Focus - Alpha 6c released [Archive]

Jeroen

2008-11-09, 15:30

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/JoenP/focusalpha6me5.png?t=1226340140

Changes
Much work has been over the last period. Too much to list here anyway. The biggest change is that alpha 6 was developed for high resolutions. There is currently no dedicated support for SD screens anymore. This will probably make a return in the future, but how and in what form I don't know for exactly yet. Right now I want to focus on HD as this is what I have started using. That being said, I THINK Alpha 6 will look reasonably OK in 16:9. I hope most of the issues can be resolved by font adjustments. 4:3 will probably look not so good. Fonts have been adjusted and changed, additional custom icons made, layout and features re-thought, and overall polishing and refining.

Known Issues
I think I know about MOST of them :P Biggest ones being the visualisation controls not functioning (properly) yet, and probably some skin settings options not working (mainly regarding view type customization).

Download
Compiled builds are hosted at google code (http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-focus/) from now on.
Soon Focus will be put on the XBMC skinning Project SVN. More on that later.

Thanks
Many thanks are in order to everyone of team-XBMC for making the best mediacenter application in the world. Special thanks to Jonathan Marshall for his great assistance whenever I can't make stuff work :)

Good to know
Focus is constantly being tested on almost daily builds of XBMC. So please use a recent build of XBMC too when reporting problems. Focus is not finished, and as XBMC keeps evolving I'm afraid it will never be ;) I am however pushing towards what you could call a 1.0 version where current features meet my standards.

Feedback
Your feedback is greatly appreciated so if you run into problems or have something else to say I would love to hear it.

Kind Regards,
Jeroen

shizzle

2008-11-09, 17:37

is there ever going to be a different home menu? the one now feels buggy on 4:3

Alpha6 looks great

devilrejects

2008-11-09, 18:36

Looks really good. :)

slyk2203

2008-11-09, 19:08

yes thanks, very good job.

buddhaed

2008-11-09, 19:18

Sound scheme is especially good. One of the best skins so far. Thanx!!!!

Jeroen

2008-11-10, 16:13

Yes, there is going to be an alternate home menu pretty soon. It won't offer the flexible navigation of the current one, which I personally love, but it will be more flexible regarding customization of the available menu items. Define buggy though, as I checked it in 4:3 and it works like it should.

IIINeOIIINL

2008-11-10, 18:33

Nice job! :cool:

CptKen

2008-11-10, 20:24

Fantastic update to a fantastic skin.

Only issue I seem to be having is a long delay accessing and changing skin settings(on latest t3ch on xbox original).

Other than that, great!

Bram77

2008-11-11, 18:53

Thanks a lot Jeroen!

The skin is now available for download with the XBMC-Favorites plugin (link in sig)

shizzle

2008-11-11, 21:17

Keane16

2008-11-11, 22:11

Wow looks very nice.

Hope it still runs as smooth as butter on the original Xbox. Focus has been my skin of choice on the old box for its simplicity and speed.

If not I can stick with Alpha 5 as I have no issues with it.

Thanks!! :)

marlboroman1

2008-11-11, 22:39

the home screen is the same as above for me in 4.3 mode

djtoll

2008-11-11, 22:44

Very nice JOB :grin:

minimalko

2008-11-12, 00:24

I must say It is a shame ignoring this skin for so long. It is very clean. Navigation gives you more physical feeling than other skins. Sounds are great too. Goes beyond the "as much fanart as possible" trend which is totally good. (Sometimes I feel that users care more about having nice backgrounds in their views than having functions and info in them. The whole fanart madness is going to fade soon anyways.)

Simplicity together with elegance of FOCUS just makes it my skin of choice for the time being.

Thanks for making this. In case You would need any help I would be glad to hand you with development.:nod:

Stunts38

2008-11-12, 14:38

This is a Great Skin, Just discovered it after being a little squeezed out of using the always great Mediastream due to severe memory issues on my platform of choice, XBOX,

This skin is simple but elegant and still allows me to use backgrounds and fanart without Memory issues.

Jeroen

Thank-you

Jeroen

2008-11-12, 23:37

Goes beyond the "as much fanart as possible" trend which is totally good. [I](Sometimes I feel that users care more about having nice backgrounds in their views than having functions and info in them.
I tend to agree. Don't get me wrong, I love fanart, it adds a great dynamic aspect to xbmc. But in the end I see it for what I think it should be, namely decoration of the interface and not the star of the show. Because, for me at least, that is my media. I try to get a good balance between showing as much of the fanart as possible, but not at the cost of sacrificing more important info. If you think fanart is the most important, create a slideshow of it :;):

Thanks for making this. In case You would need any help I would be glad to hand you with development.:nod:
I appreciate the offer, no doubt you have great skills. I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to this stuff though :laugh: That's not a no though, development still just feels experimental/searching at the moment so I wouldn't know what to ask really. But of course if you have good ideas let me know and we'll talk.

@Stunts38: That's good to hear :)

As for the problems in 4:3, it's weird because for me it scales down reasonably to 4:3. I did screw up when first uploading Alpha6 though. I uploaded a version which had some old files in the PAL folder. Could you check which files are in the PAL folder? Only fonts.xml should be there. I there's more, try deleting any other files that might be there.
But in the end this version was not made for 4:3. And honestly, with the download numbers/feedback ratio as it is I honestly don't know if I will be motivated enough to go through the process of spending a lot of time creating a seperate version.

Jeroen

2008-11-15, 09:47

screenshot of a new alternate homescreen menu I'm working on:

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/JoenP/Untitled-3.jpg?t=1226734958

Pressing up on items in the menu will open up a submenu with more choices for that particular menu item like in the original homescreen menu. Big advantage of this menu is that the visibility of any item on the menu can be switched on or off in the skin settings. Also menu options are able to be hidden based on the platform. So for instance no advanced shutdown options are being displayed when running on the xbox.

Competes2win

2008-11-15, 11:43

I like the look of that new optional home screen very much. Keep up the good work.

Stunts38

2008-11-15, 12:25

Jeroen

This alternative screen looks great, as mentioned above please keep up your good work!:laugh:

CptKen

2008-11-17, 05:43

Looking good, I have been running this skin for the last week or so, and I am simply in love.

