erland;253340 Wrote: > I kind of like this idea. We have a lot of third party plugins but only > a handful of third party skins, has anyone wondered why ? > If someone requests a new functionality in the forum it is often > suggested that they should make a plugin for it, but when someone asks > about something that is user interface related it is seldom suggested > that they should make their own skin. > I too would love to see the third party skin development increased. > This way the Logitech crew could focus on the core and let the > community provide all the extras. > > Maybe we need some kind of easy documentation how to create a third > party skin ? > Something that is easy for someone to follow if they just like to do a > small adjustment and not make a completely new skin. > > Regarding the search box I really don't care that much since I've > hardly used the search functionality in SlimServer yet. > > Would everyone be happy if there was a third party skin available that > looked like the default skin but had a visible search box ? > Or is it important that the search really is visible in the default > skin delivered together with SqueezeCenter and not as a third party > skin ?
I have to like the idea, too, don't I? Especially since.... It means we or Logitech will first have to IMPLEMENT a consistent skin interface since currently there is none. I know what I'm talking about ;-) There were guidelines in the past, but since the new Default skin doesn't conform to any of those and they don't really work out well with JavaScript enabled skins (you have means to generate UI code from a plugin with HTML/TT but not JS) this means as soon as you do any changes plugins will have to be adapted. Everything is currently handcoded there. Just imagine the search box thingy: As soon as something changes to the search functionality, you will have to change all skins. Or if you want to add another search option, or.... The only thing that currently comes close to the MVC-Paradigm and therefore could be used as a skin-IF if the JSON/RPC Interfacce, but I consider this undocumented for two reasons: a) The protocol itself is not documented. It took me hours and hours and lots of discussions with Michael Herger here to figure out how this works if you don't use the Ext-Lib. b) The CLI that it uses is not documented. Yes, there is the online documentation that comes with the server, but that does not include 3rd party plugins. And, of course, this still means that you have to implement each plugin functionality within your skin :-( You've seen this for iPeng, and I assure you it will be the same for other skins: As soon as you change more than colors and layout this means you will have to adapt each and every plugin to each and every skin Just 2cts from a skin developer.... -- pippin ------------------------------------------------------------------------ pippin's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=13777 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=41417 _______________________________________________ beta mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/beta
