Glossy Coat 2 boosh
A glossy and dark theme that maintains a perfect balance between eye-candy and usability.
This is the next step in the Glossy Coat series. Based on the classic Glossy Coat, this theme brings a shiny and dark look to Songbird while at the same time being smooth and elegant. Glossy Coat 2 bears resemblance to Glossy Coat, but is not Glossy Coat, because this is the Glossy Coat '2'.
This feather works great with:
•Media Flow
•♪Photo
•Pane Buttons
•Tag Cloud View
•Divided Tag Cloud
•Griddy
•Grid View
•mashTape
•LyricMaster
Tips:
•Install More Gonzo for the Medium Skin
•This theme integrates nicely with the Ubuntu Dust GTK.
Take 1 - Less contrasting Library rows.
I have a feeling I made this one a little too in between dark and light, cause I couldn't decide which way to go. (I made the darker row lighter). Please comment if this helped at all.
great skin
there is some work to be done but is pretty nice already. i don't like the volume control (maybe because of bad anti-aliasing) and I think some elements are too subtle.
anyway you've don a great job an I hope you'll continue to polish the skin because I like it (is sleeker than the first Glossy Coat)
@ALU
thanks, i have several projects for songbird right now :)
@byakkun
What elements do you think at are too subtle? I kind of see it being dull too, but i don't know what needs change and work.
awesomness!
maybe less of that gray/blue and more dark gray/black
Holy cow! Just downloaded it... Instantly my favorite feather! I've been looking for one thats kind-of like YABS... but not as crazy and intense! This is perfect! Keep up the Awesome work! (Not a huge fan of the stripes you got goin on in the play-control-toolbar area though.. it kind of reminds me of the ugly Ubuntu loading progress bars... and I see the Volume control problem that byakkun sees.. little fuzzy, but I really like the shape of it though, please keep that!)
One more thing... that blue you got goin on the Filter-sorting bar (like the artist tab-thing) and other places is Sexy! Wouldn't mind seeing a little more of that!
Sweet! I like it very much! Especially the Nav-bar Icons!
PS: I found some very nice details in your skin. Like the little Tip on the progress-bar in faceplate, and your background-image for the selected item in the left service-pane, with its little fading borders at the top and bottom :-) Mind if I steal these ideas for my feathers?
PPS: Like boosh said, you should think about the stripes in the faceplate. They look cool for "nothing playing", but they make it harder to see/concentrate on the text & the controls, if something is playing.
@LIB53 you said :<<what>>
Well the progress bar could be bigger and it should be more easy to notice in the mini player (a blue ball or bar, like the blue you used in rating stars which I think is great btw, placed at the current possition would probably work fine or maybe the entire progress should be blue on mouse over). Hope I was helpful whit this.
@longbow
I put the blue to make it seem more light, and less intensive. I'll see how it looks with more gray/black though.
@boosh, atreiu
Those stripes are from the original glossy coat, and people commented about them there too. I think I'll remove for the active faceplate, but I'm going to keep them in inactive bar. And of course, I have some interesting ideas on volume meter. ;)
@byakkun
I still have ALOT of work to do on the miniplayer, and I'll definitely be using those tips.
(thanks for comments. lol.)
I forgot:
@Atreiu
You can steal my CSS. I won't mind. You'll have to tell me how to put a little favicon thingy for my Add-ons though. :)
That's easy, just one line in install.rdf:
<em:iconurl>chrome://pane-buttons/skin/icon.png</em:iconurl>
Put it inside the description tag, just like all the other <em:> - tags.
this is a great theme, only thing is the tabs are a bit dark/ lacking contrast.
I use tabs a lot so prefer them clearer.
@melanger
I messed with the tabs' contrast alot and any brighter seemed ugly, but any darker wasn't usable. I was really waiting for feedback, and here i have it, so I'll try to clear it up a bit. Thanks for the comment.
I just love this feather :D It looks the best out of all available by far!
Now, if only there were a GlossyCoat theme I could apply to me desktop as well? ;)
@SonnyJim
A total desktop theme would be pretty sweet, i admit, but I'm not that good. lol. Now if you love it so much, how about you rate it, and tell everyone about it, so it can become THE #1? :)
can you make it compatible with the separate stop/pause buttons
Rated XD
@TheOne
Okay. I'll put that in my next update. I've meaning to for a while actually. lol.
