Vicky Skin - Released

**Valheru** · 10-11-2007, 05:50 AM

After a short lived Vicky-1 skin - that never really became any more than a prototype - I finally have a working Vicky Skin that I'm happy with. I had thought about calling it ACME but that might be a little obvious with Roadrunner etc ...

This is a basic skin, no flash or transparency.

Features include ...
Audio Player - 100%
Audio Browser - 100%
Video Player - 100%
Video Browser - 100%
Skin Browser - 100%
GPS : Autoroute - 100%

There are also some hidden features to reduce button requirements.
1. Tapping the center black square on the main menu will show the exit menu.
2. Tapping the display section on the top of most screens with swap between day and night skins.
3. The audio player changes to display the album art automatically after 10 seconds - Audio2_Player.skin.
4. The exit menu will revert to it's calling screen after 5 seconds if no button is pressed.
5. Full use of the GPS requires the installation of a 3rd party virtual Keyboard called Click-N-Type from http://www.lakefolks.org/cnt/.
6. The GPS uses a custom saved map called Map.axe, although you can call it anything you like. This just allows me to easily save personal locations using the push pin feature of Autoroute.

Any updates I make to this will be made available for anyone who would like them.

**carputer1** · 10-11-2007, 06:50 AM

i notice your using Autoroute, have you tryed Keys yet.
and what about D6 have you tryed that too.

nice to see a skin that is more inline for this side of the pond.

**Valheru** · 10-11-2007, 07:20 AM

I looked at Keys alright but found it didn't work as well as I had hoped .. maybe it was a user problem though. D6 is that Destinator 6 - which I don't have a copy of. The mapping with AR2007 is not too bad here in Ireland at least it's good enough for my needs at the moment.

**carputer1** · 10-11-2007, 07:38 AM

keys can be alittle difficult to use. i did use it before my self, and as you have removed it due to time , it was quicker to use AR short cut keys instead.

Detinator 6 is also as good i have it running alone side AR so i can benifit from them both.

**ThunderStick** · 10-12-2007, 07:27 AM

I like it all, But I think the buttons on the main menu could use a little more and the center box also seems out of place.
But all in all GREAT WORK

**Valheru** · 10-12-2007, 11:47 AM

I might add icons to the buttons ... and maybe redesign the center square to incorporate a logo or someting like that ...

any suggestions ThunderStick ?

I'm also adding GPS support for Destinator ... coming soon.

**ThunderStick** · 10-12-2007, 08:59 PM

Smaller maybe and rounded corners to match you other buttons.
A lot of empty background is actually not a bad thing.
I would probably not overlap the center box either, would look cool as the center peice and everything else sorrounding it.
But really the rest of it looks pretty professional. Nice work.

I dont mean to criticize, believe me I have made some of the most criticized skins. But hearing all the criticizm helped me get a better idea on what makes a good functional skin.

**Maddominican** · 10-12-2007, 09:15 PM

Nice and simple...but (there's alway a but) remember that the human brain, specially while doing a task as important as driving, works best with pictures than words, so if you could add some icons to the buttons it will be terrific.

Keep it up, nobody gets the perfect skin the first time, it takes a lot of our inputs as users and polishing.

**Valheru** · 10-13-2007, 04:50 AM

Thanks for the feed back guy,s it will certainly help with the development of this skin. I suppose I originally wanted something very easy to use, especially while driving - hence the overly large buttons etc, but as you say I think adding icons will improve the usability.

ThunderStick, I was thinking along those lines for the main menu, smaller, rounder buttons maybe arranged in an oval shape around the center "logo" .. something like that ? ... with icons on added as well ... if nothing it may add a little colour to the skin.