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#1 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 121
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Winamp Bento - My issues and comments
OK so today I finally upgraded to Winamp 5.5, and I like the look of Bento and I think it's a really good upgrade for Winamp. However I have a few of things I don't like about it and I hope that it's OK to start a thread since I really don't know where else to post this. I just hope the guys who are in charge of Bento take notice. So here it goes...
- Detachable windows for the playlist editor, ML, EQ and video. I know it's been discussed and the developers have noticed that a lot of people want this... But still, I'd like to add my 2 cents. Are you guys going to add this option to Bento? I get that it's at all-in-one skin, but the fact is that Winamp is great because of its flexibility. Having the option of an all-in-one Bento and a detachable Bento (in the same skin) would be great. And no, I don't wanna keep using the Winamp Modern skin. It doesn't look good on Vista and I think it's time for a change anyway. - The windowshade mode, or mini mode, is no good. I use the windowshade There are quite a few problems with it in my opinion. First off, there are no buttons to toggle repeat, shuffle, and always on top, and no buttons to show the playlist, ML or equalizer. Secondly, there's wasted space by not having the seek bar underneath the name of the song, and also by not having the visualization in that same area (which is how it is with Winamp Modern). And nevermind the wasted space - the longer the seek bar is, the easier it is to get to a specific point in a song, so having it underneath the song name and time makes a lot of sense, because that way the seek bar will be longer. And at the same time, I feel the playback control buttons could be a little bit bigger. I like the minimize, maximize, window mode and quit buttons - so making the playback buttons look like those would be a good idea. Also, the WINAMP letters to the left are nice, but again, wasted space (maybe having that automatically hide when the width of the window is smaller would be good?) OK so it's not as much as I thought it was gonna be, although I'll probably notice a couple other things here and there. Great work on 5.5 though... And congrats on the 10th anniversary and the milestone release! Can't believe it's been that long.
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#2 |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 121
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Anyone? :/
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#3 |
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Android/UI Development
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detachable windows had been discussed and the answer till now is: NO
The design is not my stuff, i got it from taber; he suggested this one and it is approved from AOL/NULLSOFT. If you want to have a skin that fits 100% your aims, download the SkinDevPack and try it yourself - we CANNOT fit the aims of EVERY user. At least winamp comes with 4 skins. use the one that fits your aims best. |
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#4 |
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Member
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 53
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I have to agree with everything you said. I'm still using Bento for now, but I can see myself switching back to an older skin simply because I can't organize Winamp the way I like to. I prefer to have the main window on top, the equalizer in the middle, and the playlist at the bottom in a vertical style rather than the current horizontal one. I don't use the windowshade mode, but I can definitely agree that your suggestions would improve that option for those that use it.
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#5 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 2
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lots of people like the detachable windows, i keep winamp in a docked toobar at the bottom of my screen, i must undock my docked winamp toolbar to see my media library, or playlist.
on the old skin, i just click the button, and up comes the window (while my toolbar is still docked) |
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#6 |
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Techorator
Winamp Team Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 35,126
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Bento is a Single User Interface skin. It is NOT going to have detached windows.
If you don't require or want to use a SUI skin then you are more than welcome to use Winamp Modern or Classic or one of thousands of other available multi-window skins out there. |
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#7 | |
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Junior Member
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It's a legitimate request and to be told, in effect, "that's your problem, not ours" is downright insulting. |
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#8 |
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Nothing to say...
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 23,020
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What's wrong with using one of the several thousand other skins out there to achieve your aims?
Bento has been designed to be one window, other skins are designed to be multiple windows, if I design a skin to be a window with play buttons on it only and nothing else, then that's what you will get. There are other SUI skins out there (i think) that allow you to detach windows at will, Bento isn't it and nor is it likely to be in future, it's designed to be a one stop shop, can't stand the thing myself, but I can see and understand why it's been built, it's not for me, I prefer seperate windows myself, that's why I use the bog standard default classic skin when needed. The name Bento should give you a clue as to what it's about to start with however, say it out loud BENTO.......BENTO... get it? |
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#9 | |
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Junior Member
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And I really love the condescending attitude you guys are taking with this whole thing. I have honestly never had a single complaint about Winamp in the past 10 years. I've been a completely loyal user and have had nothing but love for Winamp. When I saw Bento and started using it, I fell in love with it pretty much immediately. Like I said, it's almost perfect. Then I opened up a video. Tried to drag it over to my other monitor. No dice. Pretty disappointing. Almost as disappointing as the response from you guys in regards to it. It's obvious that it's a feature that's in demand, yet all you guys can say is "Sorry, SOL"? Top notch customer service, guys. |
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#10 |
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Nothing to say...
