shadowfire

Did a test just now, I can get away with showing all panels in 800x600 (font size 9) on my system if I hide some stuff in the details panel. (Slight spacing issue in the button bar but that may be fixable.)

Sure, the theme working on 4:3 would be a nice to have, but as you mentioned full support would mean rewriting the way the views are handled. But come to think of it, with exception of the details panel this theme might be a bit more lenient on vertical space since I removed the title bar and reduced the button bar height. Also the font size and style is inherited from the OS settings (in case you use small fonts there) and the details fan art image on top right can be turned off which saves some vertical space. So with a bit of tweaking (e.g. boxes sizes and spacing) it may work. Let me know how it works out.

From my own testing the theme isn't too suitable for legacy 4:3 / 3:4 resolutions but could work if you hide the details bar and/or sidebar. (The theme assumes a modernish desktop; enough horizontal space is required to display al the panels and the details bar needs enough vertical space for all three segments.) The screenshots are made on 1600x900 btw.

So what's the best procedure? Should I DM Jason the RC or will he evaluate it when I upload it to the theme section?

Cool. I'll DM you when the RC is ready

Aside from 4K, I assume you're also fine with testing the theme on 1080p? I'm not sure how far I would want to go with 4K support if that turns out to be difficult.

(Also @neil9000) Mainly overall user experience. As @Retro808 suggested I'm not focussing on a cleaner code as long as it works for the user. I've only tested the theme on my system (Window 7 1080p) so at least I'd like to see the theme tested on Window 10. A few things to consider: Font: the theme uses the default Windows system font, not the font settings in the Launchbox config. I've tested it on several resolutions and font sizes here which works fine so I'd like to see if it's the same on Windows 10 ...maybe Windows 8? (Also because I've read Windows 10 has a different default font size.) Not sure how it will look on 4K resolution. There are a few 'tricks' involved to make the theme look and behave as in the screenshots which I probably should mention in a setup guide. E.g. I've added an optional platform line to the boxes (something I wanted for mixed platform playlists) so the boxes spacing/aspect ratio probably have to be changed in Launchbox settings to make it look right. (I could hardcode it to make it easier for the user but I'm not sure if that's a good idea). Also the theme looks best if the background is set to FanArt with a good amount of blur, with Fanart enabled in Game Details. I haven't been able to test Retro Achievements. There are advanced customisation options which I'll probably keep secret because I don't want to support them Things I have overlooked?

Getting close to a release now. I was thinking, maybe I could do a pre release here so some of you could test the theme for me, see if there isn't anything too wonky in there before I do an official release? (@Jason Carr or moderator: if that's allowed, I know this section isn't meant for theme releases, just want to test the waters.)

Just posting to let you all know that I'm working on getting the theme ready (straightening code, fixing a few things etc.). If all goes well hopefully I can do the first release within a few weeks.

Yes of course I'll do a post here when it's ready.

@neil9000 @Rincewind @Retro808 @spycat @C-Beats @damageinc86 @Jason Carr @Kondorito @Grila @scooter1974 Thanks all, you've convinced me so I will probably release this theme Not sure when yet because I still need to do some code cleanup and a few tweaks but hopefully that won't take too long...

@scooter1974 @neil9000 Thanks. On further reading I see that it's not included by default on older Windows versions so I probably add a note that users of those systems have to download and install the font themselves.

Hi everyone, I have one more favour to ask. This theme heavily depends on the Microsoft "Segoe MDL2 Assets" font for it's menus and buttons icons. I'm probably not allowed to redistribute the font due to licensing reasons, however I think it's already preinstalled on Windows but I'm not entirely sure... Can anyone check if this is the case? Windows versions 7/8/10 (I assume no-one runs Launchbox on Vista or below.) A way to find it is to open up the Control Panel and search for 'Fonts'. Then check if "Segoe MDL2 Assets Regular" is in the list.

Yeah I can see that might become an issue. Okay sure, I'll go for the compromise. Thanks for your feedback Jason.