It looks like it is only getting better too... Keep up the good work!

mrt2

2008-11-17, 22:17

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6930/screenshot071kn4.th.png (http://img98.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot071kn4.png)http://img98.imageshack.us/images/thpix.gif (http://g.imageshack.us/thpix.php)

Mine looks exactly like this... I get no background pictures and it's just a solid blue background and text is all bunched together... am I doing something wrong?

Jeroen

2008-11-17, 23:13

you're not doing anything wrong, alpha 6 just has no support for 4:3. it is mentioned in the first post.
the blue background is the default background, if you want background pictures you'll have to choose them.

mrt2

2008-11-17, 23:19

I have a 16:9 TV though, not a 4:3...

I thought when you selected a resolution in XBMC it keeps that resolution even when you change skins? I have mine set to whatever the full screen res is and my TV is a 16:9.... Is there some settings I should check?

Oh yeah, and what is SVN? Sorry for the dumb questions...I'm new.

Jeroen

2008-11-17, 23:39

First and foremost alpha 6 was made for HD screens. I have not tested it on an SD screen as I don't have one anymore. That screenshot seems 4:3 to me, but maybe that has something to do with how xbmc creates screenshots or something. Changing skins will not change your resolution.
It may be that 16:9 SD has problems with font sizing as well as I didn't really pay any attention to other screentypes. I'll see if I can make some quick adjustments to the fonts for the next release.

To put it simply SVN is an online repository where a project can be stored and versioned. This way users can always get hold of the latest developments on for instance a skin, a plugin or the entire XBMC project. And the developers can roll back the project to an earlier versions in case something doesn't work out.

mrt2

2008-11-18, 00:14

Jeroen

2008-11-18, 01:11

Thanks for the speedy responses dude :)

I don't think I was clear before... I am on an plasma HD TV that is 16:9... that screenshot that he posted might have been on a 4:3 screen or SD, not really sure but I just used that as an example of the same text bunching I've been experiencing when trying to use Focus.

Ok, well then there's two possible reasons. Either you have your screen settings set up incorrectly for HD. If you go into "appearance settings" go to "screen" and make sure it's set to 720p 16:9. Then underneath choose "test resolution" and it will switch to this resolution.
Or, if you're running on an xbox then you won't be able to use true HD mode even though you have an HD screen, and xbmc will use 16:9 SD mode. That is unless you have an HD pack for the XBOX.

So for SVN is there a plugin or something that I can use that points to an SVN source so I can update things from within XBMC? Like let's say a new version of a skin comes out on SVN can I go to like an SVN section and hit update? Or are SVN releases manual updates?
Something like that. You have to get an SVN client (most people use Tortoise (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org)) which you point to the SVN location. Then you can download the newer version after which you have to run a simple batch file to compile the skin (skin images are stored individually on the SVN, the build script compiles them into a single compressed texture format, improving speed and memory usage).
So they are manual updates, but there are plugins that periodically make updates to skins and plugins available through the xbmc interface. Bram77's Favorites Plugin Installer for instance: http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-favorites/

mrt2

2008-11-18, 19:39

Ok, well then there's two possible reasons. Either you have your screen settings set up incorrectly for HD. If you go into "appearance settings" go to "screen" and make sure it's set to 720p 16:9. Then underneath choose "test resolution" and it will switch to this resolution.
Or, if you're running on an xbox then you won't be able to use true HD mode even though you have an HD screen, and xbmc will use 16:9 SD mode. That is unless you have an HD pack for the XBOX.

Choosing 720p 16:9 put's XBMC in a window/windowed mode... same for choosing 1080i 16:9... I have a 1080i 16:9 tv but choosing these modes under 'screen' puts XBMC in some sort of windowed mode... I asked about this in the XBMC forums and they told me to use the 'full screen option' which said something like '1280x700 full screen'. Which made me wonder... if I'm in this mode then am I truly utilizing my HD potential? I'm using an Apple TV... should I format and do a fresh install of XBMC to try to fix this or what?

mrt2

2008-11-18, 20:02

Something like that. You have to get an SVN client (most people use Tortoise (http://tortoisesvn.tigris.org)) which you point to the SVN location. Then you can download the newer version after which you have to run a simple batch file to compile the skin (skin images are stored individually on the SVN, the build script compiles them into a single compressed texture format, improving speed and memory usage).
So they are manual updates, but there are plugins that periodically make updates to skins and plugins available through the xbmc interface. Bram77's Favorites Plugin Installer for instance: http://code.google.com/p/xbmc-favorites/

I checked out the page for XBMC Favorites and it says it's a plugin for XBOX only, can I still install it on my ATV?

Jeroen

2008-11-18, 20:09

Yeah you can use the full screen option too. I have xbmc start up with a "-fs" switch in the shortcut/alias that starts xbmc, so it starts up full screen no matter what resolution I set it too. Don't know how that works in OSX but I guess there is a similar way.

If you have an HD ready screen 1280x720 would be the highest you can go, although setting it to 1080p will work but your screen will downscale it. If you have a full HD screen your full resolution would be 1920x1080.
I don't see any need for a reinstall really.

I checked out the page for XBMC Favorites and it says it's a plugin for XBOX only, can I still install it on my ATV?
No that won't work. There's a windows and linux version of the plugin, no osx version afaik.

mrt2

2008-11-18, 21:10

Yeah you can use the full screen option too. I have xbmc start up with a "-p" switch in the shortcut/alias that starts xbmc, so it starts up full screen no matter what resolution I set it too. Don't know how that works in OSX but I guess there is a similar way.

If you have an HD ready screen 1280x720 would be the highest you can go, although setting it to 1080p will work but your screen will downscale it. If you have a full HD screen your full resolution would be 1920x1080.
I don't see any need for a reinstall really.

No that won't work. There's a windows and linux version of the plugin, no osx version afaik.

I was just using that res as an example, my tv is actually Full HD... which still makes me confused as to why the skin won't render properly for me. :(
The XBMC favorites plugin page says it's a mod of the original XBMC addons plugin... Can I keep this skin and/or other skins updates using that plugin instead?

igsolt

2008-11-19, 16:54

Jeroen

2008-11-19, 20:09

Very great skin! Thanks for your hard work!
The only complaint I have is the font sizes.
Please, make them at least 5 points bigger, or make it as a part of skin setting.
The other one is the CPU usage, it jumps to 50% when browsing movies, music and pictures (I assume it just because of Beta stage yet)
But drops to normal when in Home screen.

