It's Christmas Time - Time To Break Out The Skins

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

---It's Christmas Time - Time To Break Out The Skins---

Ok this is my second attempt at a skin.
its a pretty good skin but its missing alot of stuff that i dont know how to do. im pretty sure i need maki coding somewhere in here. anyways tell me what you think and if you have a suggestion could you please tell me how to do it. i need display, more buttons... somewhere?

check this out.

j:o:r:d:a:n

...i cant upload my zip it says its too large but its only 238kb...
...doesnt 102400 bytes equate to a megabyte?...
...anyways im gonna post it at a friends website...
...it's here at (i cant remeber the password so ill post it in a few)...
...actually maybe you cant post something on the first post...
...maybe...

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

---It's Christmas Time - Time To Break Out The Skins---

ok it is here (http://www.lakesimcoewaterfrontproperties.com/WA3%20Skins/Christmas%20-%20%20Holly%20Skin.wal)


j:o:r:d:a:n

[mc^^^^]

downloading...
downloading...
downloading...
82% ...
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*download complete*


nice try but honestly who would use a skin like that?

[mikekantor]

I don't download skins unless I have a screenshot. I know it's a strict policy, but it's fair.

102400 bytes is 102.4 kilobytes, .1024 megabytes, and 819200 bits.

Perhaps you mean 1024000 bytes? yes it is 1 megabyte... but it all depends on your OS. Using this methodology, a CD can hold 716.8 Megs. It's true! I even encoded and burned divx to that size with no problems.

And don't worry, it was legal because I own the DVD and just wanted to enjoy it on my DVD-driveless laptop.

[Gonzotek]

It's a good start. You need some place to grab the whole thing and be able to move it around. And the components aren't showing up correctly (skin switcher, for instance). I've started a christmas tree skin, maybe we can have a good-natured christmas-themed WA3 skinning contest. Now that people are really starting to get into WA3, it would be a fun way to get into the act :).

-=Gonzotek=-

[Naamloos]

I'm not in sorry, i've got some other things to do...
school, my own skin, and some chilling down... :D

[I Am Trunks]

102400 bytes is Exactly 100 kb since 1 kb is 1024 bytes:D

[Gonzotek]

Screenshot of my work in progress. I hope to have a working version done at least a week before Christmas, so it can actaully be used :). I'm not going to spend a lot of time texturing everything, I'm focusing on making it work well. The white stripes will be the volume and seek bars. I'm going to add a trunk for the vis and a present resting on or near it for the status text. All the other "main" functions will go on the tree as balls or lightbulbs.
http://members.home.net/cassidyn/images/xmastree.png

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

ok i know its bad but i mean its a start and its only my second skin your lucky i didnt waste your time with my first skin. i mean not to offend anyone. my first skin had like two buttons, open and stop. so i think ive progressed.

also what is nemissis talking about?

and Gonzotek i like your idea, and im also doing a christmas tree skin but it looks different and still is missing the display. Gonzotek you know how to do displays right? like track time etc.

j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

Tags for status text: <!-- Timer -->
<text
id="timer"
display="time"
x="172" y="92"
w="89" h="30"
font="YOUR.FONT" fontsize="24" align="left" color="195,192,161"

/>

<!-- Da song ticker -->
<text
id="songticker" ticker="1"
display="songname" default="" showlen="1"
x="51" y="70"
w="201" h="18"
font="YOUR.FONT" fontsize="18" color="195,192,161"
/>
Just keep at it, sometimes when people see a skin that isn't finished, they can get the wrong impression. Even after you feel that it's finished, I can guarantee that someone somewhere will want you to change something on it. Good luck!

-=Gonzotek=-

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

that coding goes into player.xml right?
what does the image have to have? does it need a background? or can i have floating time?

j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

I don't think that it can just float. Probe uses a semi-transparent background that looks pretty cool. The tags go inside the main,normal layout inside player-normal.xml (if you're using the default skin as an example). You can write your own xml file with all the code for the whole skin, just follow the includes and cut and paste them by hand in the same order they are included. For skins that are real basic, this can work better than having a dozen different files, some of which only have a few lines. And, if you don't modify anything in a particular file you can use things like:<include file="..\\default\\xml\thinger.xml"/>-=Gonzotek=-

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

ok on an other note what program do you use to write your xmls?
do you use the one program by Dexter Holland or Soy Sause?
ive just been using notepad.
suggestions?

