[ironmantetsuo]

I added a few extra home screen items. I think this is what you're looking for.



I'm using home2. I read home1 is much harder to change and since i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing, i sticked to home2.
I changed the icons back afterwards and am pretty satisfied with the result.

what you need to do is add some extra lines to your Includes_Home_2.xml

Code:

<item id="15">
<description>Documentaries</description>
<label></label>
<icon>homeicons/docs.png</icon>
<onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,videodb://1/1/7/)</onclick>
</item>

First i added my documentary genre as a favourite. then looked up the onclick code in favourites.xml.
The rest should point itself out.

Like i said, i'm pretty satisfied with the result, but still got some things on my to-do list.
Amra, i noticed you also made that home statistic mod. I'm trying to get stats for my documentary & stand up items. would this be hard and where should i be looking?

If anybody could point me in the right direction, it would be most helpful

[voidy]

I added a few extra home screen items. I think this is what you're looking for.



I'm using home2. I read home1 is much harder to change and since i have absolutely no idea what i'm doing, i sticked to home2.
I changed the icons back afterwards and am pretty satisfied with the result.

what you need to do is add some extra lines to your Includes_Home_2.xml

Code:

<item id="15">
<description>Documentaries</description>
<label></label>
<icon>homeicons/docs.png</icon>
<onclick>ActivateWindow(10025,videodb://1/1/7/)</onclick>
</item>

First i added my documentary genre as a favourite. then looked up the onclick code in favourites.xml.
The rest should point itself out.

Like i said, i'm pretty satisfied with the result, but still got some things on my to-do list:
- Amra, i noticed you also made that home statistic mod. I'm trying to get stats for my documentary & stand up items. would this be hard and where should i be looking?
- In the recently added movies section the total listed is 25. Where can i change it to 50?
- I'd like to change the font size for the plot in all views. how do i do this?

If anybody could point me in the right direction, it would be most helpful

prolly off-topic but ill take a shot
wat an awesome theme that is looks cool (havent been on alaska for a while now is it standard ?) and second where did u get that RSS feed ? about released movies?

[ironmantetsuo]

The feed is from vcdq.com

Code:

http://www.vcdq.com/taxonomy/term/38/feed

I'm sure there are better sites for this. some even have customizable feeds where you can choose which shows, release groups etc you wish to filter.
i took vcdq.com because they only list movies and i'm too lazy to customize one myself on the other sites...

The stencil theme is an option in big alaska (or can be downloaded from the color thread for regular alaska.)
I did recreate the regular home style 1 icons in photoshop and replaced them with the ones that came with the stencil theme.

[Livin]

Amra,
You still around?

[ECEC]

Amra,
You still around?

He mentioned earlier that he was gonna take a break for a while after the latest release.

[ECEC]

Are there any guides or directions to creating your own themes or tweaking existing ones?

[uglyman]

any updates?

[Amra]

Hello everyone or, for that matter, the few people who may still be following this thread.

Contrary to popular belief, I am not dead, just busy with life and burned out on modding this XBMC skin. I apologize for disappearing for the last few months.

I am still using this skin and have recently gotten around to fixing a few annoying errors. The first post has been updated with the download link to a new version with the fixes included. The download link is posted below for convenience:

DOWNLOAD Final Version of BIG Alaska
If you previously did, don't forget to re-apply the patch to remove Poster & Panel view cases code (to speed those views up) as explained in the first post.

List of Changes:
- Fixed Custom Setting typo
- Fixed error with long system dates being truncated
- Fixed error in Media Info List with last title not being shown
- Fixed missing category text in Alaska skin settings (still having issue getting it to right align)
- Moved weather images to skin folder
- Changed theme xpr files to Dharma compatible xbt (all except Stencil since the original theme maker locked the xpr)


Please note that I did indeed write "Final Version". As I started out by saying, real life is keeping me busy and I have gotten somewhat burned out on modding BIG Alaska. It is very usable for me & suits all my HTPC needs. I don't plan on doing any more with BIG Alaska and hope that I have left it in such a state that it will serve at least a few other people's need's well.

Perhaps if I get the XBMC modding itch back I will attempt a completely different skin as I have a few ideas bouncing around in my head. Doesn't everyone?

[joebrady]

I know of at least one person still using it

[Livin]

Amra,
I still use your skin. I have mod'd it with some custom home items and icons. I'd love to see your changed ported to themes for Alaska revisited so the items like larger fonts and colors could be used on a skin that is being continued.

[Amra]

I know of at least one person still using it

Thanks! I'm glad someone is still using it.

Amra,
I still use your skin. I have mod'd it with some custom home items and icons. I'd love to see your changed ported to themes for Alaska revisited so the items like larger fonts and colors could be used on a skin that is being continued.

Thanks , and if anyone wants to use any code or themes from BIG Alaska they are certainly welcome to. I know Durhamdev has started making themes for Revisited, hopefully he will port a few over. I also agree that a "BIG Alaska Revisited" would be nice but I really just don't have any plans to do it. When I started BIG Alaska, "Alaska Revisited" didn't exist yet. I've changed a lot of code in BIG Alaska to get where it is now & it would be very time consuming to redo that for the Revisited skin.

[DurhamDev]

I know Durhamdev has started making themes for Revisited, hopefully he will port a few over.

...and that's even if he reads this thread...



DAMN! Caught!



I'll see what I can do! Do you happen to have a source SVN or GIT I might be able to DL your work from? I'm only assuming BIG Alaska has similar theme requirements - i.e., an XBT in the 'media' directory, and an XML in the 'colors' directory...

[tuckbodi]

I still use this. I have turned about a half dozen friends onto using XBMC and the first thing I do is show them my ATV running Big Alaska and their very first comment every time is "WOW!"

Family and life comes first abd it's good to hear you're doing well. I really, really want to thank you for making this skin!! And of course, thanks goes to Hitcher (and DJH) for the original as well....

[Amra]

I'll see what I can do! Do you happen to have a source SVN or GIT I might be able to DL your work from? I'm only assuming BIG Alaska has similar theme requirements - i.e., an XBT in the 'media' directory, and an XML in the 'colors' directory...

Yes, the theme requirements are the same. And no, sorry but I've never used Github or any similar service. To be honest, I tried Github once and was left very confused. Must have been the Old Fart in me coming out. Anyway, if you want the individual media files for the BIG Alaska themes, here is a download link:

http://www.mediafire.com/file/hta3aiaxch...20Files.7z


The image files you will most likely be interested in will be the "common\white.png" files for themes such as the Mosaic & Slate sets. That image would need to be renamed to whatever naming convention that Hitcher has chosen for the new background image he is using in the latest versions of Revisited. And, obviously, the theme xml files are in the colors folder of the latest BIG Alaska download posted last night. I'm sure that the Revisited color xml code will differ somewhat from BIG Alaska's so you will need to translate each theme xml over as you did for the Blue theme that you recently posted based on Blue Mosaic.

[Amra]

I still use this. I have turned about a half dozen friends onto using XBMC and the first thing I do is show them my ATV running Big Alaska and their very first comment every time is "WOW!"

Family and life comes first abd it's good to hear you're doing well. I really, really want to thank you for making this skin!! And of course, thanks goes to Hitcher (and DJH) for the original as well....

Well thank you, that is very nice of you to say.