Thank you :)
What kind of display are you using? And do you mean all the fonts or in particular places? Because for instance the uppercase font that is used mostly for titles and dialog headings is already quite large. 5 points is quite a lot. Adjusting font sizes is easy but increasing them by a lot would also mean resizing of buttons, lists and much more to keep the fonts within their controls and fit in windows.
Is the CPU usage high in every type of view or mainly in for instance fanart view? I have done some optimizing for that, but if you experience this in let's say list view as well... I don't really know any ways I could improve there. What kind of system are you using?

mrt2

2008-11-19, 21:47

Jeroen, so it's safe to say that the reason my text is all bunched together is because the resolution is 1280x720 and thus not being displayed at 'true hd'?
If that is the reason... is there anyway to fix it? :(

Jeroen

2008-11-19, 22:29

Well, I don't really see why it should be a problem. Can you make a screenshot of the "screen" section in the appearance settings?

topfs2

2008-11-20, 07:57

I too have the issue with high CPU.
And its only the fileview that is affected. In fileview my cpu hovers @ 100% but in video library, tvshows for instance, it hovers at 2%.

running Ubuntu 8.04 with atlantis

EDIT: forgot to say, LOOOVE the HD version, great work!

Chers,
Tobias

igsolt

2008-11-20, 23:06

Thank you :)
What kind of display are you using? And do you mean all the fonts or in particular places? Because for instance the uppercase font that is used mostly for titles and dialog headings is already quite large. 5 points is quite a lot. Adjusting font sizes is easy but increasing them by a lot would also mean resizing of buttons, lists and much more to keep the fonts within their controls and fit in windows.
Is the CPU usage high in every type of view or mainly in for instance fan art view? I have done some optimizing for that, but if you experience this in let's say list view as well... I don't really know any ways I could improve there. What kind of system are you using?

I have Athlon 64 X2 5000+ 2.6GHz with MSI K9AGM2-FIH onboard gpu(ATI X1250) connected via hdmi to panny plazma 37" at 720P.
All fonts look really tiny, I can hardly see anything from 5m away. See screenshot (http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/3893/screenshot000om6.png), looks like a lot unused space.
(In PM3HD I increased all fonts by 5pnt and it looks really awesome)
CPU jumps only when Video, Music or Pictures are selected.
In all modes, it even jumps to 90% in thumb and icon views.

Jeroen

2008-11-20, 23:48

Thanks both. I must say I'm quite puzzled by the high CPU usage. If anything I would expect the usage to be slightly higher in Library view as the views are more complex. Some time ago though I reported slow performance usage in filemode, but in the end I concluded it had to do something with one of my harddrives as it seems to be nearing it's lifecycle. But maybe this is somehow related. The weird thing is there's really not that much going on in filemode. Strange, but I will investigate. My CPU usage is around the 30% mark, in any mode or view (Core 2 Duo). It stays about the same when I use PM3.HD.

Igsolt, I quite like the "spacey-ness", but I will look into providing an alternate font size option at a later stage.

Jeroen

2008-11-24, 08:38

Been working on the alternate homescreen some more. So far I haven't really gotten it the way I want to. I wanted the menu to look different and make sure the readibility is always good. And no matter what I tried, it just seemed to look out of place to the rest of the skin. So I decided to see what would happen if I adapted the rest of the skin to the menu.

Note that this is just something I'm trying, and I am not sure if I'm going to get throught with it. And if I do, this is still a very early version and not the final look. The space at the top would appear in all other screens, replacing the transparent bar that is there currently.
This would also mean the original homescreen would not work anymore. Well, it would work but it would look bad and out of place. Unless I can come up with something for that that is.

Anyway, just wondering if there are any thoughts about it, as I am undecided about it.

btw, cycling backgrounds are implemented for each of the homescreen menu items, so that's showing here too.

http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/JoenP/th_focusd-1.jpg (http://i79.photobucket.com/albums/j126/JoenP/focusd-1.jpg?t=1227508238)

Stunts38

2008-11-24, 14:13

Hi Jeroen

Interesting concept..Does the Menu bar slide like in er...hem Aeon?!??!? or does it just highlight when say Movies is highlighted? Looks very nice so far, and am keen to see where this is going, Please keep up this good work.:grin:

Jeroen

2008-11-24, 19:26

Yes you slide through the menu while the most centered item has focus, just your basic wraplist. I would really like to find a way to keep the old menu though, as imo it works so intuitively. Yesterday I have been going through at least 6 menu concepts to try and approach that but nothing works as good. With this concept though I am able to take care of some other usability issues that would look bad with the current design. So it will be a trade off in any case. Not showing in the above picture though is a submenu that appears when pressing up on for instance movies or tvshows with further options.

Stunts38

2008-11-24, 21:20

Ahhh ok, will the bar become transparent once an item on it is highlighted? i ask this because i am really loving the transparent bar in the current Focus as it just doesnt interfere with the background image. imho by the way, as i think you are doing great work.:nod:

Jeroen

2008-11-24, 22:54

No, the bar doesn't become transparent. The idea is to kind of have the main part of the screen, so the area where the backgrounds and file lists are, to be elevated a bit so to speak and have the page indicators and other info (like scanning dialogs and player controls) inside the top and bottom bars (although the bottom bar would be smaller in the other screens).
I know it sounds a bit vague, but then again I'm only experimenting really. I just have to see where this leads to. The main problem with the transparency is readability, and this takes care of it a bit.

paul

2008-11-28, 20:25

Just installed this skin and my first impression is great work,
Much more responsive than most other skins i will switch to this skin when i replace my rather old 4/3 tv in the mean time i am using it on my pc:grin:
Keep up the good work

Jeroen

2008-11-29, 17:27

Thanks Paul :)

The possible changes I posted about earlier will remain what they were, concepts. I'm not going to go through with those.

Instead however, Focus will be getting an overhaul as I want to take it in a different direction. The structure and thoughts behind it will remain as they have been but the general look and feel will be getting quite a lot of changes.

