Starting a new Skin

[RayBe]

Hi All,

I want to start making/editing skins, for starters (and for learning) i want to keep it simple and just make new graphics files for a existing skin like discribed in this wiki: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Create_my_own_skins_or_GUI_for_LinuxMCE
But i don't want to mess up any existing skins so i want to copy a skin and start from there.
For example:
take /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/Basic directory and copy and rename it to /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/BasicNew wich i can alter.

could someone please explain in detail how to make such a copy of a existing skin (i don't want to mess-up the system)
and how to get acces (read/write) to this directory from a laptop inside the internal lan.

thanks,
br,

Raymond

[coley]

Have you gone through Thom's screencasts covering this? they should answer most of your questions.
http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Designer

and check this thread
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=5059.0

-Coley.

[RayBe]

hi Coley,

thanks for your reply, yes i did but i don't seem to recall that it did answer my questions.
i am fairly a newbie to linux and am very careful not to mess things up, thats why i ask in such detail (willing to learn a lot)

br,
Raymond

[DragonK]

Raybe,

If you can access your "home" folder from the network, than you can create a symbolic link to your skins directory.
And the screencasts are a good place to start. I went over them more than once before I got the hang of it.

From a the command line;

Code: [Select]

cd /home/
mkdir skins
sudo ln -sf /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/
Karel

[RayBe]

Hi Karel, thanks for your reply,
Sadly i do not have acces to my home folder, how do i get permission?
But if i make a symbolic link, if i understand correctly, i still have to copy 1 of the current skins to work off, thats my intention anyway.
Is this discribed in the screencasts? Did i missed that, i looked at them? Or maybe you can explain?
Thanks,
Br,
Raymond

[DragonK]

When you've created the symbolic link to your skins dir, you can then copy an existing skin to another dir for you to play with.
You can then just copy and paste or change the graphics in the /home/skins/newskin/ folder from the laptop.

Karel

[RayBe]

Hi Karel,

thanks for the help,

i did
cd /home/
then
mkdir skins
then
sudo ln -sf /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/
but then i get this message:
ln: ./skins': can't overwrite folder
any ideas?

br,
Raymond

[RayBe]

ok so now i did cd /home/skins/
and then gave command sudo ln -sf /usr/pluto/orbiter/skins/ and now i can see skins/skins/Basic
there is only 1 extra skin folder, don't know why maybe someone could explain, i want to learn

thanks all
br,
Raymond

[RayBe]

Karel in your post ( http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=10689.msg75121#msg75121 ) you said:
"I want to change the colors of the playlist datagrid. The green and purple under the coverart."

Thom wrote in post http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8566.msg57616#msg57616 that he created the slate-skin without HA-designer and he also did change the color of the playlist datagrid.

i asume you did manage to change the colors and that it is just another graphic-file, could you tell wich one, i can't seem to find it.

thanks up front,
br,
Raymond

[RayBe]

Karel,

and how do i make my skin appear in the dropdownlist from the orbiters?

br,
Raymond

[tschak909]

You have to make a new entry in the Skin table, for this purpose. Use the MySQL Query Browser to do this. If you do not have this, install the package mysql-query-browser using apt or adept.

-Thom

[DragonK]

Raymond,

Cant off hand what graphic file it was but when I get home I'll let you know.
Where are u located, timezone? cause then I can get you on the IRc channels and help you.

Karel