Spotify skins - MonkeyRok 5.1 updates (2010-05-06)

[Nebbin]

I love the Spotify-B theme.

The only issues are the highlighting when using auto-organize files or auto-tag from filename. You can't read the text that's highlighted in these text boxes.

I love the blue highlighting on the main track window though - it's just the text boxes mentioned above that are a problem. Light grey text highlighted by light grey or yellow just doesn't work for me.

Example:


I use the song information panel, and it's working ok - I place it in the bar at the bottom (shortening the seek bar). The only issue is the height of this area increases for some reason when I open MM - as if the panel is taking up more room than it needs. If I move the panel somewhere else then it resets and I can place it back without too much change. Weirdly, the area gradually increases in height the more times I open MM...

The first image below shows the higher bar area seen when MM opened with panel in place. Image 2 shows area once panel has been moved and replaced:

Image 1: ...Image 2:

PS: I've personalised the ArtistName display of the Song Information Panel to better suit my method of storing multi-artist info

EDIT: changed images to better show effect

[daouda34]

Hi. I just posted a huge rant on nohitter's black lastfm skin to tell him how awesome it was and give some suggestions, and then i got back trying out all the skins i had downloaded, which i hadnt done in a while... And it struck me how elegant and professional this skin looked... You did a really great job, redesigned all the icons and buttons in a much better and elegant way... And i like that the player is kind of slim and doesnt take up too much screen space on a widescreen 15 1/4 laptop (although i would really enjoy a small player version)...the thing that made me quickly dismiss it was mainly.. the rating system! Like most of the people over here it seems, i cannot get myself to like the bars system... so i'm thinking... why should you keep them? They're not really easy to read... I think the best alternative to stars (which look kind of childish) are the hearts that nohitter used in his lastfm skin... almost same color as the bars, and very easy to read (a half-heart is as good as a half-star readability-wise and much better than a half-bar-thing!)... and surprisingly... the hearts dont look girly or cheesy at all!
My main other complain, as somebody said earlier, would be the total absence on the player of info about the song being played (song title, artist, album), which we are used to have.

A few other suggestions to make it look better according to my personal tastes :
-to much infos i think on the infopopup, and the icons are superfluous.
and, nitpicking:
-instead of "+/-" in front of the nodes in the tree, the use of arrows (like in the lastfm skin) would be much nicer
-a few icons/buttons i dont like: the "web" node (dont like that green color, doesnt fit well with the rest of the design), why not just use a styled "@" that could be of a purplish or reddish color?
-the shoutcast icon for the net radios (stands out too much, too colorful)
-the "speaker" button that's used on the "navigation" toolbar looks really Win 3.1. A more styled one, like the one in the lastfm skin would fit better with the elegant look.

Its funny, i wish i could take some elements of this skin into the lastfm one (some icons/buttons, the mediamonkey window titlebar design, the player slimness...) to make it (the lastfm skin) better , and i wish i could take some elements of the lastfm one (some other icons/buttons, and the hearts rating icons) to make this one better... maybe i should try to do this myself with the skinning program? How hard is it to use for a total noob to skin design that is graphically challenged?

Anyway, great skin, IMHO this and the black lastfm skin are among the few elegant, professional-looking skins out there.

[gpzbc]

daouda34, I caught your post over on the LastFM skin thread, and now this one too.
I agree with much of what you are saying. Both skins are fabulous - some of the best I have ever seen. But there are just a few tiny quirks.
I don't want to sound ungrateful. I am very appreciative of the skinner's work. I am using both skins right now. I just hope they will tweak them just a bit.

[nynaevelan]

Interesting post but let me chime in here with one small observation. I think some of us are forgetting that the skinners/scripters are making these enhancements for free but most importantly they are made in most cases due to what the skinner envisions and made to suit his/her tastes. Most will take the "constructive" criticism of the user community and change/update their projects but they are by no means required to. And as RRFPacker stated in the LastFM post, if there are things which you do not like about it, change it. But to tell the skinner to make changes to "superflous" sections to suit your personal tastes is a little selfish, don't you think? If fact if you asked I am sure both Eyal and Nohitter as well as any of the others would give you pointers on how to personalize it to suit what you are looking for. And for the record I understand where you are coming from and on several occasions I have asked for assistance on how to personalize a skin/script to suit my tastes without obligating the skinner/scripter to change the public version because it is not the way I want it to be.

Let us all take a moment to thank the skinners/scripters for their work and try to help them and not make demands on their hard work and time.

[Vyper]

The purpose of creating this skin (as I understand it from the creator) was to make it look as much like the Spotify player's skin as possible. If one changes things too much, then it's no longer a Spotify skin and it's original creation purpose is lost.


Just my 2 cents worth.


Edit: Apparently at the same time as Nyn.