These changes will be done because of issues with the current design that have been bugging me for a while. They are mostly usability issues like readability. As I, ultimately, put function over form something needed to be done about these issues. As a result the look will be changing quite a lot but readability will be greatly improved.
So far I'm really liking the new direction I am taking Focus in, but I suspect it won't be for everyone. I know this is pretty vague again, but it should become clear over the coming period.

rwparris2

2008-11-29, 20:50

These changes will be done because of issues with the current design that have been bugging me for a while. They are mostly usability issues like readability.

I always thought FOCUS had excellent readability when compared to some of the more popular skins, like aeon or mediastream.

Ah well, I'll always look forward to your work as Focus is a great skin that I use all the time

Jeroen

2008-11-29, 21:33

paul

2008-11-29, 23:04

Yes with the default background or other more minimal backgrounds with not to much contrast the readability is pretty good. However when using custom backgrounds with more contrast like fanart images it isn't good enough to my liking. Especially in lists the subtle shade behind the text just isn't enough to keep things readable enough in some cases.
That's also the reason that fanart will be shifted more to the dedicated fanart viewtype while the emphasis in other viewtypes will really be about the readability. Fanart will be possible in those views, but more subtle. Much more. As a side effect the fanart viewtype will make the fanart actually come out better. All in all the new direction will give focus a more uniform look.

I do like the simplicity of this skin and the fact it's so easy to read the text,
My only gripe is the fact it's not optimized for 4:3 display's which causes some text to overlap.
I look forward to seeing what you come up with next and hope it does not lose it's simplicity and end up looking like a clone of aeon:;):

Bram77

2008-12-01, 14:47

I finaly have internet again and have updated to Focus Alpha6. I guess because it's a HD skin now the fonts are bigger, which looks absolutely great for my 82cm widescreen PAL CRT TV. The only downsides are that the top buttons in the home screen are overlapping and that text in some screens is overlapping. If you'd ask me the skin should only have to be slightly modified for use on a 16:0 PAL TV. Great job Jeroen!

azido

2008-12-06, 01:19

hey there,

first of all: is it possible i saw your name in other skinning projects too? sounds real familiar to me.

now:

i've installed latest focus and run a fresh install of the latest svn from yesterday on windows xp. when starting up xbmc, i cannot see any mouse pointer onscreen (though mouse is functional) and some additional screen flickering comes up as soon as there is another window opened on my desktop. when switching to fullscreen there is no more flickering.

here's some log info from xbmc:

00:12:17 T:1724 M:2732515328 NOTICE: load default skin:[Focus]
00:12:17 T:3780 M:2732298240 ERROR: Detection of DVD-ROM media failed.
00:12:17 T:1724 M:2730643456 ERROR: Skin includes must start with the <includes> tag
00:12:17 T:1724 M:2730618880 ERROR: Skin includes must start with the <includes> tag
00:12:17 T:1724 M:2730442752 WARNING: file doesnt have <fontset> with name 'Arial', defaulting to first fontset
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726096896 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726088704 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726088704 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726088704 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726088704 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726084608 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726084608 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726084608 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726080512 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726076416 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726072320 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726068224 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726064128 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726060032 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726060032 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726060032 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726060032 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726055936 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726051840 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726047744 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726047744 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726043648 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726043648 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726043648 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726043648 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726039552 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726039552 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726035456 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726031360 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726031360 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726027264 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726023168 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726023168 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726019072 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726019072 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726019072 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726019072 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726014976 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726014976 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: home-start-column
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726014976 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: zoomout
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726014976 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726010880 WARNING: Skin has invalid include: select
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2726318080 ERROR: unable to load:C:\Programme\XBMC\skin\Focus\720p\Pointer.xml , Line 0
Failed to open file
00:12:18 T:1724 M:2725990400 ERROR: unable to load:C:\Programme\XBMC\skin\Focus\720p\DialogMuteB ug.xml, Line 0
Failed to open file
00:12:19 T:1724 M:2716180480 NOTICE: initialize done
00:12:19 T:1724 M:2716180480 NOTICE: Running the application...

any idea what's messy?

cheers
azido

azido

2008-12-06, 03:01

me again,

shouldn't there

http://i38.tinypic.com/21bqfxu.jpg

be the movie plot in the lower part of the screen? i can see it if i use the context menu and select film information, but it's not displayed in fanart view like it does when browsing tv-show episodes in fanart view..

http://i33.tinypic.com/n37s04.jpg

and yes, wherever i can select at skin specific settings, "No Plot Info in Fanart View" is deselected.

finally, speaking of overlaying text, here are some other screens i captured for you:

1. tv-shows (fanart view) with more than 1 season
http://i36.tinypic.com/jl6yhc.jpg

2. tv-show information screen with much info for the plot (yes, scrollbars enabled)
http://i38.tinypic.com/23vkiur.jpg

3. music database - title information screen
http://i33.tinypic.com/2uij1ba.jpg
(seems the font is too big to fit the buttons)

all screens made on 1280x720 resolution for xbmc.. hope this helps you removing the issues, since this is a really nice skin.

cheers
azido

Jeroen

2008-12-06, 16:34

hey there,

first of all: is it possible i saw your name in other skinning projects too? sounds real familiar to me.

Not that I know of, Focus is my first and only skin so far :) If it's in non-xbmc skins, my name is pretty common in the Netherlands so there's bound to be some other skinner with the same name :)

Thanks for your great feedback! I was aware of some of the issues, but not all so thanks.
You cannot see the mouse pointer as I forgot to include an xml file which references the mouse pointer texture. It's fixed in my version, I'll see if I can upload a quick fix for it later.
The long list of warnings in the log are not a big deal, some code cleaning will take care of that. They are references to code that has been removed.

Yes, plot info should appear in the lower part of the fanart view. There is an error in the code that shows/hides the plot info. This is also corrected in my version. The same goes for the issue in the seasons screen.

I wasn't aware of issue 2 and 3, those will be adressed.

Thanks again for your feedback,

Jeroen

azido

2008-12-06, 19:51

Not that I know of, Focus is my first and only skin so far :) If it's in non-xbmc skins, my name is pretty common in the Netherlands so there's bound to be some other skinner with the same name :)

okay then.. no wonder, if it's that common. i think i saw some winamp and windowblinds skins by a guy called jeroen and wondered if that's you.