@SonnyJim
Thanks. :)
I have a mac screenshot I can email it to you I guess
I need your email though
You can email me at akilram+SB_Community@gmail.com. Thanks for helping me out.
I sent you the screenshot
@Fuddyman
Thanks, it cleared up a doubt about the Title bar.
no problem
It needs some work but I like the new volume control (the blue segment and the cursor bar/line are synced only at 50% volume). Better progress bar, rating stars. Maybe it's just me but I think tabs, address bar and search box are too rectangular.
Off topic: do you work/plan to release glossy coat for, well I think it would be soon songbird 1.1
@Byakkun
Thanks for your feedback. I'll definitely round stuff up a bit more. Good thought. I also will update Glossy Coat 2 as long as possible. I've never even considered not releasing it for the next version of Songbird.
I was wondering if you were (or can) going to do something about the title bar on mac because it kind of juts out weirdly from the rest of the feather and it doesn't use the native title bar either so it has the mac os 10.5 buttons even though I'm on 10.4
@Fuddyman
So you're saying that instead of the glossy brown/black titlebar, you want the native Mac titlebar? Or are you talking about the buttons? Either way it's hard because 1)I don't have Mac, and 2)I don't know if it's possible. Maybe we can work something out though.
the native title bar would be nice but it's alright if you can't do anything about it
Beautiful feather. My favourite one of them all! I don't see any faults, except one: the tabs. One thing irritates me, though - the tabs.
As you may notice from this screenshot
http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/7604/songtabsba9.jpg
the tabs are horizontally divided into 2 parts, the top part is usually brighter, but the lower part is darker. Could you make these tabs fully from ONE color, preferably the brighter one? Because it sort of makes the text hard to read. Thank you in advance.
Anyways, I rated this 5 stars.
Oops, sorry for me repeating myself in this part:
I don't see any faults, except one: the tabs. One thing irritates me, though - the tabs.
:(
@photon_man62 (and anyone else that didn't like the tabs)
I'm gonna spend the entire next update on tabs. It really does seem to pull back the interface. I think i'll round them a bit and brighten them up a bit. I also need to fix the quality a bit. Thanks for posting.
Oh and one more thing that I just noticed today. The big part at the bottom when no music is playing (the big bar with the bird) as seen here:
http://img56.imageshack.us/img56/146/songbottomdz7.jpg
Has diagonal stripes on it. Could you get rid of the stripes and make this a solid color?
@photon_man62
I really like the stripes personally, but if you don't like them (and you're not the only one) just keep checking by and I'll post a seperate no stripes edition right at this page. However, notice that when playing music the stripes fade away.
Oh I never noticed that the strips fade once the music starts until you pointed it out, that's weird (how I didn't notice the fading)
@Fuddyman
You weren't supposed to notice the fading. The whole idea is that you get a feather that's very useable, and looks good. If it were to just flick to non-stripes, you would notice, so i had it fade.
Do the stripes still bother you though?
well, theres no way to please everyone, you see, i LOVE those stripes :D and i would be happier if the stripes didnt fade to zero, but still be subtly noticable when the song plays.
anyways this is a very detailed request and not deadly important too :P
the feather is very usable and sleek indeed, i love the hints of blue, the gloss and all, the single thing that troubles me is the play control buttons and volume control buttons. i would love to have glossier and more 3d feeling control buttons which would glow when mouseover, and not turning blueish. i value well designed play controls much.
and about the speaker icons on each side of the volume bar, maybe you shouldnt make them embossed (or whatever they call it) and just use brighter line-based icons? i feel that the 3d sense doesn't work for them.
and as a conclusion: glow! i love things glowing and/or becoming slightly highlighted with mouseover, like service pane contents and such.
i know i always ask too much, its really a great theme as it already is, these are just some little ideas you can do whatever with =)
thanks for the feather. and good luck =)
@Yew
Thanks for reminding about some stuff that was on my to-do list. I was acutally going to redo those buttons with higher quality in mind. It is indeed supposed to glow, but it's a bit of a cheap glow right now. I might implement animation soon too.
I'll also look into the volume bar. Emboss (which is indeed correct) doesn't fit in. I also need to keep the glow a bit low though, because i do NOT want to take away from usability.