j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

I use Dexter Holland's to begin it, "fleshing in" all the tags. Then I switch to Crimson Editor (http://www.crimsoneditor.com/) because it is a free syntax highlighting editor. It's a great program, I use it for Euphoria(a programming languague), maki, xml, and html. And that doesn't begin to cover it's feature list! I haven't tried Soy Sauce yet, but I will now. :)

-=Gonzotek=-

[mikekantor]

Notepad+ is king of text editing:

http://www.mypeecee.org/rogsoft/

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

Gonzotek, do you have the syntax file for xml hilighting?
i just opened one and it looks regular.
j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

Sorry, I may have been a little over-zealous in my post, it doesn't actually highlight xml, though the numbers should show up as a grey color if your copy is the same as mine. It does allow making up syntax files however, and if I get the chance and can learn how quickly enough, I'll attempt to make a syntax file for WA3 xml and maybe MAKI, later. I have to see how much time it will take, but, since I jumped the gun, so to speak, I'll make the effort to make up for that :). Sorry again. If you just want to view the xml, the latest version of IE seem to do a ~moderately ok~ job of it, although I'm sure there is better.

And:
Latest update to my christmas tree skin:
http://members.home.net/cassidyn/images/xmastree2.png
-=Gonzotek=-

[mikekantor]

The syntax of maki is very similar to that of many other scripting languages.

If there is such a thing as a JavaScript syntax file for this editor, it may work quite nicely.

[Naamloos]

Verry cool skin, maybe you can randomize the Cbuttons :)

[mikekantor]

Wow, the texture and sparkles really show off the potential of this skin more than the previous screenshot.

Have you thought about using an actual photograph of a tree?

Also, I have a suggestion... can you put in realistic-looking chrismas lights? That would be really something. You could even make a button to turn them on/off like a real tree.

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

anyone have a xml file that uses all the different syntax hilights?
if you do post it and ill try to make a syntax file for it for crimson editor

i know very little about xml hilighting so if you have a xml file that uses alot of differnt hilighting and use alot of keywords like bitmap id , elements , etc. upload it
thanks

better yet!!!
send me an xml file or a bunch of them that use all of winamp3's functions and ill base my syntax hilighting on how ie5 shows them.
i quickly made a skin in dexter hollands program but like i said it was quick and still lacking some stuff, if you have some xml files that have everything or close to then upoad it here.
thanks

j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

I planned on making the balls and the lights random, I've made a pretty good graphic for a small lightbulb, and I've got an idea of how I'm going to script it, but I might need some help writing the actual script. I'll try to post a version of the skin without the scripting sometime tonite or tomorrow.

I thought about using a scanned image, but I spent too much time getting the photoshop generated tree to look good to scrap it :).

The on/off button is a fun idea. I'll work it in somehow.

-=Gonzotek=-

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

Gonzotek,
i made the syntax files today
they seem to work but u have to set the colors differnt i think
they should go:

background colour=white
left margin=any colour but i used grey
normal text colour=black
variables colour=dark red
comment colour=blue
constants color=black
delimiter colour=blue
line number=can be anything but i used white
keyword0 color=dark red

this should completely reproduce how ie5's shows it... except for the bold black text.
i dont know if that is possible in Crimson Editor.

put xml.spc and xml.key in the spec folder of Crimson Editor's install directory
put link.xml into the link folder of Crimson Editor's install directory.

although i call it a XML syntax hilighter it is mostly for WA3 xml's because i have yet to uncover all the different kinds of highlighting there is for xml files. if i covered it all then horrah!

did i miss anything? suggestions?

j:o:r:d:a:n

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

stupid me with all that typing i forgot the files
here they are in a zip

j:o:r:d:a:n

[j o r d a n 2 0 0 4]

shit everything is ok but when you open the element.xml for the Kjofol skin the regions for it show up as blue instead of grey.
i have no clue how to fix this.
help?

j:o:r:d:a:n

[Gonzotek]

Cool, I hadn't even started looking yet :). Family crap the last couple days. I'll download them and play around with it when I'm done my post.

Here's my latest update, if the mods have no problem with it, I'm thinking about starting my own thread the next time I post about this (because I'm hoping that it'll be a release post and I feel like I'm taking your glory away ;) ). Or should I just keep adding to this one?

Anyway, here it is:http://members.home.net/cassidyn/images/xmastree3.png

Thanks again for the highlighter,

-=Gonzotek=-
The Mighty Imbecile