Thanks for your great feedback! I was aware of some of the issues, but not all so thanks.

you are more than welcome. thank you for sharing that beautiful skin!

You cannot see the mouse pointer as I forgot to include an xml file which references the mouse pointer texture. It's fixed in my version, I'll see if I can upload a quick fix for it later.

ah, there we go.. nice. i just followed some of your postings and thought you won't really add mouse support to it. nice you do.

The long list of warnings in the log are not a big deal, some code cleaning will take care of that. They are references to code that has been removed.

i see.. that makes sense, since i didn't get the feeling it harms the skin in any way.

Yes, plot info should appear in the lower part of the fanart view. There is an error in the code that shows/hides the plot info. This is also corrected in my version. The same goes for the issue in the seasons screen.

fantastic!

I wasn't aware of issue 2 and 3, those will be adressed.

glad i was able to show you something new :)

looking forward for your fixes..

quake101

2008-12-14, 03:18

Thanks for the great skin! This is now my default skin and I can't wait for more updates. :)

Stunts38

2008-12-14, 23:06

Hi jeroen

This skin is great, any news on an update? No pressure just curious :rolleyes:

Thanks

Jeroen

2008-12-15, 23:43

Not much news at the moment I'm afraid. And that will probably stay that way for a while.
A lot of work is being done on Focus, but I'm currently working on finding a new direction for the skin. The main thing is there, but now it's a matter of filling in the blanks. And with skin development it's mostly trying out 10 things first and trashing them before finding the 1 thing that works (at least that's how it is in my experience) In other words, very time consuming :blush:

azido

2008-12-16, 00:03

quake101

2008-12-16, 01:47

i see.
mind telling me how to fix the missing plot display in movie fanart view?

the pointer thing is already fixed i copied over another pointer.xml which did the job.

I would also like the missing plot fix.

Another small bug I found; every time I browse videos or music it always starts in file mode. Is there a way to fix this?

Other then that I'm really happy with this skin. :grin:

Jeroen

2008-12-16, 10:44

I would also like the missing plot fix.

Another small bug I found; every time I browse videos or music it always starts in file mode. Is there a way to fix this?

Other then that I'm really happy with this skin. :grin:

I´ll look into providing a fix for the missing plot info.

The second one is not a bug. Hitting the main menu buttons on the homescreen will always take you into filemode, pressing down on the main menu buttons will provide access to library related functions. This is by design.

Thanks :)

quake101

2008-12-16, 15:27

Gotcha, I really like the menus (more options by pressing down) but, is there a way I can make library mode default? If not, is it possible to add it to the skin options? :)

azido

2008-12-21, 00:56

edit: damned, i already asked this question.. stupid me! -deleted-

azido

2008-12-21, 01:08

Gotcha, I really like the menus (more options by pressing down) but, is there a way I can make library mode default? If not, is it possible to add it to the skin options? :)

hmm.. you didn't get him. "move down" always uses library menus, enter always uses file mode. this is part of the main concept of this skin.

rwparris2

2008-12-21, 01:50

quake101

2008-12-21, 04:40

hmm.. you didn't get him. "move down" always uses library menus, enter always uses file mode. this is part of the main concept of this skin.

hmmm.... I understood him just fine. I'm just trying to make the skin more "wife" proof. ;) (Press the button normal or using the down button would open up in library mode.)

Jeroen

2008-12-21, 11:22

Gotcha, I really like the menus (more options by pressing down) but, is there a way I can make library mode default? If not, is it possible to add it to the skin options? :)

You can edit the xml (i think probably home.xml, jereon will know for sure)

Yes you can edit the main menu buttons in home.xml. There's a section right at the top commented as main menu.

Fore example the video button:

<control type="button" id="1">
<width>120</width>
<label>3</label>
<onleft>6</onleft>
<onright>2</onright>
<onup>6</onup>
<ondown>1100</ondown>
<onclick>ActivateWindow(MyVideoFiles)</onclick>
<include>menubarButton</include>
</control>

You can edit the location by editing the <onclick> line. Examples of the locations can be found here: http://xbmc.org/wiki/?title=Opening_Windows_and_Dialogs

quake101

2008-12-21, 20:06

ahhh, thank you! ;D

azido

2008-12-22, 01:56

hmmm.... I understood him just fine. I'm just trying to make the skin more "wife" proof. ;)

hehe.. funny we always try to make those girl's life easier by getting ourselves into more complicated actions :rolleyes:

quake101

2008-12-30, 16:40

Any update on the plot info while using the fanart view? I don't mean to pry about this but it's currently my only problem with the skin.

I also have an idea for a feature. Currently the skin allows you to change the background which is great but, what if the skin pulled a random background from a folder? (set in the skin options) I have a nice collection of background and I would find it useful if the skin just randomly used one from my collection. Again, this is just an idea. :)

XBMCG33K

2009-01-07, 06:01

Any new updates?

Jeroen

2009-01-07, 20:40

Any update on the plot info while using the fanart view? I don't mean to pry about this but it's currently my only problem with the skin.

Yeah sorry about that, I've been busy lately so I haven't really had the opportunity yet. I promise you I'll look into it this week.

I also have an idea for a feature. Currently the skin allows you to change the background which is great but, what if the skin pulled a random background from a folder? (set in the skin options) I have a nice collection of background and I would find it useful if the skin just randomly used one from my collection. Again, this is just an idea. :)

I doubt I'll implement this. Actually I want to get rid of the "background noise" in favor of clarity. I would like this if there was a chance to pick a random background every hour or so. But the only way possible in xbmc right now makes the background change with every screen change. I find it to disturbing. There will be random backgrounds on the homescreen though.

Any new updates?
Not yet I'm afraid. A lot has been done since the last release but it's definitely not ready for release yet. In fact, so much has changed that I am in doubt whether to release a new version under the Focus name. The main goals for focus have not been changed but it barely resembles previous versions. So maybe I will release it as a new skin, I'm not sure yet. Currently development is very much searching for the right format, so what I have at the moment may even change more.