The stripes thing is gonna have to stay as it. I'm glad I'm not the only one that likes those stripes. You know, maybe I'll get onto Glossy Coat 3 and bring out all the gloss i can.
I appreciate the comment. It was very useful for development.
sure, we, the lazy bunch that dont get hands dirty, are always here to help! =)
@yew
I addressed your feedback, except for the buttons. I made them glow, but they aren't going to look much different from here on. They don't fit in that great with alot of gloss. It's an appropriate level right now in my opinion. If enough people ask for more gloss though, I might have to reconsider. (Don't get multiple accounts. lol.) Tell me what you think of the changes.
the buttons look much better. im not really sure how can they look more classy, while still fitting in the theme. when i said about them being glossier i didn't (necessarily) mean brighter, just a glass-shine or glow effect. i really liked the new (not yet updated) play buttons of sheen:
http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon-images/3653/sample_thumbnail.png?1235026400
as to give an idea what i mean. actually your updated these buttons are ok, if i get an idea later i might add =)
the best thing i noticed with the update was the volume bar. i think its just perfect. you dont have to look back with that one. i like it showing no thumb until hover. its really good. the thumb can be a little bit (like 2 or 3 px) smaller and have more contrast and shine, like a glass orb. the speaker icons are great without emboss, and their brightness is just right.
i liked the service pane selected nodes being brighter. just the gray lines on top and bottom of the node seems a bit too pronounced, actually i see they are at the same brightness, so the one at the top gives a nice effect but the bottom one (i noticed that they are not the same brightness -after i opened it in ps- but still, the buttom one looks better when it fades a little.
as for the empty panes, i dont know why you take them serious, as noone sees an empty pane for hours :P but still, i think they should look similar to an empty cover art cell. (i mean darker) but the shine effect is nice.
actually i like those curvy shines, and maybe they can be used (that curve style) in the entire theme -im not telling this for glossy coat 2, coz it would change it a whole lot- thinking about it, nearly everyone uses the same line in the middle of the playback control buttons and the progress bar, but noone uses a curvy shine effect for them. im aware that its a tricky design.. still nice idea i guess :P
also, i dont care much about minimize-close buttons, but they would fit in the style more if they were brighter on mousehover. thats soo unimportant, just in case if you want to optimize EVERYTHING :P
so i guess thats it = )
great update! thanks much.
Once again yew, i will try to implement everything you said. :) I really think this is my best work, and i just want to make it better, if not perfect. I also need to start looking into integrating this with other add-ons so it doesn't seem like a feather some guy made, but a nice change to the default.
The curved gloss isn't hard to do, it just doesn't look good most of the time. I've tried it out, and it only fits for insignificant things, because it's very distracting and actually can irritate users. That curved gloss you pointed out that sheen uses is too intense for Glossy Coat 2, but I think I'm gonna give it another try though. I might have done a lousy job the first time.
Btw, do you think i should change the default album art any? I think that radical blue is bit random. Maybe i should try white?
You asked for feedback, so here's my two cents. I've been using the skin since 0.7.1, and I like the way you've been taking it. Some recommendations are 1) Change the bottom right corner image in the web browser, it just looks weird, 2) Change the default text color on the bottom bar from gray to white so that it actually stands out from the gradient background, 3) align the background of the play control and the play display (I know, I'm great at naming stuff), it just bugs me a bit that they're a couple pixels different, and lastly 4) change the gradient on the File/Edit bar, it just doesn't work; try a single gradient from top to bottom and see how it looks. I know those are all minor changes, but if you worked them all out, the skin would just be that much more complete and professional.
i was weirded-out with that blue music notes on my media flow, but never thought it was your theme that caused them :P i think going a little cliché is very ok with those default album arts: a transparent and good looking cd-case is more than enough i think. iTunes empty cd cases look great imho.
also now i realise that empty service panes are the same with "nothing playing" album art pane. and i like them being a little brigther than the whole theme. it would be too hard on eyes i guess, if all were black. so im taking back my suggestion to make them darker. =)
if i get the time to do it, i may try to design a curved-glow theme, as to give ideas. i think it will be better for songbird if there are a large variety of quality themes.
