2020-02-23, 06:30
Hi BeatmasterRS,
First off, thank you very much for your recent contributions to the skin, sorry for all the prior confusion via PM due to our mutual language-barrier.
Now I've had a bit more time to take a serious look at this skin, I've prepared another list of anomilies, bugs and inconsistencies that I've observed while attempting to configure it to my liking, with regard to the recent changes & updates, with a few personal requests thrown in (posted in no particular order). Prepare yourself as this might be a long post. We'll see how it goes, lol.
1. Issues with background image loading times (Skin Playlist Backgrounds):
I've noticed in Kodi, there it a noticable delay with initial background fanart load times in every skin I've used. In short, until the database is available, and my NAS can supply the requested image(s), I get nothing at startup. However, in Arctic Zephyr, this delay seems to be considerably longer. I no longer use remote MySQL / MariaDB databases, as my NAS is unable to cope with the size of my combined library. So while the images and content are stored on the NAS, the database is local to the machine Kodi is being run on, and so is the thumbnail / texture cache...
Home Screen View - Movies (Startup)
...It often takes up to a minute or more for artwork to appear in Arctic Zephyr, if it appears at all, so i'm curious if *anyone* else using this skin is witnessing the same issue, just to rule out my own setup as being the potential problem (Powerline AV2 Networking + 2x Celeron-powered QNAP NAS devices).
2. ClearLOGO display for home screen menu items (All Library Media Categories):
After our discussion via PM, and recent updates to the code I'm witnessing the following; No ClearLOGO display for any media library category on the home screen (Movies, TV Shows, Music)...
Home Screen - Movies Category
Home Screen - TV Shows Category
Home Screen - Music Category
...while there are ClearLOGOs being shown for non-library home screen categories (i.e: "Live TV", "Add-Ons", "Search", "Video", "Settings" and "Power") using the default "Fallback Background"...
Home Screen - Power Menu (Example)
Also, personally, I'd like to see a reversion to the old background (Kodi logo with clouds) as the default for non-media library home screen categories. I find the display of the "Movie Library background" as a fallback, distracting, as I spend more time looking at the backgrounds while navigating than the menu items I should be looking at. I welcome the option to set the fallback background as "Movie library fanart" (or any other fanart choice, for that matter) but would rather it wasn't the default option IMHO.
Setting the skin-default backgrounds for media library categories (Movies, TV Shows, Music) to the "Skin Playlist - Random" items for that media type, seems to be the best "default" option, IMHO.
3. Hide Border Setting (Inconsistency):
I have the "Hide border" setting disabled, as I like the borders in this skin. But there is an inconsistency between the border being applied to the header on the Home screen, and not to the Menu bar below...
Home Screen - Border Inconsistency
I'd like to see the "border setting" applied to both the header, and the main menu. With the "Two-tone" background "blur" setting, it helps mark the distinction between the foreground & background for me, especially at the 10ft viewing distance with my less than stellar eyesight.
4. Potential availability (inconsistency) between background fanart & displayed ClearLOGO:
I've mentioned this issue in previous posts, but felt it worthy of repeating here. There is an inconsistency with the fanart being displayed on the home sceen for "library media categories", versus the corresponding ClearLOGO(s) being shown...
Home Screen - Fanart Vs. ClearLOGO inconsistency
The above screenshot is an example (Movies), but the same also occurs for TV Shows. Currently, music doesn't have this implemented. If this feature is to be retained, and hasn't been removed (See Point 3, above) The skin needs to do additional checking to see if, for a given "Fanart" background, that there is an actual "ClearLOGO" to match, else skip it and try a different one. Otherwise the above scenario shown in the screenshot will persist. In this case, the fanart background is from the film "Fury" and the ClearLOGO is from "The Fly II", because Kodi either can't find, or hasn't yet cached the remote fanart for "The Fly II" from my NAS to the local thumbnails folder, so it keeps displaying the most recently successful image it could find until such times as it comes to a movie where it can show both images. This issue also happens in reverse (successful ClearLOGO, wrong fanart). I suspect that this is a shortcoming in the "Skin Playlist - Backgrounds" widget(s), rather than the skin, so this might be somewhat difficult to fix / work-around. Either way, it's a problem.