Thanks Jason and thanks for clarifying the license info requirement, I understand. One thing is still unclear to me though; should the license info always be visible? Because I made the license info part of the button bar (after some experimentation this seemed the best location) when the user decides to hide the button bar from the View menu, the license info will be hidden as well. Is that allowed? Otherwise the easiest option I have now is that I can e.g. force the button bar (including license info) to be always visible so the user won't be able to toggle it off from the views menu.

Thanks all for your positive feedback, really appreciated. I will take your suggestions into consideration. About the license info button, the note in de code states: Since I removed the title bar and there's no space on top I had to move the license info button somewhere else. Corner right in the button bar seemed ascetically and space-wise the best location. As for the user not able to hide the info: I guess as a compromise I can always disable the "hide Button Bar" functionality but that will mean a minimal UI like in the last screenshot won't be possible. I'll try to contact someone in charge about how strict the rules are. Also since I forked the code from Grilla's Plex theme I will ask their permission first before proceeding.

Yes it's still in there, the placeholder is only temporarily there so I don't have to worry about blurring my real name out in screenshots

Yeah, also Big Box themes don't seem to display the license everywhere, but in the end I will respect Jason's rules.

Yes it does support video but I haven't done much testing with it since I currently have only have two games with videos The video box will display above the title and hide the Fanart image. Note that there will be letterboxing on 16:9 videos (which doesn't look great imo) because I haven't figured out a way to change the fixed aspect ratio of the box.

Hi everyone, I made this theme mainly for myself (UI OCD), I wanted a simple Windows style PC gaming front-end look. But I’m unsure about releasing this because I don’t think I can get this beyond beta (XAML is not my thing) but I’m curious about your opinion. Screenshots: List mode: Details panel when no game is selected: Since there's no titlebar, top right buttons auto hide when details panel is hidden: ..but reappear on hover: All panels and button bar hidden: It has some additional configuration options and color styles support though XAML includes. I’m hesitant to release this because: -Code is a bit messy because I didn’t have any previous XAML experience and I rewrote a lot. -License is hidden when user hides the button bar, not sure if that’s allowed (according to Jason’s comment in the code). -Spend way too much time on this and I want to wrap this project up. Not sure if I can commit myself to maintaining the code other than a few tweaks. What do you think? Is it worth releasing in beta state? Btw. code is forked with permission from Grila’s excellent Plex theme which inspired this project. Additional notes: Top right image is 'Fanart' image. If disabled or unavailable title moves up. Font (style and size) is mostly based on system font for consistency. With a few exceptions because of font sizes but I might change that. Microsoft's "Segoe MDL2 Assets" font required because it's needed for the buttons. Not sure if it's installed by default on all Windows versions. Retro Achievements display untested. (I don't have a RA account.) "NAME PLAGEHOLDER" will obviously be replaced by real licensed user name. (It's only there now for screenshot purposes.)

That seems to work for now, thanks Playing with that value I think the box has some kind of height limit; the higher I set the value the more text is clipped off.

A few minor issues: -After the new spacing update it seems that the subline is cut off on two lined titles when "Align Text Vertically" is selected. (default Spacing settings) -It seems that legacy option Theme->Features->Colorize background Fade hasn't been implemented. (Having background art colorized by the theme was a nice feature imo.) Btw. I haven't tested thoroughly but I think the memory issue I reported a few weeks ago is fixed now (LB eating up memory when randomly selecting games on Windows 7.)

@Jason Carr: thanks :) Yes it only happens when no game is selected, it always looks fine after selecting a game.

Great work Jason Is it also possible to have the default Game details 'No game selected' box inherit some of the settings (box opacity, UI color) so it matches the theme? Imho the black box is a bit jarring to look at on lighter themes. Btw. I'm not sure if scrollbar colorization is working? (I have the checkbox checked in 'Features'.)

Thanks for considering the issue. I've done some additional testing, on my system it seems that most memory increase happens when selecting (newer) Windows games. MAME, Vice and DOSBox games hardly have an impact. (Hope this helps)