Focus (an XBMC Media Center skin) discussion thread [Archive]

Jeroen

2008-06-11, 23:58

Thanks for the comments guys :)

you didn't take advantage of the infolabel PluginName.

Not yet, but definitely will in the new version :)

Too many views in library :)

Agreed :)
And yes the shutdown menu has hardly had any work.

plugins can fill all the media infolabels. so a media info view in files view isn't a bad thing.
Good point

Very nice looking! Please let us know if you plan on open sourcing it and if you would like to join the official XBMC Skinning Project (https://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter) (a sub-project of XBMC for skinners and their open source skins).
Yes, I plan on open sourcing it and I would like to join the skinning project. I would like to wait till at least the next version before putting it in the svn though so I can clean up my messy coding a bit and reach a state where I feel the foundations are solid and won't change too much anymore :)

Really nice! I love the cleanness, smooth and fast animations and the easy access to library modes (smart move).

Thanks, one of my goals is definitely a clean look so that's good to hear :)

I'm using the dutch language with XBMC and the titles in the homescreen don't fit into the selection boxes and are not showing completely. This is something that will always be hard to do, make it look good/correct in any language. Using simple and clear icons would solve this. And you'd have a lot more space in the top bar to place shortcuts!
Yup, that's one of the reasons for switching to a HD only version, I feel I just have to cramp everything into too small places, or make everything big, which effects the cleanness imo.

I'll be updating this thread from time to time with some progress reports

Gamester17

2008-06-12, 00:38

Very nice looking! Please let us know if you plan on open sourcing it and if you would like to join the official XBMC Skinning Project (https://sourceforge.net/projects/xboxmediacenter) (a sub-project of XBMC for skinners and their open source skins).Yes, I plan on open sourcing it and I would like to join the skinning project. I would like to wait till at least the next version before putting it in the svn though so I can clean up my messy coding a bit and reach a state where I feel the foundations are solid and won't change too much anymore :)Cool! As long agree to not violate any copyrights and ask before you modify anyone else's skin in the SVN (or wait until you have been asked) then register an account on SourceForge.net if you do not already have one then PM me the username and I will add you to the project with full write access to the SVN and the trackers (for bugs, patches and requests).

MikeBeecham

2008-06-12, 18:42

this almost passed me by...it's a great looking skin mate. it's very clean and for us 16x9 and 4x3 users it's very easy to see all the elements. You can tell that thought has gone into this.

There are a couple of things that I've noticed which would be good for you to know...

First, as you know shutdown needs some work, but I'm sure it's on your to-do list. Second is that the scrollbar on all views is sitting in the centre of the centre and sits behind all the text. I assume that it should be over on the right hand side, and I assume it should be on the right?

Also, for some reason the images onto your screenies seem to be darker than on my screen.

oh, and also the fanart screen does not resize the images...they are too big for the screen.

I think thats it for now...I'm using it, I'm going to carry on using it...great work!

djh_

2008-06-12, 19:14

I was thinking of doing a post-Aeon one-size-fits-all skin, but it looks like you've hit the nail on the head with this one. In a word, classy.

MikeBeecham

2008-06-12, 19:16

djh_ get Aeon sorted for us 16x9ers first mate...that's all I'll say for now ;)

djh_

2008-06-12, 19:36

It already is, isn't it? I thought the new resizing stuff was the magic bullet in that respect. Anyway, thread derailment complete.

Jeroen

2008-06-12, 19:48

it's very clean and for us 16x9 and 4x3 users it's very easy to see all the elements. You can tell that thought has gone into this.

Thanks a lot, it's good to see people specifically commenting on things that were key goals for this skin. Makes me feel bad about abandoning the SD version though :( I'm pleasantly suprised that the skin is usable on 4:3, I didn't take it into account at all :)

Second is that the scrollbar on all views is sitting in the centre of the centre and sits behind all the text. I assume that it should be over on the right hand side, and I assume it should be on the right?

Yes, I haven't worked on the scrollbars at all, so practically all of them are in the wrong place. I am still in doubt whether to include a scroll bar option in the next version at all. I personally never use them, I find them cluttering. I see no real use browsing by scrollbar. The only benefit I see in them is to provide an indication of how far down a list you are. Something else I have been thinking about is to hide them or obscure them untill they are focused.

I'd like to hear more people's thought on scrollbars. Do you use them a lot? Are they essential to you? So in any skin?

Also, for some reason the images onto your screenies seem to be darker than on my screen.

I noticed that too. It comes out quite a bit lighter on my CRT TV. Since the TV is reasonably old I find it hard to imagine how it would look on most TV's. The screenies are made on a win32 build, and other than downsizing them and adding the reflections they have had no editing. Although I may have been using a slightly lighter diffuse in the version I released, I'm not sure.

oh, and also the fanart screen does not resize the images...they are too big for the screen.

Ah ok. I had alreay used the version I posted to make some changes for the HD version and forgot to adjust that back. I updated the download in the first post.

And here is a quick fix for that, replace the contents of includes.xml with this:
http://pastebin.com/f18c96f34

Thanks for the heads up :)

I was thinking of doing a post-Aeon one-size-fits-all skin, but it looks like you've hit the nail on the head with this one. In a word, classy.
Thanks :)

Bram77

2008-06-12, 21:52

The more I use the skin, the more I like. It even has a high WAF! Which is very important.
It's fantastic skin to use as a base for modifications also! I'm getting inspired by the cleanness :) I'm a loyal PMIII user. I've tried several different skins, but even the nicest looking just don't cut it (Aeon for example).
I really hope you'll keep de PAL version and not only HD.

One suggestion...
I love the easy access to libraries and menus. Almost everything is accessible with the arrow keys and the OK button. Except for the menu you enter with the 'title' button on the XBOX remote when a file/directory or library item is selected. The right arrow has no use yet and since the left button provides access to the 'info' menu it seem logical the 'title' menu can be accessed with the right button.

maui917

2008-06-12, 21:57

Looks very nice...looking forward to trying it out when I get home! Glad to see a slick looking skin for SD TV's. I've been running a modified version of Jezz's Vision - Basic, but wanting a cleaner skin that supports 4:3.

Jeroen

2008-06-12, 23:31

It even has a high WAF! Which is very important.
???WAF? :D

I really hope you'll keep de PAL version and not only HD.

We'll see. At the moment I want to focus (heh) purely on the HD version. Maybe after that I'll do some updates to this one, though it will probably mainly be maintenance releases to iron bugs out and port new xbmc features.

One suggestion...
I love the easy access to libraries and menus. Almost everything is accessible with the arrow keys and the OK button. Except for the menu you enter with the 'title' button on the XBOX remote when a file/directory or library item is selected. The right arrow has no use yet and since the left button provides access to the 'info' menu it seem logical the 'title' menu can be accessed with the right button.

I'll have to think about it. It seems a bit counter-intuitive to press right to open a menu on the left. Maybe a user definable setting would do the tricj. Also, I'll have to make a decision about what I'll be doing about the scrollbars first. Because if they will be staying the right button would be needed for that.

szsori

2008-06-12, 23:40

???WAF? :D

Wife acceptance factor. :) It's a common term for HTPC and home theater buffs.

marlboroman1

2008-06-12, 23:46

I love this skin this may well be my new default, the navigation using the drop down menus is very cool and I'm loving the feel of this skin I am hoping it can be maintained for us sd users.

The font change made it crash for me and when i restarted there were no fonts making navigation impossible; so I had to delete the skin I think the last skin font selected was "funky" or some such.

I think i'll stick with the default fount next time:grin: thanks for creating this the hard work is much appreciated.

Jeroen

2008-06-13, 00:18

Wife acceptance factor. :) It's a common term for HTPC and home theater buffs.
Hehe ah ok. I guess I have to update my slang dictionary :)

The font change made it crash for me and when i restarted there were no fonts making navigation impossible; so I had to delete the skin I think the last skin font selected was "funky" or some such.

I think i'll stick with the default fount next time:grin: thanks for creating this the hard work is much appreciated.

Yeah, Mike already notified me about his crashing XBOX when changing fonts :laugh:
Focus has just one fontset. Basically there's leftovers of the default PM3 fontsets in the fonts file, it's a mess. And because those fonts are not present in the Focus package XBMC seemingly keeps searching for it ultimately going bonkers :)
I'll update the package tomorrow to take care of it.
And thank you.

Bram77

2008-06-13, 02:59

I'll have to think about it. It seems a bit counter-intuitive to press right to open a menu on the left. Maybe a user definable setting would do the tricj. Also, I'll have to make a decision about what I'll be doing about the scrollbars first. Because if they will be staying the right button would be needed for that.

My aim is opening the menu at the right, like you'd expect when pressing "right" :)

Bram77

2008-06-13, 03:04

Also.... it might be cleaner to open the menu in an overlay, without moving the file or library list (semi transparent ?), eventhough the current animation is quite unique, as far as I know and I love new perceptions :).

Ik gooi maar wat intuitive ideen in de groep :)

Jeroen

2008-06-15, 11:12

My aim is opening the menu at the right, like you'd expect when pressing "right" :)

I don't think that would work out well. Opening it on the right would either mean:
- It would overlap other elements, which I don't want. And I can't make it open to the right of the filelist and let everything which is normally to the right of the filelist move aside. That is because there's also the coverflow and coverslide viewtypes which are horizontally orientated. I would then have to take a different approach for those specific viewtypes which would make it inconsistent plus I would have to create seperate animations, includes, there's just too many variables.
- Opening it to the right of everything (so opening it on the right side of the screen). Then I feel the menu would lose it's correlation to the filelist. Plus, in most cases it would move a big portion of the filelist off screen.

The way it is now both menus can be expected in the same spot. I have another method in mind though, going to try if that works out ok.

Also.... it might be cleaner to open the menu in an overlay, without moving the file or library list (semi transparent ?), eventhough the current animation is quite unique, as far as I know and I love new perceptions .

I like the fact that the menu doesn't overlap anything, which I think is cleaner. I tried semi-transparent before on the dialog windows and I just never felt fully content with it. I wish the skinning engine supported blurring, then stuff like that could look much better.

I'm really not rejecting suggestions beforehand, I do appreciate the feedback :)

cheers

bionic1234

2008-06-15, 16:43

great looking start of a skin Jeroen, especially like the side menu and 'tons' of views

topfs2

2008-06-15, 21:13

I love the layout, easy access to Movie, TV and just browse the files for videos. High WAF!
PM3 usually get mixed up abit between Library and non library which this doesn't seem to have the same problems with.
I love that pressing "videos" bring you to sources instead of last used!

I'd like some conditional size so the overlay from the scan isn't over the library (scan TV shows and watch Movie library and you'll see what I mean)
Also the fanart blend doesn't seem to work for me?

Overall, really beautiful skin with a lot of though gone into the layout. Might be a PM3 breaker for me actually.
Keep up the good work.

P.S Considered open sourcing it and putt it on the skin svn? would keep this lovely skin alive for a long time.

/Topfs2

Jeroen

2008-06-15, 23:12

Thanks :)

I'd like some conditional size so the overlay from the scan isn't over the library (scan TV shows and watch Movie library and you'll see what I mean)

Yes, I know, I don't think I have done any work on that at all untill yesterday.

Also the fanart blend doesn't seem to work for me?

Hm, that sounds familiar. I did a little fanart mod on xTV some time ago and someone reported the same problem. It worked for me though. And I was using basically the same code on that one. I'm going to completely rewrite the images overlapping bit and try to make it more efficient.

P.S Considered open sourcing it and putt it on the skin svn? would keep this lovely skin alive for a long time.
Yup, at the moment I am rebuilding the skin based of this one, the next release will be 720p only, and when the worst bugs are solved it will be put on the SVN. After that I'll maybe release a revised SD version which would be released seperately.

xb00t

2008-06-16, 15:23

This is _the_ perfect skin! I just love it. Even though it still hasnt got OSD (or it doesnt work?). Let me just give you a quick rating -

Animation: 11/10
Style: 11/10
Views: 15/10
WAF: 8/10

Here are a few bits that I am sure you are already working on but let me just put them out there -

* OSD doesnt work or is missing
* Volume control is too much "in your face" and takes to much space
* Library update notification overlaps the time-and-date and weather information in the homescreen and just about anything that is at the bottom in any other screen
* Could it be possible to be able to choose the home menu position (top/bottom)?
* Maybe add the option of icons in the home screen?
* A small preview of what is played at the moment would be nice when hitting the X button on the controller

Thats about it. Thank you for making this beauty and please dont abandon it. :rolleyes:

Jeroen

2008-06-16, 20:35

Even though it still hasnt got OSD (or it doesnt work?).

I did make an OSD, but I have ran into it sometimes being displayed at the edge or completely outside the screen boundaries. I believe this only happened to me while launching from file mode. Did you launch while in filemode or in library mode?
I'll have to look into that. The OSD will be redesigned completely though.

* Volume control is too much "in your face" and takes to much space
* Library update notification overlaps the time-and-date and weather information in the homescreen and just about anything that is at the bottom in any other screen

These like the OSD will be completely redone. I'm trying to take a different approach in order to make the best out of every inch of the screen while not looking cluttered. I don't know if it will work out good enough, because I'll have to deal with various scenarios of elements being on screen at the same time. This approach will only be doable on an HD version though. I know this sounds vague ;)

* Could it be possible to be able to choose the home menu position (top/bottom)?

This would take a lot of work. Moving the menubar to the bottom is a 2 minute job but I would also have to move the submenus. Actually I would have to create new seperate ones, because the focuspoints and animations would also need duplicates. Plus I think it would look out of place since the bar in other screens would still be on top. So I don't think I'll be doing that sorry.

* Maybe add the option of icons in the home screen?

Eventually I would like to create an alternate icon based layout. But I want it to have the same features as the current one without looking cluttering. So, I'll have to think of something.
I was toying with the idea of having the 5 home categories it has as icons now, and being able to scroll up and down in each category, changing the icon. (think of a slot machine like thingy). But ultimately I personally think the menus will always be more practical, as you can see which items are coming up. But we'll see. Long term plans though.

* A small preview of what is played at the moment would be nice when hitting the X button on the controller

What do you mean exactly? Like a media overlay in every screen? Or the full screen window with visualisations like in PM3 for instance? Because that should be there already. No visualisation though I think and hardly any real design work done on it.

Thats about it. Thank you for making this beauty and please dont abandon it. :rolleyes:
Thanks :)

xb00t

2008-06-16, 20:48

What do you mean exactly? Like a media overlay in every screen? Or the full screen window with visualisations like in PM3 for instance? Because that should be there already. No visualisation though I think and hardly any real design work done on it.

Yes just like the PM3 where you get a small screen under the menu (view, sort, library, etc.) with the video still playing. But its not there or maybe I have managed to switch it off somehow? :eek:

xb00t

2008-06-16, 20:57

No edit button???