6. Mouse Versus Cursor Keys - Navigation Issue:
While this skin reports to "Not be compatible with mouse pointers", I've found that in the main, it is possible to navigate most (if not all) areas of the skin using the mouse pointer and a combination of <ESC> and <BACKSPACE> keys. Personally, I usually use cursor / arrow keys for navigation anyway, but there are a few dialog boxes that do not present the ability to navigate from the main portion of the dialog box / window to the "Cancel" button on the right-hand side...
Dialog Box Navigation - Unselectable "Cancel" button
It is not possible to use cursor keys (arrow keys) to select the "Cancel" button in this (example) dialog window, Attempting to use the <TAB> key also fails. You can however use the mouse pointer to select (and click on) it while the nag message states a lack of mouse support...
Dialog Box Navigation - Mouse Pointer Selection
This occurs on most dialog windows I've seen in this skin, that only present a "Cancel" button. The above screen shots are presented as an example, it is not limited to this area / add-on repository alone AFAIK.
7. Header Vs. Widgets Vs. ClearLOGO Issue:
I don't run Arctic Zephyr with the "Main Menu - Header" enabled, as I feel it covers up the background fanart too much, but since it's an option, I tried it out. For the same reason, I have widgets displayed "Only on pressing the UP Key" on the home screen. This however presents a few issues of it's own...
Home Screen - Widgets Shown on pressing UP
IMHO the header has too much height for the content displayed within it (Library stats + Weather & Time info - If enabled). Also, with Widgets visible, the ClearLOGO overlaps the header, where I think it should be hidden, since you cannot see a majority of the background at this point anyway. Finally, on pressing "UP", the library stats disappear, so I'm assuming the original idea may of been to hide the header as well, but as can be seen in the above screenshot, this currently doesn't happen. One of either the "ClearLOGO" or the header needs to be hidden upon widgets display to unclutter the screen, IMHO.
8. Feature Request - Music ClearLOGOs for "Home Screen - Menu" and "Music Visualization" screen (Alternative to "ClearART"):
(To clarify, I consider THIS to be "ClearART" and THIS to be ClearLOGO artwork - grey background generously supplied by imgur.com, lol).
Currently, on the home screen - main menu there is no provision for display of either type. And on the Visualization screen there is only an option in the OSD settings to select "ClearART"...
Music Visualization Screen - OSD "Settings" Menu
I would like to see "ClearLOGO" support, much like in the other skin I have installed...
Aeon Madnox 2.0 (Pre-Alpha) - Music Visualization Screen
...with a multi-option to select ONE of the following types:
i. None (Default)
ii. ClearLOGO
iii. ClearART
Having both on screen at the same time makes the Music Visualization screen look too cluttered, and since JurialMunkey designed this skin to be minimalist, it goes against the design he tried to create. I would keep it simple, with a maximum amount of ONE additional piece of artwork per screen over and above the default option (none), IMHO. Personally, I don't care much for "ClearART" artwork, as these are generally created from photographs, having had the background removed, and then shrunk in size to remove the inevitable "haloing" effect round the edges. I much prefer "ClearLOGO" artwork, but currently this isn't supported on either the Home Screen - Main Menu, or the Music Visualization screens in Arctic Zephyr. This was the point I tried (unsuccessfully) to make in our PMs, that resulted in you doing a load of work you then had to revert, so sorry for that.
9. Conclusion.
Again, I want to make it clear at this point, that the above issues are simply feedback / suggestions. Please don't feel obligated to commit any of the changes I've highlighted. This is your project, and I'm not demanding anything here. What I've highlighted above, are changes I'd make if I had the coding skills and/or time to commit them. Unfortunately I have neither. Either way thanks for your continued support, and look forward to a small donation in the coming days for your efforts up to this point. Feel free to PM me if you require further clarification / screenshots / logs relating to anything I've posted up until now, and in the future.