Bram77

2009-01-07, 23:33

Will you make Focus ready for PAL before switching to a new project? This would be nice in case you'd allow someone else to continue the Focus development. You've made a great/solid base for modifications....if it's finished. Focus in it's current form is fantastic but if it's not finished a bit harder to continue. Not that I'm applying for the job (no time, and not enough design skills :)), but I do hope more skins according to your idea of usability will follow.

rwparris2

2009-01-07, 23:46

I doubt I'll implement this. Actually I want to get rid of the "background noise" in favor of clarity. I would like this if there was a chance to pick a random background every hour or so. But the only way possible in xbmc right now makes the background change with every screen change. I find it to disturbing. There will be random backgrounds on the homescreen though.

I'm no skinner but I'm pretty sure you can do a time based conditional...

I have to say a different image for every hour or every few hours would be awesome. I also dislike the constantly changing images but I do like the variance it provides.

quake101

2009-01-07, 23:51

Yeah sorry about that, I've been busy lately so I haven't really had the opportunity yet. I promise you I'll look into it this week.

Thank you! I have tried to fix this myself but with my limited XBMC skining knowledge, I was unsuccessful. I will be looking forward to your fix. :)

I doubt I'll implement this. Actually I want to get rid of the "background noise" in favor of clarity. I would like this if there was a chance to pick a random background every hour or so. But the only way possible in xbmc right now makes the background change with every screen change. I find it to disturbing. There will be random backgrounds on the homescreen though.

Random backgrounds on the homescreen would be enough for me. Now that I think about it, I think I like that idea better then random backgrounds though out the skin. :grin:

A lot has been done since the last release but it's definitely not ready for release yet. In fact, so much has changed that I am in doubt whether to release a new version under the Focus name. The main goals for focus have not been changed but it barely resembles previous versions. So maybe I will release it as a new skin, I'm not sure yet. Currently development is very much searching for the right format, so what I have at the moment may even change more.

If I may ask, please keep the Focus skin the way it is currently with updates/fixes. If your current development barely resembles the current skin please release it as a new skin. Anyways, just my 0.02

Thanks again for your hard work.

quake101

2009-01-07, 23:54

I'm no skinner but I'm pretty sure you can do a time based conditional...

I have to say a different image for every hour or every few hours would be awesome. I also dislike the constantly changing images but I do like the variance it provides.

I also agree with this. My idea:

Random backgrounds on the home screen, changes every xx amount of time (maybe this can be user selected time.)

Jeroen

2009-01-08, 10:40

Will you make Focus ready for PAL before switching to a new project?

I would like to. Actually originally the plan was to really replace Focus with what I am working on currently. But then I used the current Focus again the other day and I felt I wanted to keep the current Focus too :) So basically I want to do both :laugh: But then available time becomes quite an issue ;)
I have to think about what's going to happen really.

I'm no skinner but I'm pretty sure you can do a time based conditional...
Until now the cycling backgrounds used a multiimage control which uses a folder of images and changes the image at a specified interval. But that time is specified in milliseconds and when you navigate to a different screen it will always change at that moment.
The only other option that I know of is a condition based on the time of day. So then you could display a specific image at a specific time of the day. I don't think you can then make it pick a random image though.

Random backgrounds on the homescreen would be enough for me. Now that I think about it, I think I like that idea better then random backgrounds though out the skin. :grin:

The problem with backgrounds though, specifically on the homescreen, is the readability of the menus though. If you have a rather bright background image the text of the submenus becomes very hard to read. That was one of the reasons I started the "new" skin, which uses a totally different menusystem. Any other menusystem I tried on the current skin which did not have this problem seemed out of place in terms of looks.

If I may ask, please keep the Focus skin the way it is currently with updates/fixes. If your current development barely resembles the current skin please release it as a new skin. Anyways, just my 0.02

Thanks again for your hard work.

I think that's the way it's going to be yes.

o_dog

2009-01-11, 07:03

is it jsut me that experience sluggish performance in fileview on this? The cpu usage rushes up and it performs sluggish as hell. Dunno what's causing it but it's really annoying. Love the skin but can't use it because of this. Saw an eariler post about the same thing but no real response to it.

Jeroen

2009-01-11, 14:54

Alpha 6c now available, see first page or my sig for download location. No big changes, just a fix for the disappearing plot info in fanart view. This hopefully works correctly now.

is it jsut me that experience sluggish performance in fileview on this? The cpu usage rushes up and it performs sluggish as hell. Dunno what's causing it but it's really annoying. Love the skin but can't use it because of this. Saw an eariler post about the same thing but no real response to it.
Indeed, other people have reported this too. As I am not experiencing this sluggishness myself it's hard to find the cause of this. However during my work on the other project I may have found a solution for it, although I am not 100% sure. It will take some time to port this over to the current Focus release. I hope to find some time the upcoming week to implement this.

XBMCG33K

2009-01-11, 23:08

Works great and all accept is there something i can do to stop it from exiting library mode every time i leave videos, or music sections?

quake101

2009-01-12, 19:29

kautious

2009-01-13, 02:11

Hey Jeroen!! Thanks for the Update!! Love this skin!!
Im just having this small problem when I'm browsing my library and looking at a movie or tv show plot/info screen it goes back to the beginning of my video list, it wont stay on the selected file. Or if I'm watching a TV Season and Im on Ep 5 after the show is over it will go back to Ep1. Thats it! Other than that I think this skin is perfect!!!

azido

2009-01-14, 12:16

Alpha 6c now available, see first page or my sig for download location. No big changes, just a fix for the disappearing plot info in fanart view. This hopefully works correctly now.

i hate to say this :sad:, but unfortunately it doesn't. it works perfectly for movies now, but sucks on tv-series fanart view.. look at this:

http://xbmc.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=5&pictureid=14

as you can see, series info is just written over everything else now. and, as a second issue i might have overseen before (since version before also does it), fanart view in tv-series is only useful if you use wide series banners (seems you liked to stick on them) instead of season (dvd) covers or posters.

edit: ah, i found the option i missed.. it's under settings -> info settings -> use poster view styles for tv shows. now it just looks like in the movie section. however, if you use banners, you would have the screen above.

jalesm

2009-01-14, 12:24

i hate to say this :sad:, but unfortunately it doesn't. it works perfectly for movies now, but sucks on tv-series fanart view.. look at this:

http://xbmc.org/forum/picture.php?albumid=5&pictureid=14

as you can see, series info is just written over everything else now. and, as a second issue i might have overseen before (since version before also does it), fanart view in tv-series is only useful if you use wide series banners (seems you liked to stick on them) instead of season (dvd) covers or posters.
Go to Settings > Skin Settings > Info Settings> Turn on "Use Poster Styles for TV Shows"

azido

2009-01-14, 12:47

Go to Settings > Skin Settings > Info Settings> Turn on "Use Poster Styles for TV Shows"

yeah, i've already edited my post since i figured out for myself.
anyway, users who like to use those wide banners instead of posters would still have the issue..

