Improvements tips for 5.9+

[NJK]

as the title already says , it's all yours....

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by NJK

as the title already says , it's all yours....

Cool Frisian fella! Thank you very much.

Hereby I would like to invite other skinners to share their tips on the current version 5.8 but this time from the "skinner-point-of-view": what is annoying, what broken and what does not work properly while creating an awesome skin.

Now this is going to be fun!

[PeterK.]

I am starting with the COLOR THEMES list:

1) This list seems not to have its own background. I have to use this "old fashioned" background="wasabi.list.background" instead of "my" background="standard.background" in the layout in order to make it visible. Otherwise it would not appear at all.

2) The column header is way too small. Yes I know I can hide it by adding the TRUE value to the XML-tag nocolheader but still, this should be as big as those ones in the Media Library. Also the scroll bars are too small. Please compare with Media Library.

3) I cannot change the size of the font. The font used here should either be dpi-aware or the same like in Playlist Editor.

4) Do we need the Color Themes option in the main context menu while there is (always) a Color Themes window?

[PeterK.]

A similar candidate is the Playlist Directory list:

1) I cannot change the font size.

2) The column header and scroll bars are too small.

3) Clicking on different entries leaves multiple background colors on depending on the background color (see attached screenshot).

4) the columns are never properly aligned after fresh start. I have to resize the entire window in order to have them under the corresponding tab.

5) Weird! Double click on an entry in the Color Themes window makes the colums in the Playlist Directory window jump into the proper locations beneath the tabs! (Those two lists seem to be somehow linked to each other - so I was told).

[PeterK.]

Another request from my "bucket list".

I had this idea to add shadows to my skin. I started with components like Main Player, Equalizer, Spectrum Analyzer, etc ... and ended up having all six of them "shadowed". Everything went fine until I decided to move on and added alphabackground XML-tag to Winamp's standard windows: Playlist Editor, Media Library, Video and Visualization. And this is were things got ... complicated.

As soon as I added alphabackground to the layout of those windows the content vanished. But wait! It gets worse. Once the option Enable desktop alpha blending is unchecked, those windows get real holes: you can see the content of your folder or the desktop wallpaper beneath them.

Would it be possible to make those windows "alphabackground-compatible"?

[PeterK.]

Would you please add font() and fontsize() to edit box.

[Tohno_Neil]

There are something trouble me，
double click maximize
maximize-on-top-drag

In other software, like windows explorer,
I need this function.

[MrSinatra]

I hope all of Peters excellently documented bugs get addressed, good work!

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

I hope all of Peters excellently documented bugs get addressed, good work!

I bet they all roll their eyes seeing another post from me like this:

Well, the relationship between programmer and tester was never meant to be a love story. The more they "hate" each other the better the end product. No, it is not my intention to spread hatred among us ...

... I just keep posting.

Now this was a tough cookie! For weeks I was trying to get rid of this one and failed. I am afraid the knowledge of an insider is needed here.

When I close/open a component or change color a message is sent to Main Player's display. Also when I turn Equalizer on or off. The problem is, Winamp does show the text "Equalizer On" but does not show the text "Equalizer Off". Instead I see the Preamp value. Exactly the same happens when choosing a preset: on the display the Preamp value appears.

[PeterK.]

The EasyMove option in the main context menu should be grayed out while running a Modern Skin because according to DJ Egg: "afaik, that feature/option only applies to classic skins, not modern skins. "

[Benski]

Here's the mapping used in classic skin.

code:
switch (ic)

{

 case L'\u00B0': /*¡*/ ic = L'0'; break;    

 case L'\u00C6':/*®*/ case '\u00C1':/*ç*/ case '\u00C2': ic = L'A'; break;

 case L'\u00C7': /*‚*/ ic = L'C'; break;

 case L'\u00C9':/*ƒ*/ ic = L'E'; break;

 case L'\u00E0': /*ˆ*/ case L'\u00E1': /*‡*/ case L'\u00E2': /*‰*/ ic = L'a'; break;

 case L'\u00E6':/*¾*/ ic = L'a'; break;

 case L'\u00E7': /**/ ic = L'c'; break;

 case L'\u00E8': /**/ case L'\u00E9': /*Ž*/ case L'\u00EB': /*‘*/case L'\u00EA':/**/  ic = L'e'; break;

 case L'\u00EC':/*“*/ case L'\u00ED':/*’*/  case L'\u00EE':/*”*/ case L'\u00EF':/*•*/ ic = L'i'; break;

 case L'—':/*—*/ case L'˜':/*˜*/ case L'™':/*™*/ ic = L'o'; break;

 case L'œ':/*œ*/ case L'':/**/ case L'ž':/*ž*/ ic = L'u'; break;

 case L'Ø':/*Ø*/ ic = L'y'; break;

 case L'†':/*†*/ ic = L'U'; break;

 case L'\u00D1':/*„*/ ic = L'N'; break;

 case L'\u00F1':/*–*/ ic = L'n'; break;

 case L'\u00FC': /*Ÿ*/ ic = L'u'; break;

 case L'\u0192':/*Ä*/ ic = L'f'; break;

 default: break;

} // quick relocations

Perhaps an XML tag that turns on attempts to use this mapping? I will also explore using built-in win32 functions to do the conversion.

EDIT: some of these don't make sense. not sure if the symbols pasted wrong or something.

[Benski]

How can I download your skin to test these? I wasn't able to find a link in the thread in your signature.

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by Benski

How can I download your skin to test these? I wasn't able to find a link in the thread in your signature.

Here.

P.S. Just visit Modern Skins section.

[PeterK.]

According to the Winamp WIKI regarding multistate audio visualization display <vis> we actually could have two separate displays on Spectrum Analyzer, because:

"channel - (int) One of three values for which channel to monitor: "1" is left channel, "2" is right channel, "3" is stereo. Default is stereo. "

What a pity there is ALWAYS one channel. Creating two displays show: left bars movement = right bars movement => the same channel.

[MrSinatra]

Maybe I'm confused, but it sounds like there is always one display, not one channel. Stereo is two channels.

It would be cool to support two or more displays at once, so u could have for example one VU type meter display for each channel of sound.

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

.. Stereo is two channels.

Yes but you cannot split it into two (differently playing) channels. Either way you always end up with one channel, hence one display. Setting the channel tag to "1" (left channel) or "2" (right channel) "produce" the same bar movement = they are the same.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

It would be cool to support two or more displays at once, so u could have for example one VU type meter display for each channel of sound.

Exactly: left display for left channel and right display for right channel. Again, since there is only one channel creating two displays is hereby useless.

[PeterK.]

Equalizer sliders are numbered from 0 to 9 and their values range from -127 to +127. But the range for the balance slider goes from -127 to +255. So the center is not at 0 but at 127.

[MrSinatra]

Is this just a display artifact, or does it actually affect the audio?

Also, if the range is -127 to +255, isn't 64 the center?

Total range = 127 + 255 = 382

382 ÷ 2 = 191

191 - 127 = 64

(In my view, the ranges should all be consistent, so either use 127 everywhere, or 255 everywhere, not some wacky combo. Idk if 127 or 255 is "better" or even represents actual user definable granularity in actual practical use, but mixing the numbers for ranges is sloppy and potentially damaging in practice if it actually affects channel bias without visual indication this is so)

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

Is this just a display artifact, or does it actually affect the audio?

It does not affect the audio. It just took me an evening to find out why the slider is not in the middle after setting newpos=0. And the reason is:



The center position of the balance slider has the value 127.

[thinktink]

in_flac.dll still doesn't have GetExtendedRead_setTime. Is that something that can't be added easily due to the nature of FLAC files?

[MrSinatra]

Glad to hear it's only a visual issue. However, 127 mathematically speaking isn't the center of a total range of -127 to +255 nor is it even exactly half of 255, so I don't dispute the behavior u are observing, but rather I don't understand the behavior, bc it doesn't make sense on any level.

[PeterK.]

When I assign the same y coordinate to both Songticker and Infoticker the latter one is some pixels deeper on the display.

[MrSinatra]

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=398822

[PeterK.]

It would be nice if we could see Album Cover while listening to a stream. There are Online Radios, which provide such service and there are players which are capable of showing those covers. Many fans "abandoned" Winamp and switched to another player just because of this feature.

[MrSinatra]

If it's a shoutcast stream, and the broadcaster provides it, u can see artwork.

If it isn't coming from a shoutcast source tho, hard to see how winamp could do this.

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

If it's a shoutcast stream, and the broadcaster provides it, u can see artwork.

Please provide some stream links so I can see the Album Cover. Because according to this post it is not possible.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

If it isn't coming from a shoutcast source tho, hard to see how winamp could do this.

On the other side if Winamp is going to be the ultimate media playing machine and state-of-the-art app the ability of showing ALL album covers from Online Radios is paramount, do you not think? It cannot be that AIMP can show them and Winamp cannot.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by PeterK.

Please provide some stream links so I can see the Album Cover. Because according to this post it is not possible.

that post is from 2010.

i don't listen to many streams, but i did run one, and i worked with DrO on this feature, (i did testing and feedback).

http://wiki.winamp.com/wiki/SHOUTcas...-_Picture_Data

that ^ ...is bc the DSP itself, will grab the local artwork if the broadcaster has artwork to go with whatever files they are streaming out/broadcasting. thats what is meant by "in stream packet."

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=372044

3) This version includes artwork support but requires a v2.2.x or newer version of the v2.x SHOUTcast DNAS in order to be able to use it.

& note this in the winamp 5.64 release notes:

* Improved: [in_mp3] Shoutcast v2 in-stream artwork support (and other misc fixes)

Originally Posted by PeterK.