I did make an OSD, but I have ran into it sometimes being displayed at the edge or completely outside the screen boundaries. I believe this only happened to me while launching from file mode. Did you launch while in filemode or in library mode?
Filemode or Library mode both dont show the OSD at all. I am guessing its not even off-screen because the arrow keys work just as they would when the OSD is off. So maybe its not starting up at all? And by OSD I mean the controls that show up when you pres the START button on the controller. :)

topfs2

2008-06-16, 21:02

Yes, I haven't worked on the scrollbars at all, so practically all of them are in the wrong place. I am still in doubt whether to include a scroll bar option in the next version at all. I personally never use them, I find them cluttering. I see no real use browsing by scrollbar. The only benefit I see in them is to provide an indication of how far down a list you are. Something else I have been thinking about is to hide them or obscure them untill they are focused.

I'd like to hear more people's thought on scrollbars. Do you use them a lot? Are they essential to you? So in any skin?

Btw this is one of the things I miss with the skin, I use the scrollbar alot when browsing music, it's a pain to scroll with a IR controll without em.

Jeroen

2008-06-16, 22:57

No edit button???

Filemode or Library mode both dont show the OSD at all. I am guessing its not even off-screen because the arrow keys work just as they would when the OSD is off. So maybe its not starting up at all? And by OSD I mean the controls that show up when you pres the START button on the controller. :)

Could you drop the xml in this zip into the PAL directory of Focus and tell me if it works for you?

http://www.box.net/shared/e1itzcs0s0

watty

2008-06-16, 23:01

BOOKMARKED!

Great looking skin we got here. When this skin get a good cleansing, it'll be on par if not surpass the PM3 skin IMO. Keep up the good work!

xb00t

2008-06-17, 01:09

Could you drop the xml in this zip into the PAL directory of Focus and tell me if it works for you?

http://www.box.net/shared/e1itzcs0s0

OSD with File mode - working!!!
OSD with Library mode - working!!!

Fantastic job! Noticed just a minor hick-up. Under both the Video and Audio settings menu the page id (1/2 -- 2/2) overlap with the scroll buttons (v^).

Now, what about being able to edit that home menu. :rolleyes:

pobhockle

2008-06-17, 21:33

What build of XBMC are you using to get this working?

I thought that my old build wouldn't cut it, so tried this out on XBMC-SVN_2008-01-27_rev11426-T3CH and the skin has no text. Neither had PM III actually. I had to press a few buttons on boot to wipe my settings (had to set Aeon's all back up..) Do not get this build.

Then I went back to my old stable build (XBMC-SVN_2008-06-01_rev13360-T3CH) and it had the same problem. Wiped the settings again. Double Arg.

Jeroen

2008-06-17, 21:52

On the XBOX I'm currently using rev 13360. 11426 definitely is too old. I don't know if its directly related to the font problem but I would advice you to upgrade anyway, as Focus uses conditional visibility on the listviews, which was implemented in xbmc maybe two months ago or something. Without that support Focus wouldn't be able to function properly anyway, fonts or no fonts.

I included the fix for the OSD and some other fixed into a new package. I'll do some other little things tonight and a revised version will be available tomorrow I think.

marlboroman1

2008-06-17, 22:26

sweet I'm looking forward to it :grin:

Jeroen

2008-06-19, 23:09

Sorry, I know I said to release an update yesterday :blush: but some things came up. I think i'm going to push for some more updates and fixes and if all goes well I'll be posting it sometime the coming weekend. Then I'll probably also post some about the progress on the HD version.

NickyZero

2008-06-20, 16:54

Jeroen

2008-06-20, 17:08

Hey man, damn nice skin,

suddenly I dont feel left out for running XBMC through a 15Inch 4:3!

only downside to the skin I can see is the lack of a programs menu, but thats probably just me being picky, I have no current-gen consoles, or up-to-date PC so still play XBox1 :(

still im definetly keeping an eye on this one!

What do you mean exactly by a programs menu? Through the accessories menu on the home screen you can enter the programs section. By pressing left in that section you can skip to the savegames. Things like Kai are not supported atm though. I hardly play games on the xbox but if you have certain wishes/suggestions regarding the programs section let´s hear it and I´ll take those into consideration :)

xbs08

2008-06-20, 20:31

nice looking skin and funcional too

Like mentioned before, sound volume its just too big and center screen isn't a good option.

Please make it open source and available in xbmcsm :)

NickyZero

2008-06-20, 20:48

What do you mean exactly by a programs menu? Through the accessories menu on the home screen you can enter the programs section. By pressing left in that section you can skip to the savegames. Things like Kai are not supported atm though. I hardly play games on the xbox but if you have certain wishes/suggestions regarding the programs section let´s hear it and I´ll take those into consideration :)

Hmm, the accessories just opens the favourites menu? thankfully I have "games" favourited, but seems a little long-winded...

but to be honest I may just be being a complete ignoramus (sp?) still, I'm definetly following this!

xbs08

2008-06-20, 22:08

uh, is there a play disc (for discs in dvd drive)?

Jeroen

2008-06-21, 09:43

Hmm, the accessories just opens the favourites menu?

Press the down button when accessories is highlighted :) That goes for all categories

Jeroen

2008-06-21, 10:53

uh, is there a play disc (for discs in dvd drive)?

I just added this, will be available in next release.

NickyZero

2008-06-21, 13:24

Press the down button when accessories is highlighted :) That goes for all categories

Damn, I feel like an idiot, I was just pushing (A) so didnt see all the extra menus! really nice job though!

Jeroen

2008-06-21, 13:48

Like mentioned before, sound volume its just too big and center screen isn't a good option.

I was thinking of placing it onto the menubar, something like this:
http://img49.imageshack.us/img49/7566/volumehz3.png (http://imageshack.us)

Just a quick tryout, eventually I could also give it an overlay image so you'd get something like this:

http://img233.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=th_47534_volume-overlay_122_122lo.jpg
(for some reason can't make it to show up in this post)

When playing fullscreen video, it would be adjusted a bit.

Any thoughts?

Damn, I feel like an idiot, I was just pushing (A) so didnt see all the extra menus! really nice job though!
No worries :) It actually gave me the idea of displaying a message upon first use of Focus, explaining this and possibly some other things.

xbs08

2008-06-21, 14:11

very nice volume sliders :)

Other thing i think its very usefull is to display current hour and finish time of a movie when pressing info in fullscreen (da vinci skin has it and i love it) so you dont have to go to home menu if you want to know the time.

xbs08

2008-06-21, 15:42

ups, the current hour is already there.

NickyZero

2008-06-21, 21:59

That new volume bar looks much better!

http://img233.imagevenue.com/img.php..._122_122lo.jpg
(for some reason can't make it to show up in this post)

am I the only person this doesnt work for?

xb00t

2008-06-22, 00:04

Works for me but here is a mirror anyway - http://i29.tinypic.com/2lm8nqc.jpg

Jeroen, love te new volume bar. Any news on that SVN?

Jeroen

2008-06-22, 19:59

package updated, some bugs squashed, probably created some new ones, see topic start post for details. See changelog for known issues and updates.

I strongly advice you to not overwrite the previous release, but delete the old first or install in a different directory.

xbs08

2008-06-22, 22:37

Very nice update and new features aswell.

Just some minor suggestions:
- The play disc icon works great, but doesn't get highlighted it just dissapears;
- In the Video submenu would be nice if the default option was movies instead of pluggins;
- Visualization, when playing music, doesn't display in front of the background.

Jeroen

2008-06-22, 23:10

Very nice update and new features aswell.

Just some minor suggestions:
- The play disc icon works great, but doesn't get highlighted it just dissapears;

Argh. I even made myself a note to update the .xpr :oo: Thanks, new package with fix available on the download page.

- In the Video submenu would be nice if the default option was movies instead of pluggins;

It is actually. Or should be anyway. It is here :rolleyes: But when you enter plugins and then return to the homescreen it will remember the last chosen option. I don't think there's anything I can do about that.

- Visualization, when playing music, doesn't display in front of the background.
That's by design but will probably become an option. To be honest I don't care about visualisations much. If I do want to show them I prefer to have them obscured playing somewhere in the background and keeping the text readable. I'll think about it.

xbs08

2008-06-22, 23:37

I don't know why but my default, on first selection, is pluggins and only becomes movies if i select and then return like you said :(

lord fluffy

2008-06-23, 01:13

minor issue: when switching to library mode the last digit on the time display gets cut off. is that just me or is that universal???

Jeroen

2008-06-23, 09:57

I don't know why but my default, on first selection, is pluggins and only becomes movies if i select and then return like you said :(

That´s strange, I´ll look into what could be causing this.

minor issue: when switching to library mode the last digit on the time display gets cut off. is that just me or is that universal???
Not totally sure what you mean. Do you mean the time on the right on the bar? That is a piece of code that is called upon loading any screen. So it really shouldn´t matter whether you´re in library mode or not.

xbs08

2008-06-23, 10:55

Jeroen, could you check the latest build?
"Pictures" are missing the submenu and the play disc icon keeps dissapering :(

The first build is 6.3mb and the second one is 5.5mb, could be something's missing?

Jeroen

2008-06-23, 13:07

I´ll check it when I get home tonight. Lately windows explorer is crashing on me a lot when creating or unpacking zips. I had them last night so maybe something went wrong with the zip. Do you mean the submenu on the homescreen? I removed that since there wasn´t anything usefull to put into it.

xbs08

2008-06-23, 14:00

Jeroen

2008-06-23, 23:47

Yes i did. your right nothing very usefull there.

A good alternative to the play discs icon is putting it in text ("DVD" maybe) like the other and make a submenu with "play disc" and "explore disc" making it easier to access media on the cd/dvd, just a thought.

I thought about that, but to my knowledge there's no function to have a button explore a disc.
I rebuilt and re-zipped the skin, the dissapearing disc icon should really be fixed now.

Oh, and I changed some bits on the video menu could you check if movies is now selected by default?

xbs08

2008-06-24, 00:26

The disc icon doesn't disappear anymore :) but movies aren´t selected yet by default (can anyone check this, maybe is something with my settings?)

snuggidk

2008-06-24, 01:28

Jeroen

2008-06-24, 19:45

Hi great skin.. tested the update last night ... I got the problem too where the time gets cropped out .. e.g when its 0:30 you can only see 0:3 ... like the skins is filling out the screen too wide ..I had to make it -4% zoom to fit it all :| ... Evenmore can you hide the scrollbar somehow in the library and other places with many entries?.. E.g. in my library the text of the albums crosses the scrollbar which looks a bit silly :) .. maybe align the scrllbar in the left grid instead of the right grid of the text? :) .. I will test this skin further on too see if I can come up with anything else that could improve ...

Testing on Ubuntu linux 7.10 btw..

Are you sure you have the screen calibrated correctly? Because the time really is not outside the skins's boundaries and right aligned. It stays within the screen fine for me. Please check this by going to appearance settings->screen->video calibration.
I can't fix something that I cannot replicate. If you're on a 4:3 screen maybe it's a problem I don't know but 4:3 wasn't really taken into consideration.
And like stated a couple times, the scrollbars are not implemented correctly yet.
But thank you :)

For those interested I uploaded two screenies of work on the hd version. Still very much searching and trying out, meaning anything could change. Bigger screens give more freedom though like having the dedicated screen area on the bottom meant to provide various information, notifications, etc.

http://c.imagehost.org/t/0996/FocusHD01.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0996/FocusHD01.jpg)

http://c.imagehost.org/t/0232/FocusHD02.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/view/0232/FocusHD02.jpg)

xbs08

2008-06-24, 20:10

wow, looks great Jeroen

rudeboyx

2008-06-24, 20:22

not sure if this is a xbmc bug or skin bug but iv just downloaded and installed your skin. (FOCUS) great job by the way. after playing about for abit i highlighted music on the main menu and pressed down and selected recentlly played music from the list. a list of albums then apeared as expected. i then highlighted the first album and pressed the play button on the official xbox remote, and notihing happened, so i backed out to the main menu and went back into my music library to find that the library db file had been completely wiped, i was getting the message no item scaned please return to file mode.

to be clear the mymusic7.db file still existed at about 2.3mb but it was corupted in some way.

Been using XBMC for many years now and this has never happened before

also just before doing all this i had selected a custom background wich was 5mb in size so a low mem error may have been the cause as the background occasionally dissapears, iv looked through the log file but nothing obvious.

streetliquid

2008-06-25, 00:41

Absolute amazing skin, I have been trying skins here and there to replace the PMIII skin, I finally made the switch last night, this skin is perfect. Thanks for the hard work.

Was wondering if someone could answer me a question, I am having issues with the Video Library view, I enable the library view, go back to the main screen, once I go back to the video section, it defaults back to file view. Any ideas?

streetliquid

2008-06-25, 00:52

nm non issue. lol

snuggidk

2008-06-25, 01:33

I tried to calibrate the screen and it is not that :( .. I looks like the text is simply too big for the skin at my setup.. anyway to change that then I can edit by myself :)

Jeroen

2008-06-25, 12:15

...
To be honest I have no idea what could have caused that. I certainly hope no skin can have the power to mess up your db in any way.
I tried to abuse my Win32 install trying to replicate your problem but I was not successfull in doing that.

@snuggidk: what type of screen are you using though?

@streetliquid: Focus is designed in a way that the main categories on the homescreen always take you into files view. If you hover on for instance video and press the down button on your remote or controller you can go into the library views. Thanks for your kind words :)

snuggidk

2008-06-25, 15:24

Jeroen

2008-06-25, 16:07

Jeroen .. I am using an 32" widescreen tv (old shit) .. running in fullscreenmode in a dedicated ubuntu 7.10 server .. :)

It is like the topbar simply goes out of border when the time is too wide .. like 4 digits ..

Ok, I´ll have a look tonight. I can´t remember if I have my time set to 24 hour clock or not, maybe the label is not wide enough for that or something.

jonte511

2008-06-25, 17:01

Very nice skin! Unfortunately it's very unstable for me on the Linux port, so I'm gonna have to wait for future versions.

Really like the good support for my old PAL TV. Everything is readable =) (Some graphical bugs related to the resolutuion though)

Just an opinion... Estetically the whole skin is a bit too "blue", if you know what I mean... =) It's a bit too bright blue, which kinda annoys the eye. I personally think the coloring should be toned down a bit.

But thank for a nice skin in progress!

Jeroen

2008-06-25, 19:18

Jeroen .. I am using an 32" widescreen tv (old shit) .. running in fullscreenmode in a dedicated ubuntu 7.10 server .. :)

It is like the topbar simply goes out of border when the time is too wide .. like 4 digits ..

