A new MM3 dark skin & some questions

[tommae88]

Alright, I had a snow day today and I've been snowed in all day, so I was dinking around with the theme engine for a while.

Now, I have a skin if anybody wants it



But, more importantly, I have 4 general questions:

1: Where can I change the background color for the selected song under album in the album art list view mode (check pic 1 below if I didn't explain myself well enough)

2: How do I change the font color for the comments section under the song properties, the column headers, the normal font for the album art list view (I can't get them away from black), and the infopopup text color on a song change?

3: How do I change the inactive background color for the album art view? I've been unable to find the variable, and it makes all text invisible with my skin if I can't change it from white.

4: Where can i get these new MM3 icons? I remember i downloaded the old ones once and modified them, but I don't know where to get the MM3 icons...

Alright I think that is all of it, if anybody can help, it would be GREATLY appreciated -- thanks again, and please please PLEASE give me some feedback, whether positive or negative -- both are welcome -- on the skin.

Oh, and this download is probably just a "have fun and test it out thing" as I'll probably make any of the above changes if I can, and I'll probably also actually do the microplayer even though I never use it. So, this isn't the "final" copy if that bothers anybody.


Download Red Bruise


Pic 1.

[Morten]

I'm going to sleep now, but just wanted to say that your skin is very nice!

[tommae88]

thank you very much, glad you liked it.

I'll post previews of the changes I make to it as I go I guess -- I think this will be the final player skin, unless somebody tells me any improvements since I am honestly not that great at aesthetics --



I'll also update the download link above.

[tommae88]

Has anybody been trying the skin? I really do want a bit of feedback on this one, I'm not really that great with graphic design and this is my first skin for MM3 so I want to see how people react/if i missed anything before I try any other skin or something.

[Blake]

It is a great skin although it is not my type of color theme. But that is just me. I'm sure lots of other people will like it.

[runtherisk]

I love the skin...the text could use a bit more contrast (sort of fades into the background dependent on light) but I really appreciate the work!

[tommae88]

You're definitely right about the colors (the black font fading in certain light conditions, thats why I need to know the answers to the questions i asked above). somebody posted that the Header | Section section changes the column headers so I tried that and I've fixed that now, but I still don't know how to change other black fonts such as:

random parts of the window text (mostly in the options panel),
the "comments section" of the edit properties dialog box,
the inactive selected fonts,
the Album Art viewing colors.

These ALWAYS seem to stay black for me no matter what I do -- there has to be options for this, otherwise any type of dark skin is nearly impossible to make =/

And just a skinning request/pointer -- the column header font color should definitely be available to change in the "Fonts" part of the Theme Editor, not hidden away as it is in the objects menu.

If anyone could help with those answers or the other ones that I asked in my first post I would be grateful and would revamp the skin and finish it up quickly.

[666fox]

I like the color scheme, and the rest of this skin... but the font size changes when you try to select text in the main window... for instance, when you try to rename a song... it changes size, and you click in a different place than it says... if anyone knows how to change this (I can't figure it out) or if the creator wants to take a look, it just bothers me a little. That and the text is sometimes black on a black background, but I can live with that. Otherwise I really like this skin.

[rovingcowboy]

most the skins have the choice of making them change size when selected or when typing. some skin authors use it some don't i try to make them all change just a little in size so you know thats what you selected or have typed.

if it is really changing in a bad way like ten times the normal size, then there is an error he will have to fix in the skin.
if it is just going from one size to THE NEXT ONE or to bold then he made it do that.

[666fox]

It seems to go up one size and bold [edit: just bold], so when you try to select the first letter you end up selecting the third or fourth
when editing a song like
01 - Track Title
to remove the track number from the title manually it ends up selecting the r or the a in track, or you try to select the l in title and it selects the k in track because it moved due to the bolding
just a minor annoyance, maybe only for me.. Would I be able to change it not to bold or change size at all? I don't know where to look, which .ini or where it is specified to change, after looking at the files I gave up.
[edit 2: Also, sometimes it shows both bold and [non-bold] with the bold layered below, effectively making the text unreadable (mostly when auto tagging from amazon, the matched albums that you select from)]

[rovingcowboy]

the double text layers might be cause of using the option in the mm 3 to show larger text.?

the bold thing is a little bothersome if you are trying to be accurate in your clicking. i just click and then back space with the arrow key to get the curser where i want it.

but that is something that he will have to fix to get the fonts different. the area is in the skinning engine that is done in.

[666fox]

I looked in the wiki for skin making tutorial and replaced the msz file in my skin, looks fine now, might make a skin now. Changed all text to regular and no more inaccurately clicking nor layering in combo boxes and text fields. If you open this skin in themeeditor and go to the preview it happens in combo boxes, but if you remove the bolding, it doesn't.

[rovingcowboy]

oh wow a new skinner in the works you got to get making some now since you found its easy just time consuming for newbies.

once you figure out the basics its fast. somethings are always being added to the skinning engine and they take time to figure out but they too are always simple.

if your a programmer like morten then you know how to request features be added like morten does. me i am just a skinner. can't program anything but web pages.

[666fox]

quick question not relevant to this thread, how do i use hex codes for color... or convert them to the color format of themeeditor? for instance #FFFFFF to whatever digits match in themeeditor?

[rovingcowboy]

not sure i think there is a place to add in the code to the right of the main area of the theme editor you will have to kind of guess at the number used to get the right color. but i don't know if that will ever work i just keep with the ones the theme engine's color picker gets.
or i make a skin with different colors open it and pick one from the colors in the images of the skin.
you could do that and keep it a refrence skin. make one with the theme buttons and headers all the different colors you want. and or think might ever use. then open it with the theme editor and use its color picker to pick the color from the skin and get the number it uses.

thats an idea i'll get an image made for that use. shortly.

okay its posted on the wiki at this url.

http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.php/MISC..._Tips

also has a thread in the artwork forum.