Calling all UI Designers for new Basic Skin

[randomblink]

Also, concerning the Wiki, I just got one setup and running on my own site. If you guys are having issues getting the uploads to work? I might be able to point you to the right place. Let me know what the problem is?

Peace

[tschak909]

It is also worth noting guys, that UI2 is ONLY available on the on-screen displays. We can't currently use it on the non-OSD orbiters, nor would we want to.

The same UI for On-screen displays isn't apt for a touch screen. This is why there is a separate variation, and we need to design specifically for it.

-Thom

[skeptic]

Is this thread for a new onscreen UI, or a UI1 replacement?  My comments were related to updating UI2 or for a new onscreen UI.

[tschak909]

It is for a complete replacement of the Basic UI
which includes the following variations:

* Normal Horizontal (which most incorrectly call UI1)
* V2 Normal horizontal (UI2)
* Symbian (mobile orbiter)
* PDA
* SmallUI (Cisco 7970 skin)

-Thom

[tschak909]

Here was a quick test, replacing skin graphics for buttons, and then doing an orbiter regen. I did this to illustrate the scaling issue:

There is a 3 pixel border around the button graphic, which distorts slightly when being rendered as a final graphic:

http://www.localeconcept.com/pub/Basic_Work/buttontest1.png
http://www.localeconcept.com/pub/Basic_Work/buttontest2.png

See what I mean?

-Thom

[rages]

Hi, I am not a Linux programmer, but I have watched your screencast and I was trying to create a UI1 for touch screen with glass effect buttons.
This is the basic button that I created.. http://digilander.libero.it/rages2/immagini/iconavetro.png

[tschak909]

very cool. Be careful of drop shadows, keep in mind that these buttons will be rendered next to each other (plus any spacing specified in the array.)

Also keep in mind, that unless constrained by a maximum # or by the bounding box of the array, the buttons will wrap to the next row. This happens for example in the "More..." screens.

-Thom

[krys]

a little more tweaking... I think if we could figure out a way to get local temperature to show by the time that would be sweet! especially if we could have a big red ! exclamation point if there is sever weather around.

[tschak909]

General_Info_Plugin can be modified to get weather information. I have wanted to do this for a while. I would expose a variable for temperature:

<%=TEMP%>

but this will require changes to Orbiter, and thus will only be available once our autobuilds start rolling in.

---------------

I also want to re-emphasise, that we need to work on UI work for all variations, not just UI2. If you need to, install Orbiter on a windows PC, or add the Web Orbiter so it can be tested.

-Thom

[krys]

http://imagebin.ca/view/SRs_U0.html

forgot the link earlier

[bulek]

General_Info_Plugin can be modified to get weather information. I have wanted to do this for a while. I would expose a variable for temperature:

<%=TEMP%>

but this will require changes to Orbiter, and thus will only be available once our autobuilds start rolling in.

---------------

I also want to re-emphasise, that we need to work on UI work for all variations, not just UI2. If you need to, install Orbiter on a windows PC, or add the Web Orbiter so it can be tested.

-Thom

I'd just like to express wish, that user interfaces will have some containers that will be filled with some useful text or graphic info (like time, weather, important current temperature in the house, etc...). Then by configuration, one an decide what will be shown...

Regards,

Bulek.

[rages]

That was my idea to the touch....http://digilander.libero.it/rages2/immagini/provaUI1.png

Frankly my first idea was to make a pop-up menu and leave the center of the screen free to imagine as in the UI2.

[krys]

I like that rage, I think that the images you use on your buttons are self expanatory, could we get away with not having the description underneath. How often is someone not going to know what the button is for? I think it would make the UI look cleaner

[rages]

   
Yes, you have reason.

[tschak909]

So that everyone understands what the end goal is here:

The final result will be a complete skin/designer changes that will ship with LinuxMCE in the future.

As such, the final result needs to be consistent across all the variations. This doesn't mean, look the same, this means that if you placed an orbiter right next to a TV running UI2, or a Cisco 7970, it wouldn't look out of place.

I know it's early to be saying this, but I wanted to make this point.

-Thom