I did some tests on my 20" widescreen TFT monitor and on my 720p TV, and I could only replicate this problem when using 4:3 resolutions. Then indeed the last digit gets cut off. That is because I haven't paid any specific attention to 4:3 resolutions yet. I have to organise the font references to solve this, something I will look into soon. Every 16:9 resolution does not have the time cut off for me though, neither on my monitor or on my TV, so if you're using a 16:9 resolution I really have no clue. The skin is scaled from a 720*576 resolution, the time is aligned on the right at 660 pixels width and is 315 wide :sniffle: Maybe you can post a screenshot or something ?

Very nice skin! Unfortunately it's very unstable for me on the Linux port, so I'm gonna have to wait for future versions.

Really like the good support for my old PAL TV. Everything is readable =) (Some graphical bugs related to the resolutuion though)

Just an opinion... Estetically the whole skin is a bit too "blue", if you know what I mean... =) It's a bit too bright blue, which kinda annoys the eye. I personally think the coloring should be toned down a bit.

But thank for a nice skin in progress!

Thanks. What kind of stability problems do you get? Which xbmc version are you using? I doubt things are going to get fixed automatically if I don't know what to fix and if it's at all skin-related. I don't have enough knowledge of the inner workings of xbmc, but imo a skin should never be able to make a system unstable. And if it does I really want to know when or under which circumstances this happens so I can adress it. There was a stability problem when trying to change fonts but that has been taken care of.
Please note that Focus needs a fairly recent build to work properly. In order to only display viewtypes specifically made for certain types of content (like not showing a wide icon view when listing movies or albums), Focus uses visibility conditions on the lists. This is a relatively new skinning feature in XBMC.

The biggest blue influence comes from the default wallpaper, which you can change in the skin settings. Besides that the only blue elements are some labels and buttons. I think those will change a bit in the future, but not by very much. But I will keep your comment on this in mind. Also, the dialog windows are all blue. The thing is, I found those by far the hardest to define a look for. I have changed them very often before the first release and stuck with this in the end because I liked it the most that way. Everything else I tried either broke usability or consistency too much. But I am thinking about changing them again, probably some form of dark grey or black. More like the bottom bar in the screenshots I posted of the HD version, but much less or no transparency to keep it readible. That style then would also be extended to the OSD and fanart.

shanedoyle

2008-06-25, 23:07

Jeroen, Well done ive been using Aeon extensively and found an update for your skin and installed it - very very very nice indeed.. One of the best features of Aeon is that the backgrounds cycle, would you consider instead of a standard background image have a custom background folder?? I know you poor skinners get over dosed with suggestions after suggestions but im having to choose my fav aeon backdrop as the custom one for this - the cycle through a folder would lessen the choice and to my mind would be a great feature for you to add..

As always just a suggestion - well done on this lovely clean skin appreciate all the effort which has gone into it..

Shane

Jeroen

2008-06-26, 07:35

the cycle through a folder would lessen the choice and to my mind would be a great feature for you to add..

Thanks Shane, actually I just added an option for this a couple of days ago. It will be part of the next update :)

jonte511

2008-06-26, 12:15

Thanks. What kind of stability problems do you get? Which xbmc version are you using? I doubt things are going to get fixed automatically if I don't know what to fix and if it's at all skin-related. I don't have enough knowledge of the inner workings of xbmc, but imo a skin should never be able to make a system unstable. And if it does I really want to know when or under which circumstances this happens so I can adress it. There was a stability problem when trying to change fonts but that has been taken care of.
Please note that Focus needs a fairly recent build to work properly. In order to only display viewtypes specifically made for certain types of content (like not showing a wide icon view when listing movies or albums), Focus uses visibility conditions on the lists. This is a relatively new skinning feature in XBMC.

I'm using the latest xbmc for linux, or atleast it was three days ago...
My guess is that the instability relates to poor graphic drivers in Ubuntu (I have the ATIx1250). Have similar problem when using Aeon. Maby it's just that the skin isn't perfect yet. There are however som graphic glitches and hangups. If I find the time when I get home, I'll test it again to be more specific.

TheObo

2008-06-26, 13:09

Jeroen,
Nice skin - great work!
One question: Is there a dedicated TV Shows link anywhere?
I can't see any setting to turn on a TV Shows link on the home screen...

Jeroen

2008-06-26, 15:16

Jeroen,
Nice skin - great work!
One question: Is there a dedicated TV Shows link anywhere?
I can't see any setting to turn on a TV Shows link on the home screen...

People, no offense but please read the first post. There´s questions I keep on answering of which the answers are specifically mentioned in the first post. I honestly don´t mind answering questions but repeating the same gets a bit tiresome.
But glad you like the skin :)

MikeBeecham

2008-06-26, 15:57

shanedoyle

2008-06-26, 23:03

Jeroen,

Excellent news - Ill look out for the next release lovely lookin skin and i like the navigation - Really well done.. also lovely to see users feedback taken on..

Nice one
Shane

Jeroen

2008-06-28, 16:03

the ONLY issue I have at the moment is with the power aspect to the skin.

Maybe it's just 16x9, but the power button looks squashed, and the power menu could do with a tidy-up. But apart from that...tidy!

(gavin and stacey moment there!!

Yes, it's because of 16x9, the texture is perfectly square :)
The power menu is a mess, it will be fixed eventually. It's an annoying and boring dialog to skin and since I never use it, motivation is lacking :P

I don't know gavin and stacey, but I assume they're...tidy :rolleyes:

Excellent news - Ill look out for the next release lovely lookin skin

At least initially the cycling backgrounds will be universal through all windows. I spent quite some time yesterday on having three options.
1. One fixed background
2. cycling background
3. cycling background per library/content type. So movies would have a seperate background folder, tvshows, music, etc.

Combined with the option to have global fanart, and a dedicated fanart view, and several diffuse and overlay layers and combining those with the above three options and fallback solutions it gets (too) complex quick though. So many layering and conditions bring up some roadblocks. Not to mention possible memory issues on the 'ol xbox.
So at least for the time being it's going to be 1 and 2 only.

Got quite a lot of work done though. I hope to release a new version next weekend which would bring it close to some sort of milestone status.

LoL

2008-06-29, 03:50

Hey,

Great skin man!! Eventhough it's not finished yet it's my number 1 choice!!! :)

It's the only skin, to my knowledge, that has a readable font (type, color and size), other skins should use this as an example!! ;) (BTW I'm watching it on 16:9 tv)

Keep up the good work, I'm looking forward to your next release!

LoL ;)

xbs08

2008-07-02, 13:31

Looking forward to the HD version of this great skin.

u11241897135181

2008-07-02, 14:20

Not much to say other than, thanks! great skin!

ads_german

2008-07-02, 16:33

Hi Jeroen,

Great skin, but I noticed some of the fonts display strange at 16:9 480p resolution on the xbox - screenshots linked below.

I changed my resolution to NTSC 16:9 (480i) and the garbled fonts all displayed correctly, change back to 480p and they're garbled again.

I'd love to play with this skin a bit more if you know of a solution to this problem...

Cheers,
Adam.

Screenshots:
http://c.imagehost.org/t/0675/screenshot000.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/download/0675/screenshot000.bmp)
http://c.imagehost.org/t/0732/screenshot001.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/download/0732/screenshot001.bmp)
http://c.imagehost.org/t/0940/screenshot002.jpg (http://c.imagehost.org/download/0940/screenshot002.bmp)

manturafs

2008-07-02, 17:09

wow, this skin is nice! great work!

Jeroen

2008-07-02, 19:00

Thanks guys :)

Hi Jeroen,
Great skin, but I noticed some of the fonts display strange at 16:9 480p resolution on the xbox - screenshots linked below.

Damn, that's annoying. I experienced this exact same problem in the early stages of this skin. After experimenting with some font settings for a while I managed to fix it. Well, appearantly not completely. I was able to reprocuce the problem and the fix. I set a particular font 1 point higher and changed the font aspect ratio and the problem did not appear again. Slightly recalibrating my screen and rebooting the box after that reset the fonts back to normal again. When you have some time could you try if recalibrating the screen fixes the problem and then try to get it screwed up again? Or any other way to do this? It might give me some clue about where to look for the problem.
In any case I see it happens only with certain fonts, so that pattern should probably give me some clues. I'll look into it, otherwise I'll see if any of the devs know what might be causing this.
Thanks for the report :)

u11241897135181

2008-07-03, 00:07

I had this font problem today. Switched from NTSC4:3 to NTSC16:9. It happened when I used the skin zoom function. Can't remember if i zoomed in or out tho. Sorry!

ads_german

2008-07-04, 18:12

Hi Jeroen,

I tried playing around with settings as you suggested and while changing the video calibration didn't have any effect, changing the skin zoom to anything other than 0% (either plus or minus zoom) seems to fix the fonts problem at 480p 16:9 resolution. Changing back to 0% skin zoom at 480p 16:9 recreates the problem again.

Cheers,
Adam.

ads_german

2008-07-04, 18:24

Hmm, here's something weird though... I left the skin zoom at 2% (where the font was displaying correctly using focus as the skin) and changed to another skin (aeon)

All displayed ok with aeon...

Then when I changed back to focus (with the skin zoom still at 2%) the garbled font problem came back.

Now 0% and 2% skin zoom cause the font problem using focus, while >2% and <0% skin zoom eliminate the problem again...

ads_german

2008-07-04, 18:39

and even after several restarts of xbmc, the problem remained...

so i then switched back to aeon as the skin, reset the skin zoom to 0% then played with the screen calibration again to remove excess underscan, and restarted the xbox

next i changed back to focus (still at 0% skin zoom again) and the font problem has disappeared.

after restarting the xbox again, the fonts are still displaying correctly.

So lastly, I changed back to Aeon, which I have been using lately as my default skin, and I noticed the top date/time bar is a little higher positioned (less gap between the date/time and the top of screen), so my screen calibration must be slightly different than it was originally.

so in the end it looks like both playing with the screen calibration and the skin zoom can both fix this problem...

Jeroen

2008-07-05, 02:15

thanks for your testing, it's appreciated. I also tried to abuse focus on my xbox but I wasn't able to make the problem return. So I don't really understand what the factor is that causes the problem on your xbox. But like I said I have had the problem in the past and I want to prevent it happening further on any xbox. I have made some changes regarding fonts and I'm hoping they will make a difference. For all I know the problem could be limited to this particular font. Maybe I'll include an alternate fontset in the next release and see if that makes a difference.
Thanks again,

Jeroen

Hudson_Hawk04

2008-07-07, 20:09

maybe i'm missing something but for me library mode will not stay enabled. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up great work by the way.

Hudson_Hawk04

2008-07-07, 20:17

maybe i'm missing something but for me library mode will not stay enabled. Just wanted to give you guys a heads up great work by the way.

disregard that post im restarted figured it out

streetliquid

2008-07-08, 01:24

disregard that post im restarted figured it out

lol, I had the same problem, only to figure it out 10 minutes later. lol

Bram77

2008-07-08, 02:02

Is there a google-code page of sourceforge page where we can pull a development version from?

Jeroen

2008-07-08, 09:48

Not at the moment, no. Focus will go on the SVN after a couple of showstopping bugs have been fixed and the code is a bit more stable and cleaned up. At the moment there´s so much stuff being changed often, rewritten, broken and fixed again I don´t see much use in a dev version for now. Steady progress has been made recently though, so it shouldn´t be too far away.
Apart from that I´ll probably keep releasing periodic compiled versions whenever there have been noteworthy updates finalized.

edit: thanks for including Focus in your plugin :) Really useful plugin btw

aqtrans

2008-07-10, 21:42

Wow, I love this skin, it's just what I've been looking for! Can't wait until it matures a bit more.

Jeroen

2008-07-15, 22:46

New revision released, see first post for details.

Leontes

2008-07-16, 00:29

Hi! Just tried out the new revision. It fixed all the problems I originally had with this skin. Felt the need to express my appreciation. This skin is looking great, and is so easy to use! Kudos.

Bram77

2008-07-16, 01:59

You've done a great job on the skin. Pretty impressive! The is no other skin that allows me to access the exact part of XBMC I'd like to use, from the home screen, as quick as yours.

Two minor notes...
The backgrounds change rapidly when a backdrop directory is configured. Would it be possible to make the changing speed configurable?
When I use the skin with the Dutch language the text is bigger then a lot of the buttons (I guess you know that :)). In English the text fits perfectly. Having the option to choose a more compact font could overcome this. I do this with the PMIII skin, and it helps. If I'd have the spare time.

I've added the skin to the xbmc-favorites plugin for download.
Thanks again for notifying me about the update!

snuggidk

2008-07-16, 03:17

Hi very very cool update .. fixed the error with the clock out of screen (you may remember that :) ) .. But erm.. Why is the cowerflow for tv-shows gone? :( .. and very cool update on the use of a folder for custom backgrounds .. but can you readd the possibility to use a single custom image too? I miss that one :)

marlboroman1

2008-07-16, 13:09

sweet update every thing working great for 4.3. It looks amazing with custom backgrounds, fan art, the layout, the menus and especially the context menus. I'm simply blown away by how good this skin is cheers mate

Bram77

2008-07-16, 14:09

the video overlays are misplaced on my 16:9 PAL television.

aart

2008-07-16, 15:47

I'm loving the updates you did on the skin. Very clean and easy to use. One thing I really miss in the viewtypes is a mediaview-like view like in basics-vision (see screenshot). Is it hard to copy that viewtype over to focus?
otherwise great skin, keep it up!:nod:

http://img137.imageshack.us/img137/2196/mediaviewvo0.th.jpg (http://img137.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mediaviewvo0.jpg)

aart

2008-07-16, 16:07

(edit) nevermind my previous post, found out the listview will give you the big season thumbs.

Jeroen

2008-07-16, 20:07

Hi! Just tried out the new revision. It fixed all the problems I originally had with this skin. Felt the need to express my appreciation. This skin is looking great, and is so easy to use! Kudos.

Thank you, I appreciate that. Glad to hear your problems are fixed :)

The backgrounds change rapidly when a backdrop directory is configured. Would it be possible to make the changing speed configurable?

And there I was thinking people would maybe find the background changing too slow :D I like the idea of making the speed configurable. I don't have an idea atm on how to do it but I'll try to figure something out :)

When I use the skin with the Dutch language the text is bigger then a lot of the buttons (I guess you know that :)). In English the text fits perfectly. Having the option to choose a more compact font could overcome this. I do this with the PMIII skin, and it helps. If I'd have the spare time.

I know ;) The problem is I prefer to keep the fonts limited to 1, max 2 font-families for consistency. I could experiment a bit with the font's aspect ratio to see if that helps. I'll set xbmc to dutch for a while to see where the problem occurs. I see some problems in the context menu for instance. By making the menu a bit wider most of them would be resolved and I can make them scrollable so they at least stay within bounds when a label is too big for the button. All in all, it's a difficult thing to completely overcome. But I'll do my best :)

the video overlays are misplaced on my 16:9 PAL television.