[gpzbc]

Let us all take a moment to thank the skinners/scripters for their work and try to help them and not make demands on their hard work and time.

I will be the first to offer my sincere thanks to the skinners. Their efforts greatly improve the MM experience.
I'm truly sorry If I've ever said anything that suggested otherwise. That was not my intent.

My suggestions are meant to be just that - suggestions. I know some skinners solicit feedback and I give it when I have it. And i hope they aren't offended in any way if I give it when it is not welcome.

I will say it again. Thank you Skinners!

[nynaevelan]

Let us all take a moment to thank the skinners/scripters for their work and try to help them and not make demands on their hard work and time.

I will be the first to offer my sincere thanks to the skinners. Their efforts greatly improve the MM experience.
I'm truly sorry If I've ever said anything that suggested otherwise. That was not my intent.

My suggestions are meant to be just that - suggestions. I know some skinners solicit feedback and I give it when I have it. And i hope they aren't offended in any way if I give it when it is not welcome.

I will say it again. Thank you Skinners!

I'm sure they appreciate it as we users appreciate the efforts they put in. And as you can see from my Favorites page I appreciate their work ALOT.

[daouda34]

Ok i messed up, i didnt express myself like i should have. I'll conveniently blame it on english being my second langage (and i think eyal is a francophone just like me), but i havent been nearly as much of an a-hole here that what i've been on the black lastFM thread (which i'm sure everyone who like this skin will like as well, check it out!). I've already posted some words to clarify my thoughts about MM skins on the lastfm skin thread, so im not gonna do it again here.

I will just join you guys repeating that the skin designers are definitely doing an awesome work for us all, for no money (i've never forgotten that, nynaelevan), and that their work is greatly appreciated. They're doing something im not sure i would do even if i had their skills and some free time. So yeah, many many many thanks, that seems so obvious but you guys probably would like to hear it more often and feel that your work is truly appreciated.

To nynaelevan, i was definitey not stating any demand here, i really thought i was just making suggestions but probably expressed myself very badly. Yes i said "i think you should do this and that according to my personal tastes"... I actually precised according to my personal tastes to make it clear those werent demands by any means but my very own personal, should i add humble, opinions, and as such only expressions of my personal tastes which are just what they are... just another guy's tastes, and therefore could totally be dismissed. Besides obvious design flaws, aren t every suggestions posted about skins, expressions of individual tastes? And isnt that what the skin designers want to know about, without necessarily taking them into account? If they were making skins only for themselves i'm not sure they would post them on a forum thread for public use and opened to suggestions.
I never felt i was "obligating the skinner to change the public version because it is not the way I want it to be" a single second, and sincerely, nynaelevan, i think that this is pushing the misinterpretation a little bit too far, too easily. But then, again, i probably formulated it the wrong way

EDIT:
And about that remark about me being "selfish" for saying that i think that the infopop would be better off without all those "superfluous" icons (which are the exact same used in the "categorize" toolbar if you noticed, so no extra work im asking to give up on), same thing, just expressing an opinion.

About the " "constructive" criticism" that skinners scripters are "by no means required to" consider : I think it is perfectly clear to me and most of those who are posting suggestions (at least i can say everyone in this thread) that skinners/scripters will make whatever they want of them. And i think putting "constructive" between brackets is not very respectful to those who just want to bring in their two cents to maybe help the said designer (i'm not talking about me, i deserve it).

Actually im starting to better understand how those designers can sometime find annoying to have to get advices from people that are not even skinners or scripters (well at least we're users, and feedback is i guess what they are looking for). I personnaly find it quite irritating to have take those patronizing comments from someone who is not a mod, not a skinner, nor a scripter. I have absolutely nothing to say about RRFPacker'S post, he was 100 percent right, but i think yours was unnecessarily and unlegitimately patronizing and deforming my initial one. I think such comments are detrimental to good discussions in the MM community to push our beloved application forward. Look how remorsed and self-conscious you got gpzbc... he even felt the need to apologize and write "My suggestions are meant to be just that - suggestions" which he surely didnt need to precise. I probably deserved a good sermon (most definitely on the lastfm thread) but please let the mods do their job.

[Vyper]

I personnaly find it quite irritating to have take those patronizing comments from someone who is not a mod ...

Actually, Nyn is a mod, a global moderator in fact.

[daouda34]

Alright, this shows my noobishness a little more if needed be (how can u tell if someone is a mod or not?), and makes nyn's intervention a little more legitimate, albeit still deforming widely the purpose of my clumsily formulated suggestions. And i think this kind of "moderation" is unneeded and kind of sad in a forum that is at least partly dedicated at gathering user's opinions in order to improve the whole MM experience. Like i said, i think it's detrimental to us all and, as gpzbc post showed, is definitely gonna hold back a lot of users who would have wanted to give their 2 cents about what might improve this or that skin/script in their mind.