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: UK
Posts: 23,020
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Hang on, you've used winamp for 10 + years and yet you have a problem with a skin that is about a month old?, what did you use for the other 9 years and 11 months before Bento made it's debut?
I just can't get my head around why people are complaining about a skin that has been designed to perform a specific function????? Still, i guess it was the same when the modern skin made it's debut and people complained that they didn't have a seperate EQ any more To say also that 99% of other skins are hideous shows an enormous amount of disrespect to the thousands of users who have poured thousands of hours into developing skins both classic and modern over the last ten years, some, including myself would even class this as condescending |
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#11 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Dec 2004
Posts: 9
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I've been using the Winamp classic skin all this time, never once seriously used the Modern skin because I felt it wasn't efficient enough. Bento has come along, and I thought finally, a skin to replace the base winamp skin (Infact, it was the very reason I upgraded to Winamp 5.5, it looked lovely). And then I was disappointed that there were no split windows, and I had to revert back to classic.
Why dont I use another skin? Exactly what ghostsofgiants mentioned, they don't look great and are bloated with unnecessary blobs and circles...really, I dont need a music player that fills my entire screen. This isn't an insult to the rest of the skin developers in the community, it's just a matter of taste that a lot of people have grown into. So what's wrong with having another option that obviously a lot of people would prefer? Bento looks solid, small, and useable! |
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#12 | |
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Junior Member
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And it's not condescension, it's a combination of hyperbole and opinion. There is a difference. |
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#13 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4
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Bento Browser
Here's my problem - and i'm surprised nobody's mentioned it yet.
The only skin you can you the built-in browser with is the Bento skin. So for all of you saying I should just switch to the old modern or classic skins or w.e., what if I want to use the browser? My 2 cents |
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#14 |
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The Albertan
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Sunny Southern Alberta
Posts: 6,049
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Good grief, do you have to post that in every thread about this skin?
"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." ~ Charles R. Swindoll |
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#15 | |
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Junior Member
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#16 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 4
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haha i think he might be talking about me...
sorry man i don't know i just think the browsers really cool |
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#17 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 3
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Well I think if the playlist window can't be detachable at least make an option to have it appear below and not just fixed to the right.
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#18 |
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Junior Member
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For having provided such a great player for so many years, I really do not want to believe that the mods who run this site are so blind and obtuse. And insulting, really.
I've used Winamp since the day it was first created, and I've used the classic skin every day of that time, because every single skin that I've looked at that hasn't been dog-ugly has been so loaded down with such useless dross as to make it nigh unusable. At least the classic skin has always been simple. The reason people are so up in arms is that they've been presented with a beautiful skin, that incorporates a lot of great new features, except for the one feature that has made the player so popular for so long. What I can't wrap my head around is how you guys can be so stubborn and blind that you can't see that. The reason we have skins at all is because the default skins have always been ugly as sin, and now you finally hit on something golden, and you're being jerks about how we have to take it your way or the highway? Dumb thing to do, really. Edit: And for the record, even Bento Boxes come in different styles, to suit the particular consumer. |
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#19 |
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The Albertan
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Sunny Southern Alberta
Posts: 6,049
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What I can't wrap my head around is how you can be such an ass about a damned skin. IT'S ONLY A SKIN, if you don't like it, don't use it.
Make your own to your own specifications. That's what Winamp is all about. Make your own plug-ins, your own skins. Customize it any way you want. Demanding that others to do everything for you does not raise you very high on the popularity meter. Who gives a damn you have used Winamp since it started, what have you done FOR Winamp is what really counts. "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." ~ Charles R. Swindoll |
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#20 | |
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Forum King
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![]() Who is the milkman? What is the purpose of the goggles? |
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#21 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 7
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So... why don't all of you who are complaining about Bento make a new skin of your own that is like Bento with detachable sections? This would solve your problem, and this is the way the winamp UI has worked for years... make your own version, and share it to help those with your same tastes.. that's part of what has always made winamp so great!
Last edited by celticchrys; 24th October 2007 at 20:53. |
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#22 | |
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Junior Member
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Unless you're talking about deer, that I could help you with. |
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#23 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: USA
Posts: 7
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Ah, someone has made a classic skin styled after the look of Bento. Those who don't like Bento, check this out:
http://forums.winamp.com/showthread....hreadid=279151 |
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#24 | |
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Junior Member
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Don't misunderstand me, I love Bento, My one and only problem (albiet a REALLY annoying problem) is that I can't either detach or resize-away that right window. And I'm not a good enough programmer/skinner to change it myself. |
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#25 |
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Junior Member
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Hmm, can't edit, so this will have to be a double-post.