Jeroen

2009-01-14, 19:49

Works great and all accept is there something i can do to stop it from exiting library mode every time i leave videos, or music sections?
This is by design, see post #58 :)

Hey Jeroen!! Thanks for the Update!! Love this skin!!
Im just having this small problem when I'm browsing my library and looking at a movie or tv show plot/info screen it goes back to the beginning of my video list, it wont stay on the selected file.

Or if I'm watching a TV Season and Im on Ep 5 after the show is over it will go back to Ep1. Thats it! Other than that I think this skin is perfect!!!
I would have to look into this further, but I suspect this may be an xbmc issue. Does it stay on the selected file in other skins?

i hate to say this :sad:, but unfortunately it doesn't. it works perfectly for movies now, but sucks on tv-series fanart view.. look at this:

I always overlook things for wide banners :rolleyes: I don't use them myself.
I will upload a fix later.

kautious

2009-01-15, 02:43

I would have to look into this further, but I suspect this may be an xbmc issue. Does it stay on the selected file in other skins?

Yea, it only with Focus6c, the way I check to see if it was XBMC or just Focus6c was I would go to Xtv skin go to my video library, play a movie and press stop. My current movie is still selected. But when I do the samething with Focus6c, the First movie in my library would be selected.

jamsponge

2009-01-22, 03:19

I accidentally downloaded version 6 alpha of this skin and overwrote my SD version. This is really unusable at the moment for SD TVs. Could some please upload the last version 5 that was SD and 4:3. Thanks

Jeroen

2009-01-22, 10:59

Alpha 5c is still available on the Focus google code page. Just select "all downloads" on the download page :)

o_dog

2009-01-22, 15:57

any progress on the sluggish performance in fileview? Tried it on 3 diffrent computers with diffrent HW and they all react the same.

neurosis13

2009-01-26, 07:27

Yea, it only with Focus6c, the way I check to see if it was XBMC or just Focus6c was I would go to Xtv skin go to my video library, play a movie and press stop. My current movie is still selected. But when I do the samething with Focus6c, the First movie in my library would be selected.

i have the same problem.
It works with the other skins.

jalesm

2009-01-29, 08:04

any progress on the sluggish performance in fileview? Tried it on 3 diffrent computers with diffrent HW and they all react the same.

I just want to add I have the same problem, but only when I use list view. The icon views view are very responsive, which is really weird since it seems like it should be other way around.

MrTourettes

2009-01-31, 04:55

Hi just read through the whole thread and have a question that was not asked ( I do not think anyway ).

In my music section I use Icon display. What I have noticed is that the main display image overlays the library images. Is there anyway to have the screen seperated so you have all the library images on one side and the actual selected image on the other. I have posted 2 screen shots showing roughly what I mean.

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/8932/screen1in0.jpg

http://img520.imageshack.us/img520/2020/screen2be4.jpg

Hope these explain what I mean.

Also From what I have read there is currently no fanart on the main menu screen that is correct isnt it?

Jeroen

2009-01-31, 10:02

any progress on the sluggish performance in fileview? Tried it on 3 diffrent computers with diffrent HW and they all react the same.

i have the same problem.
It works with the other skins.

I just want to add I have the same problem, but only when I use list view. The icon views view are very responsive, which is really weird since it seems like it should be other way around.

I am pretty sure I have found the cause for the bad performance in list view. Expect a fix sometime next week.

Hi just read through the whole thread and have a question that was not asked ( I do not think anyway ).

In my music section I use Icon display. What I have noticed is that the main display image overlays the library images. Is there anyway to have the screen seperated so you have all the library images on one side and the actual selected image on the other. I have posted 2 screen shots showing roughly what I mean.

Hope these explain what I mean.

Also From what I have read there is currently no fanart on the main menu screen that is correct isnt it?

Actually the big selected image is not meant to be there at all, it should just display the icons. I will fix that as well. Thanks for adressing it :)

MrTourettes

2009-01-31, 13:49

Actually the big selected image is not meant to be there at all, it should just display the icons. I will fix that as well. Thanks for adressing it :)

I actually like that big image there is there any chance of having it stay?

Aenima99x

2009-02-05, 18:27

I am pretty sure I have found the cause for the bad performance in list view. Expect a fix sometime next week.

Hi Jeroen.....any update on this?

Jeroen

2009-02-11, 10:56

Hi Jeroen.....any update on this?

Hi, sorry for the delay I haven´t got around to completing it. I hope to do that this week but I´ll just say ASAP ;)

I actually like that big image there is there any chance of having it stay?

I´m not planning to no, sorry

MrTourettes

2009-02-17, 00:09

Jeroen

2009-02-17, 18:58

Unsure if this has been mentioned in this thread so sorry if it has.

Have you considered adding the movie details on the movie browsing screens? When I say movie details I mean images for 720p 1080p DTS, etc etc.

I have thought about it and I would like to, but most probably not as long as there's no official support for it in XBMC. Meaning not by adding stuff to filenames in order to make it work.

neurosis13

2009-03-05, 01:38

kautious

2009-03-06, 19:14

Sorry:no: Still no solution to this problem.
I still think this skin is great!! I just hope it's fixed in the next update.

IIINeOIIINL

2009-03-13, 19:38

Jeroen,

Any updates on a possible new release?

For the rest, great skin! :cool:

Jeroen

2009-03-14, 19:12

Jeroen,

Any updates on a possible new release?