also, what are your future plans about the tabs? i didnt mention before, coz someone already pointed that out and i thought they would change in the update. i dont think they fitt in the theme very well, and look like a distractive horizontal bar in the middle of all dark and glossy goodness. =)
i think the least you can do is to make the first tab - the library tab - darker and more like the whole theme. i mean white text on black, maybe a little gloss just not to get lost and take a little bit attention, maybe with highlighted corners (like making tab outline white or a brighter gray)
making the first tab significantly different from the browser tabs is useful and better looking i guess. i know its already different a bit, but im talking about black and white different here =)
i will try to give visual ideas too, just need to fetch breakfast and than go to movies. =)
I don't want to sound unappreciative and discouraging because you've put so much work in and have been so kind to take constructive comments on board, but IMHO I think the initial Glossy Coat is a stand-out, glossy, sleek and stylish in appearance. (So I do hope you manage to find time to bring out 1.5 find as aforementioned.)
The only thing that I find that keeps drawing my attention are the Play & Track buttons - they just don't quite fit and the grey outline... sort of doesn't anti-alias very well? (Perhaps they would look good similar to the first Glossy Coat buttons but in a similar grey to the nav icons underneath?)
Other than that, thank you and keep up the great work! :)
also, i wish to have a LyricMaster theme. the key is using very small fonts, coz i think it doesnt matter much and you can read the lyrics. the problem with bigger fonts is that its frustrating to have to scroll - not being able to read all with a single the blick of an eye. also getting rid of the scroll bar is nice.
ah i kinda designed a library tab for you. on pixlr, without a mouse OR tablet :P
here: http://i588.photobucket.com/albums/ss322/pgigk/Untitled.jpg
its just an idea anyways, its hard to explain visions with words :P
ps. are unified tab-titles possible? i mean text-align center.
@yew
Holy shit, how did you change the text color to white??????? I've been wanting to use glossy black tabs but i don't know how to change the text color for JUST tabs.
@Pxl_Buzzard, Thene, and Yew (again)
I've been busy all day implementing your tips. There's a giant update coming your way. Actually in a few minutes.... The only things that couldn't get changed yet are the tabs and menu bg, and the play/pause/shuffle buttons were left alone.
easy man :D thats a photoshopped (if not, pixlrd) image. i have some html and css knowledge, but i have no idea what it takes to build a theme. my exams just passed by and have some free time i guess i will look into trying to build a theme.
the image, as i say is a design only, and would be glad if it inspires you.
i loved the new changes, the dark title bar and more gloss on the face plate (that was the next thing i would ask for) i loved the new default artwork, transparency sure makes MediaFlow look ten times cooler. the new drop artwork box is good too.
im sorry but i didnt understand this:
*added quite a bit of gloss to the media control pane bg (i really want to know if you like this change, because it's a big one)
i guess i dont know what is a media control pane (control buttons background?) or the library and playlists panes background?
either way both look great. (you may have noticed, i have a great eye for things that needs to be changed, but not very good at noticing changes =P when something is well designed it stops hitting my eye and i just happily use it =)
also, as i mentioned, im looking forward to learning how to build a theme myself. do you have any suggestions where to start? like tutorials or something?
thanks for valueing my ideas, hope we all can make songbird better =)
i really think this theme is comming to a completion. the overall feel is a good catch, and when you can fix the tabs we can put all our energy for better pause/play buttons. and voila! :P
@Yew
If you want my help you can email me akilram+sb_community@gmail.com. I don't want to get off-topic on this small comment thread.
Here's an image that would help explain things though: http://img26.imageshack.us/my.php?image=screenshot2.png
Also look for the developers tool add-on.
Back on topic: This theme isn't not near completion, but close to the end of major design. I still need to keep it integrated with all the add-ons out there, and keep it bug free. I also need to thank you for helping me.
Thanks,
Very Nice...
You really made this addon better, congratulations!
I just wonder if you could make this more compatible with the Last.FM addon, look for yourself:
http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/72/songprob.jpg
Beside the place where you are supposed to rate the song, there's SUPPOSED to be a heart and a ban sign.
This is how it looks when I mouse over it:
http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/5861/songprob2.jpg
Now you might see the heart. So now you know what I am talking about.
As you (almost definitely) have noticed, these icons are pretty much... invisible. Is it possible for YOU to fix this, or is this an issue with the addon itself?