After playing around with it, I'm really starting to like this skin. It's like itunes, but actually good. I just wish I could make it browse folder-style like Windows Explorer, instead of having to scroll past all my songs to find the one I want. But then again I just saw the search feature and almost wet myself. |
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#26 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 3
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Hi all, I'm french, sorry for my English.
Just a little feedback. I use winamp for 4 or 5 years now. When 2.xx was released, yeah, Winamp is the best, no problem. When 3.00 was released, hum I try the new skin : argh so bad (In my opinion) and big in memory. When 5.00 was released, the new skin, hum, a little bit better than classic skin but... No, I don't know why. When Bento was released, I was in love : Yes, after many years I will be change the classic skin ! Bento is clean, pro. A little "eyecandy web 2.0" but it's good. And I try to move windows... Oups ! Oups. Very beautiful. Absolutely not useful. More people than you will think are disappointed with the useless interface. Especially people in classic skin, the best useful skin (and the least beautiful design ).Regards from France, Pain |
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#27 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 7
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Classic foreverrrrrrrr!
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But the new Bento skin is obviously designed to allow users to do much more then just listen to music/videos. Like rating tracks, browsing, admiring the visualization while listing and the dashboard that has all this music related crap constantly updated in your face ![]() But since I only use Winamp to listen to audio music, those features are pretty much useless to me there for I shall continue stick with the Winamp classic. Good update though, and a mighty congrats on the 10th anniversary |
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#28 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: May 2006
Posts: 7
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Quote:
The correct quote was ment to be this one. |
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#29 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 121
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Wow thank god some people supported my opinion!
![]() Quote:
Of course some people are going to request this feature. Now, I don't think you guys are being condescending, or that you owe it to the Winamp community to add the detachable windows to the skin, but it would be REALLY NICE. Now, we're not demanding anything. We're simply asking you to take into consideration that a lot of us would really LOVE to see a Bento (and Big Bento), with detachable windows. Also some of the other things I said about the windowshade mode of Bento would be good too, but that's secondary to the detachable windows. In the meantime, I will happily keep using Winamp Modern... But I would be a lot happier with the new Winamp 5.5 if Bento had detachable windows, so I could take advantage of the great design and the new features while still having the most important thing for me - detachable windows. And obviously I'm not the only one who feels this way.
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#30 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Adelaide, Australia
Posts: 1
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People are taking quite a narrow-minded look at this issue. Its about more than what is good for us users upgrading from 5.x to 5.5, its about Winamp overall as a product and brand. Bento is the face of the new Winamp in the media player market.
While Bento is a skin, and its designed to be a single window skin, the reprocussions run much deeper. By virtue of being the default skin and touted as a major feature both here and in many reviews, it is very important that it can showcase Winamp's strengths over competing products, namely its functional, customisable, personalisable nature. In reality Bento is Winamp 5.5's way to make an impression on new users. It is Winamp's crucial first impression on users. If they find the skin overly problematic or just unappealing, AOL just lost themselves a customer. Even for a free product this is bad, not to mention the pro version. I'm sure this is not what AOL wants. The flexibility and personal touch Winamp has always had is contrasted by Bento. Here users are made to choose between flexibility and an aesthetically pleasing interface. These kinds of conflicts are not conducive to a pleasant user experience, which is paramount for a media player. Obviously people used to the split window interface are left in the lurch, and as Winamp moves on are they going to be left with the "modern" skin forever? Likewise any potential new users looking for something that is a bit more functional than iTunes/WMP are in fact going to find a relatively similar UI expereince with the current Bento skin. The Bento skin looks good, but by discarding/downgrading many of the points that made it different to iTunes/WMP visually such as Windowshade and split windows, you are playing down one of Winamp's greatest selling points. Keep the current Bento skin, sure, but I'd consider it a priority to cater to what I'd call notable proportion of users who are holding off for technical reasons, and just as importantly to prospective AOL product customers who are looking for a product a cut above its brethren. I very much like the new skin, but I typically operate Winamp in Windowshade mode for efficiency reasons and as such Bento has not served me well and I'm back to my custom Modern skin. While this doesn't stop me being happy with Winamp (its like 5.5 never happened really), it makes me less likely to recommend it to a technically inept user who would struggle with things like downloading skins. I think its very important to a classic-style Bento themed skin to be included with Winamp, while skins are downloadable, its the packaged skins that get the most usage, those skins serve as the face of the product, the skins used when the product is reviewed and the skins people will be talking about. Creating a cohesive software experience is one of the biggest challenges in software development, but its also the most important. |