For the rest, great skin! :cool:

I'm afraid not :blush:
I feel really bad for not releasing an update for a long time, so I won't make any promises that I'm not sure I can keep. Because of a new job and other real world stuff I don't have as much time available to work on Focus as I would like to.
I'm also kind of shifting my available time across two projects, one being Focus and one being a new skin. Contrary to said earlier the new skin will probably be released under the Focus name. Partly because I just like the name :) and partly because the design principles have remained the same. It will look different but the general concept and viewtypes will be reminiscent of Focus.
It will be released seperately, probably just Focus 2. So it will not be meant as a successor to Focus, I would like to keep the original Focus under development. How realistic that is to do on my own however will remain to be seen.
So again sorry for my absence as of late, I plan to make it up to you in the future :)

Bram77

2009-03-15, 00:55

Thanks for keeping us informed. I know I wouldn't be able to find the time to develop and/or maintain a skin. Your skin is still working pretty well :) Only the big fonts are a bit annoying but I still prefer 6c above any other skin.

Stunts38

2009-03-16, 16:02

I agree totally, Alpha 6c Suits my purpose down to the ground and the bonus its a beautiful skin that doesnt get old.

azido

2009-04-29, 18:56

I agree totally, Alpha 6c Suits my purpose down to the ground and the bonus its a beautiful skin that doesnt get old.

..add that it isn't as resource hungry as the other big players but still beautiful and usable ;)

if only i could change some graphics like the top menu and the "movie cases" that would be lovely..

Jeroen

2009-04-29, 19:33

..add that it isn't as resource hungry as the other big players but still beautiful and usable ;)

if only i could change some graphics like the top menu and the "movie cases" that would be lovely..

I'm planning to put up Focus on the skinning SVN when the next update is done. So then you could fiddle around with the textures. One little problem though, some time ago I accidentally threw away my "working directory". I still have the .psd's, so it's nothing unfixable, just a lot to sort out :sad:

azido

2009-04-29, 20:40

I'm planning to put up Focus on the skinning SVN when the next update is done. So then you could fiddle around with the textures. One little problem though, some time ago I accidentally threw away my "working directory". I still have the .psd's, so it's nothing unfixable, just a lot to sort out :sad:

jeroen, you are still my man! :nod: these are some really good news.

don't worry about that dir.. i guess the textures can be extracted from the xpr somehow, right? so in that case i have all i need (graphics size related).

azido

2009-05-01, 20:21

while we are at it:

how hard would it be for you to add a fanart view to the music database view?

would love to have a screen similar to your tv-shows database view for the artists - a fanart, a small picture on the left and some descriptive words showing up as like the plot..

zeltak

2009-05-02, 07:35

+1 to the music fanart view :)

Zeltak

thirteen

2009-05-06, 22:12

This is easily my favourite skin :D
So simple to use and its purrrrty.
Thanks Jeroen!

tomh

2009-05-10, 13:36

Looks great! Can't wait for a 4:3 version :)

xbs08

2009-05-10, 13:41

Older versions of Focus support 4:3

tomh

2009-05-10, 14:02

Yeah but I'm having some trouble with it - fanart not working in TV library, crashing every time I change something in settings...

Even with all that it's still the best skin by far though :)

mfwilli

2009-05-12, 06:49

I love the bigger movie poster/thumb in list view in files mode. I'm not much of an xml guru or skinner...could someone point me in the right direction or advise how to make this view the default list view in library mode? Thanks.

zeltak

2009-05-16, 07:25

Hi Jeroen

Any news on the update? I am waiting patiently :)

Thx

Again

Zeltak

RockDawg

2009-05-16, 23:45

Here's another vote for this skin. I just tried it for the first time today and I love the look and feel of it. Would love to see an update!

Jeroen

2009-05-17, 15:30

Not much news at the moment I'm afraid. I'll be having some time of in two weeks so things should come together pretty quickly then :)
Thanks for the continued support despite lacking updates :blush:

tripslipfall

2009-10-20, 04:51

MacLeod_1980

2009-10-25, 18:42

Just found this when looking for a solution to my bedroom (4:3) htpc solution. Couple of issues with the 4:3 menu, but I am sure people have mentioned it.

I just want to say I liked it so much, I ended up trying it out on my big screen HD HTPC - it's really nice!

One issue I have found is there is no way to quick scan the library, in most skins you can press down and goto an alphabetic scroll. In this skin this operation brings up the view settings, not sure if I am missing anything.

azido

2009-10-25, 23:14

hmm..

actually i still like that skin.

i might look into adding current xbmc functionality to it, if i can get my hands on an unprotected texture file for it.

Bram77

2009-10-26, 00:39

It's a great skin. That would be awsome!

Jeroen

2009-10-28, 16:44

Any new updates?

I really love this skin, alpha 5b is the best 4:3 skin I've seen so far, but it's not working right with new builds of XBMC. I load the skin, XBMC crashes, I restart XBMC and the skin works, but I can't go to the appearance settings, it just crashes again.

Anyways, great work on the skin and I hope it comes back to life soon.

Hi guys, I know I've been missing in action so to speak. Sorry about that. I could bore you with all the details as to why and such, but I won't.
I'm still very interested in xbmc and in the skinning as well, but you know, life happens as they say.

As for updates, I don't think there's a big chance of that happening anytime soon. I have been working on another skin (well, one that changes completely every month or so, don't know if I can refer to it as one skin). But anyway, I kind of lost interest in Focus over time. Not because I don't like it anymore, but because of the work it would require to get it where I would want it to go. In order to do that, a complete rewrite would simply be the best option. I started on Focus with no knowledge of XBMC skinning whatsoever, so that also means it's quite ineffective in terms of coding and design as the knowledge of xbmc's skinning engine grows.

So if I would revisit Focus, it would be by starting over completely. And as the coming months will be a really busy time for me, that's just not realistic at the moment.

All I know is that I will most definitely continue to do skins for XBMC, I just don't know when or how that's going to be.

hmm..

actually i still like that skin.

i might look into adding current xbmc functionality to it, if i can get my hands on an unprotected texture file for it.

Hey Azido, hit me up on PM. I would like Focus to stay alive so if I can't do it myself I'm sure we can arrange something. So, if you're up to it let me know.

Greetings,
Jeroen