Do you mean the OSD overlays showing movietitle and such? Or the "now playing" info at the bottom when browsing? I checked those and they stay in the correct position here? Maybe you could post a screenie?

//damn character limit :P More info later.

Jeroen

2008-07-16, 20:36

A Quick fix.

Something I just noticed: because of a mistake the detail list view was disabled and impossible to enable. Updated the download package in the first post.

Alternatively download this small fix without the need of redownloading the whole skin, drop both files into the PAL folder:

http://www.box.net/shared/wmh65ob4cs

Bram77

2008-07-16, 22:38

I've added the updated to the XBMC-Favorites plugin.

Do you mean the OSD overlays showing movietitle and such? Or the "now playing" info at the bottom when browsing? I checked those and they stay in the correct position here? Maybe you could post a screenie?
After installing your fix with the xbmc-favorites plugin the problem is fixed. I think that when I downloaded the Alpha 3 version yesterday, not all files of he Alpha2 version were replaced or something. The overlays are perfect now! Really nice!

One more thing. The Big-List view in the video library is one of the best views I've seen for this purpose. I personally wouldn't mind if the single plot line was scrolling below, instead of the parental advisory. But that's just a personal thing and of no importance at all.
What does make this view harder to use is that the background of the selcted movie is alsmost the same as the background of the selected one. Especially with a colorfull background it's almst impossible to make out which item is selected. Maybe 'dimming' the non-selected items. Or make them, let's say 50%, more transparent then the selected item. I don't mean the background but the whole 'block'. This would make it a lot clearer which item is selected.

And there I was thinking people would maybe find the background changing too slow I like the idea of making the speed configurable. I don't have an idea atm on how to do it but I'll try to figure something out
I personally would like it if it would change once a day. Then I could put 356 nice images in a directory and have a different background every day of the year :)

Bram77

2008-07-16, 22:45

Maybe you could also add a very light, transparent background to the submenu items in the homescreen to make then stand out a bit more on a colorful background.

I'm just making some suggestions. No criticism intended!

Jeroen

2008-07-16, 23:30

fixed the error with the clock out of screen (you may remember that :) )
Great :)

.. But erm.. Why is the cowerflow for tv-shows gone? :( ..

There never was a coverflow for tv-shows, or do you mean for the tv-show seasons? I removed that because it didn't make much sense imo. Usability wise Coverflow isn't that great anyway. It's mostly a fun way of browsing through your movies when you're not specifically looking for something but more to get an idea of what you would like to watch. When you know beforehand what you want to watch something like list view is much more effective imo. How many seasons does a tv-show have generally? Most of them don't reach 10. So in a list of a handfull of seasons it doesn't really make sense as generally the seasons view is something you quickly go through to get to your episodes. I felt in that view it was more of a gimmick than truly usefull. I definitely want things to look nice, but ultimately function rules over form :) I'll think about having it as an option turned off by default.

aart

2008-07-16, 23:56

I'd like to see the icons in coverslide a bit bigger if possible. Or maybe another viewtype with bigger cover-icons. And I noticed that when I press pause during a movie the counter of the current duration-time is saying 00:00:00.
I'm really like the skin, my default atm!

Jeroen

2008-07-17, 00:14

Argh, I should check my "fixes" better :no:
When fixing the detail listview missing I made the big list view dissapear :blush:
Anyway, download link updated...again... and I took the opportunity to fix the selection image in said view. Sorry about that, I had a rough day ;)

That does it, I need rest. I'll read up on what I broke this time later :D

scarfa

2008-07-17, 07:40

This is my new default skin. Thank you for a such a streamlined and elegant skin with font that is actually legible on my 53 inch! Looking forward to your HD release.

scarfa

2008-07-17, 07:41

Can you add dvd icon view?

IIINeOIIINL

2008-07-17, 12:15

Jeroen,

First of all: a Great skin!, very clean and crisp.

Based on your "member name" your dutch?
I noticed that not all of buttons in the home screen fit all foreign translations, for example (screenshot below)

http://img236.imageshack.us/my.php?image=focuswh4.jpg

For the rest, keep on the good work :grin:

Jeroen

2008-07-17, 16:31

The Big-List view in the video library is one of the best views I've seen for this purpose. I personally wouldn't mind if the single plot line was scrolling below, instead of the parental advisory.

Spot on, that was exactly my intention originally for this view.
However I ran into a big obstacle with this. Whenever the scraped plot info contained a line break, it would make the plot info spread across two or more lines instead of one, making the text spread through the video items below it. Plus the scrolling would be extremely jerkey, scrolling the two lines seperately at the same time.
I adressed this in a thread some time ago but jmarshall said it's intended behaviour for xbmc, line breaks should always be respected. So I would definitely want this too, but I'm afraid it's just not possible.

What does make this view harder to use is that the background of the selcted movie is alsmost the same as the background of the selected one.
Fixed in the latest release. There was actually no selection image at all. Or actually I was calling a deleted texture :o

I personally would like it if it would change once a day. Then I could put 356 nice images in a directory and have a different background every day of the year :)
:) I don't know if there's a limit to the cycling delay but if there's none, this theoretically could work but you would have to keep your xbox powered on 356 days 24/7 and keep it in the same screen all that time :D

XBMC just shows the images either randomly or in chronological order and it does not keep track of where it left off before. The best thing I could possibly do is to have speed presets, but there's no way of having the user pass on values like seconds or minutes to set the cycling speed.

Jeroen

2008-07-17, 23:51

I noticed that when I press pause during a movie the counter of the current duration-time is saying 00:00:00.
Fixed for next revision, thanks :)

Based on your "member name" your dutch?

Guilty as charged :)

I noticed that not all of buttons in the home screen fit all foreign translations, for example (screenshot below)

Yes I'm aware of that, I hope to do something about it at a point.

SandmanCL

2008-07-18, 11:11

Jeroen: Have you tried using some sort of frame around the movie posters ? I think that would make the posters look more 'fitted'

SandmanCL

2008-07-18, 11:19

By the way, I really like the look of this skin. I hope you go all the way with it :) Thanks for sharing your hard work.

SandmanCL

2008-07-18, 12:19

A couple of more comments from me. Sorry for the multiple posts.

* The View selection button should have an up/down selector (when toggling between Big Icons, List, Detail List, etc.) I like that I can turn on/off viewtypes though.

* When I navigate around the menus, the audio will occasionally be trailing behind the video, or sometime be skipped altogether. This leads to the skin feeling less smooth. This happens with both digital and analog out.

* I'm not a big fan of animations (I turn it off in PMIII) -- do you plan to make the animation user configurable ? The fade in/out looks cool though :)

* The When in List view and I've selected to show the plot when pausing on a movie, it would be nice if the poster was represented in a smaller size above the plot. Or (crazy idea ? :) ) - mirrorize the poster, make it like 90% transparent and make it larger so that it appears that you've flipped the DVD cover to read the plot outline on the back)

* I really like how you're mapped the remote control 'Info' button in Visualization mode.

Jeroen

2008-07-18, 22:51

Can you add dvd icon view?
There will be no more icon based viewtypes. The Big Icons view for movies is tailored specifically to DVD covers, similar to the DVD icon view in PM3. If that's what you mean though.

Have you tried using some sort of frame around the movie posters ? I think that would make the posters look more 'fitted'
Yes I did, and did not like what I tried so far. Maybe I'll try some more in the future. If I do it will be used as a selection image, so none on the unfocused covers. Low priority though.

* The View selection button should have an up/down selector (when toggling between Big Icons, List, Detail List, etc.) I like that I can turn on/off viewtypes though.

Agreed, that's on my list for the next update.

* When I navigate around the menus, the audio will occasionally be trailing behind the video, or sometime be skipped altogether. This leads to the skin feeling less smooth. This happens with both digital and analog out.
Yes, this bothers me too. I edited the sound file because it would lag behind even more with the original sound file. I'm going to tweak it some more to see how I can resolve this.

* I'm not a big fan of animations (I turn it off in PMIII) -- do you plan to make the animation user configurable ? The fade in/out looks cool though :)

Very unlikely, sorry. Animations imo play a big part in the smoothness of using the interface. Especially on the XBOX I feel things are working slower when there's no animation, especially for page transitions. With any skin btw. I know it's just perception but I think that's important. I try not to go overboard with animations though. Which is why I already removed some animations in the last release and toned down some others as well. I also mostly use them where I feel it's functional. For instance, in the dialog windows, the parent window will fade out a bit when a child dialog window is opened, in order to emphasize on the active window and make things look...calmer, if that makes any sense :)

* The When in List view and I've selected to show the plot when pausing on a movie, it would be nice if the poster was represented in a smaller size above the plot. Or (crazy idea ? :) ) - mirrorize the poster, make it like 90% transparent and make it larger so that it appears that you've flipped the DVD cover to read the plot outline on the back)

Yeah, I actually tried something like that before. It's a nice idea but I didn't feel comfortable with it. I put the text over the poster image which faded out. But especially when using custom, "busy" backdrops things tended to get...chaotic, for lack of a better word. I may try something similar again using a different approach though. Maybe by using a dark opaque texture behind the movie poster or something, I'll have to see.
Putting it above the plot in a smaller size doesn't really work for me. Due to it's vertical orientation it would just leave a lot of empty space next to the poster. If it was possible to make text wrap around an image I would like it though.

Thanks for your constructive comments :)

Bram77

2008-07-19, 01:56

I'm having some trouble with subtitles with your skin, so it seems. When I run a movie, no subtitles are showing and the option to enable them (from the movie overlay menu) it appears to have no effect. When I do the same in PMIII with the same movie, it does work.

Bram77

2008-07-19, 01:57

Oh yeah. One if the things I personally fins annoying is the automatic scrolling of text. Is it possible to disable that, from configuration or XML file or something?

MOAI

2008-07-19, 04:28

Thanks you for your work on this excellent skin!
I just downloaded it today, and it was exactly the kind of thing I've been looking for, clean and simple, I've made it my default - I really appreciate all your work, and look forward to seeing future releases :laugh:

Thanks again, and keep up the good work!

exxo

2008-07-19, 13:43

I was wondering if you could enhance the support for using the mouse. ex. the dropdown menus doesnt work with the mouse.

I really like this skin and i want to use it with my XBMC on my PC but usually the mouse isnt working well with most of the skins.

Jeroen

2008-07-19, 18:11

When I run a movie, no subtitles are showing and the option to enable them (from the movie overlay menu) it appears to have no effect.
:) It just appears not available. The radiobutton texture was missing in that dialog. I've corrected this for the next release. It should definitely work though as skins don't have any effect on those controls apart from the looks, the rest is completely handled by xbmc itself. I have confirmed it working last night when watching a movie.

Oh yeah. One if the things I personally fins annoying is the automatic scrolling of text. Is it possible to disable that, from configuration or XML file or something?
I'll probably provide an option to turn it off. However it will (at least for now) mean that you won't be able to always read the full plot for instance as I don't want scrollbars all over the place. Plus, for instance in list view the plot appears after 2 seconds of idle time. If I would add those little spin controls to scroll through the plot you would have to press a button to get to those controls but then the plot would dissapear again because of the suspending of idle state :) So I'll have to see if I can come up with something. I will be tweaking the autoscrolling values though, giving them a bigger delay and scrolling less fast.

Thanks again, and keep up the good work!
Thanks, glad you like it :)

I was wondering if you could enhance the support for using the mouse. ex. the dropdown menus doesnt work with the mouse.

I really like this skin and i want to use it with my XBMC on my PC but usually the mouse isnt working well with most of the skins.
I was afraid that request would appear someday :D
I don't know, I personally have no need for it at all. I guess I don't really see the point, let alone advantage of using a mouse to control a mediacenter, except maybe for those logitech air or wiiii thingies.
The submenu appears by pressing down and a mouse simply doesn't register that. At some point I plan to completely rewrite the way the homescreen menus are activated, maybe that will make it easier to add better mouse support but don't expect that any time soon sorry.

exxo

2008-07-21, 17:17

Jeroen

2008-07-21, 18:50

Was there a way to fix this. Cant seem to make it go away on my Xbox...

Did you read this one: http://xbmc.org/forum/showpost.php?p=196723&postcount=90

Another thing I would suggest is making sure the screen is calibrated properly in another skin, reboot and remove the Focus directory and start fresh with the latest release.

I hope this problem will be solved in one of the upcoming releases (hopefully the next one). As I can´t recreate the problem myself it´s really just blind fixing for me, trying out things hoping they will solve it. In the next release the entire font configuration will be reworked and the current fontset will be replaced by open (source) fonts. So I´m hoping that will contribute to getting rid of this.

Anyway in those screenshots the screen is clearly not calibrated properly. Notice how the bar on the top is going completely offscreen as well as the time. Regardless of that it should not happen though.

espengaasemyr

2008-07-24, 22:21

My default skin! Lots of positive comeback from some of my friends! two of them has been using XBMC daily since they saw it!!!:nod:

Jeroen

2008-07-25, 12:52

thanks espengaasemyr, that´s nice to hear :)
Haven´t had as much time to work on Focus as I would like this week, but hopefully if all goes well there will be a new release this weekend.

Jeroen

2008-07-27, 14:49

In the upcoming period I want to push Focus towards beta status. As a part of this I would like to see Focus support different languages. This will also enable me to see how different languages affect the design of Focus (for example width of labels and such).

Currently localisation support is lacking and the english language file is a bit messy and it has redundant entries. I will be cleaning this up in the upcoming period making it a better base to start from.

So if you would like to see Focus support your native language (or a second language you have mastered of course), I'm looking for YOU! :grin:

If you are willing to provide (and maintain!) language files for Focus drop me a line and we'll talk. The actual editing of the files is not hard to do, I can provide you with instructions when the time comes if needed. The requirement would be being able to translate english to your language as effectively as possible (as to determine a good compromise between amount of characters and keeping the string's meaning clear)

You will of course be credited for your efforts upon new releases and in the skin credits section in Focus itself.

Greetings,
Jeroen

Currently enlisted translators:
-NOOK (german)
-snuggidk (danish)
-shizzle (swedish)
-SandmanCL (norwegian)
-xbs08 (portuguese)
-Modhack (french)

shizzle

2008-07-27, 21:34

i can translate swedish if you want

Jeroen

2008-07-27, 22:32

That would be great shizzle, check your pm :)

SandmanCL

2008-07-27, 23:31

Jeroen -- I can do Norwegian

Jeroen

2008-07-27, 23:58

It's turning into a Nordic affair here :)

xbs08

2008-07-28, 00:49

If you need a Portuguese translation i can do it

scarfa

2008-07-28, 14:01

Hi Jeroen do you know if you fixed the bug in the audio menu when watching a movie. Like some of the radio buttons for turning on subtitles or enabling output to all speakers can't be seen. I sorta have to guess if its on or not. Hope that gets fixed. Thanks for the wonderful skin.