I would love to install this theme and many others. except for the fact that when i install it and restart, it doesn't even show up under the feathers. I've tried reinstalling it but no luck. If you have any help or ideas email me at keegan2009@yahoo.com
Anyway, nice theme. Looks really smooth.
Looks awesome! Had to have my player in black and I used one of the other add-ons for awhile but I was curious and I'm glad I was. I'm sticking to yours now.
It attracted me because you added usability to the summary.
Ok.. for criticism because it is the only way to make things better:
As said before some things are too subtle.. Such as the playing bar.. I can just barely make out the ratings if "unstarred"
Also, the tab options at the top-right. Is slightly too subtle.. maybe the arrow should be a little lighter in color.
But really the rating bar is something I can see now, just took me a second. And as far as tabs go, I don't use the tabs that often anyways so I don't care.
Overall, it doesn't sacrifice usability for flashiness and I love that.
Forgot to mention that I really love the fact that you have alternating colors on the library.. VERY helpful.
@goodwince
Thanks for the comprehensive summary. It really told me to keep on the same path. The black arrow in the top right is something i noticed seconds after the release, and so are the close tab buttons, to which i'm going to implement the hide seek method. I'll look into the ratings for sure because you mentioned it now, i think you can expect that to updated too.
Thanks for taking your time to comment.
Great work man!
But I found an issue if you use the last.fm plug-in: When you start to play a last.fm radio station, the "rewind" button of the player controls is garbled. I compared this with the default feather and it seems that a disabled version of the rewind/forward buttons are missing in your feather.
@stummer
I'll add that to my to-do list. Thanks.
süpersiniz;)
My favorite feather so far. Definitely beats YABS in my opinion.
Dark rows do look pretty nice. They seem a little too contrasting right now though. Sort of pops out. Thanks for taking over and updating though. I appreciate it!
Oh, you need to update the screenshot also. And the description has some false info in it unless you're working on Glossy Coat 1.5 (i'm not)
Great feather, but not a fan of the new dark colored library rows. It seems harsh. I preferred the light library rows alternating between white and grey with the blue selection which was used in previous releases.
Also, thanks for continuing to update this feather with each new release.
LIB53, saturnine: I'll try to adjust the library rows, if they still don't look good... I'll go back to the light ones. ;) Thanks for the comments!
And thanks LIB53 for letting me take it over!
As with every thread that contains a screenshot, I have to ask what wallpaper your using
The dark library rows look better now that the contrast has been toned down. I still prefer the light colored rows, but this is acceptable.
@carbide20
That's a really old screenshot. I used one of those wood wallpapers. I'm pretty sure it's this one: http://willwill100.deviantart.com/art/Ibex-Wallpaper-94885227
@boosh
The new rows do look alot better Keeping them is up to you, but of you decide to keep the dark rows, then you'll need to do something about the rating stars which are difficult to see and the row highlight which now looks sort of out of place.
And just to clarify why the rows were light to begin with: When i initially made this skin, i made it a point to not have it 100% dark and challenge myself with attempting to create a hybrid skin.
MUCH IMPROVED! I like the new one!
@LIB53: Ahhh.. that explains a lot! I saw the white-ness as having an unfinished feel to it. So thats why I took almost all the white elements out. I kept goin back and forth on it trying to see which was better cause the white was growing on me.. making it harder for me to decide. sigh.
Thanks for the comments everyone!
boosh, your add-ons are really fantastic.
Very nice theme. Good looking, simple, and functional. The only thing that doesn't work for me is the EQ. The buttons/sliders are black on a black background. The result is you can only see the levels sliders when you're moving them. No biggie.
Hi, what are you using to generate the spectrum analyzer near the bottom of your screenshot?
Odd issue here: I notice that when I use this feather and I switch between equalizer presets (http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/1620), the buttons on all the bands are all reset to zero. I can easily hear the audio effects change so I know the presets are engaged, but without visual feedback it can get kind of confusing. I'm assume it's a problem with this feather because I can't reproduce the problem using Purple Rain, Gonzo 2.0, or Es. But I could be wrong.
woops, ill look into that, thanks foolishgrunt!
based on 42 ratings
ALU
great skin =)
keep up your work