[phiyuku]

Love the Fanart View but I like Media Info. Probably no way to get media info to show up on the fanart view but maybe a fanart 2 view maybe can be made? Shouldn't be too hard I think. You have the Movie Poster which is pretty much taller than the info already shown. Just lift what is already shown up to the height of the movie poster and have an auto scrolling media info under that info. I love fanart for TV Shows and that is probably what I would want it to be like since TV Shows fanart view actually shows Media Info.

Another easy one I think would be a toggle to show weather near the time on the upper right or maybe right smack in the middle of the top with or without icon. If no icon maybe something like fair rain snow or something similar. Could also be shown in the more info overlay while playing a movie but that is probably a little overkill. I just noticed there is a lot of empty space is all on that overlay.

This one would probably be a bit harder. Info overlays such as recently added movies, weather, music info and such do not show because the Now Playing overlay is shown instead. If it could be done, the Now Playing overlay can be moved to the left (I have a very short home menu disabled a lot so I am not sure if that would work out for people with long ones) and that would free up the info overlay again.

Also another feature I would like to see is maybe a Toggle in the settings menu that if you are watching a Video that it be shown instead of backgrounds/fanarts throughout the whole skin would be nice as well or you can have an individual toggle for each menu such as menu pictures and anything else would probably be better since more customization.
Somewhat in the same field as the last feature. There is a tiny window that shows the movie on the lower left when playing a video on some views. What about moving that to the top left for those specific views which makes it impossible to show on the bottom left like slide view and fanart view. Of course if the above feature is implemented then there should be no window at all.

Probably not able to do at all but also a toggle to disable the side menu's since it gives it a sleeker feel for me atleast when a side menu doesn't appear if I push left too much. Also some settings can be changed there that I do not want other people using the HTPC to be changing around.

I love toggles if you haven't noticed gives everyone more ways to customize the skin to their feel. If any of these are possible please tell me how. If you think any of these are just plain stupid or impossible to implement please explain why. Just suggestions. Probably only stuff I want and no one else which than I am just being greedy =). But I really not expecting any of these to be implemented but it would make me extremely happy if they were.

[ronie]

Love the Fanart View but I like Media Info. Probably no way to get media info to show up on the fanart view but maybe a fanart 2 view maybe can be made? Shouldn't be too hard I think. You have the Movie Poster which is pretty much taller than the info already shown. Just lift what is already shown up to the height of the movie poster and have an auto scrolling media info under that info. I love fanart for TV Shows and that is probably what I would want it to be like since TV Shows fanart view actually shows Media Info.

after the next release of Transparency! i plan to review all current views and see what can be done to spice them up a bit.
as for the fanart view, i don't feel there should be any additional info on the screen, besides what's there currently.
the fanart view, as the name suggest, is focused around the fanart image and i want as much of the image visible as possible without it being covered with a lot of info.

Another easy one I think would be a toggle to show weather near the time on the upper right or maybe right smack in the middle of the top with or without icon. If no icon maybe something like fair rain snow or something similar. Could also be shown in the more info overlay while playing a movie but that is probably a little overkill. I just noticed there is a lot of empty space is all on that overlay.

This one would probably be a bit harder. Info overlays such as recently added movies, weather, music info and such do not show because the Now Playing overlay is shown instead. If it could be done, the Now Playing overlay can be moved to the left (I have a very short home menu disabled a lot so I am not sure if that would work out for people with long ones) and that would free up the info overlay again.

same as above, i feel the home screen should be 'clean'.
i think showing 'weather info', 'recently added info' and 'now playing info' all at the same time would make the home window a bit messy.

Also another feature I would like to see is maybe a Toggle in the settings menu that if you are watching a Video that it be shown instead of backgrounds/fanarts throughout the whole skin would be nice as well or you can have an individual toggle for each menu such as menu pictures and anything else would probably be better since more customization.

it's one of those things that's been on my to-do list for a while.
i'll add it sooner or later.

Somewhat in the same field as the last feature. There is a tiny window that shows the movie on the lower left when playing a video on some views. What about moving that to the top left for those specific views which makes it impossible to show on the bottom left like slide view and fanart view. Of course if the above feature is implemented then there should be no window at all.

same again, i feel some views should be clean, without to much info cluttering up the screen. in other views, the little 'now playing' section just don't fit....it just doesn't look good.

Probably not able to do at all but also a toggle to disable the side menu's since it gives it a sleeker feel for me atleast when a side menu doesn't appear if I push left too much. Also some settings can be changed there that I do not want other people using the HTPC to be changing around.

there's been a few reqs in the pat for a 'kiosk mode' option.
one of the futures will be to completely hide the side menu.
it's on the todo list as well.