On the other side if Winamp is going to be the ultimate media playing machine and state-of-the-art app the ability of showing ALL album covers from Online Radios is paramount, do you not think? It cannot be that AIMP can show them and Winamp cannot.

i don't use AIMP, what is the source of the streams?

i'm just saying that depending on who is using what to broadcast, (protocol, metadata provided, etc) winamp will have a hard time figuring out what is being played and getting the right art for it. as of right now, winamp has no metadata lookups AT ALL, so i would think that has a priority. if they figure out audio-fingerprinting, maybe they could apply that to any stream as well.

[PeterK.]

Please remember running a decent update on those internal icons. 70% of them are not bigger than 32x32 at 256 colors. It is 2019 in two months, Winamp desperately needs a nice series of modern icons in the range of 16x16 up to 512x512 pixel.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

... i don't use AIMP, what is the source of the streams

This one for example: Radio Paradise. And a screenshot showing Album Cover while streaming. I got the picture from an ex-Winamp fan.

[MrSinatra]

Just linking:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=453790

[bgd]

My list is short:

Do not change/remove the Winamp Classic skin
Do not change the Winamp layout in any way
Refresh the icons and GUI only minimally so that they don't look blocky on 4K screens but don't change their look
Add the ability to change playback speed (e.g. something similar to the PaceMaker plugin)
Vastly improve the buit-in Winamp equalizer in terms of features and performance (iZotope Ozone for Winamp, released in 2001, is still the gold standard for me)

[Thermaltake]

It would be great to see again that autotag for unknown songs if that could be possible.

[thevan]

5.8 seems good to me. I'm just hoping Radionomy doesn't fuck it up.

Open-sourcing the thing would be ideal though.

[sage2020]

Since winamp will use windows media foundation now, it should take full advantage of all the encoders and decoders WMF has to offer. For example, we can still encode AAC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_..._media_formats

If encoding/decoding support varies by windows release (I don't know if vista has AAC encoding, and I don't think windows XP and below has much of anything at all) then I suppose winamp would have to detect the system and remove encoder/decoder support accordingly...

[MrSinatra]

My understanding is it does. Why do u think it can't?

[sage2020]

I'm on 5.8 right now and my encoding options are FLAC through libflac, MP3 (not sure what encoder is being used but I highly recommend LAME if winamp is using something else), vorbis using aoTuV (aoTuV or libvorbis is fine), and then WAV and WMA (which might be using windows media foundation encoders). However these are the only formats I see.

AAC m4a files play just fine, and winamp is apparently using the media foundation for decoding, but there's no way to encode files into AAC-LC even though it's supported by the media foundation.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by sage2020

I'm on 5.8 right now and my encoding options are FLAC through libflac, MP3 (not sure what encoder is being used but I highly recommend LAME if winamp is using something else), vorbis using aoTuV (aoTuV or libvorbis is fine), and then WAV and WMA (which might be using windows media foundation encoders). However these are the only formats I see.

AAC m4a files play just fine, and winamp is apparently using the media foundation for decoding, but there's no way to encode files into AAC-LC even though it's supported by the media foundation.

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=105

[sage2020]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=105

I understand that you can do this. I'm not talking about the fhg encoder here. In future versions of winamp, nobody is going to want to find an old version of winamp (5.666) and install that, then install a new version of winamp on top of the old version just to bring back features due to radionomy not having rights to portions of the software that AOL used (such as fhg aac).

Windows can encode AAC-LC by default using the media foundation. I understand it can't do HE-AAC, but this is mostly not an issue. HE-AAC has much more limited use cases, and if you're encoding music (such as ripping a CD to your music library in AAC format) you probably want AAC-LC 128 bitrate or higher.

It's better to have an AAC-LC only encoder included in winamp than no AAC encoder included at all, with the only way to get an AAC encoder by downloading an old version of the software. Most users would be totally fine with just a AAC-LC encoder, and to reiterate, it's better than nothing at all.

[Obi-Wan]

The developers forgot to mention in changelog, that they have switched mp3 decoding engine [in_mp3] from FhG IIS to libmpg123. It was a good decoder (mpg123), but probably not as good as THE decoder from Fraunhofer IIS. So:
1) It is worth mention to add this change in changelog
2) Maybe it could be switched back to FhG IIS decoder

[DJ Egg]

Hi Obi-Wan

5.8 changelog does have this line

* Replaced: MP3 Decoder now mpg123 based (instead of Fraunhofer)

iirc, AOL had a special deal with Thomson/FhG for the mp3 decoder and aac encoder.
Audiovalley/Radionomy doesn't have any such deal.

[TimbreWolf]

I still use v5.666 since it works perfectly for me, and considering how much I rely on it I need some good motivation to risk an update. Apart from Linux compatibility (which is I know is difficult), the biggest improvement for me would be better management of playlists so that they can be better organised than just having a big long list of them as at present. E.g. adding:

• Ability to organise playlists into sections/groups/folders.
• Ability to view playlists as tabs and simultaneously side by side.

EDIT: Another feature that comes to mind is the ability to search the preferences menu... I always have difficulty remembering where certain options are to be found there.