What I Do In My Spare Time #2: Shady Skin (Windows Media)

[Darius Wey]

<img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20050119-ShadySkinv102.jpg" /><br /><br />You saw <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36530">Part 1</a> of the "What I Do In My Spare Time" series. Now welcome to Part 2! :-) So what do I have for you today? <!><br /><br />A somewhat "shady" friend of mine asked me if I could create a <b>dark</b> skin. Now being clueless and too lazy to ask, I had to leave it up to myself to work out the meaning of "dark". Did he want a dark, horror-style skin, or a dark, media-style skin? I decided he wanted the latter (and thankfully I was right). So here you have my latest Windows Media skin release - "Shady". It is available from <a href="http://www.handango.com/ampp/store/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&productId=150223&productType=2">Handango</a> or <a href="http://www.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=16424&associateid=204">PocketGear</a> and costs you absolutely nothing. Same details apply as last time - that is, landscape and VGA support is lacking, and while it may work in Media Player 10, exclusive features such as album art support will not be present. But back on topic, "Shady" is vastly different to the <a href="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=36530">"Bubble" skin</a> you saw earlier so chances are if you liked the first one, this one may not suit you too well. Although I'd love to hear your thoughts on this one. So start posting! :-)

[cab124]

Once again, a very clean skin. I think I like the first one a little better though simply because there doesnt appear to be enough contrast between the controls and the background on this skin.

Nice job!!

[PDANEWBIE]

This one does display video too right? So many of them look cool but can't show video so really don't work for me.

I love these skins. Too bad they don't have a skin selector program, so each time you opened windows media you would get one of the X number of skins you loaded. Oh well a guy can dream can't he :)

[Vincent M Ferrari]

I like this one even better than the last one!

For me, though, this wouldn't do well... Black items on a screen don't show up very well in a well-lit area.

Either way, you have a great eye for this stuff. Are you taking requests now? :-)

[jickbahtech]

Another excellent skin! I realy like how clean it is.

Keep up the great work!

[marcm]

Nice skin! :D
Again, I'd use it if it could do landscape... :)

[ctmagnus]

This looks especially cool with Juni's Black&amp;White themes :)

[rmasinag]

simple and clean, thanks :)

[dean_shan]

Reminds me of the computer interface in Star Trek.

[humayunl]

Nice clean skin D!

While we are discussing skins, I was trying out MS Voice Command last month and it automatically installed a really nice skin on my Windows Media Player.

After my trial was over. the program expired and sadly so did the skin. I thought the skin would be available free but I cant find it anywhere online.

Does anyone know which one I am talking about and whether it is be available somewhere?

[Darius Wey]

This one does display video too right? So many of them look cool but can't show video so really don't work for me.

Yup, they all display video. :)

[Darius Wey]

Does anyone know which one I am talking about and whether it is be available somewhere?

Yes, it's the one with the large blue keys. I don't think it's available anywhere unless you have Voice Command.

[Darius Wey]

Either way, you have a great eye for this stuff. Are you taking requests now? :-)

I can. Ping me with some ideas and I'll see what I can do. ;)

[Steven Cedrone]

I like it! I am adding it to my device even as we speak (type)! :wink:

[elemess]

Hi all,

I've been looking for a tutorial on how to create media player skins but no luck yet.

I'm a software developer, have my own MSDN licence and use .NET Enterprise at work for developing web services, etc so hopefully I'll have access to software required.

Can anyone give me a starting point?

Thanks in advance,

Mike

[Darius Wey]

Can anyone give me a starting point?

The Windows Media SDK includes a basic tutorial, IIRC. However, my advice to you is if you really want to learn how to create skins, the best way is to look at a sample skin and work backwards. Analyse the graphical content and the code that goes into making it all work. It helps clarify things and puts things in perspective.

[elemess]

G'day,

Thanks for the tip, Darius.

I opened up your .skn file and all was revealed.

By the way, a Dark Side skin really ought to look like this ...

http://www.ceramike.com/background.gif

:wink:

Mike

[Steven Cedrone]

http://www.ceramike.com/background.gif


Ooh! I'll take one of these! :wink:

[donbacardi]

Very nice !

[JoC]

I've been playing with WMP more lately and I really like the Shady skin. The white one was nice, but a bit too iPod-y :razzing: - black is more my style. The purposes of all the buttons are nice and clear. Very tidy. All we need now to complete the set is a silver version. That would match my iPaq and it's aluminium case nicely. :way to go:

[Darius Wey]

The purposes of all the buttons are nice and clear. Very tidy. All we need now to complete the set is a silver version. That would match my iPaq and it's aluminium case nicely. :way to go:

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind. :D

[bnycastro]

very nice! and btw van dyk rocks!!! :D

[Darius Wey]

very nice! and btw van dyk rocks!!! :D

Thanks. :) I see you're a trance fan yourself. ;)

[bnycastro]

yep! as they say 'trust in trance' :way to go: