deOmega

THANK YOU! Looking forward to it.

GeekShadow

Nice !!!

LIB53

Atreiu, you really kick up the level of quality that third party feather developers have to comply by. Your work is fantastic, and i really think it's great to see such quality in alternatives for songbird. I hope you keep up the great work. (i'm jealous,lol)

Olivia_Lovag

you ask not to rate it yet, but it looks good already!
thanx

djdisconess

Very nice work in such little time! I use this to compliment NABS (AAT-Another Awesome Theme) in different lighting situations, and it is already showing massive potential! My main input is just about tabs - they are very readable but not distinguishable from each other. However, great work, and I love the soft blue hues!

Please keep up the great themes - you'll go down in Songbird History!

Brendy

@LIB53 and Atreiu

Both of you guys have made awesome contributions to the songbird addon community. Have either of you considered making a feather together? I think with 2 of the best feather creators I've seen you could make a feather that would make gonzo blush (i think both of you have already imo). Keep up the good work!

LIB53

@Brendy and Atreiu

lol, yeah, I don't know if two can work on one feather. That would be interesting. I'm busy too with patching up Aero Bird and Glossy Coat 2 as well. Btw, can i steal your little volume below the player controls hack? It looks really neat on Glossy Coat 2.

djdisconess

@atreiu: I have not tried this theme on any other monitor, so it could just be me, but the tab separator is very hard to see on a CRT. The active tab title color (soft blue) is actually very, very nice and I think YABS is definitely missing it! Another tiny thing I just noticed, is that the max volume icon by the play button is white, while the muted button is dark. I realize now they are the same color as they are YABS. It doesn't look bad, but I think just switching the colors, or matching them up might be nice. Just my opinion, and your feathers are great!

deOmega

@atreiu,
Thanks for the great work. I know you are not finished, and you are probably addressing what I am about to post.. but may as well post now.
 
Seeing that you will be doing this akin to YABS, the only things I would say is that some of the whites may be too bright for the eyes. Probably one click darker with the high whites.

Also, if I have the player opened against the background of say, even this page, it is hard to know where the player starts or stop, as the edges blends in with this page. So, the border should be able to be viewed even against another white background. The top edge is not as bad, as it is better to be seen in those cases than the others.

Again, thanks, and I do realize that you have only just begun.

djdisconess

Fantastic work, this is really looking nice, but I just had one question for you out of curiousity. Have you tried the yellow rating star color from YABS? I don't really know if it would fit or not with the blue, but it was one of the things that really drew me to your themes. I just like the really vivid yellow (that's what I think of when I picture a star :P), although the blue looks really well and won't stick out like a sore thumb like the yellow. Just food for thought, and I will definitely be using more of NABS soon!

djdisconess

Sorry for the double post guys/gals, I just saw the attached screenshot that does contain the yellow stars. I don't think it looks half bad, but I do not know what version it is showing (0.1.0.0?) I am sure you have a good reason for changing it though, and the blue doesn't look bad at all. The Songbird website definitely needs an edit comment option too!

deOmega

@Atreiu

Thanks for your response.
Maybe it is just me...
I think that the text color is fine.
You know what.. you seem to have such great judgment, and i say that sincerely, that I will assume that my problem may be my obsession with YABS.
Additionally, I use 4 monitors, and after you mentioned contrast, i considered that it could be contrast on my end.. so i moved to other monitors.. on two of them it looks pretty darn close to perfect. The perfection would be on the two dell 1905FP monitors, while the questionable is on the 2 Dell 1908 monitors. SO seems like i have work to do on my end, and not you :)

As for the border: At the top of this page, where you see 'Download' .. u will also see it has a border around it.. how about something to that effect blended in?... even if it is less pronounced than that?

Thank you for listening.

deOmega

May I also apologize for the double post..

After making adjustments to the main monitor.. stepping away and coming back.. the colors on Nabs really do look Nice. I think again that my main problem was that my eyes became acclimated to YABS.