[nynaevelan]

At the very bottom of the forum if you click on the moderator type it will show you who belongs to each group, but that list only includes forum administrators/moderators not skinners or scripters.

[Nebbin]

The problem with the bottom bar (default placement for the play controls) creeping up is roughly 4 pixels every time I open up MM (with the song info panel inserted). I don't know whether this is a problem with this skin, or with the SongInformationPanel script. Check out the example - look at the empty space under the play controls...

eg. After opening MM a number of times:


Once I readjust the song info panel it snaps back fine.

[Eyal]

I'm back from a few days out. What a surprise to see so many messages.

Just wanted to chime in and say this skin is F-in beautiful.

Thank you Debu I'm glad you like it.

Something that's been bugging me a little is, the Stop button looks... awkward. The only thing I can put my finger on about it is perhaps while it fits the size used for the other two small buttons, the "symbol" is too small. *Shrugs*

You are right, I think you have a good designer's point of view. I'll make it bigger in next version.

My only gripe is with the rating icons. It is difficult to assign a song a rating. I see that it would be a bit easier in Spotify-B, but I'm not sure I care for the multi-wave icons.

I accept your point. I will change in next version. What do you think about "B" icons discussed earlier here? I think I'll make something similar in next version.

(...) I don't like the icon used for the rating system... BUT the biggest drawback I've found is that there is no song information for the currently playing track (...)

Thanks for comment. I'm aware of this, and will make a player with track info. But doing so will also make the player bigger a bit. I'll try to find a way to fit the info without breaking the visual aspect too much.

(...) But there is one thing I should like to little change. The color of the striated background in the tree, playlist and the listings.
(...)
The murder is out. I found the relevant entries in: Objects/VirtualTree... in the ThemeEditor.

Yes, that's it, Objects/VirtualTree. You can get rid of the striated background by deleting Objects/VirtualTree/TrackListOdd, TrackListEven, NowPlayingOdd and NowPlayingEven. In that case, backgrounds will be the ones defined in sdb_background_list.bmp and sdb_background_playing.bmp files.
Note also that you can also completely change the backgrounds via Tools|Options|Skin with your own bitmaps.

The only issues are the highlighting when using auto-organize files or auto-tag from filename. You can't read the text that's highlighted in these text boxes.

Nebbin, I'm sorry but I reiterate (here) like in other threads. The yellow/grey color can't be changed by skin. It's hard-coded in mediamonkey and it's a real shame for all dark/bright-text skins.
Same thing for the Searchbox: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... =4&t=42056

For your SongInfoPanel, I know there is a problem with "4 pixels growth" when one uses same docking area for two panels. See Small player above MonkeyRok.
Panels layout in MediaMonkey: http://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewto ... 92#p188078
I think the best position for this panel would be either on top or bottom of the Album Art panel, or generally in left or right docking area.

A few other suggestions to make it look better according to my personal tastes :
-to much infos i think on the infopopup, and the icons are superfluous.
and, nitpicking:
-instead of "+/-" in front of the nodes in the tree, the use of arrows (like in the lastfm skin) would be much nicer
-a few icons/buttons i dont like: the "web" node (dont like that green color, doesnt fit well with the rest of the design), why not just use a styled "@" that could be of a purplish or reddish color?
-the shoutcast icon for the net radios (stands out too much, too colorful)
-the "speaker" button that's used on the "navigation" toolbar looks really Win 3.1. A more styled one, like the one in the lastfm skin would fit better with the elegant look.

Daouda34, thanks so much for all your feedback. I don't see any offense, I'm taking your constructive criticism. I agree with web, shoutcast and speaker icons. I'll fix them in next version.

@Ninaevelan & all users: Thank you for your encouragement.

:~)
Eyal

[Nebbin]

Sorry Eyal... I missed your reply about the auto-organising highlighting issue when scanning through the thread. It's a real shame, because this skin (Spotify-B) is in all other ways my clear favourite. Very professional and usable (overlooking aforementioned issues).

Hopefully the developers will eventually give a little more control over this and other elements to skinners to create themes that work well in all areas.

Regarding the 4 pixel "creep", I might have to jump on the band wagon and ask for you to add playback info directly into the skin then. I don't wish to put the info panel near the artwork since I prefer my art to change upon selection, not playback. In the meantime, I'll probably rely more on MonkeyRok to give playback stats. Also, I prefer to have the song info panel to be very wide - to accommodate the often VERY lengthy titles and/or artist names (esp. classical & mashups). I don't like text wrapping for this...


Thank you for your efforts - much appreciated.

[gpzbc]

Thanks Eyal. I look forward to your modifications in the next version.
And I agree, the "B" icons are much better.