Jeroen

2008-07-28, 14:22

aart

2008-07-28, 20:25

Can we expect a new revision soon?

Jeroen

2008-07-28, 20:56

Yes, some time this week. I had originally planned to do a release last weekend, but I wanted to do some more things.

MikeBeecham

2008-07-29, 21:27

jeroen,

I would like to add an entry to the sub menu of 'Videos' is there any way to do this?

Jeroen

2008-07-29, 22:08

jeroen,

I would like to add an entry to the sub menu of 'Videos' is there any way to do this?

Yes and No :)

Not through the skin's interface at the moment. The submenus are currently using the buttonscroller control. This control unfortunately does not allow visibility conditions on it's individual items. Something which is needed to offer some sort of user customisation. This control is considered deprecated and will unfortunately be removed from xbmc eventually if I'm correct. Buttonscrollers do offer some advantages though. The scrolling is smooth and it allows gradual fading of the list.

In order to get the same results and make it customizable I'll need to completely rewrite the menu system and use static lists combined with animations or something along those lines. I would like to make the submenus completely customizable, so I will be rewriting it at some point.

Now to the yes. Adding entries is quite simple though by editing the xml.

- Open up the file HomeVideoMenu.xml
- around line 45 the code for the actual buttons starts. Just copy and paste one of those button entries.
- increase the ID of the added entry by 1 (so "8" in this case)
- enter the text you want to appear for the button between the <label>tags
- enter the path (or script or whatever you want to point it to) between the <onclick> tags.

wiki links of interest for that last step:
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Opening_Windows_and_Dialogs
http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Window_IDs

The only thing left to do is scroll up a bit to <numbuttons>7</numbuttons>
Change this value to the new total amount of buttons in the menu.

Hope that helps :)

Ayla

2008-08-01, 13:14

Jeroen,

Sorry if I missed it, but when will the HD version of this nice looking skin be out?

Jeroen

2008-08-01, 14:05

Jeroen,

Sorry if I missed it, but when will the HD version of this nice looking skin be out?

I honestly have no idea :)

The HD version hasn't got any work done on it for a long time. Since then the normal version received a lot of bug fixes, changes and improvements. It would take less time to start over completely with the HD version based on the current Focus instead of porting over all the changes to what I had before.

My plans have changed regularly. The most recent plan was to have two completely seperate versions, so basically two different skins. I'm not so sure about that anymore.

How it currently stands is: number one priority at this moment is getting Focus to a 1.0 state where I feel it can provide a good base for any other version to be based on. Then I don't think a seperate HD version will be made, instead I will gradually be making HD specific changes to the, then current, Focus.

SandmanCL

2008-08-01, 22:37

For what it's worth -- I think the skin looks beautiful already; on my 50" 720p screen :)

SandmanCL

2008-08-01, 22:38

... that doesn't mean I'm not encouraging a HD version though :grin:

Jeroen

2008-08-03, 18:38

New revision released, see first post for details.
I didn't get as much done as I would like due to the scorching heat over here the last week :sniffle:, but still reasonably happy.
Implemented some things last minute and I haven't had a whole lot of time for testing so I may have overlooked things, let me know if weird stuff happens, I'll be fixing up bugs in the coming week.

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-03, 19:11

:grin:Like the update! alot of work done, considering the heat.

Question: is it possible to give the option to use all viewtypes also if your not using library-mode under music. AlbumFlow only works within library mode.
Not all of my music is scanned into the library (yet, or too rare)

In library mode (TV-Shows) I would like the Thumbs bigger, they look a litle like poststamps :blush:

For the rest a great skin

Jeroen

2008-08-03, 19:46

Forgot to update some navigation controls in video left menu :blush: Updated download package.

Question: is it possible to give the option to use all viewtypes also if your not using library-mode under music. AlbumFlow only works within library mode.
Not all of my music is scanned into the library (yet, or too rare)

No, that's not possible. In library mode the viewtypes that will be presented is based on the type of content that is being listed. That way it's possible to present a different variation of a viewtype for tvhows and for movies for instance. To determine this items have to be scanned to the library. I could make the viewtypes available to files view but then one certain viewtype would be used everywhere (like coverflow view for genres or years, or wide icon view for movies, which looks messy and weird) Not to mention having to flip through all those viewtypes to get to the one you want. Focus aims to be a library orientated skin, I only use files view when I have to scan stuff or add shares.
Advice would be to have your library scanned automatically on startup. That way you'll always have it up to date.

In library mode (TV-Shows) I would like the Thumbs bigger, they look a litle like poststamps

Which view? Coverslide? I want to be able to see at least two items ahead, and since the thumbs are wide and I want to keep their aspectratio correct, this is as large as it can go (they are already a bit bigger than in the previous version iirc) So then this unfortunately is a trade off on smaller screens.

For the rest a great skin

Thanks :)

aart

2008-08-03, 20:47

Wow, I like the improvements on this rev! great OSD, the fonts are very clear and can't really see the difference with the old ones. I saw you also changed the volume slider bar, but I liked the old one with the numbers inside better. And I'm not a big fan of the busy 'icon'. Maybe a simple spinning circle would be better...
Still my default skin...great job!

MikeBeecham

2008-08-03, 21:03

MPauley73

2008-08-03, 21:26

@Jeroen :: I think I found a bug that may have been there awhile...

While watching a video, click info and the information slides up on the screen.
Click info again and the information just disappears.
Click Menu to see playback controls and the information (from step 1) slides off the screen.

Thanks for the great skin!!

MDPauley

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-03, 21:44

Quote:
In library mode (TV-Shows) I would like the Thumbs bigger, they look a litle like poststamps

Which view? Coverslide? I want to be able to see at least two items ahead, and since the thumbs are wide and I want to keep their aspectratio correct, this is as large as it can go (they are already a bit bigger than in the previous version iirc) So then this unfortunately is a trade off on smaller screens.

I mean View type: List (Dutch: lijst) the Thumb of a TV-Show is a litle bit small.
Coverslide is ver nice view, you might lower the thumb and plottext? because its interfering the top menubar.

I Also liked the old font an windows, but as you said in your opening post, your working on it.

Keep on the good work! :nod:

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-03, 21:50

Sorry for the double post.

a Small comment for the font, it's looks a litle bit too big, specialy in a dialog window.

I love the new shutdown window, you might consider putting exit on top.

Jeroen

2008-08-04, 00:25

Jeroen....great rev mate. Fonts are clear on SD television, and everything seems to rock. If I'm honest I prefered the old video OSD (glass), but really like the controls that are on them. With regards to the new volume indicator, I like it, but there seems to be a graphical 'glitch', as I can see some kind of dark outer 'glow' but has been sliced off halfway up!

Apart from that, great rev mate.

Thanks Mike :) I'm using pretty much the same texture for the OSD as before, just darker. The OSD textures will probably see some more slight changes. Probably a tad lighter. Personally I don't like how atm it's not always very clear which button is focused. So that will need to be adressed too.

I'll look into the volume bar glitch, but I will probably change it to be horizontal again but keep it in about the same space.

While watching a video, click info and the information slides up on the screen.
Click info again and the information just disappears.
Click Menu to see playback controls and the information (from step 1) slides off the screen.
If I've understood you correctly I have not been able to reproduce that, but I will look into it some more later. Cheers :)

[I]
I mean View type: List (Dutch: lijst) the Thumb of a TV-Show is a litle bit small.
Coverslide is ver nice view, you might lower the thumb and plottext? because its interfering the top menubar.
Ah ok. Yes I guess it is a bit small. There's not enough horizontal space left for it to grow :) Only way would be to make the list less wide in order to make the thumb bigger. Something I would't have a problem with as there's no right hand labels in tv show lists. So, I'll think about it :)

a Small comment for the font, it's looks a litle bit too big, specialy in a dialog window.
I love the new shutdown window, you might consider putting exit on top.
Regarding the font in dialog windows, What type of screen are you using?. Because for higher resolutions these will be made smaller.
I prefer to keep the items in the shutdown window in the same order as on the home screen as it's basically become a mini home screen. And exit is easy to reach by going up from the top menu item.

and oh, download package updated again as a texture was missing (the diffuse texture which sits behind the row of thumbs in fanart view). That's what you'll get when cleaning up redundant files while you actually need to sleep :P

megatomte

2008-08-04, 12:12

I registered here much for this skin, because I usually lurk. But this felt worthy of a post, so here I am.

It was a pain searching up this thread but here I am, after going in to the Credits tab in the settings menu. (Very smart :))

Firstly my visualisations stopped working, no idea why, but with the latest release they are working again, so no worries there. Everything is quite brilliant with the theme, and it runs perfectly.

Now, something I noticed in this newer release is when listening to music -> Display, so I get fullscreen visualisation, and then bring up the menu. Only a few options show "RWD 32X -Blank- FWD 8X -Blank- -Blank- FWD 2X -Paused- -Blank- -Blank-"

The RWD 32X Rewinds to the start/goes back one song,
the blank next to it is the real rewind,
the FWD 8X pauses/plays the music,
the next blank forwards (2x, 8x, etc),
the last blank before the 'paused' jumps to the next song,
the FWD 2X brings up the song information menu,
The paused tab brings up the visualisation choose menu,
the next blank brings up the visualisation presets menu,
and finally, the last blank has something to do with visualisations too.. I cant tell as I am not that good at things.

Thank you for making a great skin, and hopefully you'll be able to extract something from this :)

Dimestore

2008-08-04, 12:33

First off thanks for this great skin.
Dont know if it is to early to report bugs but it seems that covers are deformed in AlbumFlow and Icons view.

AlbumFlow:http://img184.imageshack.us/img184/7931/viewalbumflowverzerrtct3.th.jpg (http://img184.imageshack.us/my.php?image=viewalbumflowverzerrtct3.jpg)

Icons:http://img158.imageshack.us/img158/2748/viewiconsverzerrtym3.th.jpg (http://img158.imageshack.us/my.php?image=viewiconsverzerrtym3.jpg)

Tested on latest t3ch xbmc and Focus Alpha 4.

Jeroen

2008-08-04, 19:53

Now, something I noticed in this newer release is when listening to music -> Display, so I get fullscreen visualisation, and then bring up the menu. Only a few options show "RWD 32X -Blank- FWD 8X -Blank- -Blank- FWD 2X -Paused- -Blank- -Blank-"...

That doesn't sound good :no: I'll look into this :)
Thanks for taking the effort to report your findings!

Dont know if it is to early to report bugs

On the contrary, it can never be too early :)

but it seems that covers are deformed in AlbumFlow and Icons view.

That's partly because of the 4:3 aspecratio. Focus's development has been focused mainly on 16:9 and HD. I will do what I can to make it look as good as possible for 4:3, but in a lot of cases 4:3 will have to be compromised. In the case of icon view it's a trade of in any aspect ratio as the covers are hardly ever the same size. I want them to have the same dimensions in the skin though to keep things tidy. So at the moment they are stretched to that size, but I can look into how it will work out if I scale the images instead. This will mean though that small parts of the cover will be cut of in some cases.

The title font in the coverflow screenshot looks awfully big now that I look at it, I'll be downsizing that :P

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-05, 20:36

Regarding the font in dialog windows, What type of screen are you using?. Because for higher resolutions these will be made smaller.

I'm using it on a 42 inch, on 720p (Xbox), maybey it's more like taste. To me in some kind a way, the look a litle strech verticaly. (settings and calibrations are fine)

Fot the rest, :cool:

scarfa

2008-08-05, 23:08

Jeroen

2008-08-05, 23:17

I'm using it on a 42 inch, on 720p (Xbox), maybey it's more like taste. To me in some kind a way, the look a litle strech verticaly. (settings and calibrations are fine)

Fot the rest, :cool:

I will be running down the font sizes and other stuff for 720p at a later stage :)

It doesn't appear to be fixed in the new version.
Did you do a clean install?
Can anyone else confirm this? because for me they are definitely showing up.

rwparris2

2008-08-05, 23:24

Now, something I noticed in this newer release is when listening to music -> Display, so I get fullscreen visualisation, and then bring up the menu. Only a few options show "RWD 32X -Blank- FWD 8X -Blank- -Blank- FWD 2X -Paused- -Blank- -Blank-"...

The same happens to me.

Also, I don't know if this applies just to Focus or if it is xbmc wide (haven't tested with other skins yet, sorry) but while playing music, no matter what view I leave it in it always eventually goes to the visualization, except there's nothing there... just the blue background gradient. When a new song comes on, I see the album cover etc for a sec or two with visualization behind it blended with the gradient (like I have it set) then everything goes away and it's just the gradient again. Is there a setting that I have screwed up somewhere?

Which XML file do I need to edit in order to change the Shutdown menu items? There are one or two things I'd like the change in it to suit my preferences. (BTW, this is by FAR the best shutdown menu in any skin ever!)

And one more preference thing... in the music library, when I don't have an icon for an artist, I'd rather have no icon (or maybe a PMIII-esque silhouette) than the big gray square telling me I don't have an icon. It's kinda ugly, and if it's blank or just a silhouette, I'll be perfectly aware that there isn't an icon without the huge gray square telling me so.

Jeroen

2008-08-06, 00:18

The same happens to me.

I've found the cause of this...the cause appeared to be...not having done any skinning on it at all :laugh: I assumed that in this screen it would just use the osd controls I had already set. But it appears a seperate one should be made for this screen. And since I don't really use visualisations I hadn't come across this yet :) Expect a fix for this in the next version.

Also, I don't know if this applies just to Focus or if it is xbmc wide (haven't tested with other skins yet, sorry) but while playing music, no matter what view I leave it in it always eventually goes to the visualization, except there's nothing there... just the blue background gradient. When a new song comes on, I see the album cover etc for a sec or two with visualization behind it blended with the gradient (like I have it set) then everything goes away and it's just the gradient again. Is there a setting that I have screwed up somewhere?

Hm. I have been working on this screen today (on my Windows build) and the visualisation sometimes dissapears for me too. I have not tested this on the xbox yet so atm I don't know whether this is skin related or not. Anyway, I am currently completely rewriting this anyway so hopefully that will take care of any weird stuff.

Which XML file do I need to edit in order to change the Shutdown menu items? There are one or two things I'd like the change in it to suit my preferences. (BTW, this is by FAR the best shutdown menu in any skin ever!)