2 great themes man.. Thank you.

deOmega

In mentioning enhancing the borders, maybe darken the transition areas.. where different areas meet each other.. because, I am thinking it sometimes looks like a continuous interface, as opposed to having different sections.

For example, and i hope it is not just on my system :)... if you are looking at your library.. the margin on the left side of said library is more enhanced at the top than the bottom... it starts disappearing at about half way going down... and then the one that should be going across the bottom is not very visible, if at all.. If you need images for clarity, please let me know.

deOmega

http://i34.tinypic.com/sblnpx.jpg

OK.. now, please keep in mind that I am no longer of the opinion that you need to change the overall color shades, as once thought. I am just referring to something as simple as the line you have that is present in the yellow highlight, that disappears vertically where the yellow highlight ends and the blue line starts.
I still get different saturation in the whites, depending on the monitor I am using, and that is fine, but that line would help those transition areas on monitors that are showing the white much brighter.. while not appearing as much of a change on monitors that have the whites subdued... or perfect. And I am thinking there will be such a variation in users.. so may be a way to please all.. I hope :)

Just a note: Like many users, I typically go with the default color settings on my monitors, besides brightness.

rdvon

The Shins!

Oh, and I couldn't say anything about the feather that hasn't already been said. It looks fantastic!

ADC

Just one complaint, a minor one: metadata editor is all black (on Ubuntu 8.10, Songbird 1.0.0). Is hard to read the field's categories this way.

Besides that: nice effing job.

djdisconess

To be honest, at first I was shocked by the yellow stars...but the more I use it, the more I like it! I really only see one small problem now, and I don't know if you changed anything on it in 0.4, but the scroll bars are very hard to see until you hover over them. I think they look pretty good in YABS with a white border around them...possibly a dark grey one to fit NABS better. Otherwise, good improvements! Definitely look forward to future versions :)

byakkun

I like both NABS and YABS. Great job about whit this two.

I was wondering if it is possible in songbird feathers to have some visual effect when textboxes (adress bar, search bar) are focused like the blue contour in aqua from OS X. I asked because I know that it is possible in firefox themes. thank!

deOmega

@Atreiu,
You know dude, I know that not only myself, but the community appreciate your eagerness to update the recommendations.. your work is not in vane, this I know. Your enthusiasm inspires me to want to learn to do this stuff, but, I just feel I do not have the brain cells left. Keep up the good work.

@djdisconess,
Thank you for your recommendations to him... they simply seem to match my thoughts, so I am sure that others appreciate your posts to him as well. Thanks and keep them coming to his annoyance. lol

I will now take a moment to shed a tear. lol

djdisconess

Sorry, it's me again! I just happened to spot another very small bug (tiny) :P I was just kinda bored, and hovering over all the stuff by the shiny new stars and I noticed the text (Now Playing in the Album Art panel in the bottom left, and the item count on the right by the shuffle button) will switch to light grey when hovered over, making it *almost* impossible to read. But it's just fine when not hovered, and that's why I don't think it's very important.

Just to let you know, I think it's pretty cool you listen to feedback! I feel important! :P I agree with 'deomega' that your work makes me want to learn this, but I just don't have the time. But you really are making Songbird more popular every day...I've referred friends to SB just because of your work!

djdisconess

Crap, I knew there was something I forgot to mention! If you need additional Ubuntu testers I am glad to volunteer. I primarily use Songbird in Windows because of stability, but I will check it out a little more in detail. And if you're interested in getting Ubuntu for yourself, check our this awesome open source program at http://wubi-installer.org/ (Windows only, unfortunately, but more info is available there for those interested!)

byakkun

the effect i was talking about is used in
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/9300
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/6050
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7172
and screenshot

byakkun

sorry but it seems HTML doesn't work. this is the screenshot http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/3_bj8bGKOHo1g7WOKsoTpg?authkey=jHEhXZ3h-Q8

byakkun

I see why it is tough and you are right. Seeing the mock-up I totally agree with you.
Anyhow, if you are interested in adding this in the future this is my suggestion: the blue highlight in your muckup is 3 pixels wide so is you manage to replace the 1 pixel dark gray line and the shadow (from the top part only) you have 3 pixels. what i mean is that you could try to make it in the interior of the textbox (like a old gray display watch lighted from the sides).
I wanted to ask you if this is possible because your the only guy with 2 feathers for songbird 1.0,and this 2 feathers are nice so I figured out that you are into this (I may try to make a feather myself because I like songbird). Not having this eyecandy is unimportant unless you think is appropriate to your feathers.
I should be the one thanking you for your time and interest. So, thanks!

Steve123458

Nice!

It's really cool to have an black & white feathers for Songbird.

Keep up the good work!

djdisconess

Really great work, and it's shaping up fantastically! I just happened to stumble on one last thing before I wrote this...the rating stars in the metadata editor don't match the stars anywhere else. It's definitely not a big thing, but just looks kinda inconsistent. But 0.5 is lookin' GOOD!

deOmega

Very nice update.. really crisp.

Of course i am also posting too because there is a minor issue:

Over where it shows you the number of items in your library.. bottom right, next to the first pane buttons you did.. The number is chopped off on mine, unless I hover over it..
Discovered that after going back and forth blaming the 'duplicate tracks' plugin....wondering why it is showing i had 346 songs in this library when i know it has 846.
Somehow half of the 8 is invisible when I am not hovering over it, and it looks like a '3'. I think it would be more obvious for people with larger libraries.

deOmega

oh.. i discovered it was a feather thing, because when i switched to YAbs, the problem went away.. so Yabs does not have the issue.

ACMiller

Atreiu, thanks for another great feather! I've tested the new NABS mini and medium feathers under linux (Ubuntu 8.04) and can confirm that there are no more disappearing buttons. YABS still has the rounded corners on the mini and medium players, and the buttons randomly disappear (especially when song names are scrolling).

So, thanks for fixing this even if it meant sacrificing the pretty rounded corners. One thing I feel that NABS needs is more defined borders (possibly grey) so that songbird looks less like a pop-up and more like a window. That's just me though. Otherwise the feather is excellent, I really appreciate your work. Thank you.

deOmega

@Atreiu,

SEVERELY Off Topic:

Do you use Digsby or Miranda messsengers?

Would you consider using and trying to skin one or the other? :)

If not, how about Digsby? I suppose Digsby since it is simpler and seems to be heading in the right direction.

Just had to ask man. :)

deOmega

Well, take your time and think about it... think more along the lines of Digsby then.. may be simpler. rotflol. I will wait.

djdisconess

I just thought I'd do good and take some screenshots of NABS/YABS to compare the differences. I took 3 of each, with the main, medium, and mini player showing. YABS had alot of corruption as you can see, but NABS was perfect and matched Windows as far as I could tell. I personally prefer the square edges over the round anyway...just a personal thing but the mini player doesn't look crowded or squished. Anyway, here ya go!

http://picasaweb.google.com/djclay420/SongbirdScreenies#

djdisconess

After two more days of heavy use, I can definitely say NABS is way better on Ubuntu than YABS. The screenshots pretty much sum up my experience: NABS works and YABS kinda does :P
I don't see anything on either that stands out from the Windows versions...but I will be sure to report anything I find!

deOmega

Hey Atrieu,
I decided to post these as just info for you. I am using YABS for the most part, and when I am gonna use NABS, I put on the 1905 monitors, as it is tough to see on the newer monitors. So, I am basically fine.

However, I have heard others in forum say this theme is too bright for them, and I have to assume they are seeing what I am seeing in the 1908 images. Please note that these are lcd monitors.

I cannot say what you could do, because if you change it to suit the newer monitors, then it loses what you see on the older monitor. Or, you get a much darker white on the older monitors. The big thing to notice on the older monitor is how u have the various contrast, whereas on the newer monitor, everything just kinda runs into one... Hence my earlier comment until I adjusted my monitor. (I had to reset those adjustments, because of other programs i use for work)

So, I took some pictures with camera, as there is no way a capture would show u the difference.

These two are from the newer monitors, Dell 1908 LCD
http://i36.tinypic.com/11gkt4x.jpg
http://i40.tinypic.com/2v1vw2r.jpg

This is the ideal look, but it is on the older monitor dell 1905 lcd
http://i40.tinypic.com/1h80hj.jpg

I hope this helps you somehow.

deOmega

err.. please realize that the theme looks much more lively in the real than they do in those images. The idea was to show you the contrasts or lack thereof.

deOmega

@Atreiu,
I guess I keep giving you suggestions on how to use your talent.. but would you consider working with these guys:

http://www.instantbird.com/

I see a LOT of potential there and you would be early.

deOmega

Thank you.

Regarding Instantbird, You are welcome. It is Mozilla based... so figure it would be an easy transition for you and i may just get a messenger that matches Songbird :)

brazenreality

This is a beautiful feather.

deOmega

I am gonna likely disappoint some folks with my post, as it may seem selfish. But seeing that I had long been looking forward to this feather, I have to comment.

I am really disappointed that I a not able to use it, because of how bright it is. I hope that some day you will consider either making a dimmed version, or dimming this one in some areas. Weirdly enough, everything behind this would be as perfect as its cousin YABS.. EXCEPT...man, it is simply too bright to look at initially or for any period of time, plus lines of demarcation are not easily seen. Too many areas tend to run into one.

I tried adjusting my monitors just to use this feather, so that ought to tell you my desire for it, but, I realized that i was making my monitors inefficient when working with other programs. It is not as bad if I look at my monitors at a 45 degree angle or less, but how practical is that :(

Please consider this fan's plea. I know I am not alone, and the download rate between this and yabs is really drifting exceedingly wider.

deOmega

Thank you,

I would appreciate if you would point me in the direction to make the changes. I do not know where to start at the moment from, so would appreciate guidance or whatever.

You can contact me at jahkae at yahoo.com

Coeluh

Awesome skin, best there is! This one should be default!

leoperbo

Mmm something is wrong since the update to 0.5.8:

1. Can't see a switched background-color of selected items (it's useful when I use the "stars" as a filter).
2. When I click on the punctuation "stars" in the library list, nothing changes in a visual way (the value is changed, but the stars doesn't). Sometimes it works as supposed, but not always.

This is my favorite skin, so, here is a contribution to fix it.

Thank you in advance.

leoperbo

OK! The point 2 commented above, is not an error of NABS, sorry, it's more like a -bad- feature of Songbird: The status of the stars in the library, when we are playing from there, must be refreshed sometimes with key "F5", like a web page.

Please, focus on point 1 ;-)

Coeluh

The album art is not stretching up when you resize the pane. Thats a pitty...

Coeluh

When i use the mini player, i see a square instead of rounded corners.

Tuwe

Beautiful feather! Keep up the great work!

deOmega

I have been working on it... it is NOT easy!

http://i44.tinypic.com/295setz.jpg

I only have the left pane's right edge as you can see (could be a tad lighter and blended)

The others indicated, I have no idea how to find them.. after hours or trial and error. Mainly because I do not know their names, but hopefully will get them one day.

I am thinking that, having bright white borders in a number of areas may be the tough part, as opposed to a dim edge... since this is such a white theme.

deOmega

AH, thanks for the heads up on DOM inspector.

I will likely try again to offer my thoughts if needed, but no matter what, I cannot see myself bringing it together as you do. Plus, nothing I do would be original.

I like the firefox theme. I hope you could get it to work for NABS.

deOmega

THANK YOU!!!!!!

deOmega

I have to post again to say ... really a major improvement thus far. Very usable. This will be the default skin in a room where the pc and most things there are white :)

Thanks You.

deOmega

Click-through capability :)

I know you are not finished skinning... but just in case i am the only one getting this (or maybe it is my ignorance), I also thought it is pretty neat:

The areas that are black are actually click-through areas, so I could actually work on things that those areas cover.

http://i44.tinypic.com/1i1l4j.jpg

Is that a glitch u could turn into something else with the medium player? :) I remember you saying u could not transparency on the medium player at the moment.

deOmega

yeah, very interesting. The feature actually was useful today at one point.

I am looking forward to whatever you come up with. Cheers!

Rune

I have 2 suggestions.

#1, In my Songbird, the play button is overlapping the volume slider. Is that supposed to happen? I think its a blemish on an otherwise good skin.

#2, The border in Songbird with this skin when you're in browser mode is uniform (both the left and right side have the same border). However, when you switch back to the library, the right border remains the same. But the left border disappears because of the sidebar (where the playlists, bookmarks, etc. appears). It is not uniform anymore, and should be addressed.

Aside from those 2 minor issues, this is a great skin! Thanks.

Pokkito

Thanks for adaptation of PurePlayer.

deOmega

Hi atreiu,
Are you planning to work on the background for the scroll bar beneath mediaflow, or is this how you intend for it to be?

Secondly, have you used this addon? http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/42

I find its song notifier and everything to be awesome, but sometimes wonder if it was really your skinning of the notifier, or if the addon incorporates something from the current skin.

On a personal preference note: it seems to me like that addon (birdtitle) makes all the song notifiers obsolete.

time-trader

I find this one of the best feathers!! Clean and simple. I prefer light colours to dark. So I'm so happy there is a light feather which goes beyond just resembling iTunes interface and is unique and stylish.
Great Job! Thank you!

rmcgibbo

I really like it. The one improvement I have in mind is a small indicator in the media view of which song is playing. Something unobtrusive, but noticeable.

rmcgibbo

I delete what I just said. I apparently just missed the icon before? It's right there.

deOmega

@atreiu,

It is likely me, but the Mediaflow pane view, something just does not seem right. I hinted at this since u changed the background to white. Seems like a lot of white space without definition. I am not sure, but, with you being the creative one :), you may notice it with me making that statement. Could it be that the background in that area could be darker?

deOmega

Atreiu,

That is one heck of a compliment, if you are suggesting that my feel is close to yours. :). Thank you. I will take it and run to the hills:).

I like the change you made, it definitely looks incredibly better. After you made that point about space across the top, I think I have concluded something and please tell me if we should suggest to JohnM:
I do not think that the album being so high is as bad as the step-down from the focused/center album. I believe that the albums need to be stepped down less severe, and this may actually allow a couple of things: They would take up more of the empty background, as well as it would then allow you to increase the top space to allow centering without making all the albums look smaller. As he has it now, I agree with you, putting that upper space would compromise not only the first album, but ESPECIALLY the subsequent ones.

I am just not sure that the 'Lazy Susan' effect needs to be as extreme as John M has it, and that could solve a lot of dead space issues.

I hope that some of this makes sense. :)

deOmega

I posted a comment for JohnM with an image for clarity.

http://addons.songbirdnest.com/addon/238#comment_10067

xplosneer

Hi!
Great feather, just thought I'd point out that you matched the equalizer button in YABS (for the Pane Buttons add on) but did not add the same matching icon for NABS. IE, check the equalizer button for NABS with Pane Buttons(bottom right).

terk

I love this feather... Thanks

RnB_001

Another great feather :-)

estelle

Is this compatible with Songbird 1.2?

RnB_001

Will this feather b updated?

wucaoming

I like this feather.

wucaoming

I like this feather.