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#31 | |
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The Albertan
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Sunny Southern Alberta
Posts: 6,049
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The Bento skin is a skin among thousands, but by virtue of people asking for all windows within one frame, that's how it was made. For those users who wanted all windows in one frame. It was not made for you, as you don't like all windows in one frame. It was not made for people who want to detach any windows; it was not made for people who want to arrange the windows, either within or outside the frame. Maybe there will be other Bento versions to address other wishes, or maybe there won't. That is up to the skin developers. But in the meantime, the people who wanted all windows in one frame are happy; it's the people who don't understand the concept of different types of skins that keep on bitching. Maybe that's where all future Bento threads should be posted, the bitchlist. It's people like you who demand everything the way you want it right now who attempt to give Winamp a bad name, not the development team and not the skin developers. It is not the silent majority, who are happy with Winamp the way it is, including the skins. So why don't you whiny piss-asses take a flying leap. All you do is complain, while you boast how many years you have used the product. My question to you is "What have YOU done to make Winamp a better product?" I thought so, not a damned thing. And you have the gall to berate people who have given considerable amounts of time and talent. Good going, dipstick. "We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." ~ Charles R. Swindoll |
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#32 | |||||
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Senior Member
Join Date: Aug 2007
Posts: 111
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Wildrose, the people who are asking for a bento detachable skin are making some valid and constructive points. They're not saying, "give us this now or we'll stop using winamp and start saying it sucks". They've all praised the developers for making a great looking skin, probably the best to date, and are naturally feeling left out because it isn't available with a feature many people have become so used to using (detachable windows). I think many of your remarks are patronizing and condescending and don't contribute to the discussion:
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Most of us don't know how to program or make skins or add features or fix bugs. That's why we're here and that's why there's a forum. We love the program and want it to be better and the only way we can do that is by voicing our desires and concerns. So stop trying to discourage people from doing that. |
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#34 | ||
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Sheesh Quote:
If you just like the "look" (in your words - lovely color and design) of the Bento skin and want separate/detached windows, you can try a new "Classic" version. Here ya go... Bento Classic Skin version | Forum discussion thread Don't email or PM me concerning Winamp. Instead, either start a NEW TOPIC or post a REPLY in the appropriate thread in these forums. This will also benefit others who may have a similar question or problem. But before posting, please first Search the forums and read all FAQs and all Sticky threads. [ LINE RIDER! | My Resume | Virtual Chess | Composite Sketch | My Niece's Band ] [ Plugins by Joonas | DrO's Winamp Plugins and Extras | K-Jöfol ] |
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#35 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 14
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This may not be the best place to post such feedback, but I wanted to say that I agree with this (it is in regard to the windowshade mode):
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Other than that, I gotta say, the new skin is pretty snazzy. |
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#36 | |
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Senior Member
Join Date: Feb 2004
Posts: 121
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Quote:
But again guys, and this goes to the skin developers, DJ Egg, Nunzio, Wildrose, among others - we're not demanding anything. We are just asking you nicely to consider our requests, and consider doing a detachable version of Bento. I'm gonna check out the classic version though. |
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#37 | |
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The Albertan
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Sunny Southern Alberta
Posts: 6,049
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Guess he also asked nicely, and this is only one example. Want me to find more examples of people asking nicely?
Quote:
"We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations." ~ Charles R. Swindoll |
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#38 |
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Techorator
Winamp Team Join Date: Jun 2000
Posts: 35,126
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If it was detachable then it wouldn't be Bento, if you get my meaning...
Repeat 10 times (or as many times as it takes for it to sink in): "There's no such thing as an SUI skin with detachable windows" |
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#39 |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Netherlands, The Hague
Posts: 1
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I just installed 5.5 and the Bento skin looks very nice. It's a pity that it is just 1 window and not multiple.
I can imagine that many people doesn't like it because it is a dillemma between ease and (a new) design. I hope most of them will be happy with the version of NUNZIO390 (fifth post before mine). I'll just stick to the Winamp3 Classified skin
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#40 | |
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Junior Member
Join Date: Feb 2002
Posts: 14
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