That would be dialogbuttonmenu.xml

And one more preference thing... in the music library, when I don't have an icon for an artist, I'd rather have no icon (or maybe a PMIII-esque silhouette) than the big gray square telling me I don't have an icon. It's kinda ugly, and if it's blank or just a silhouette, I'll be perfectly aware that there isn't an icon without the huge gray square telling me so.

Those are basically placeholders until I come up with something. I hate making icons so that would be the reason :) Leaving it empty is not an option for me though.

scarfa

2008-08-08, 08:26

It doesn't appear to be fixed in the new version.

Did you do a clean install?
Can anyone else confirm this? because for me they are definitely showing up.

Well I deleted the old version and installed the new version. What else do I have to do?

Jeroen

2008-08-08, 10:16

Well I deleted the old version and installed the new version. What else do I have to do?

Extremely strange. To be sure it wasn´t something that slipped in at the last moment I downloaded the version I uploaded and checked that one. And the textures really are showing up in that version. It´s something I fixed quite some time ago already. Only thing I can suggest at the moment is redownloading.

I´m very curious to know if there´s more people experiencing the same problem, because I really don´t have a clue tbh.

scarfa

2008-08-08, 11:12

Extremely strange. To be sure it wasn´t something that slipped in at the last moment I downloaded the version I uploaded and checked that one. And the textures really are showing up in that version. It´s something I fixed quite some time ago already. Only thing I can suggest at the moment is redownloading.

I´m very curious to know if there´s more people experiencing the same problem, because I really don´t have a clue tbh.

I don`t know what I did but I just redownloaded and installed again and the buttons now show up. Although another problem popped up, I can`t seem to use custom backgrounds; when I point it to a folder with the wallpaper the background is all black. Is there some sort of cache I have to delete. If I can get this problem fixed I`m golden.

Jeroen

2008-08-08, 13:00

I don`t know what I did but I just redownloaded and installed again and the buttons now show up. Although another problem popped up, I can`t seem to use custom backgrounds; when I point it to a folder with the wallpaper the background is all black. Is there some sort of cache I have to delete. If I can get this problem fixed I`m golden.

I don´t know tbh. I know xbmc caches the fanart but I don´t know if it does this with other (large) images. If you´re running on the xbox, one thing that is and will remain a growing concern is the limited memory on the xbox. Occasionally some fanart will just dissapear for me on the xbox, while working fine on my Win32 build. I have experienced your problem once. Custom backgrounds wouldn´t show up while working fine on Win32. Without doing anything at some point it would just start working again :sniffle:

I do have texture optimizing to do. So memory footprint, although nothing extraordinary atm I think, will be reduced a bit.

Glad the textures are working for you now though :)

marlboroman1

2008-08-11, 02:20

I've got to say I am absolutely loving this skin, I have been using it exclusively for about a month now and I'm very happy with it. Navigation is intuitive and the switching between file mode and library mode has a smooth and organic feel. I really like the simplicity and cleanness’s of the interface and the sense of space; the fact that you considered that people might want to be able to read the font is nice as well.

I hope that you will use these as your guiding principles moving forward and not be swayed too much by people who want this view or that border background or whatever. Concentrating on its simplicity as that is its strength and not adding views and features and backgrounds folders for everything but the kitchen sink. Till it becomes so convoluted to a point that only technical types with a super sized TV want to play with it.

Now to make a hypocrite of myself for me this skin is feature complete any issues that I had noticed have been resolved on this build. The only reason I haven't started to use this build on my xbox yet is because this skin is really at its best with custom backgrounds in their full glory. In the new version you have applied a dark mask I totally understand why it was add as on really bright images you can’t read the font. I really like the colourfulness and can live with a few seconds of illegibility if it means keeping it. So could you please add an option to switch the dark mask on or off or could you tell me how to remove myself.

Other options which you may already have discounted are either a dark mask behind a body of text which defuses into the background at the edges or a subtle shadow on the font itself. I'm aware that these options are simpler for me to suggest than they are to code but they are just that suggesting which hopefully can of use in some way.

Thanks again for creating this skin I've tried every other skin out there and was never completely happy with one until now.

rwparris2

2008-08-11, 02:35

dark mask behind a body of text ... or a subtle shadow on the font itself.

I agree something should be done to make the fonts "pop" in front of the background. This is mainly an issue for light colored fanart (sometimes there isn't a dark choice to choose from, and dimming the fanart significantly detracts from the overall appearance).

scarfa

2008-08-11, 04:06

I must say I liked the old taskbar better with the transparency and smaller font. Even on my 54" HDTV the smaller font was still readable. It's also too beveled but that might be a matter of taste because I hate any GUI with too much beveling.

Jeroen

2008-08-11, 14:43

I hope that you will use these as your guiding principles moving forward and not be swayed too much by people who want this view or that border background or whatever. Concentrating on its simplicity as that is its strength and not adding views and features and backgrounds folders for everything but the kitchen sink. Till it becomes so convoluted to a point that only technical types with a super sized TV want to play with it.

Yes, those have always been and will remain the priciples I work with. Every idea I get (or any suggestion a user brings up) is put on a scale. I really try to find a good balance there.

Actually instead of adding viewtypes I´m more keen on limiting the amount of viewtypes.
I have been completely rewriting the way custom backgrounds are handled this weekend though, allowing for more extensive user customisation (although one sacrifice had to be made, but more on that later). The way it´s currently handled in my dev version is a big improvement imo.

As for adding features I follow a very simple rule.
- If it´s an xbmc standard feature it will be supported no matter what.
- If it´s a custom feature, I have to like it and/or want to use it.

In the new version you have applied a dark mask I totally understand why it was add as on really bright images you can’t read the font. I really like the colourfulness and can live with a few seconds of illegibility if it means keeping it. So could you please add an option to switch the dark mask on or off or could you tell me how to remove myself.

There´s actually two things that dim the background images atm. One is a diffuse texture covering the entire screen, causing the brightness of the image to decrease from the center out to the screen corners and behind the transparent menu, indeed for readibility issues. This texture has been tweaked and made much less dramatic for the upcoming version. It will however not be made optional. Not because I don´t want to but simply because I don´t think there´s an easy way to do it the way it is set up now, apart from at least doubling the amount of code for the backgrounds and introducing a pack full of potential conflicts. Then again, I am learning while I go here, so who knows what I can come up with at a later stage.

The second one is a simple fade animation of the image. This second part is going to work differently in the next version and will be made optional.

Other options which you may already have discounted are either a dark mask behind a body of text which defuses into the background at the edges or a subtle shadow on the font itself.

I have thought about that a couple of times before and always rejected the idea before actually trying it out :) This weekend I have been rewriting the weather screen though and decided to try it anyway.
And I actually didn't dislike it. Here's how it turned out:

http://img142.imageshack.us/img142/2606/weather2jq2.jpg

So, I think I´m going to leave that in for now. I will have to see how it will turn out in other screens though so I´m not sure if I´ll be using something like this in the filelists for instance, in any case not in the upcoming revision.

The fonts already have shadows but I guess they just don't have enough effect.

Jeroen

2008-08-11, 16:05

I agree something should be done to make the fonts "pop" in front of the background. This is mainly an issue for light colored fanart (sometimes there isn't a dark choice to choose from, and dimming the fanart significantly detracts from the overall appearance).

Note though that the global fanart is meant as nothing more than some nice background decoration. To have a better view of the fanart there´s the dedicated fanart view, which only has a slight overlay at the bottom behind the text and no dimming.

Ultimately though, it will be impossible to please everyone.
I will try to bring some improvements to this (like in the weatherscreen perhaps) but in the end I´ll take a dim over anything so it will be optional.

I must say I liked the old taskbar better with the transparency and smaller font. Even on my 54" HDTV the smaller font was still readable. It's also too beveled but that might be a matter of taste because I hate any GUI with too much beveling.

I assume you mean the menu on top of the homescreen. It is still transparent. Regarding the font, if you are running true HD like I mentioned before there´s work to be done in that area. If you are running it on the XBOX without special cables you´re basically running a stretched 16:9, I can´t cater for that. There´s no bevel on the menubar though, unless you call a 2px border a bevel. I have lowered the higlighting a bit for the next version, but other than that I´m pretty pleased with it.

LoL

2008-08-11, 17:30

Every idea I get (or any suggestion a user brings up) is put on a scale. I really try to find a good balance there.

First off I love this skin!! Number 1 for me!! Suits my wishing list for a skin almost completely.. so here are my suggestions ;)

I've read you were not completely happy with the OSD (think that's what it's called) (when highlighted the buttons should be bigger), so while your changing maybe this is a nice suggestion ;)

This how it currently is:
http://img217.imagevenue.com/loc42/th_63309_screenshot016_original_122_42lo.jpg (http://img217.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=63309_screenshot016_original_122_42l o.jpg)

My suggestion is to make it like this:
http://img121.imagevenue.com/loc577/th_63300_screenshot016_122_577lo.jpg (http://img121.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=63300_screenshot016_122_577lo.jpg)

- Grouping the different kind of buttons: on the left bookmarks, audio and video; in the center the (in my view) most important ones; and on the right the time.
- Probably even better if the buttons in the middle would be slightly bigger than the ones on the left and the time on the right.
- When I press menu (on remote) and the OSD comes up I think it would be better/more beautifull if the Pauze/Play button is highlighted instead of the one on the left like it is now.

Just suggestions, I hope I can tip the scale :D

Looking forward to your next release!

Keep it up, LoL ;)

Jeroen

2008-08-11, 20:51

LoL, I like your suggestion for the OSD, so that'll be changed. Also agreed on making the pause/play button the default selected, should have been that way from the start ;)

xbs08

2008-08-12, 02:35

chrislee149

2008-08-12, 07:56

I love this skin. It's one of the classiest available on 4x3 resolution. From what I can tell, though, it doesn't have movie fanart support. I'd really like that feature, since it spices up the look quite a lot.

And perhaps an optional feature: have the home screen menu link to Library view (without using the dropdown menus).

Jeroen

2008-08-12, 09:59

I would like to suggest that, when in "list" and "detail list" views, the user should be able to cycle from the beginning to the end of the list, by simply going up, making it faster and easier to access the items at the end of the list.

This should already be possible. Although it will only work when using direction up/down buttons, and not with the trigger buttons or page up/page down buttons.

From what I can tell, though, it doesn't have movie fanart support.
The latest release has _very_ basic movie fanart support (thrown in at the last moment, so it might not even work for you :D ), the next release will have full movie fanart support.

And perhaps an optional feature: have the home screen menu link to Library view (without using the dropdown menus).
The homescreen menu was specifically made the way it is to provide quick access to filemode and library features with as minimal user input needed as possible. So that's not going to change, sorry. Providing an option for it would duplicate the code needed for the main menu. I can't provide an option for everything ;)

xbs08

2008-08-12, 10:42

This should already be possible. Although it will only work when using direction up/down buttons, and not with the trigger buttons or page up/page down buttons.

I´m using the dvd remote on the xbox and it doesnt seem to work, can anyone confirm this?

megatomte

2008-08-13, 00:35

I´m using the dvd remote on the xbox and it doesnt seem to work, can anyone confirm this?

I have to say, it works fine for me, using the dvd remote. Up and down scrolling in list mode. I dont seem to have detailed list mode (Maybe its library mode, dont use that) and Big and normal Icons it doesnt work for.. Maybe thats something needed? I feel its annoying to scroll through music (Especially large chunks) to be stopped at the bottom, when you realise you want to go to the first album :rofl:

Dimestore

2008-08-13, 14:20

I´m using the dvd remote on the xbox and it doesnt seem to work, can anyone confirm this?

Also works fine for me in list view but not in big list view.
What i also noticed in big list view is that it overlaps the right info label.

http://img.7pics.info/Focus%20-%20BigList%20-%20Overlap_587_thumb.png (http://www.7pics.info/?image=Focus%20-%20BigList%20-%20Overlap_587.jpg)

I think it would also be great to have a scrollbar in big list view.

Jeroen

2008-08-13, 14:42

Also works fine for me in list view but not in big list view.

I´ll look into that, it´s meant to work in big list view as well.

What i also noticed in big list view is that it overlaps the right info label.

Thanks, put on my to-fix list.

I think it would also be great to have a scrollbar in big list view.
Did you enable scrollbars in the skin settings? I thought I implemented scrollbars in that view, but I am not sure though, I can´t check it right now.
Scrollbars will receive more work before the next release.

cheers for the reports :)

Jeroen

2008-08-13, 15:39

show me the bugs!

I´m about to forbid myself from implementing new features for the time being. I have a rough schedule in my mind about where I want Focus to go and how and when to get there.

This means that I want Focus to reach what you could call 1.0 beta status in, but preferably before, september. For that reason I have to concentrate on fixing bugs and usability issues, concentrating on fine tuning things.

So this is a call to anyone having issues, either small or big, don´t hesitate to let me know. This is not limited to things not working (properly), usability issues are requested too. A good example of this is LoL´s comment about the pause/play button needing to be the default selected when bringing up the osd controls. A little thing that makes a big difference imo. It´s things like this you sometimes look over when working on the skin on a bigger scale.

Feature request will have to wait for the time being. I don´t mind you posting them, and at some point I will look at them, but I won´t be accepting nor dismissing them for now.

The above does not mean that I expect Focus to be final in september and that it won´t change anymore after that. But I would really like to start work on code cleaning/optimizing and resolution specific changes, and I need the foundations to be stable otherwise i´ll keep cross-fixing stuff and creating a chaos for myself. It´s expected that Focus will keep changing for a long time as xbmc itselfs keeps changing.

megatomte

2008-08-13, 17:04

Also works fine for me in list view but not in big list view.

Well.. I dont have big list view.. Is that for library only perhaps?

Oh and, yeah, it might be a request, but, more viewstyles perhaps?

aart

2008-08-13, 17:27

One thing that has been bugging me is the 'please wait...' text which is on top of the screen. It overlaps the topbar (or taskbar), so it's unreadable and messy. Perhaps move it to the center of the screen or someplace else.

LoL

2008-08-13, 22:07

LoL, I like your suggestion for the OSD, so that'll be changed. Also agreed on making the pause/play button the default selected, should have been that way from the start ;)

Thx man! Leuk om te horen ;)

Don't know if it has been mentioned before:

When updating the library and going to the home screen the rss-feed scrolls over the updating bit in the bottom of the screen..

Can't wait to see my contribution (just the idea..) in the next release :cool:

Goodluck with the bug hunt, I'll try to find more!

LoL ;)

Dimestore

2008-08-13, 22:27

Did you enable scrollbars in the skin settings? I thought I implemented scrollbars in that view, but I am not sure though, I can´t check it right now.
Scrollbars will receive more work before the next release.

Yeah I enabled the scrollbars and the work and look great in the other views.

