[OptimalInfo] Theme: Sansa Fuze, iPod Color/Photo, iRiver H3XX, GoGear HDD63x0

[daniel.weck]

Dear Rockbox'ers,

I tried several themes from the gallery, but I could not find one that I enjoyed using on a daily basis. So I created my own, and I have now released it in the Rockbox gallery. The "source" is actually on Google Code as well, where it will be kept up to date.

Source code on GitHub:
https://github.com/danielweck/Rockbox-theme-OptimalInfo

Gallery link (Sansa Fuze v1):
http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1624&target=sansafuze

Gallery link (Sansa Fuze v2):
http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1624&target=sansafuzev2

Gallery link (iPod Color/Photo):
http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1624&target=ipodcolor

Gallery link (iRiver H3XX):
http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1624&target=iriverh300

Gallery link (Philips GoGear HDD63x0):
http://themes.rockbox.org/index.php?themeid=1624&target=gogearhdd6330

(note that the scrolling lines in the screendumps are displayed with jagged fonts due to how Rockbox captures the LCD data, the text is perfectly smooth in real life)

OptimalInfo is a high-contrast coloured theme with minimalist graphics, which displays an optimal amount of information using an easy-to-read 9-line layout (or 10 lines + 2 extra blank spacing for taller displays) based on a legible font. Layout tricks such as alternating line text, as well as separate screens for volume and seek controls, are used to maximise usability whilst reserving screen real estate for high-priority information.

The 9-line layout is composed of:

1) a red-ish heading at the top, alternating between the date/time and the battery level
2) the track number (out of total playlist items)
3) track title
4) track album
5) track artist
6) full file path (dimmed)
7) audio codec details (dimmed)
8) playback progress information (current time / track duration, percentage, remaining time)
9) progress bar

Additionally, there are discrete vertical volume level indicators on either side of the screen (live peak meters for the left and right audio channels).

The main screen, playing (note the stereo peak meters):



Main screen, paused (note the white highlight to indicate the playback state)(also note that coincidentally, the red-ish heading at the top is displaying the battery level instead of the date/time):



A separate screen is displayed when the volume level is changing (wheel action):



A separate screen is displayed during seeking (rewind, fast-forward):



The menu style is in keeping with the "while playing screen", nothing fancy (note that the image background is actually not used in the WPS, a similar gradient is drawn instead):



My Sansa is red, thus why I chose a similar hue in the color scheme:





I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
Cheers, Daniel

Note about porting to other devices:

Porting the theme to other devices should be quite easy. Simply pick a font that enables 9 lines of text to fit within the vertical screen space, and adjust the pixel width of the viewports in the WPS (main, volume control, seeking). For example, if your device's display is 240 pixels wide instead of 220px, add the difference (20px) to the width specified in the WPS.

As a matter of fact, I have already ported OptimalInfo to the Toshiba Gigabeat F/X platform, and it is in daily use on my F40 and F60 devices ;) (I find the huge font "35-Nimbus.fnt" very usable in practice, as I don't mind horizontal text scrolling)  I had to tweak a couple of other things though, for example the playback information above the progress bar is shifted below, centred, and reduced (only "time/total"). I also implemented similar alterations in the dedicated "seek" screen (rewind / fast-forward), by splitting the information onto several lines.

It's all on the Google Code page, but not in the Gallery just yet. When ready, I will post a separate thread on the forum. UPDATE: http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,34473.0.html

UPDATE 2 (iPod Video 5G, Cowon D2): http://forums.rockbox.org/index.php/topic,34493.0.html

[evilnick]

I like this theme (and the separation of various things into different "sub"-screens) and have given it to my aged parents for use with their Fuzev2 in the car.

The only negative feedback would be that you should use your own background image, and not overwrite the Cabbiev2 one so that it's easier for users to go back to that theme if they want to.

Thanks.

[gevaerts]

The only negative feedback would be that you should use your own background image, and not overwrite the Cabbiev2 one so that it's easier for users to go back to that theme if they want to.

Please fix this as soon as possible. Right now I'm trying to decide if I should take the theme down for this...

[daniel.weck]

The only negative feedback would be that you should use your own background image, and not overwrite the Cabbiev2 one so that it's easier for users to go back to that theme if they want to.

Please fix this as soon as possible. Right now I'm trying to decide if I should take the theme down for this...

If I remember correctly, I had to leave .rockbox/backdrops/cabbiev2.bmp in my ZIP because the validator was complaining about the missing image. I will try to package the themes again, as soon as possible.
Cheers, Dan

[evilnick]

Aha! I guess that this is because the backdrop is defined in the theme file (OptimalInfo.cfg) as:

Code: [Select]

#Theme Name: OptimalInfo
#By: Daniel Weck
#Platform: Sansa Fuze (220x176x16) - Standard build
#Platform: Sansa Fuze v2 (220x176x16) - Standard build
#Also available for: iPod Video (320x240x16) - Standard build
#Also available for: Toshiba Gigabeat F/X (240x320x24) - Standard build
#Version: 0.9
#Licenced CC-BY-SA 3.0
#Last updated: Wed, 29th May 2012 12:00 CEST
#
wps: /.rockbox/wps/OptimalInfo.wps
sbs:
fms:
font: /.rockbox/fonts/20-Profont-basil.fnt
backdrop: /.rockbox/backdrops/cabbiev2.bmp
So if you just change that to a different file/location and upload that image instead of cabbiev2.bmp then it'll be fixed 

[daniel.weck]

Thank you for the advice, but can't I just point to the existing (original) cabbiev2.bmp that ships with Rockbox? I don't wish to override this picture, or to use a different one. Thanks! Dan

Aha! I guess that this is because the backdrop is defined in the theme file (OptimalInfo.cfg) as:

Code: [Select]

#Theme Name: OptimalInfo
#By: Daniel Weck
#Platform: Sansa Fuze (220x176x16) - Standard build
#Platform: Sansa Fuze v2 (220x176x16) - Standard build
#Also available for: iPod Video (320x240x16) - Standard build
#Also available for: Toshiba Gigabeat F/X (240x320x24) - Standard build
#Version: 0.9
#Licenced CC-BY-SA 3.0
#Last updated: Wed, 29th May 2012 12:00 CEST
#
wps: /.rockbox/wps/OptimalInfo.wps
sbs:
fms:
font: /.rockbox/fonts/20-Profont-basil.fnt
backdrop: /.rockbox/backdrops/cabbiev2.bmp
So if you just change that to a different file/location and upload that image instead of cabbiev2.bmp then it'll be fixed 

[evilnick]

Ah, I wasn't aware that you were using the exact same picture... once I saw the Overwrite? dialogue box then I didn't look any further.

This part can be ignored: It's probably for the best to re-save that image as your own background too and re-package the themes. Functionally it'll be the same and at the cost of only a few KB.

Silly me, it'd be far simpler to just not include the background as that'll be on each version of Rockbox anyway! Although that makes the assumption that the cabbiev2 background won't ever change

[daniel.weck]

FYI, I moved the source code to GitHub:
https://github.com/danielweck/Rockbox-theme-OptimalInfo

I need to figure-out why the scrolling text is all messed up in more recent versions of Rockbox (not sure what revision broke my design, it must have been some time ago!)