(2012-07-04, 21:50)Martijn Wrote: (2012-07-04, 21:31)Hitcher Wrote: What would it do that a text editor, graphic editor and a running version of XBMC wont do?
probably he wants is a WYSIWYG editor.
And a skin by a non coder would probably not run that smooth
Wow, that could not be further from the truth! It is a WELL know fact, that coders are NOT the best designers. Just because someone can code in their sleep, does not mean that their color choices, layout, and artist skills are good. For instance is a Photoshop artist considered to be bad, just because they can not write the code necessary to make the brush tool work?
I myself, am a bit of a coder and Graphics artist combined. I am no expert in either, but I manage. I created the
DFX skin, for the CarPC front end Ride Runner. Looking at my counter stats, the skin has been installed just over 23,000 times. I put a bit of "phone home" code in the installer to report when the installer has completed. This of course does not count for when the software was installed without an Internet connection on the CarPC. All this being said, to show that I do know a little bit about creating something, and sharing it.
Skinning for Ride Runner is done with a WYSIWYG editor, and makes it so much easier for someone to create new skins, and alter current ones. Simply by inserting, copying, pasting, and moving objects around in a graphical editor. Ride Runner is also always improving and changing, thus the skin editor has to keep up. In the case of the editor for Ride Runner, there is an objects.txt file that keeps track of the objects for the editor. Adding a new command that the skin editor can use, is as simple as putting the correct syntax into the object.txt file. The editor also has a "Virtual editor" that displays the raw code of the skin, for exact adjustments, tweaks and advanced coding.
So, I for one would love to see a WYSIWYG editor for XBMC. Even if it was rudimentary, just to assist with the layout and position of buttons, icons and labels.
