Hitcher Wrote:I was a bit disheartened with your first comment but your other one clarified things a bit for me.
Sorry about that; the last thing I want to do is suggest I'm not enormously grateful for what you're doing, and indeed what you've done for Aeon over the last few months. My frustration was more with the thread as a whole.
While it's easy to say that Hitcher and co. can happily follow their own route, I can say from experience that it's impossible under conditions like these. When you're given an opposing view for every single aspect of what you're doing, clarity is the first thing that goes. Add to that Photoshop images, code snippets, and proposals upon proposals that weren't even agreed in the first place, and you have a disaster in the making.
This was bound to happen, of course, what with the impromptu nature of it all. A private development forum is really the only solution, though that doesn't preclude a public outlet for screenshots, etc. It's up to Hitcher and his team, should he decide to define one, if and when that comes about.
You asked about my ideas for the rest of the skin; really, I didn't have any. What I came up with is what's already there. IMO, the important thing from here is to stick to the principles you've already discussed. The context menus you're currently wrestling with weren't actually part of the design, just placeholders. The context menu I had in mind would have the same design and animation style as the up/down menus in the media windows. I don't think XBMC would make that easy, though.
As for custom backdrops on the homepage, no, I hadn't planned those. They wouldn't work, basically, as they'd be covered by the icons
and the white filter. They'd look rubbish. That was the impetus to go with fanart-based icons. Using pictures of film reels and plasma screens for menu options is just an anachronism nowadays, and a sure way of making your skin look like a naff relic. So while it was still a bit rubbish, the thing about the original icon theme was that the icons a) suited the theme, and b) were a bit unique.
The same goes for the Settings icons. Anything other than simple white glyphs on the buttons just isn't going to work. I see you're going with your own versions of those, though, which is how I would have done it. Depending on when you get this thing finished, there's always a chance I can give it a visual retouch for a mod or something. Would have to be after Christmas, though: I've just taken on a massive commission.
All the best.
