A simple front end!???

Hi all, been looking over the forums for a while. Downloaded most of the popular frontends a year or so back, and again lately. But really haveing trouble finding something I like!! Am I too picky?

I'd have no trouble paying for something that I am happy with. Maybe something like RR skinned?? Downloaded a few of those too..

Really I can't get past a couple sticking points.

1. Most seem too darn complex to use in a car. I want SIMPLE

2. I don't want one gigantic list of all my songs (thousands in wma format) They HAVE to be in a album folder structure. Eg folder list on the left, songs in the selected folder on the right.

3. A menu that is easy ( I'm no programmer!!!) to add and remove options. I don't want a browser, sat radio, phone etc. I won't use them, and so I don't want to see them cluttering the UI.

4. A quick and simple slider volume control. Slide my finger along and it changes accordingly.

5. Less cryptic symbols on buttons. If I can't work out what they do by looking at them then its not good enough. I want others to be able to use the thing too.

I have a Philllips pronto pro remote at home. I've set that up so even my Mother can use it. Wish I could adapt it to a car setup.

I really liked the digitaldash layout, but having all the songs in one list is a deal breaker I'm afraid.

I have so many ideas I would like to see in a frontend. I just wish I could make something myself. :confused:

Anyone have some suggestions? Or would like to skin something already out there the way I want it?? For money of course.

I haven't actually put a PC in a car yet. That will happen in my new car in the coming months. But I want to get things rolling before then.

what you are looking for is out there already. So i guess the answer is YES you are too picky. Road runner is pretty easy to pick up, but as with any front end you will have to LEARN how it works before being able to pick up and go. Road runner is my choice because its completely flexible. There are tons of great skins and EACH one can be tailored to each users exact need. Spend a week playing with RR and reading its forum and you'll understand its madness. As for your remote. You can take most any remote and use girder to control its functions. There's no reason you cant use it in the car. I've used playstation 2 remotes, xbox remotes, and now i'm using the remote for my extigy sound card, completely catered to my setup with girder. Between RR and frodo ( the two i've worked with) there's no reason you cant be up and running with the ability to customize and skin within a week if you apply urself.

If you don't like any of the front-ends out there, write your own.

Personally I use RoadRunner and origionally customized my own skin...it was a hastle because you have to edit the pictures in Photoshop (which not all of us have) but then I found a skin that totally changed how I saw RR...MC2.0...FIND THIS SKIN!!! You can edit the main buttons from a TEXT FILE and change the background to suit your needs. No cryptic icons really...As for a volume slider, well...tap and drag on my TS is more touch and go...so I'd say stick to VOL+/- buttons...it's not a skin/frontend problem. Once you set RR up it's EASY to use, Especially with this skin!!!

Thanks for your replies.

Sonicxtacy02, Yeah I think RR is what I need to look at.
I didn't mean to use my pronto in the car, what I liked was the way I can customize the remote to the way I want. Pity I can't use that softare on a screen in a car. If you have programmed one, you will know what I mean.

Darquepervert, Dude, that was what I was saying. I'm no programmer!! I have to reply on someone else's good work. But as I said, I don't mind paying for it at the same time.

NeoMatrixJR, I'll take a look for MC2.0. Thanks for the headsup.

Cheers
Jamie

'nother Noob here, I use a very simple frontend to control WinAMP lite.

Designed to run at 800x600 screen res, controlled by numeric keypad, written in VB, runs on a stripped down XP.

What features are u after Jamie?

Just mp3 and gps?

Do u already have any GPS software?

The point of having a carpc for most people is to be able to do some rather complex tasks, for eg. listening to our thousands of mp3s randomly, syncing files with our server at home, integrating with our cell phone, etc. Otherwise we would just stick to a simple HU.

As for cryptic icons, I kinda agree with you. In my skin, I try to use text and icon on the same button as much as possible but sometimes, there's just not enough space for text.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by b8bboi

The point of having a carpc for most people is to be able to do some rather complex tasks, for eg. listening to our thousands of mp3s randomly, syncing files with our server at home, integrating with our cell phone, etc. Otherwise we would just stick to a simple HU.

---

I agree that most people want "to be able to do some rather complex tasks" but some peeps may want less. I can understand this to a certain extent, but as was *cough* discussed on another thread, a lot of this is probably down to how the song queueing/selection works.

This is the same reason I just hired someone to create a custom Skin for me. I'll suggest you do the same. You have to remember these free skins were made for the person who origionally did it. They did it for THEM not you so if you have a personal taste of preference then you need to create you own as well. You can take one that's already done and alter it to your own taste.