I love toggles if you haven't noticed gives everyone more ways to customize the skin to their feel.

i completely understand, i like options as well and there are currently a lot of options available in the skin.
but...i only feel i should add an option if:
1) a lot of people benefit from it.
2) it doesn't complicate the skin code to much. the options you add, the harder it is to keep the code clean and manageable.


cheers for the suggestions mate. :-)

[phiyuku]

Happy to know you are working on some of the above mentioned already. As for the weather you seemed to group it with the second paragraph. The first paragraph about weather was really about putting like a tiny sun icon for sunny or something like that followed by 80 (degree symbol (too lazy to look it up)) right to the left of where the time is now which shouldn't be too much clutter.

As for the fanart view the reason I would personally like info with that view is because I think the way you did with info view had it right in the middle which just blocked out the most important parts of the fan art compared to if you would have a maybe lets not call it fanart 2 but maybe info view 2 which I would have as described in the first post.

The other features that you aren't working on I know they would just clutter the screen but maybe some people would like it some won't I personally most likely wouldn't have used it.

As for the other features I am glad you are working on a kiosk mode and implementing a way to replace fanart with video playing.

[ronie]

Happy to know you are working on some of the above mentioned already. As for the weather you seemed to group it with the second paragraph. The first paragraph about weather was really about putting like a tiny sun icon for sunny or something like that followed by 80 (degree symbol (too lazy to look it up)) right to the left of where the time is now which shouldn't be too much clutter.

there's already an option to show a weather icon at the top right of the home screen, so i'm afraid i'm not quite following your request?

[phiyuku]

Didn't know that where is it located cause I went through all the skin options and can't seem to find it.

I think I know what you mean or maybe not. What you are probably talking about is when you scroll over weather and it shows it on the bottom right. I was thinking about a more permanent fixation to the left of Tuesday (which just happens to be the day today).

Found it figured we might be talking about two different versions. Switched to the nightly build and it appears there by default.

[ronie]

Found it figured we might be talking about two different versions. Switched to the nightly build and it appears there by default.

cool, glad you've found it.

[draco]

the fanart view, as the name suggest, is focused around the fanart image and i want as much of the image visible as possible without it being covered with a lot of info.

This is one of the main reasons I moved to this skin. Fanart view should just be fanart. Most of the other skins have clutter, so you can't actually see the fanart. Transperancy is perfect for fanart. I have my xbmc set to "short list" for my movies & tv shows, and I can now enjoy my pictures without the clutter. If I have the need for media info, then I will right click on the movie name and select movie information.

Ronie, please keep the fanart skin as is. You have done a fantastic and wonderful job. Long live Transperancy!

[Buff]

Ditto - love the Fanart view as is, also like the Item view for similar reasons - you can actually see more of the fanart in this view than in the Fanart view!!

And it shows off the disc image, which is cool and the tagline which I like. I think, if I may, it could be improved slightly - maybe lowering the top line of the info box to the top of the disc image, moving the title to the right of the disc image and using more of the info box for other info, flags etc... but keeping that tagline. Maybe also reducing the size of the dvd case slightly.

I also agree the home screen should be as clean as poss and personally I'd like to get rid of the XBMC logo in the top left or reduce it to the same font size as the date/time - just a thought.

Keep up the great work Ronie

[johngeeaswell]

The fanart view currently doesn't have video preview window support for the different categories. When not in fullscreen the video will start to pile up behind the scene and when you go back to fullscreen the video will go by really fast until it catches up.

Here is a patch that enables the video window (ie trailer preview window) to the screens.

Code:

--- addons/skin.transparency/720p/View-Fanart.xml.bkp    2010-11-15 22:07:00.000000000 -0800
+++ addons/skin.transparency/720p/View-Fanart.xml    2010-11-15 22:48:08.000000000 -0800
@@ -299,7 +299,7 @@
            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="1000">Hidden</animation>
            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">WindowOpen</animation>
            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">WindowClose</animation>
-            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo + !Skin.HasSetting(Fullscreen_Trailer) + Container.Content(Movies) + !Window.IsVisible(VideoFiles)</visible>
+            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo</visible>
        </control>
        <control type="group">
            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + [Container.Content(Movies) | Window.IsVisible(VideoPlaylist)]</visible>
@@ -892,6 +892,18 @@
                <visible>!stringcompare(ListItem.Label,..)</visible>
            </control>
        </control>
+        <control type="videowindow">
+            <description>trailer preview</description>
+            <posx>270</posx>
+            <posy>200</posy>
+            <width>578</width>
+            <height>325</height>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="1000">Visible</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="1000">Hidden</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">WindowOpen</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">WindowClose</animation>
+            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo</visible>
+        </control>
        <control type="group">
            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + ![Container.Content(Artists) | Container.Content(Albums) | Container.Content(Songs) | Container.Content(MusicVideos)]</visible>
            <include>Window_OpenClose_Visible_FanartIcon_Animation</include>
@@ -947,6 +959,18 @@
                <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Container.Content(Artists)</visible>
            </control>
        </control>
+        <control type="videowindow">
+            <description>trailer preview</description>
+            <posx>270</posx>
+            <posy>200</posy>
+            <width>578</width>
+            <height>325</height>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="1000">Visible</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="1000">Hidden</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">WindowOpen</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">WindowClose</animation>
+            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo</visible>
+        </control>
        <control type="group">
            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Container.Content(Artists)</visible>
            <include>Window_OpenClose_Visible_FanartIcon_Animation</include>
@@ -1166,6 +1190,18 @@
                <visible>ListItem.IsPlaying | Window.IsVisible(MusicPlaylist)</visible>
            </control>
        </control>
+        <control type="videowindow">
+            <description>trailer preview</description>
+            <posx>270</posx>
+            <posy>200</posy>
+            <width>578</width>
+            <height>325</height>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="1000">Visible</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="1000">Hidden</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">WindowOpen</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">WindowClose</animation>
+            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo</visible>
+        </control>
        <control type="group">
            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Container.Content(MusicVideos)</visible>
            <include>Window_OpenClose_Visible_FanartInfo_Animation</include>
@@ -1529,6 +1565,18 @@
                <onright>50</onright>
            </control>
        </control>
+        <control type="videowindow">
+            <description>trailer preview</description>
+            <posx>270</posx>
+            <posy>200</posy>
+            <width>578</width>
+            <height>325</height>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="1000">Visible</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="1000">Hidden</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="0" end="100" time="300">WindowOpen</animation>
+            <animation effect="fade" start="100" end="0" time="300">WindowClose</animation>
+            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50) + Player.HasVideo</visible>
+        </control>
        <control type="group">
            <visible>Control.IsVisible(50)</visible>
            <include>Window_OpenClose_Visible_FanartIcon_Animation</include>

[ronie]

The fanart view currently doesn't have video preview window support for the different categories. When not in fullscreen the video will start to pile up behind the scene and when you go back to fullscreen the video will go by really fast until it catches up.

i noticed it as well, but i consider this to be a xbmc issue,
so it's up to them to fix. ;-)

[johngeeaswell]

Uh ... yes it would be nice if XBMC dropped the video frames when a video preview window isn't present. ... but thats not really the only reason I created the patch. I created the patch so that Pictures, Music, etc. get a video preview window of the currently playing media.

I believe the fanart view didn't get finished in this regard.

Also if you see in the patch I removed the !Skin.HasSetting(Fullscreen_Trailer) because it doesn't make sense. If you are watching a video trailer and have it set to go automatically fullscreen thats cool, but if you go back to the screen where you launched it from before the tralier has finished you still want the video preview window to be playing the video trailer. ... or any video playing for that matter. .. That setting ends up essentially disabling the video preview window in the fanart views. .. I'm sure that wasn't your intention.

Please make sure the category screens have a functional video preview window in the fanart view.

[bandelguy]

Media flags are too small, compared with other skins.

[ronie]

Media flags are too small, compared with other skins.

or are they too big in other skins, compared to Transparency!? ;-p

[ronie]

Uh ... yes it would be nice if XBMC dropped the video frames when a video preview window isn't present. ... but thats not really the only reason I created the patch. I created the patch so that Pictures, Music, etc. get a video preview window of the currently playing media.

I believe the fanart view didn't get finished in this regard.

Also if you see in the patch I removed the !Skin.HasSetting(Fullscreen_Trailer) because it doesn't make sense. If you are watching a video trailer and have it set to go automatically fullscreen thats cool, but if you go back to the screen where you launched it from before the tralier has finished you still want the video preview window to be playing the video trailer. ... or any video playing for that matter. .. That setting ends up essentially disabling the video preview window in the fanart views. .. I'm sure that wasn't your intention.

Please make sure the category screens have a functional video preview window in the fanart view.

there's no video preview windows in a lot of views and other parts of the skin (Settings for instance).
and all that is intended, for the simple reason it just don't fit the view.

also the FullScreen_Trailer setting is there for a reason,
1) the xbox does not support playing trailers in a preview window.
2) some users may not care about showing trailers in a preview window and prefer to watch them fullscreen.

there's a request on my todo list to use the video window as a background throughout the skin, similar to how it's done in Confluence.
i'm sure i'll implement it some day. :-)

[Stile]

there's a request on my todo list to use the video window as a background throughout the skin, similar to how it's done in Confluence.
i'm sure i'll implement it some day. :-)

I have created a patch to add the option to use live video as the background. It's 730 lines so I'm not sure a paste here would be good. If you have a way for me to get it to you you could knock that off your list.