Idea for Frontend look

Crinos · 07-01-2009, 02:20 PM

Since I'm not quite sure if this is what I'm going to use or not, I thought that "off topic" would be the right place...

Clearly it's for my own frontend system. ATM I'm no where near making a GUI, I just had this thought all of a sudden, and quickly put it down on "paper"

Any pros and cons... I like dark colors, but would this be usefull day/night?

Don't be afraid to say that it sucks... a honest answer is much better than anything else, and I got the back to with stand any bad critics.. As long as unfair comments and personal attack is left out

NB: Picture quality is a lot worse posting attachments than I thought.

malcom2073 · 07-01-2009, 02:23 PM

Two things:

First, the text might be a bit difficult to read unless you know what they are ahead of time (not so good for driving down the road). Second, the play/next/prev buttons on the bottom might be a bit hard to hit as well?

That being said, I really like the look and colors. Be a good nighttime skin for sure.

Bugbyte · 07-01-2009, 03:02 PM

Agree that the text may be hard to read. It looks a little like the credits in a horror movie :-)

Consider making the player controls bigger and if you are able to keep the main controls to just four functions, put them inside big regions that split that middle section into 4 quadrants. That will make it easy to select the functions, even if you have to shrink the middle section to increase the size of the player controls at the bottom.

2k1Toaster · 07-01-2009, 03:17 PM

There is no possible way that will look decent on a 7" screen. The usable parts of the skins like buttons and display icons, are waaaaaay too small. The big image in the middle is just wasted space, and there isnt much space to waste on small screens.

Also the text will be hard to read unless you know what it is.

It is also very dark, so nighttime ok, but you wont see anything in the daytime.

DarquePervert · 07-01-2009, 03:22 PM

If that's your personal style, then run with it.
I agree with most of the other points that are made. It's very thematic, and always subject to personal taste & style. It's not something I would want, but I can't say what others would like.

Crinos · 07-02-2009, 03:58 AM

Thanx for all the feedback...
The resolution is 960x600 wide, because I realy don't know how to get Win7 any lower than that an still have wide screen.

The display is 7" Wide, probably a xenarc. (have not bought this yet).

I design in double size, so 1920x1200.

I agree with the font types, need abit of "experience" to read them.
The song title and volume info font is called Creepygirl (10 points for the horror movie comment) and the font on the buttons is called DANZIG4p. Might change all fonts to something more readable.

Regarding button sizes... I have seen some skins for RR that have up to 10 buttons at the bottom row. And thought that mine where on par with those, obvious not

hehe.
Perhaps I'll abandon the whole "dramatic theme" thingy, and go with something clean and steril, but that would not be me.

hum... how would I best go about designing a theme without having a 7" display to try it on?

2k1Toaster · 07-02-2009, 04:01 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Crinos

hum... how would I best go about designing a theme without having a 7" display to try it on?

Tape off 7" screen on your screen. Then scale your working window to that space. Remember that's 7" diagonally.

Crinos · 07-02-2009, 06:17 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Tape off 7" screen on your screen. Then scale your working window to that space. Remember that's 7" diagonally.

Found dimensions on the Xenarc I'm planing to use.
Viewable screen size is W: 153.40mm and H: 92.44mm
http://www.xenarc.com/product/706tsa.html

Just made myself a template at work to use when I get back home

Crinos · 07-03-2009, 05:56 AM

Just as a little update for the curious one... I have abandoned the bloody wings theme, and gone very basic and neutral for the moment.

Much inspierd by the Simplistique skin for RR. I forgot to upload a screendump yesterday, and I'm at work now... But It's basically the same front menu. But I'm keeping my buttons gfx.

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