Preview Vickie Theme and question on ScalingInsets

[Skacey]

Hi All,

I've been working for about 6 months on a new theme called "Vickie" for SageMC. This is my try at a Victorian inspired theme. Ive got my Menu Icons working fairly well, All new Genre Icons, Show Icons EPG bars and most of the other various graphics.

Here is a teaser of a few elements, the items on the left are Genre Icons based on an old card catalog. on the right are oval framed Show Icons, the one on the left is selected with an ornate frame.


(Click to enlarge)

I'm running into some issues on the last items:

I've found five focus bars and their non-focus backgrounds:
hp_selectionbar
icon_empty
list_sub
menu_list
small_button

For each I have tried to use the ScalingInsets property in the theme.properties file but it seems to have no affect on the way the graphic is scaled on the screen. (for reference, I am using an HD extender)

What I am going for is a frame that keeps the thickness of the frame consistent and extends the length of each side to fit the image size required. I thought that was what ScalingInsets did.

For example, setting top to 8 would keep the topmost 8 pixels as drawn and would stretch the lower pixels to make the image the correct height.

Am I off on how this works?

[heffe2001]

Can't help with the Scaling, but those screens look great..

[Skacey]

Thanks for the feedback - I'm pretty close to done, just got to get past this last part.

Ok, I've rebuilt the buttons at near proportional size but now I have another issue. it seems that some of the buttons are drawn in the wrong order. Here is an example:

I make one image for the menu_list_nofocus of a dark grey background. This looks pretty good as the menu has a nice background and white type.

It keeping with the theme, the menu_list_focus graphic is a thin metal frame which brackets the copy.

The problem is that the graphics draw in the wrong order. The metal frame is at the bottom, the grey background is on top of the frame, and the copy on top of everything.

This is only true for some of the menus. The Stop menu draws correctly but the left side menu and program list are reversed.

[MeInMaui]

Post a description of exactly where this occurs in the bug reports thread. Thanks.

Aloha,
Mike

[Skacey]

Thanks Mike - I will enter this tomorrow when I have more time to appropriately document and screen shot the issues.

[mikejaner]

Could we get a screenshot of what you are making? I saw the images posted above, but now I am curious as to what the whole think looks like.

[Skacey]

I've put the preview in the Screenshot thread here:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...602#post336602

[webwalker]

I'm flat out impressed.

And a little jealous; half of my desire to work with Sage has been the ability to finally skin a Steampunkish interface.

So, obviously, I'll be one of your first and most ardent customers. :^)

M

[Skacey]

This is a fairly organic theme - my mind has been racing on a second version ever since I read the steampunk request a few days ago.

This is probably about a week out, then I will start on version 2.

[webwalker]

I've been scratching my chin over my own take, using subtle 1930s-50s elements and a dash of Chinese/Japanese thrown in (bamboo, crane, etc) for a much brighter interface than the standard "white on dark" of the current GUIs.

One of the things that I have noted from studying interfaces over the last several years is the move from text in a single language (and an implicit assumption of literacy) to purely symbol based navigation beginning in 1970 or so.

Take a look at these beauties.

http://www.indianaradios.com/Antique...ng Dials 2.htm

You'll note that there is a huge variety of interface styles, all to do exactly the same thing (linear tuning across parallel wavebands)

M

[Ikarius]

When you say 1950s, my mind immediately goes to fallout and their take on 1950's styling/interfaces. That could be really cool, but when you mention integrating asian influences, it sounds like your idea is totally different

So many possibilities!

[Skacey]

I love the dials - inspires a lot of interesting ideas.

I definately agree with the reduction in type usage, instead concentrating on icons and colors. I've always had difficulty making out items on the TV as I'm pretty near sighted.

For Vickie, I've replaced most of the Show Icons with symbols:

Watched is a party mask
HD is a Diamond
Manual Record is a Red Wax Stamp of the letter "R"
Encoder markers are blue gems - the number of gems indicate which encoder (if you have more than eight, I've got no solution and I'm jeleous)
Encoders turn to red gems when actively recording.

I've replaced the play, pause indicators with the outline of a dog:
Pause is a dog Paw (paws, get it?)
Dog walks when indicating play and runs when indicating Fast Forward
The Stop menu shows the dog sitting.

I think I'll be ready to upload ver 1.0 late tonight or perhaps tomorrow night.

[QueOnda]

Originally Posted by Skacey

Encoder markers are blue gems - the number of gems indicate which encoder (if

Very cool sounding. Can't wait to try it. I guess I'm outta luck with the encoders, I have 11.

[webwalker]

I'm really interested to see how this looks now!

I've been trying to think of a symbol to represent the 'clarity' that HD would bring...so a diamond is great!

M

[webwalker]

So how's the Vickie coming? I haven't seen an announce....

[Skacey]

I've completed version 1.0 but ran into the file size issue when uploading to the forum.

The upload failed! Upload error.

From reading elsewhere in the forum I found that most people end up hosting elsewhere and just providing a link. I'll have to try to spend some time finding a hosting site this weekend.