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**Martijn** · (This post was last modified: 2014-08-19, 10:21 by Martijn.)

It would be great if we could somehow get a several skinners, graphic designers and coder together with some GUI experts and do a complete redesign from the ground up. See what is needed, wanted or could be changed and improved.
So a brand new concept.

Combine the ideas and user friendliness. This will be a hard task to do, but a very needed one.
I think for most of is currently is stability and core user-friendliness improvements. See what has been done lately for Kodi 14.0 in the PVR section. When that is done making a new skin will likely be easier.

Ideas and concepts welcome of course.

nickr · 2014-08-19, 10:54

Sounds like something for your Devcon.

**jjd-uk** · 2014-08-19, 10:58

The Sunday of Devcon could be the kick off session to bounce basic concepts around since 3 of our skinners will be there.

**Martijn** · 2014-08-19, 11:01

lock them in a room and don't let them out without a working new skin Tongue

**paavoris** · 2014-08-19, 20:58

(2014-08-19, 11:01)Martijn Wrote: lock them in a room and don't let them out without a working new skin

Yeah! And no beer! Or maybe lots of beer! Your choice. Big Grin

Ic3y · 2014-08-23, 21:21

Thinking out loud from easiest to hardest (less time to more time)

Phase 1: Helix (v14): Update images only (less gloss, more flat). If time, update the font, add custom color option.

Phase2: Iguana ? (v15): Complete new modern redesigned skin, new images, font, color customizations, etc.

voochi · 2014-08-24, 01:21

(2014-08-17, 23:45)hsus Wrote: Oh that's too bad! Any plans for recruiting a new lead GUI dev?

Butchabay recently posted an interesting concept called Fuse, over at http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=201764
Apparently quite customisable and one of the most modern skin concepts I've seen. In my book, this could easily be it

Recently added, new releases, unwatched and recommended all on the home screen at the same time with 5 items in each. Mediainfo on the home screen. Your current city on the home screen (in case you forget where you are?!). The day, date and year on the home screen - because you don't have those on every other device you own. Who forgets what year it is and needs this vital piece of information on the homescreen ?

There is about 40-50 bits of information all on the home screen at the same time. It's breaking one of the most basic rules of GUI design - information overload.

nickr · 2014-08-24, 01:28

(2014-08-24, 01:21)voochi Wrote:
(2014-08-17, 23:45)hsus Wrote: Oh that's too bad! Any plans for recruiting a new lead GUI dev?

Butchabay recently posted an interesting concept called Fuse, over at http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=201764
Apparently quite customisable and one of the most modern skin concepts I've seen. In my book, this could easily be it

Recently added, new releases, unwatched and recommended all on the home screen at the same time with 5 items in each. Mediainfo on the home screen. Your current city on the home screen (in case you forget where you are?!). The day, date and year on the home screen - because you don't have those on every other device you own. Who forgets what year it is and needs this vital piece of information on the homescreen ?

There is about 40-50 bits of information all on the home screen at the same time. It's breaking one of the most basic rules of GUI design - information overload.

Which just goes to show that there won't be anything that pleases everyone. Getting to a new default skin is going to be just as controversial as the new name issue.

Not to say confluence can't be improved on!

ilomambo · 2014-08-24, 07:45

I consider myself an advanced user and I use (almost) confluence (actually CCM) and I don't feel a special need to get a new Skin.

Admittedly some things can be improved in Confluence (thus I use CCM) but nothing major in my opinion.

In any case, I think it will be wise to leave maybe Confluence + face lift + some improvements as default and maybe include a new skin in the installation as a second choice. And if you find it absolutely necessary then gradually make the transition form one to the other as default skin.

hsus · 2014-09-01, 23:34

so is this the confluence + facelift you wanted? http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=202847

**natethomas** · 2014-09-02, 02:21

Wow, that's pretty awesome.

Ferdi-T · 2014-09-03, 08:53

I'd prefer having the Confluence skin as a default, as I found out it's the most reliable skin across all hardware. You've got to have something to fall back on, and I actually found out in some cases I actually stuck with Confluence (especially on the RPI). As pointed out, upgrading the skin is always possible.

un1versal · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-03, 11:20 by un1versal.)

In the meanwhile you can always use this https://github.com/uNiversaI/revamped.themes/releases and give current confluence a facelift without changing skin or affecting its stability.

I always found confluence to be a good mixture of ideas, and fairly simple and that the best concepts were used and mixed even better.

**jjd-uk** · 2014-09-03, 12:15

(2014-09-01, 23:34)hsus Wrote: so is this the confluence + facelift you wanted? http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=202847

That certainly shows a lot can be done with code tweaks & texture changes.

I'm wondering if we can take a 2 pronged approach:

1. Firstly do a similar update to the existing Confluence skin (or even one of the other skins) to give it a totally new look as it's a simpler task and can be completed quicker.

2. Secondly (could be done in parallel) a completely new skin designed from scratch so as not to be restricted by Confluence design decisions.

I'm making a very big assumption here than any new look in terms of textures etc from updating Confluence won't be a waste of effort as these could be re-used for any new skin. So apologies if I'm totally wrong on this, in which case effort should then solely focus on the design of a new skin.

asiuhas · (This post was last modified: 2014-09-04, 23:35 by asiuhas.)

I love Confluence. I've tried every skin in in the repository and some that you have to add via ZIP. IMO most of the custom skins are very mediocre. CCM isn't much better, it takes away/changes quite a few stuff I like in Confluence. Why do people like them so much? Just because you can make more customizations? I can't see any custom skin being a good replacement.

Reasons I prefer Confluence
-I like the overall look.
-I use Poster Wrap for movies and shows. Most skins don't have it or have close to it but inferior looking Poster Wrap (e.g. smaller posters).
-Favourites menu is great as it is. Practically all skins redo it in some horrible way (e.g. full screen view with generic icons).

One thing I don't get it why you guys don't add "time remaining", I haven't really seen a reason why it's not in the code. I fixed it myself by changing VideoFullScreen.xml, but you really shouldn't have to. Someone said it right, "I shouldn't have to do math to find out how much time is left of the movie."