iCatcher & UniCatcher WPS

[Genre9mp3]

This is my try to make a wps for all Rockbox targets. It is based on the iCatcher WPS for H300  I made some time ago and posted at MisticRiver. Of course these versions do not utilize album art and don't require any patches to work.

I tried to cover any screen that rockbox currently supports, from the Archos ones and the iriver remotes to the iriver H300 and iPod 5G. I tried to enhance similar capabilities for all targets and make an interface simple but yet functional with as many possible information it could fit without get busy.

I hope you like the result...

You can find it in the patchtracker, here:
http://www.rockbox.org/tracker/task/5297

Positive feedback only accepted! 

[RedBreva]

I really do like this theme, not one I would use as the font is too small and the contrast too low for me to read it when on a treadmill...  But I do think it is a good standard WPS that should be considered as a default for all models...
One thing I would add is a problem I noticed when swapping between several themes recently - you don't specify a backdrop, and a lot of other themes do - when you switch to this one afterwards you can end up with a real clash of styles between the main menu screen and the WPS screen, and if you are unlucky, it may even be unreadable...

[Mr. Brownstone]

you don't specify a backdrop, and a lot of other themes do - when you switch to this one afterwards you can end up with a real clash of styles between the main menu screen and the WPS screen, and if you are unlucky, it may even be unreadable...

All you've done is describe a known-bug. The official 3.0 release is intended to ship with as few known-bugs as possible, so it is likely that this will be fixed before the month is out.

Good work on a great looking theme, but I agree that the contrast is rather low for the colour-targets. I'd also like to see an inverted-colour version.

[Llorean]

I think he's talking about the fact that when you change the WPS, it doesn't change the menu backdrop, and that if you have say, light text in the WPS, and the menu backdrop happens to be an image with very similar colours, you can't see it.

Even if you do everything right with the WPS, you do have to take into account possible menu display issues as well. ;-)

[XavierGr]

All of you are talking about the configuration file details. These things can be changed very easily.

Things that matter are WPS code, icons, and general layout for each target. Which I found perfect for CVS inclusion and/or default Rockbox theme for all targets.

[RedBreva]

All of you are talking about the configuration file details. These things can be changed very easily.

I am aware that it is very easily fixable by the end user - if they understand these things, and am currently using it with forground color set to black...  but if it is to be considered as a default setting, it really should be newbie proof. 

but I do agree that it would make an excellent default WPS screen... Not perfect, but a very polished and profesional look for an equally excellent firmware.

But I do think it is a good standard WPS that should be considered as a default for all models...

[woodensoul]

I really like the iCatcher WPS.  I use the album art version on my H320 and boy does it look nice.  The graphical icons are the best I've seen. 

The date is missing from this version though.  It could fit easily between the bitrate display and codec icon or possibly on the same line as the genre or album in parentheses.  One other suggestion would be to move the current track title above the progress bar so that it appears with the artist, album and genre.  I'd personally put it directly below the artist.  Good job and isn't Rockbox great. 

[XavierGr]

I am aware that it is very easily fixable by the end user - if they understand these things, and am currently using it with forground color set to black...  but if it is to be considered as a default setting, it really should be newbie proof. 

I am just saying that these things are details that can be discussed be developers and users before a CVS commit. I agree that there can be a slight modification if needed.

[Genre9mp3]

Thank you for your comments and suggestions. I really appreciate it and I am glad you like the WPS.

Now, about the backdrop issue. This is not a WPS issue at all. It can happen with every theme (not WPS) that does not specify a backdrop. IMO, whenever you load a theme, if there is no backdrop specified, then the right behavior should be to clear the backdrop. Unfortunately this doesn't happen and AFAIK you cannot clear the bacdrop via a .cfg file. A quick fix for this would be to specify a plain white bmp for backdrop, but of course this wouldn't be the appropriate approach.

For the contrast issue, I tried to match the text colour with the grey colour of the bars, but if this makes the text difficult to read for some, then yes, the text will have to be changed to black.

Also, I'll soon upload some alternative colour themes (just like what I did with the album art versions).

[tucoz]

Nice looking WPS's you have created there.
There were some discussions some time ago if we should ship a default wps with the 3.0 release. I think this is a very good looking approach, and I would definitely prefer to get this as the default wps as opposed to the current one(s). Not that I am in the position to decide such a feature of the 3.0 release, but if this would be the default theme, maybe it should be in more Rockboxish colours for the colour targets.
Just some thoughts, and I am looking forward to seeing this at least shipped with Rockbox by default (not necessarily as the defualt

Martin

[perfectdrug]

i´m not quite sure if you do allready...
but i think you should use unifont for a standard wps

[woodensoul]

Do you have any plans to add the date?  If not, I might have to break down and learn to do it myself.  How about an EQ display icon like the album art enabled H300 version?  That would be nice too, right next the battery icon.

[paulheu]

both those features are specific to the experimental build and would not work on the CVS version which is the point of the 'generic' WPSes presented here (I guess)

[woodensoul]

Displaying the date is specific to the experimental build?  I think not.  There is no reason why displaying the date would prevent it from working on all targets.

[Llorean]

I think he meant EQ and Album Art.