iDrive F01 -Alpha Release- !!Question to skinners - Post 40!!

**Enforcer** · 02-24-2009, 04:09 PM

Originally Posted by Bimmerstyle

@Enforcer:

No, the skin browser was dropped actually to make the deadline I promissed some people. I don't really use it. I always change the skin in RRConfig. But if you guys want one I can include it in the next version.

Personally I think a skin browser should be mandatory in any skin, especially ones which are alpha and beta releases. otherwise it's a pain to get out of and back to other skins.

**GizmoQ** · 02-24-2009, 05:40 PM

Originally Posted by Enforcer

Personally I think a skin browser should be mandatory in any skin, especially ones which are alpha and beta releases. otherwise it's a pain to get out of and back to other skins.

**EL CAMINO** · 02-24-2009, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by GizmoQ

**Bimmerstyle** · 02-24-2009, 11:43 PM

Ok,ok,ok... Point taken!

The skin selector will be in the next release. It should be ready by the end of the weekend. Since I'm back at work on weekdays (last week I had a week off) everything has to be done in the weekend now.

So far this has to be done then:

-Check spelling of help screens (done)
-Include a skin selector

Other problems so far?

**Kardain** · 02-25-2009, 08:59 PM

I'm currently running this skin

Here's what I've noticed so far...

I drive w/ Nav on all the time (iG 2009). Cops in my area are ticket-happy, and since my car is a hair's-width from street legal, I don't need another excuse to get pulled over.

With that mentioned, occasionally, music goes into "remix mode" where the last second played repeats itself a few times, then continues on as normal. This issue has never occured with any other skin (and I even swapped skins just to make sure).

I just now caught that there are other skins for non-PC Navigator users... the default one works fine with iG.

Track skip forward/back, there is a lag if the screen is idle after a time. This lag causes fast forward / reverse within the same track until it finally realizes you wanted to skip tracks. Again, not present on any other skin.

I notice the same button issue as previously mentioned. Maybe just a touch more contrast? I know the goal is to mimic the OEM model as much as possible, but sometimes compromise could be made. My solution was to take the night skin and color shift it some towards red (I don't have any blue in my car except for the Lilli's buttons, which if I knew how to change them, I would), so the day skin color shifted is way too bright.

All in all, this is an intuitive layout. I like the "scroll-wheel" part in the music player. Ease of use is a key point in my skin selections, so....

What I would like to see: A web screen (even if it is just the blanks like you did with phone that would be OK) and maybe an app launcher screen... other than that, impressive work

**Bimmerstyle** · 02-26-2009, 12:15 AM

With that mentioned, occasionally, music goes into "remix mode" where the last second played repeats itself a few times, then continues on as normal. This issue has never occured with any other skin (and I even swapped skins just to make sure).

Track skip forward/back, there is a lag if the screen is idle after a time. This lag causes fast forward / reverse within the same track until it finally realizes you wanted to skip tracks. Again, not present on any other skin.

Seems like a performance issue. I never had these problems on neither my desktop or Car-Pc (Core 2 Duo 6400 @ 2.13GHz & Celeron M440 @ 1,86GHz). What system are you running it on? Does this happen only in the playlist screen or also in the normal audio-player?

Do the other skins that u use have the iList? I guess maybe the problem lies in there. Try turning it off eiter in RRConfig or slashing away this line in in the idle.skin. --> "IL,PL,Front.bmp,Front.bmp,Front.bmp,2,50,80"

I just now caught that there are other skins for non-PC Navigator users... the default one works fine with iG.

The other navigation screens are just for looks. They're the same as the PC Navigator ones except for a neutral black (blue) background.

I notice the same button issue as previously mentioned. Maybe just a touch more contrast? I know the goal is to mimic the OEM model as much as possible, but sometimes compromise could be made. My solution was to take the night skin and color shift it some towards red (I don't have any blue in my car except for the Lilli's buttons, which if I knew how to change them, I would), so the day skin color shifted is way too bright.

More contrast in the night skin is not really possible in my opinion without making it too bright for night use. The only way to accomplish this is making the grey and brown lables white and yellow(ish). This was actually the case in my first tests. Conclusion: way too bright at night. And I don't use Gamma or dimmers of some sort because they wash out the image on a 7" low quality TFT ('cause that's wat they are) completely.

Other colours are something I will work on in the future however. First on my list is a neutral Silver/Grey dayskin.

About the other screens... I'm playing with the thought of making the current version a "lite" one for users like myself who won't need anything more than what's in it and do another "pro" one with more screens, adjustable colours, changing buttons,.... the works! This will put my skills to the test however..

And, Thanks!

**Kardain** · 02-26-2009, 12:29 AM

I'm running the D201GLY2A (1.33 Ghz Celeron board) in one car and the 1st gen Atom board in the other

I believe this is the first skin I've tried with iList, so I'll try that commenting out part and report back.

The lag occurs in both vehicles and across all screens, except the audio player screen.

**Bimmerstyle** · 02-26-2009, 12:59 AM

Weird...

I would have expected it to happen only in the Audio screen with the playlist enabled and the browser screen 'cause that's were the iList feature is present. Not in the others. Try however turning it off in all these screens (Idle.skin, Audio_Brower.skin and Video_Browser.skin) or even better completely in RRConfig (General --> Page 3 at the bottom). Let me know if it helps.

Are there other people with lower specs than mine who are having these problems? Please let me know. (not that I can think of a quick fix except for the iList...)

**Bimmerstyle** · 02-26-2009, 04:20 AM

New version uploaded. Link in first post.

Changes made:

-Included a skin Browser
-Corrected spelling in Help screen
-Added a line to the help screen that I've forgotten in the first release

I also changed the way the bottom buttons look in the skin browser to make them more visible during daytime. Sort of an inversed "on" state. Because with a normal "on" state, people with a touchscreen still wont see them until they touch them. Tell me what you guys think. If you like it I will change them in the other screens in the day skin as well. The night skin stays the same. They are clear enough at night and making them brighter would not do well for the look of the skin in my opinion.

**GizmoQ** · 02-26-2009, 05:11 PM

Nice skin! And the touchwheel scrolling is sweet! I really like how skinners lately are spending time to come up with creative mixer/EQ screens. Speaking of the mixer, CD/line/mic are don't work on my dev machine.

A suggestion for the day skin: Black text on background. Most my daytime backgrounds are quite bright so black text looks best against them.

I know I'm sounding like a broken record about internet radio, but would you consider using TRACKNAME instead of TAGTITLE (you did it in menu.skin, but not in audio_player.skin).