New Theme: Darkness (220x176)

[Doleo]

From the theme site:

A dark theme with a somewhat evil ambiance. Based off of an artwork I did in The GIMP a while back, a piece of which now serves as the background to this theme. The codec/playlist info in the WPS toggles every few seconds with the song's genre and rating, or it's playcount if it has no rating. The little ball in the top left is a disk activity indicator, the rest of the buttons should need no description. Uses 13-Fixed font from the font pack. All graphics done by yours truly, with the exception of the shuffle, repeat, and lock icons, which I recolored from XL Fuzed (By David Thacker). The icons are a recolored version of the small Silk iconset(By Stefan Saftescu). The code is based of XL Fuzed, as well. Enjoy!

Hi all. This is my first experience with creating a theme. It was definitely a lot harder then I expected it to be, but I've put a lot of work into this, and in the end I'm very happy with the result.  Grab it athttp://themes.rockbox.org/download.php?themeid=764.
Feel free with the comments/critique, however I mainly created this theme for my own benefit and I can't promise I'll follow up with any changes since I'm happy with it.

[karltpb]

Nice. Do you have any plans for a 320x240 version (i.e. iPod Video)?

[[Saint]]

Doleo,

Maybe it's just me, but the fact that the battery and volume a: use different graphics, and b: aren't aligned symmetrically seems a little weird at a first glance.

Also, something that draws attention to my eye is the "s" under the 'Repeat'(?) icon, I suppose this represents "Repeat-Shuffled"...but to me it looks kinda weird.
Perhaps the full text "Shuffle, All, One, etc." center aligned under the icon would look a little better?

Another thought is that the bright yellow text in your main menu for the line selector, and the .wps "track title"(?) is a bit *too* bright. Maybe you could get the colour values from the battery display bars and then the colours would fit together a little better.

I also notice that the line selector cuts out the backdrop. It's a "dark" theme so it's kinda hard to notice it, but I imagine it would be a lot more visible on the DAPs screen than in these screenshots.
The only way to have it not do that would be to change the selector type to pointer instead of line selector. If you were to do this, it is easy enough to add your own pointer .bmp to the iconset you're using (if you start at number one, the pointer icon is the fourth one down), then you can make a pointer icon that fits your theme better...like a flaming skull or something (I dunno lol )
I guess the effect you were going for with the line selector is having the text change colour, and trying to make the line selector invisible.
I remember trying to do that in a theme of mine ages ago and getting pretty disappointed when I found out I couldn't do it properly with a graphic background...
If your background is a solid colour, it's easy as pie to achieve this effect...but when you use a fancy graphic background, then this effect looks a little weird cutting into your backdrop.

I have talked to one of the UI (and other stuff) developers about being able to use transparency in the line selector, I'll follow that up actually...I can't remember where that conversation left off.

Please, don't take any of this as criticism. Just thoughts and suggestions.


[St.]

[Doleo]

Nice. Do you have any plans for a 320x240 version (i.e. iPod Video)?

I'm actually planning on an update release which will hopefully include an ipod video/cowon d2 release, and maybe even a sansa e200 version if I'm feeling ambitious. Its nice to know someone would be interested if I did.

Maybe it's just me, but the fact that the battery and volume a: use different graphics, and b: aren't aligned symmetrically seems a little weird at a first glance.

I was simply trying to make room for the HDD/Lock indicator and the different font space needed, but I totally see what you mean. I prefer them to have somewhat different graphics, however I'll see what I can do to make it look more aligned.

Also, something that draws attention to my eye is the "s" under the 'Repeat'(?) icon, I suppose this represents "Repeat-Shuffled"...but to me it looks kinda weird.
Perhaps the full text "Shuffle, All, One, etc." center aligned under the icon would look a little better?

I'm not sure if full text will fit under there... but I'll give it a shot, see if I like it better.

Another thought is that the bright yellow text in your main menu for the line selector, and the .wps "track title"(?) is a bit *too* bright. Maybe you could get the colour values from the battery display bars and then the colours would fit together a little better.

Done. 

I also notice that the line selector cuts out the backdrop. It's a "dark" theme so it's kinda hard to notice it, but I imagine it would be a lot more visible on the DAPs screen than in these screenshots.
The only way to have it not do that would be to change the selector type to pointer instead of line selector. If you were to do this, it is easy enough to add your own pointer .bmp to the iconset you're using (if you start at number one, the pointer icon is the fourth one down), then you can make a pointer icon that fits your theme better...like a flaming skull or something (I dunno lol Wink)
I guess the effect you were going for with the line selector is having the text change colour, and trying to make the line selector invisible.
I remember trying to do that in a theme of mine ages ago and getting pretty disappointed when I found out I couldn't do it properly with a graphic background...
If your background is a solid colour, it's easy as pie to achieve this effect...but when you use a fancy graphic background, then this effect looks a little weird cutting into your backdrop.

I have talked to one of the UI (and other stuff) developers about being able to use transparency in the line selector, I'll follow that up actually...I can't remember where that conversation left off.

I don't really like the idea of a pointer because (A)It's harder to notice, and (B) I like how the black line selector blends into both sides of the screen, with the black fadeoffs at both ends. It does look a little harsh, but I think its as good as I'm going to get for now. Transparency in the line selector would look VERY sweet though, I could get excited about that.

Your feedback is much appreciated. Thanks [St.]. 

[[Saint]]

Doleo,

No worries man...I'll be keen to see the theme when you've finished it.


[St.]