Regards,
Dan / Gib.
First off, thank you very much for your recent contributions to the skin, sorry for all the prior confusion via PM due to our mutual language-barrier.
Now I've had a bit more time to take a serious look at this skin, I've prepared another list of anomilies, bugs and inconsistencies that I've observed while attempting to configure it to my liking, with regard to the recent changes & updates, with a few personal requests thrown in (posted in no particular order). Prepare yourself as this might be a long post. We'll see how it goes, lol.
1. Issues with background image loading times (Skin Playlist Backgrounds):
I've noticed in Kodi, there it a noticable delay with initial background fanart load times in every skin I've used. In short, until the database is available, and my NAS can supply the requested image(s), I get nothing at startup. However, in Arctic Zephyr, this delay seems to be considerably longer. I no longer use remote MySQL / MariaDB databases, as my NAS is unable to cope with the size of my combined library. So while the images and content are stored on the NAS, the database is local to the machine Kodi is being run on, and so is the thumbnail / texture cache...
Home Screen View - Movies (Startup)
...It often takes up to a minute or more for artwork to appear in Arctic Zephyr, if it appears at all, so i'm curious if *anyone* else using this skin is witnessing the same issue, just to rule out my own setup as being the potential problem (Powerline AV2 Networking + 2x Celeron-powered QNAP NAS devices).
2. ClearLOGO display for home screen menu items (All Library Media Categories):
After our discussion via PM, and recent updates to the code I'm witnessing the following; No ClearLOGO display for any media library category on the home screen (Movies, TV Shows, Music)...
Home Screen - Movies Category
Home Screen - TV Shows Category
Home Screen - Music Category
...while there are ClearLOGOs being shown for non-library home screen categories (i.e: "Live TV", "Add-Ons", "Search", "Video", "Settings" and "Power") using the default "Fallback Background"...
Home Screen - Power Menu (Example)
Also, personally, I'd like to see a reversion to the old background (Kodi logo with clouds) as the default for non-media library home screen categories. I find the display of the "Movie Library background" as a fallback, distracting, as I spend more time looking at the backgrounds while navigating than the menu items I should be looking at. I welcome the option to set the fallback background as "Movie library fanart" (or any other fanart choice, for that matter) but would rather it wasn't the default option IMHO.
Setting the skin-default backgrounds for media library categories (Movies, TV Shows, Music) to the "Skin Playlist - Random" items for that media type, seems to be the best "default" option, IMHO.
3. Hide Border Setting (Inconsistency):
I have the "Hide border" setting disabled, as I like the borders in this skin. But there is an inconsistency between the border being applied to the header on the Home screen, and not to the Menu bar below...
Home Screen - Border Inconsistency
I'd like to see the "border setting" applied to both the header, and the main menu. With the "Two-tone" background "blur" setting, it helps mark the distinction between the foreground & background for me, especially at the 10ft viewing distance with my less than stellar eyesight.
4. Potential availability (inconsistency) between background fanart & displayed ClearLOGO:
I've mentioned this issue in previous posts, but felt it worthy of repeating here. There is an inconsistency with the fanart being displayed on the home sceen for "library media categories", versus the corresponding ClearLOGO(s) being shown...
Home Screen - Fanart Vs. ClearLOGO inconsistency
The above screenshot is an example (Movies), but the same also occurs for TV Shows. Currently, music doesn't have this implemented. If this feature is to be retained, and hasn't been removed (See Point 3, above) The skin needs to do additional checking to see if, for a given "Fanart" background, that there is an actual "ClearLOGO" to match, else skip it and try a different one. Otherwise the above scenario shown in the screenshot will persist. In this case, the fanart background is from the film "Fury" and the ClearLOGO is from "The Fly II", because Kodi either can't find, or hasn't yet cached the remote fanart for "The Fly II" from my NAS to the local thumbnails folder, so it keeps displaying the most recently successful image it could find until such times as it comes to a movie where it can show both images. This issue also happens in reverse (successful ClearLOGO, wrong fanart). I suspect that this is a shortcoming in the "Skin Playlist - Backgrounds" widget(s), rather than the skin, so this might be somewhat difficult to fix / work-around. Either way, it's a problem.
