Right side drive Vs Left side

djmickyg · 03-16-2007, 09:57 PM

something I've been thinking about, dunno if its come up already.

A lot of skins i have used seemed to be designed by people in US as a lot of more frequently used buttons are down the left side.
for us driving on the right side this something is a little annoying..

could there be a way in RR that u can state in the RR.ini if your left or right.
and it can flip the background image vertically and the position of the buttons etc to suit the flip background.

img's in the skin shouldn't be flipped so people have have their logo's without it being flipped backwards.
and maybe the Next and Previews buttons shouldn't change either, as their directions is same everywhere.

let me know what you think?

Enforcer · 03-16-2007, 10:51 PM

I must admit I have been thinking about doing a reverse iDrive for some time. But mainly for LHD people as I find having the buttons down the LHS good for a RHD car.

As for getting RR to do the work, I don't think so.

Road_Dog · 03-16-2007, 10:56 PM

Maybe you can use a mirror?

2k1Toaster · 03-16-2007, 10:56 PM

Wouldn't this be any easy skin change? Just modify some values in the skin, and voila. Buttons have moved?

djmickyg · 03-16-2007, 11:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Wouldn't this be any easy skin change? Just modify some values in the skin, and voila. Buttons have moved?

some skins arnt so easy

Enforcer · 03-16-2007, 11:51 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by 2k1Toaster

Wouldn't this be any easy skin change? Just modify some values in the skin, and voila. Buttons have moved?

And the graphics?

Ruffy · 03-17-2007, 12:42 AM

No easy way to do it. If RR allowed a /flip command and graphics were built differently then possible.

IE If each button in a skin could be saved as a single image file, then all compiled together flipping the screen wouldnt be a problem.

kpjuk · 03-17-2007, 03:28 AM

This can be done, although it requires a lot of work. I developed a concept skin called Minimal that has a button to move a row of buttons from the top of the screen to the bottom, although the main objective was to see if I could develop a skin with transparency.

Minimal Skin

In effect it needs two skins to be developed which are swapped over by an auotit script, and the skin is then reloaded. It is a lot of work to maintain.

I have started to do a 1024 x 768 skin without the use of INC files, so that pRoFiT's editor will work with it, to make it easier to change by the community if wanted.

Don't underestimate the amount of effort needed to do something like this though.

cheers
KPJUK

djmickyg · 03-17-2007, 03:34 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by kpjuk

Don't underestimate the amount of effort needed to do something like this though.
KPJUK

I'm not underestimating it..
I do understand the complexity of tring to make a mirror image of a skin..
this is why im asking for something that will automaticly flip background images and buttons..

Ruffy · 03-17-2007, 04:33 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by djmickyg

I'm not underestimating it..
I do understand the complexity of tring to make a mirror image of a skin..
this is why im asking for something that will automaticly flip background images and buttons..

flipping buttons doesnt work because then they would be backwards. In order for this to truly work it would require each button being a seperate image file. That way they can be repositioned without making them backwards.

Or creating a seperate skin all together with every screen changed. This basically means doubling the size of the skin/doubling the files.

kpjuk · 03-17-2007, 07:06 AM

With work, you could make a symetrical skin, and then put into exectbl.ini a series of setlabel and setbutton entries to achieve what you want that is initiated by another button, or a config statement in rr.ini or skin.ini.

I appreciate what you are looking for, I just don't know of an easy way to get to where you want to.

RR takes a while on my epia to load a screen for the first time, so I developeed a series of exectbl.ini statements to change the button function and labels like described above. These worked far quicker, but I then ran into problems, as some skin functions only work on certain skin names, so I couldn't do this consistently. The outcome for me was to suffer the screen load time for the first time, and learn patience !

Cheers
KPJUK

djmickyg · 03-17-2007, 10:46 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by Ruffy

flipping buttons doesnt work because then they would be backwards. In order for this to truly work it would require each button being a seperate image file. That way they can be repositioned without making them backwards.

Or creating a seperate skin all together with every screen changed. This basically means doubling the size of the skin/doubling the files.

this may be true for skins with the text on the back ground image..
but for skins with text boxes for the button text, which i think is a better way to do it, so people could customize the skin much easier..
then it would work

JohnWPB · 03-17-2007, 03:55 PM

The only way to really do this, with an existing skin, is VERY complicated! Most of the skins have the icons, labels and such on the images. This would make for a reversed image for ALL of those skins.

For skins that do not have icons, text labels and such on the on/off/down images,(Very few skins) would also be very difficult to do. You would need to flip the BG image first off. Then you would need to change EVERY image and EVERY button coordinate on EVERY skin to show up in the new location.

As for the << > >> (Rewind play and FF buttons, they would now be >> > << if it was flipped...

This doesn't even begin to touch on the top bar in most skins where track time, online indicators and such are located, as they would have to be left alone for the most part.

The bottom line, is plain and simple, there is NO easy way to do this. Just make a skin from scratch, or get a good cardio workout, and reach that extra 5 inches (Sorry, 127mm) across the screen

I personally do not think that the menu's on the left is a left/right hand drive issue, its just the way things are in 90% of the world. Most cultures read from left to right. That's why the Start button is in the bottom left of the screen. Also 99.9% of navigation on a website, the menu is on the left side of the screen. When you are in any type of explorer tree, and open a sub menu, it branches off to the right ect.

All of this (Except for the part of it being hard to do for a skin) is of course just my 2 cents worth, and my opinion.