll help you find out where in the code the changes you want to make are (though, if you truly want to understand skinning, you still need to understand how the place they tell you to make the changes fits into the skin as a whole...). If your changes relate to the main menu, I'll answer any and all Skin Shortcuts question you have - and other scripters are just as happy.

The biggest challenge I ever faced, though, is finding out the limitations of the skinning engine. Once you start to get a grip on that, knowing what you want to do via skinning is simple (and finding where to do it becomes so with practice.) Start to get out of that zone, though, and you either need to combine Python with your skinning efforts, or scale back your ambitions - and that can be a difficult line to walk

(2016-06-16, 22:55)BobCratchett Wrote: [ -> ]Huge applauds for anyone who wants to learn skinning and, as someone who is your senior in years, believe me when I say that if I can do it then so can you

Conq is a fantastic skin to learn from. I can't honestly say the same is necessarily true of igConq - things like the widgets use a far more complex system than Conq (utilising Skin Shortcuts Templates feature, which the author of Conq - who is a genuinely skilled skinner is on record as saying confuse him!), and I haven't spent the same time making sure everything is commented or even shared when necessary between windows.

However, I suspect your aim isn't to learn how to create a whole skin but rather than extend the brilliance that is Nox Silvo/MadNox - as such I'd highly recommend looking at what changes you want to make to the relevant skin, and (1) find out where in the skin that is (2) Find out where that fits into the whole skin structure (is it one of the general xml files, is it done via an include, etc) (3) play around until you can break it (4) Fix it - but fix it as YOU want to see it.

My other advice would be to make use of the community. You already know how strong the Nox community is - they'll help you find out where in the code the changes you want to make are (though, if you truly want to understand skinning, you still need to understand how the place they tell you to make the changes fits into the skin as a whole...). If your changes relate to the main menu, I'll answer any and all Skin Shortcuts question you have - and other scripters are just as happy.

The biggest challenge I ever faced, though, is finding out the limitations of the skinning engine. Once you start to get a grip on that, knowing what you want to do via skinning is simple (and finding where to do it becomes so with practice.) Start to get out of that zone, though, and you either need to combine Python with your skinning efforts, or scale back your ambitions - and that can be a difficult line to walk

Bob,

Thanks for your advice! You are correct in that I don't plan to create a whole skin, but rather would like to have a bigger contribution in extending other skins.

I like the approach you suggest to learning, and will, once I learn more on the generalities of skin structure and organization, focus on what I want to change and dive into where and how.

Thanks for your offer in terms of questions in regards to Skin Shortcuts!

Any preference in terms of tools for editing/debugging?

Thanks,

Bart

Debugging Kodi skins isn't a straightforward problem. I've programmed for a few different platforms over the years and where I still fall down with Kodi is that I can have perfect code (from a technical perspective) which still doesn't show. Your first choice for debugging that is the Kodi manual (and keeping up with changes correctly - see this thread for when I've failed to do that!). Your second choice is the Kodi log, though that won't show the vast majority of coding errors.

Your third choice is Sublime Text with Phil's KodiDevKit - but that should always be the tertiary to the Kodi manual. For instance, it regularly tells me that the <defaultcontrol /> in my lists isn't valid when it is. So take that as a good indication of issues (and its syntax highlighting is superb), but also take it is an imperfect computer who doesn't know skinning as well as you do.

(Having said that I started with Notepad++ which is still an excellent choice. The syntax highlighting puts Sublime Text over the top for me, though, even though you can't take all of it's warning's at face value - and if you don't know skinning or aren't referring to the skinning manual, have the potential to actually send you in the wrong direction.)

(2016-06-16, 23:14)BobCratchett Wrote: [ -> ]Debugging Kodi skins isn't a straightforward problem. I've programmed for a few different platforms over the years and where I still fall down with Kodi is that I can have perfect code (from a technical perspective) which still doesn't show. Your first choice for debugging that is the Kodi manual (and keeping up with changes correctly - see this thread for when I've failed to do that!). Your second choice is the Kodi log, though that won't show the vast majority of coding errors.

Your third choice is Sublime Text with Phil's KodiDevKit - but that should always be the tertiary to the Kodi manual. For instance, it regularly tells me that the <defaultcontrol /> in my lists isn't valid when it is. So take that as a good indication of issues (and its syntax highlighting is superb), but also take it is an imperfect computer who doesn't know skinning as well as you do.

(Having said that I started with Notepad++ which is still an excellent choice. The syntax highlighting puts Sublime Text over the top for me, though, even though you can't take all of it's warning's at face value - and if you don't know skinning or aren't referring to the skinning manual, have the potential to actually send you in the wrong direction.)

Thanks again Bob. When you refer to the Kodi manual you are referring to the skinning manual that is in the Kodi wiki?

I had already read a bit about Sublime Text and Phil's KodiDevKit, and will install both to start playing around.

Regards,

Bart

Actually, the wiki generally but, yes, the skinning manual specifically (bear in mind there are plenty of other places - Default Icons (wiki) to name just one of the top of my head - that also have a direct bearing on skinning.

Edit - and this is the thread I referred to above, but forgot to link, where I hadn't kept up with the skinning engine changes, and lost more of what little hair I have left before I realised my mistake.

(2016-06-16, 23:20)BobCratchett Wrote: [ -> ]Actually, the wiki generally but, yes, the skinning manual specifically (bear in mind there are plenty of other places - Default Icons (wiki) to name just one of the top of my head - that also have a direct bearing on skinning.

Edit - and this is the thread I referred to above, but forgot to link, where I hadn't kept up with the skinning engine changes, and lost more of what little hair I have left before I realised my mistake.

Thanks!