6. Mouse Versus Cursor Keys - Navigation Issue:
While this skin reports to "Not be compatible with mouse pointers", I've found that in the main, it is possible to navigate most (if not all) areas of the skin using the mouse pointer and a combination of <ESC> and <BACKSPACE> keys. Personally, I usually use cursor / arrow keys for navigation anyway, but there are a few dialog boxes that do not present the ability to navigate from the main portion of the dialog box / window to the "Cancel" button on the right-hand side...
Dialog Box Navigation - Unselectable "Cancel" button
It is not possible to use cursor keys (arrow keys) to select the "Cancel" button in this (example) dialog window, Attempting to use the <TAB> key also fails. You can however use the mouse pointer to select (and click on) it while the nag message states a lack of mouse support...
Dialog Box Navigation - Mouse Pointer Selection
This occurs on most dialog windows I've seen in this skin, that only present a "Cancel" button. The above screen shots are presented as an example, it is not limited to this area / add-on repository alone AFAIK.
7. Header Vs. Widgets Vs. ClearLOGO Issue:
I don't run Arctic Zephyr with the "Main Menu - Header" enabled, as I feel it covers up the background fanart too much, but since it's an option, I tried it out. For the same reason, I have widgets displayed "Only on pressing the UP Key" on the home screen. This however presents a few issues of it's own...
Home Screen - Widgets Shown on pressing UP
IMHO the header has too much height for the content displayed within it (Library stats + Weather & Time info - If enabled). Also, with Widgets visible, the ClearLOGO overlaps the header, where I think it should be hidden, since you cannot see a majority of the background at this point anyway. Finally, on pressing "UP", the library stats disappear, so I'm assuming the original idea may of been to hide the header as well, but as can be seen in the above screenshot, this currently doesn't happen. One of either the "ClearLOGO" or the header needs to be hidden upon widgets display to unclutter the screen, IMHO.
8. Feature Request - Music ClearLOGOs for "Home Screen - Menu" and "Music Visualization" screen (Alternative to "ClearART"):
(To clarify, I consider THIS to be "ClearART" and THIS to be ClearLOGO artwork - grey background generously supplied by imgur.com, lol).
Currently, on the home screen - main menu there is no provision for display of either type. And on the Visualization screen there is only an option in the OSD settings to select "ClearART"...
Music Visualization Screen - OSD "Settings" Menu
I would like to see "ClearLOGO" support, much like in the other skin I have installed...
Aeon Madnox 2.0 (Pre-Alpha) - Music Visualization Screen
...with a multi-option to select ONE of the following types:
i. None (Default)
ii. ClearLOGO
iii. ClearART
Having both on screen at the same time makes the Music Visualization screen look too cluttered, and since JurialMunkey designed this skin to be minimalist, it goes against the design he tried to create. I would keep it simple, with a maximum amount of ONE additional piece of artwork per screen over and above the default option (none), IMHO. Personally, I don't care much for "ClearART" artwork, as these are generally created from photographs, having had the background removed, and then shrunk in size to remove the inevitable "haloing" effect round the edges. I much prefer "ClearLOGO" artwork, but currently this isn't supported on either the Home Screen - Main Menu, or the Music Visualization screens in Arctic Zephyr. This was the point I tried (unsuccessfully) to make in our PMs, that resulted in you doing a load of work you then had to revert, so sorry for that.
9. Conclusion.
Again, I want to make it clear at this point, that the above issues are simply feedback / suggestions. Please don't feel obligated to commit any of the changes I've highlighted. This is your project, and I'm not demanding anything here. What I've highlighted above, are changes I'd make if I had the coding skills and/or time to commit them. Unfortunately I have neither. Either way thanks for your continued support, and look forward to a small donation in the coming days for your efforts up to this point. Feel free to PM me if you require further clarification / screenshots / logs relating to anything I've posted up until now, and in the future.
Regards,
Dan / Gib.