One minor bug I noticed:

When in fullscreen mode, when an album or artist name is too long it doesn't scroll.

http://img.7pics.info/Focus%20-%20Scrolling%20%20-%20Full_0c4_thumb.png (http://www.7pics.info/?image=Focus%20-%20Scrolling%20%20-%20Full_0c4.jpg)

The same happens in the now playing screen and home window.

2 feature requests:

1. I think it would be nice if more views were aviable for the now playing screen, maybe something like the songs view from medistream.

2. Since I, and maybe many others, use the "mobile phone style" to input text I don't really need that keyboard layout and so it would be nice if only the "text input" would appear somwhere.

LoL

2008-08-14, 01:39

To illustrate my above post (2 up actually) :)

http://img25.imagevenue.com/loc720/th_65946_screenshot017_122_720lo.jpg (http://img25.imagevenue.com/img.php?image=65946_screenshot017_122_720lo.jpg)

And another usabilty one:

when in the shutdownmenu (which is great btw) I frequently press exit hoping it will show me the methods of exit (shutdown, restart, etc) but instead it just closes the shutdownmenu, offcourse I should just press to the right and choose from there but maybe you could just link the exit button to the right (pressing "exit" gives the same result as pressing "right")?? maybe i should just get used to it? ;)

LoL

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 10:45

I dont have big list view.. Is that for library only perhaps?
Yes, that view is only available in Library mode.

One thing that has been bugging me is the 'please wait...' text which is on top of the screen. It overlaps the topbar (or taskbar), so it's unreadable and messy.
Yes, that is planned to change

Yeah I enabled the scrollbars and the work and look great in the other views.
ok, right now they are working for me in that view, so I probably updated it after the last release then. Should be fixed in the next release.

When in fullscreen mode, when an album or artist name is too long it doesn't scroll.
The same happens in the now playing screen and home window.

That screen has been changed completely, so shouldn't be a problem in the next build.
I'll check the others, cheers

When updating the library and going to the home screen the rss-feed scrolls over the updating bit in the bottom of the screen..

Yes, that's a really annoying one. The rss feed should become invisible when the scanning dialog is active. I use the same method in other scenarios but for some reason in this case it won't work. I'm going to look into it some more again.

when in the shutdownmenu (which is great btw) I frequently press exit hoping it will show me the methods of exit (shutdown, restart, etc) but instead it just closes the shutdownmenu, offcourse I should just press to the right and choose from there but maybe you could just link the exit button to the right (pressing "exit" gives the same result as pressing "right")??
Hm, I actually didn't assign any onclick action to the exit button which makes xbmc close the dialog it seems. moving to the right hand column sounds good.

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 11:38

I would like to suggest that, when in "list" and "detail list" views, the user should be able to cycle from the beginning to the end of the list, by simply going up, making it faster and easier to access the items at the end of the list.
Also works fine for me in list view but not in big list view.

Found the cause of this. Fixed for next release.

xbs08

2008-08-14, 12:38

Found the cause of this. Fixed for next release. :cool:

Bram77

2008-08-14, 12:48

I've updated to the new Alpha version in the xbmc-favorites installer plugin.

xbs08

2008-08-14, 13:13

About the mini home menu... the older exit menu was simple, easy and funtional and i think that the mini home menu shouldn't be linked through exit as it is now (because is such a generic menu), but instead have its own shortcut in homescreen, just my opinion.

Other thing, is it possible to show the dvd icon at the same time as the home menu bar? The thing is that the icon appears first and then a sec later the bar appears making it somewhat strange.

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 13:38

when in the shutdownmenu (which is great btw) I frequently press exit hoping it will show me the methods of exit (shutdown, restart, etc) but instead it just closes the shutdownmenu, offcourse I should just press to the right and choose from there but maybe you could just link the exit button to the right (pressing "exit" gives the same result as pressing "right")??

I'm afraid this is impossible (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=35878)
I'm considering some other options, like putting the exit options horizontally across the top or bottom, but I also see some issues with that. But in any case that will have to wait for a bit.

Dimestore

2008-08-14, 13:43

Another minor bug:

In skin settings under viewtypes I enabled coverflow and posters for seasons, but can't select these view types in tv shows library.

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 14:11

About the mini home menu... the older exit menu was simple, easy and funtional and i think that the mini home menu shouldn't be linked through exit as it is now (because is such a generic menu), but instead have its own shortcut in homescreen, just my opinion.

I agree. There's not really a previous exit menu though, aside from a totally crap, half functioning one in the earlier builds. The one in the previous build was the one from PM3, temporarily added to be at least functional. I think I will just remove any click action from the exit button though. The exit options are available through the submenu of the exit button. And the minihomescreen doesn't really need a visual button imo, as it's just a buttonpress away and all the options are already available through the main menu on the big home screen anyway, so it's a bit redundant there.

Other thing, is it possible to show the dvd icon at the same time as the home menu bar? The thing is that the icon appears first and then a sec later the bar appears making it somewhat strange.
done :)

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 14:47

In skin settings under viewtypes I enabled coverflow and posters for seasons, but can't select these view types in tv shows library.

Fixed coverflow for seasons for next version.
The reference to posters is a string I forgot to remove from the settings screen. It referred to a view which didn't make it into the release.

xbs08

2008-08-14, 15:13

And the minihomescreen doesn't really need a visual button imo, as it's just a buttonpress away

Is the minihomescreen available through a buttonpress in the xbox dvd remote also?

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 15:37

Is the minihomescreen available through a buttonpress in the xbox dvd remote also?

I am not sure, I use a Harmony, but I don't think so. So that's a good point. That kinda sucks actually.
What I might do is make a custom dialog window with just the shutdown options available instead for the button on the homescreen. But all this depends on what I'll decide to do with the shutdown options in the minihomescreen.
Cheers

rwparris2

2008-08-14, 17:19

Maybe For the shutdown menu if it defaulted to the actual shutdown options, instead of Video. I don't think you should separate the "minishomescreen" from the shutdown menu it because there wouldn't be a good way to get to it with an xbox controller.

Is the minihomescreen available through a buttonpress in the xbox dvd remote also?
add <zero>XBMC.ActivateWindow(ShutdownMenu)</zero> to keymap.xml under <remote> You can map it to any button you want, but zero seems the most natural to me.
No need for custom context menus when it should have been mapped to begin with

PS - I found a bug.
In Settings>SkinSettings>Fanart>Dim Fanart Images, activating light or strong toggles both radio buttons at once. And I know you're in a feature freeze, but in the future can we have a dedicated movie fanart view please?

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 17:54

Maybe For the shutdown menu if it defaulted to the actual shutdown options, instead of Video. I don't think you should separate the "minishomescreen" from the shutdown menu it because there wouldn't be a good way to get to it with an xbox controller.

No, I wouldn't take it away from the minihomescreen (got to find a better name for that :P ) and put it into a seperate window if that's what you mean. The MHS would just stay much like it is now, but clicking on the power off icon on the homescreen would envoke a custom dialog which also has the advanced shutdown options. But anyway, this is something I have to consider several options for. In any case it won't be changed in the next release.

And you're right about the buttons being easily changed through a keymap, so that's something I'll take into account too.

PS - I found a bug.
In Settings>SkinSettings>Fanart>Dim Fanart Images, activating light or strong toggles both radio buttons at once.

Heh, yeah that's a weird one because for me it only does that on the xbox. On my win32 build it selects correctly. But that part has been changed/simplified for the next release in the meantime.

And I know you're in a feature freeze, but in the future can we have a dedicated movie fanart view please?
A dedicated movie fanart view was made before the freeze ;)

xbs08

2008-08-14, 18:40

add <zero>XBMC.ActivateWindow(ShutdownMenu)</zero> to keymap.xml under <remote> You can map it to any button you want, but zero seems the most natural to me.

I have it mapped to zero too :) but i'm thinking of those who dont want/know how to map keys in the remote.

The MHS is a very nice feature and a fast/alternative one to get around the skin, i just dont think it makes sense to have it in the exit button. Exit should point to a exit menu (or not at all because you have that in exit submenu) and not a all options menu like MHS.

rwparris2

2008-08-14, 20:29

No, I wouldn't take it away from the minihomescreen (got to find a better name for that :P ) and put it into a seperate window if that's what you mean.

Yeah, I misinterpreted you and xbs08, sorry.

And I know you're in a feature freeze, but in the future can we have a dedicated movie fanart view please?

What I mean is, under TV there is the View Type: Fanart that moves al the icons to the bottom, & if you idle you get the plot,etc. I'd also like that for Movies (unless it's already there and I just don't know how to do it?)

And one more suggestion, but this one is just a personal preference, you may think it's ugly/stupid/unnecessary :)
In the fan art view mentioned above, if the fan art is light or whitish, you can't read the text at all. Full dimming doesn't occur in that view (nor should it, imho...), but if there was a gradient that darkened it at the bottom, just enough to make the text readable, it'd be really helpful, and would look nicer than dimming it all over.

Jeroen

2008-08-14, 21:01

What I mean is, under TV there is the View Type: Fanart that moves al the icons to the bottom, & if you idle you get the plot,etc. I'd also like that for Movies (unless it's already there and I just don't know how to do it?)

I should have been a bit clearer in my words. What I mean is that a dedicated movie fanart view was made before the freeze but after the most recent release. In other words, it's not in any release yet ;) And it follows the same concept as the tv fanart view.

And one more suggestion, but this one is just a personal preference, you may think it's ugly/stupid/unnecessary :)
In the fan art view mentioned above, if the fan art is light or whitish, you can't read the text at all. Full dimming doesn't occur in that view (nor should it, imho...), but if there was a gradient that darkened it at the bottom, just enough to make the text readable, it'd be really helpful, and would look nicer than dimming it all over.

Not stupid at all. When originally uploading the latest release I forgot to include a texture that's like you described. I updated the upload later, but I guess you already downloaded it at that point. So if you redownload it should be there. It's not completely to my liking yet, so finetuning is needed :)

Livin

2008-08-15, 07:38

Jeroen,
Really like the skin.
Logical layout, easy to use and the animations are right-on... not too much or too little.

I'd love to see a few things...

Hidden setting menu (so guests and kids don't go nosing around)
Menu bar able to be placed almost at the bottom... say 20% up. Allow the RSS to scroll under it and the extended menu to "jump" up above the bar. This would place the Weather & Time/Date near the top. This would allow more appeal when using custom backgrounds.
Custom Background folders for each menu item

I cannot wait to see what additions you make.

Ayla

2008-08-15, 21:59

Jeroen,

I'm trying to change the size of the movie poster.

I'm in File mode (not library) and my view setting is "List".

Could you point me to the correct .xml file and line number, where I can change the poster size on the right?

Thanks
Martin

Jeroen

2008-08-16, 00:17

that would be myvideo.xml, it's a small file so it's easily spotted. for the poster make sure you edit the thumb, not the icon.

Jeroen

2008-08-16, 00:23

Hidden setting menu (so guests and kids don't go nosing around)
Menu bar able to be placed almost at the bottom... say 20% up. Allow the RSS to scroll under it and the extended menu to "jump" up above the bar. This would place the Weather & Time/Date near the top. This would allow more appeal when using custom backgrounds.
Custom Background folders for each menu item

Thanks :) Number two is not going to happen, for various reasons. As for hiding the settings, I feel that's what profiles are for, not something that should be handled on skin level imo. Number 3 is a maybe. A big maybe though. I've recently rewritten the entire way backgrounds are handled. New release will allow setting custom background for the different screens, but no background changing upon selecting one of the main menu items I'm afraid. Currently I'm concentrating on finetuning and not on new features.

MikeBeecham

2008-08-16, 00:40

Hey jeroen....Focus is getting SO good mate, and it's great to see a skin that works on the different resolutions. It's so well packaged and the views are spot on.

You're doing well mate...keep going

Ayla

2008-08-16, 13:22

Jeroen,

Forgot to say that I love that you have skinned the Apple Movie Trailers plugin, It's so cool that it looks like when I'm browsing my movies!

One question, there doesn't seem to be a way to change the settings, choosing HD trailers as preference, etc.?

Keep up the great work :)

I will try and change the postersize now!

Jeroen

2008-08-16, 13:43

I think you are mistaking the movie trailers plugin for the script version;)
There's the movie trailers plugin which uses the skin's gui to render. So it treats it like any other file listing in xbmc. And then there's the movie trailers script which basically uses it's own seperate skin. So if you would start the script version it will look like PM3 even though you are using Focus.
I prefer the plugin version, as you can use any viewtype that the skin offers, but I do plan on skinning the script version too at some point, making it blend in with Focus, but using the advantages the script version has.
The settings for the plugin version you are using now can be changed by going into "plugins" (video submenu), hovering on apple movie trailers, going to the context menu and selecting "plugin settings"
Cheers :)

Ayla

2008-08-16, 22:21

Thanks Jeroen :-)

PS. I have now made a "Large Poster" version of Focus, looks really perfect now (for me).

Jeroen

2008-08-17, 09:30

:)
I'll probably increase the size of the posters too. Originally I made them a bit smaller to display the size of the videos underneath the poster but I now have the size displayed in the list itself so it's not needed anymore.

Ayla

2008-08-17, 16:02

My posters are now as big as they can be at:

<posx>385</posx>
<posy>55</posy>
<width>333</width>
<height>513</height>

Only problem is, that when browsing trailers, the "Drama/New" "Size: 0 kb" is overlapping the poster. No big deal, guess I could move it to the left, so it's in the bottom, under the file list.

aqtrans

2008-08-18, 05:16

I love the skin, it's very elegant. But my CoverSlide view is cutting off the tops of all my posters. And is there any way to integrate FanArt?

Jeroen

2008-08-18, 11:00

I love the skin, it's very elegant. But my CoverSlide view is cutting off the tops of all my posters. And is there any way to integrate FanArt?

Do you mean that the text goes through the top of some posters? In that case, that happens when you run xbmc on an xbox and use it on a HD screen but without an HD pack for the xbox. Then essentially the 16:9 is stretched to fit the HD screen, which causes things to scale out of proportion.
If this is not the case with your setup please let me know.

That particular view´s layout has changed for the next version though, which should eliminate this problem.

Fanart is already supported in Focus, although the movie fanart support is severely lacking. The next version will have full movie fanart support.

To see the options available for Fanart go to skin settings->fanart

Dimestore

2008-08-18, 11:36

I know that you are in feature freeze right now, but i was wondering if you are aware that this speed scrolling feature (http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=28107) is now aviable in the latest PMIII and if you are planning to add this to your skin too?

Jeroen

2008-08-18, 11:47

;)
Already added, will be available in the next version.

xbs08

2008-08-18, 12:17

;)
Already added, will be available in the next version.

Is this feature present in "atlantis" only or is it present in older builds aswell?

