ONGOING DEFAULT THEME CONTEST!!!

[Llorean]

Is there some reason a better default theme can't come along, and replace the existing one? I think we can all agree the current one still has weaknesses.

[crzyboyster]

Of course the current one can be replaced, but I don't see why.

The main weaknesses are listed throughout this thread and I guess there are a lot, but this theme has a good strength which is that it makes the perfect first impression.

And besides that, I have some feelings with cabbiev2 which I doubt I would have with any other default theme.

But yes, it can be replaced if a better one does come along  

[DancemasterGlenn]

Of course the current one can be replaced, but I don't see why.

The main weaknesses are listed throughout this thread and I guess there are a lot, but this theme has a good strength which is that it makes the perfect first impression.

And besides that, I have some feelings with cabbiev2 which I doubt I would have with any other default theme.

But yes, it can be replaced if a better one does come along  

Don't worry about it, Llorean just said that as a response to what was apparently a stupid request that I have now deleted.

[terrence1019]

I'm grateful for all the hard work all of you guys exerted to produce Cabbie 2.0, but the fact is: Llorean is right.

Rockbox stands for constant updates and improvements: always changing and improving as time proceeds, to suit the requirements for functionality.

Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the year a new default theme is out.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone is busy making a new default theme right now. As is a few weeks away from posting it for approval.....

[AlexP]

I'm grateful for all the hard work all of you guys exerted to produce Cabbie 2.0, but the fact is: Llorean is right.

Rockbox stands for constant updates and improvements: always changing and improving as time proceeds, to suit the requirements for functionality.

Thus, I wouldn't be surprised if by the end of the year a new default theme is out.

As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if someone is busy making a new default theme right now. As is a few weeks away from posting it for approval.....

I would be surprised.  Making a theme for all the different sizes and types of screens we have is no mean feat, and most people won't bother with anything more than the player they own.  Add to that there is no guarantee a new one would be preferred - cabbiev2 had the advantage that with a very few exceptions, the previous default was universally hated, and look how long it took 'us' to change that.

[DancemasterGlenn]

I posted earlier regarding changing the name of the thread to something like "cabbiev2 thread". I figured (perhaps incorrectly) that the contest was over, since cabbie was one of the few actual entries, and also because it is now the default (which to me signified the contest's end). If anyone browses this forum even semi-regularly, they're going to know this thread, and also know that cabbie has become the default. Who wouldn't just assume that the contest is over because of this, and therefore not bother to submit a theme to challenge it? That was my reasoning. By that logic, the only people who are going to post their own ideas for a default theme in this thread would be people who have not only never been on the forum before, they would have not bothered to read the 55 pages where cabbie was created, and merged in as the default.

I still think that the thread title should be changed. This should be a place where people talk about the weaknesses in the wps (I love this theme and have pretty much no problem with it at this point), and fix them. If you want people to keep making new candidates for a default theme, it seems like it would make more sense to start a new thread for that/make a small sticky saying that you're always looking for new, better themes, than to continue adding pages and pages of new theme discussion to this page, until people have to start wading through 100+ pages of people going through the (long) process of making a theme that may or may not become a new default.

Just my two cents.

EDIT: Changed a lot of words. Hopefully no longer looks like a personal attack...

[ZincAlloy]

cabbiev2 is by no means the ultimate default theme. there are weaknesses to it (only graphic volume and battery meters, no peak meters, disagreements about font sizes on some targets - though I doubt we will ever get the font thing right. what we have now might be a good compromise), but it has many strong points: it looks pretty nice, it sports "rockbox colors", album art (but still looks good without any album art present) and you guys (and gals) were very enthusiastic about it (which is why cabbiev2 was ported to all targets and even made default). It's a standard that all future themes will have to be measured against. not more, not less. It won't be easy to create a more suitable default theme.

[Llorean]

Is "the lack of a font in the appropriate sizes with a wide enough range of characters" NOT a weakness? Or do you think it's a STRENGTH of the theme that it's unsuitable for use for many languages? Do you suggest that there are no other weaknesses whatsoever? While I would not (and most explicitly DID NOT, if you compare your quote to my actual text) call it a problem with the theme, it's definitely a point in which it could be stronger. Please, don't confuse "weaknesses" with "problems", and please read what I say rather than what you think I said.

I mean seriously, why do people keep assuming that I mean something other than what I've said? It's beginning to drive me insane. Why on Earth would I take the time to type out a sentence if I didn't actually mean exactly what that sentence said? Are you assuming I accidentally typed the wrong word, or what? Please, enlighten me as to why you think you know what I meant better than I, the writer, did.

[ZincAlloy]

That's not really a theme problem. it's a font problem. some of the font sizes we're using are already covering a pretty wide range of characters.
If I recall correctly crzyboyster is making the unifont version ready for release.

[Llorean]

The unifont version introduces new weaknesses since the font is huge. If you look, I said fonts in appropriate sizes. For some screens, unifont is far too large to be considered an appropriate size. While this isn't a problem other themes can fix (without creation of custom fonts) it's still very much a weakness with this theme, as it was decided to use an existing font rather than modify an existing one or create a new one.

Edit: Done, the topic is changed to one more appropriate.

[ZincAlloy]

ok, so somebody needs to modify the helvR fonts to have more characters...

Edit: Done, the topic is changed to one more appropriate.

 

[DancemasterGlenn]

Edit: Done, the topic is changed to one more appropriate.

Thank you.

[Llorean]

DancemasterGlenn: While you're busy thanking me, care to offer an apology for attempting to misrepresent what I said? Edit: Since apparently he's just simply covering up what he did instead of apologizing: His original post suggested I said "we all agree that there are problems", rather than that" I think we can all agree that there are weaknesses" (as the avid reader will notice is what my post actually says). The avid reader will notice some significant difference in both tone and meaning in these two phrases.

ZincAlloy: Yes, or find another free font of the same size that offers a wider character set, or merge the characters from another free font so that the English look can be preserved. There's a variety of ways to improve it. I'm not saying it *has* to be improved, but it's a very obvious weakness. I also think the lack of an objective measure of seek time is a big weakness on the c200 (it's very hard to seek to a point in an audiobook if you can't see the seek in hours:minutes, only a progress bar), but that's pretty much as simple as putting the "Next Track" information in a conditional and have it show Elapsed and Total times while you're seeking, instead of Next info.

[ZincAlloy]

good idea.
another one: should we replace remaining time with total track time?

[Llorean]

I'm indifferent on that one.