Is there a way to play a video with DVDplayer instead of Mplayer (without using "play with" that is)?
I remember reading something about a .conf file to do just that, but can seem to find that info anywhere now.

Jeroen

2008-08-18, 12:47

Is this feature present in "atlantis" only or is it present in older builds aswell?

Is there a way to play a video with DVDplayer instead of Mplayer (without using "play with" that is)?
I remember reading something about a .conf file to do just that, but can seem to find that info anywhere now.

I don´t know from which build on this has been available, but it is in Atlantis.

jmarshall wrote about it in his blog on august 5th, so I assume it has been available in builds from around that time http://blog.xbmc.org/jmarshall/?p=5

Don´t know the answer to your second question to be honest.

aqtrans

2008-08-20, 10:17

Do you mean that the text goes through the top of some posters? In that case, that happens when you run xbmc on an xbox and use it on a HD screen but without an HD pack for the xbox. Then essentially the 16:9 is stretched to fit the HD screen, which causes things to scale out of proportion.
If this is not the case with your setup please let me know.

That particular view´s layout has changed for the next version though, which should eliminate this problem.

Fanart is already supported in Focus, although the movie fanart support is severely lacking. The next version will have full movie fanart support.

To see the options available for Fanart go to skin settings->fanart
http://i38.tinypic.com/k0hkio.jpg
That is what I get. It looks like everything's shifted up quite a bit.

Jeroen

2008-08-20, 12:11

That is what I get. It looks like everything's shifted up quite a bit.

Ah, I see. That´s because the latest version of Focus is not yet prepared for the new poster sized icons for tvshows. That has been taken care of though in my version. So this will be in the next release.

anoobie

2008-08-20, 12:18

Hi, thanks again for this skin. Here are just something I found:
- In coverslide and detailed list view, the ascending/descending arrow is not selectable.
- In skin settings under dim fanart images, the light and strong settings cannot be selected individually.

That's all. BTW fanart works great when custom background is turned off.

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-20, 14:05

Jeroen:

When I'm in the Home screen, the profile-name seems not to be outlined with the rest of the text on the top bar.

When in "File mode" listening music, I switch to the side menu (left) for swithing to library mode, it looks like the text label " Library mode" has an empty space in front of the first letter. Or the button is not outlined, it needs to be a litle more to the left. Sorry, don't have a screenshot, somehow it works a litle bit funny on notebook to get screenshots in XBMC. I will get them from the xbox if you want.

Looking forward to a next release. :cool:

Jeroen

2008-08-20, 14:20

- In coverslide and detailed list view, the ascending/descending arrow is not selectable..
Ok, I´ll look into that.

edit: found what's causing this. Fixed for next build. Cheers

- In skin settings under dim fanart images, the light and strong settings cannot be selected individually.¨

Yes, this happens for me too, although only on the xbox for some reason. This option will be changed.

Thanks for reporting :)

Jeroen

2008-08-20, 19:55

When I'm in the Home screen, the profile-name seems not to be outlined with the rest of the text on the top bar.
Then I guess you're using quite an old revision, because I could have sworn I took that option out ???

When in "File mode" listening music, I switch to the side menu (left) for swithing to library mode, it looks like the text label " Library mode" has an empty space in front of the first letter. Or the button is not outlined, it needs to be a litle more to the left.

I know what you mean, the text offset on the radiobuttons seems to deviate a bit from the normal button even if I used the same values, I don't know why but I'll look into correcting that.
//edit: nvm, found the issue :P Fixed :D

IIINeOIIINL

2008-08-20, 22:05

I downloaded/installed your newest version to be sure.
(Xbox and Win32)

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3463/screenshot000pr4.th.jpg (http://img207.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot000pr4.jpg)
Screenshot: Xbox

I know what you mean, the text offset on the radiobuttons seems to deviate a bit from the normal button

It was not for bitching, but I just noticed on my notebook (with my nose on the screen, hihi :shocked:

Jeroen

2008-08-20, 22:44

I downloaded/installed your newest version to be sure.
(Xbox and Win32)

It was not for bitching, but I just noticed on my notebook (with my nose on the screen, hihi :shocked:

Not taken that way :)
Very weird. The only thing I can imagine is that if you enabled that option, then upgraded to the version that doesn't have the option anymore, it somehow...stuck.
Although then I still I don't really understand how because that profile name label is called from an includes file that is overwritten upon every new version...so if it isn't there anymore how can it...*scratches head* :laugh:
I'm going to try out that scenario, see if I can reproduce it that way, cheers

edit: ah, I removed the option but left the label in the includes file. That would explain it :D Silly me :P

lupick

2008-08-24, 13:59

Dear All

I've some issue with this beatiful skin; my preferred one in 4:3 TV.

I'm using the xbmc on an xbox with th3c build 19-08-08; skin updated from xbox-preference plugin.

1. Apple music trailer in Video submenu is empty; I've installed Apple Movie trayle prugin but how to associate it with the submenu title??

2. Trailer button in movie info is always unavailable... maybe it's related to point 1??

3. Listening misic in library mode and pressing the display button it show to me the track title with "no image available", why it's not sowing the thumb that I can see associated in library mode?? how can I hide it and going back to the running demo beind??

Thank you!!

L.

Jeroen

2008-08-24, 15:16

1. Apple music trailer in Video submenu is empty; I've installed Apple Movie trayle prugin but how to associate it with the submenu title??

The menu item in the video submenu leads to the plugin version of AMT. Currently it's not working for me either but I am testing on Win32, and that's been having issues with AMT. I have not checked it on the XBOX recently, I'll do that later.
Have you tested if it works on PM3? because I don't think it's a skin specific issue.

2. Trailer button in movie info is always unavailable... maybe it's related to point 1??

This is a problem I have been having recently too. But for me it happens when using other skins too. Please check if the problem exists when using PM3.

3. Listening misic in library mode and pressing the display button it show to me the track title with "no image available", why it's not sowing the thumb that I can see associated in library mode?? how can I hide it and going back to the running demo beind??

Press the info button to toggle it's visibility.

Thank you!!

You're welcome :)

lupick

2008-08-24, 16:18

The menu item in the video submenu leads to the plugin version of AMT. Currently it's not working for me either but I am testing on Win32, and that's been having issues with AMT. I have not checked it on the XBOX recently, I'll do that later.
Have you tested if it works on PM3? because I don't think it's a skin specific issue.

This is a problem I have been having recently too. But for me it happens when using other skins too. Please check if the problem exists when using PM3.

Press the info button to toggle it's visibility.

You're welcome :)

Thank you for your reply...

1.About the Apple movie trailer I've solved editing the HomeVideoMenu.xml. I had installed the Apple movie trailer II and in the xml file it was linked to Apple movie trailer.

Now it works!

2. Ill try with PM3

3. About the demo screen pressing the info butto it hide the title but it remains the blue screen and you can see the demo running behind it.

Another strange thing is that in "display mode" pressing home (instead of info) it compare 8xFFW on the screen but nothing happen.

Another little question:

4. how to show the playlist??

thank you

L.

Jeroen

2008-08-24, 17:22

Now it works!

Great :) Yeah, I like the AMT II plugin, but I linked it to the regular plugin as I imagined that's what most people will have installed.

3. About the demo screen pressing the info butto it hide the title but it remains the blue screen and you can see the demo running behind it.

It was made that way but in the next version this will be changed.

Another strange thing is that in "display mode" pressing home (instead of info) it compare 8xFFW on the screen but nothing happen.

Yes, this is a bug. This too will be solved in the next release.

4. how to show the playlist??

There's currently no button in the visualisation screen to get to the playlist. I keep repeating myself but this will also be solved in the next release :)
I don't know what you use as a controller but in the meantime you could use the "black button" on the xbox controller to go to the playlist, or the spacebar on Windows/Linux. I'm not sure if there's a button on the xbox remote control mapped to this.

lupick

2008-08-25, 00:15

Great :) Yeah, I like the AMT II plugin, but I linked it to the regular plugin as I imagined that's what most people will have installed.

It was made that way but in the next version this will be changed.

Yes, this is a bug. This too will be solved in the next release.

There's currently no button in the visualisation screen to get to the playlist. I keep repeating myself but this will also be solved in the next release :)
I don't know what you use as a controller but in the meantime you could use the "black button" on the xbox controller to go to the playlist, or the spacebar on Windows/Linux. I'm not sure if there's a button on the xbox remote control mapped to this.

so I'll wait for your next release!

maybe you can map the menu button to the playlst!!

btw thank you! I hope you'll release it soon!

BR

L.

plankton88

2008-08-26, 07:12

I can't seem to get the movie fanart to work. I am selecting movie info, fanart, then I browse and try to put my own movie.jpg in and nothing happens.

Jeroen

2008-08-26, 11:02

I can't seem to get the movie fanart to work. I am selecting movie info, fanart, then I browse and try to put my own movie.jpg in and nothing happens.

Movie Fanart in the latest release is very basic and hardly tested as it was put in just before release.

The next release of Focus will have much better movie fanart support.
If all goes according to plan, it will be released sometime next week.

plankton88

2008-08-26, 14:46

Thanks. I will be looking forward to it. Oh, by the way I love the skin. The only thing I thought it was lacking was that the Home Screen looks a bit empty. The menu is at the top and the middle just looks lonely. Is there any way to change this?

plankton88

2008-08-26, 15:16

Like maybe move the icons from across the top to the side.

Jeroen

2008-08-26, 15:44

Like maybe move the icons from across the top to the side.

Well, it was designed that way. This way the background images come out nice and all functions are centralized and the "flow" of using the controls is as straight forward as it can get, and I really like it that way.
Plus, the empty areas give space to the unfolding submenus and I don´t really think using space just for the sake of filling it up is a good reason.

At some point I think there will be an optional alternate homescreen which will probably be more icon based. But that´s really a long term plan.
:)

plankton88

2008-08-26, 20:31

Yeah I think you are right. I was using the default background, and switched to a custom background image. Looks much better now.

Jeroen

2008-08-28, 19:29

2. Trailer button in movie info is always unavailable... maybe it's related to point 1??

lupick, regarding this see: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36295

lupick

2008-08-28, 20:48

lupick, regarding this see: http://xbmc.org/forum/showthread.php?t=36295

great waiting for the next build!! and your great skin..

L.

topfs2

2008-08-30, 20:29

@Jeoren and "For this revision I am specifically interested in comments about the new fonts. Not necessarily the fonts themselves, but things like sizing and spacing. Do they have good readability compared to the previous fonts?"
I can't remember the difference between the old one but the new one is very good.

The only issue I've found is when I press add source in Music it seems to just go to Home?
Also there seems to be a bug in the context menu in Music? Press left (, press right) and press enter twice

Other stuff I'd like to see is
In movie fanart could you please only fade them in if you hover for a while on the movie?

EDIT: I've noticed some bugs with fanart, namely.
* Fanart for Movies blends with background and not with the black overlay (I prefer the black overlay)
* If you enable fanart, enable custom background, disable fanart. All background goes black and stay that way.

Thx again for a lovely skin which I've come to love alot. Have you though more about the skining project?

Jeroen

2008-08-30, 21:34

I can't remember the difference between the old one but the new one is very good.

Good. That was the intention :) I wanted open source fonts similar to the old ones.

The only issue I've found is when I press add source in Music it seems to just go to Home?
That's weird. I can't reproduce it. Should a skin even have control over that ??? It's just part of the control list, and the action is an xbmc call I would assume.

Also there seems to be a bug in the context menu in Music? Press left (, press right) and press enter twice
Do you mean on the sorting button? If so, yes that's a bug. Has been corrected for the next revision. That concerns the "other" menu though, not the context menu. If not, can you elaborate, like which menu entry has focus?

Other stuff I'd like to see is
In movie fanart could you please only fade them in if you hover for a while on the movie?
Yep, the movie fanart support as it is in the last release is quick and dirty. Movie fanart has been improved much for the next release due in about a week.

EDIT: I've noticed some bugs with fanart, namely.
* Fanart for Movies blends with background and not with the black overlay (I prefer the black overlay)

Yeah, that's not intended. The whole background changing and combining has been rewritten. It's more complex now, but it does work better :), this should not happen in the next version anymore.

* If you enable fanart, enable custom background, disable fanart. All background goes black and stay that way.

Ditto :)

Thx again for a lovely skin which I've come to love alot. Have you though more about the skining project?
Oh, it will definitely be part of the skinning project. I really wanted the codebase to be more stable first. I have been working a lot on this the last period, the next release is probably the biggest update so far. After that there will probably be one more release and then it's off to SVN :)

rwparris2

2008-08-30, 21:48

Will the next release have fanart for files mode?

Jeroen

2008-08-30, 22:13

Will the next release have fanart for files mode?

Depends on to what extent. It wasn't planned, but I don't think global fanart would require a lot of work, so I can look into that. If you mean a full dedicated fanart viewtype, I'm not sure of that. I would have to think about it.

SimonC

2008-08-30, 22:50

Great skin!

Any future plans for additional views in File Mode, specifically in videos?

Thanks, looks forward to your next release.

topfs2

2008-08-30, 22:58

Will the next release have fanart for files mode?

If you ever decide to do this (please don't :D) make it toggleable and off by default :) I really like to have filemode simple and fast.
IMHO I think filemode is just a good way to set up library mode

Jeroen

2008-08-30, 23:11

Great skin!

Any future plans for additional views in File Mode, specifically in videos?

Thanks, looks forward to your next release.

Thanks :) No, sorry. I don't use file mode for anything besides adding sources, and the layout of almost all views in Focus is determined by the type of content that is being listed. And that's not possible in filemode.

If you ever decide to do this (please don't :D) make it toggleable and off by default :) I really like to have filemode simple and fast.
IMHO I think filemode is just a good way to set up library mode

Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. I don't want fanart in filemode either. But I thought it would be easy to add, and it is, but in order to have fanart in librarymode but not in filemode I would have to set up seperate bools which would mean twice the settings in the skin screen...hmm :oo: :blush:

Bram77

2008-08-31, 00:04

I´m really enjoying this skin. I´m looking forward to the next release. Thanks again!

topfs2

2008-08-31, 00:11

I have a small thing more for your next release :)

I've noticed you have KaiNotifications over the RSS, which seems to work ok but scanning for movies ie is working less good for me, both RSS and the scanning progress are visible for me, doesn't look to good :)

Might be good to move either the RSS or the others to a row up perhaps? that is if the conditional visability is working weird :S Otherwise I like the placement. Got to admire all your thoughts in this skin, it's very well polished. Feels wonderfull to use.

Also could you have the tag you have added in fanart (Darken fanart thing) to not be enabled on Fullscreen video (You know when you navigating the home menu) Personally I think it would look better without that one on, atleast in home. In the rest of the views it might be needed for readability.

Cheers.