Tried VLC skins for the first time ... most "didn't work" ..

[AEN007]

20September2009

Greetings.
I've used VLC for a few years now but
didn't ever try any VLC skins until today - "most didn't work".
Opening/Loading some skins caused VLC to crash & shutdown.
Some skins loaded but were positioned off screen with no height or width
and would not respond to any menu commands or hotkeys
after I positioned VLC back on screen with an AutoHotKey script.
VLC did not respond to any hotkeys in the skins that did load.
I'm not sure why that was my experience.
I tried the skins on my oldest (from 1998) XP laptop.
Has anyone else ever had such an experience, or
does anyone know why that was my experience?

I also customized the VLC interface for the first time.
The default VLC "status bar" has three sections - title, speed & time.
On can add/remove the speed & time sections from the interface
but not from the status bar - or so it seems to me.
Is it possible to (re)move speed & time from the status bar (or hide the status bar)?

Any helpful replies/insights appreciated.
Thank you.
Regards,
AEN
Æ

[TomkoKubianc]

I had exactly the same experience.

What I would like is a nice looking skin that maintains the actual functionality of the program.

Some of these skins look real flashy but don't even work period (they crash the program) or they completely change the functionality of the program so you don't have access to buttons or features that make the program great in the first place.

I just don't see the point of having a skin that looks all futuristic and flashy but completely cripples the program.

[promet]

I completely agree. the "Skins2" interfaces are a complete crapshoot. VideoLAN is an extraordinary piece of software; I mean really tops in my book. If they could coral some proper skin functionality it would be fantastic. I mean they are already in the Hall of Fame, imho. May as well "gild the lilly", no?

[kanwal236]

I agree toooo,
its a huge problem, biggest for me was the maximize function, didn't work on the 5 skins i tried AND the windows 7 maximize by dragging to the top of the screen didn't work either!
hard to want to use the skins if you can't watch the video in window-fullscreen oh and no full screen controls lol
if these issues are fixed while still retaining the functionality of the buttons, any skin would kick ass

[3breadt]

The Windows 7 drag and maximize feature cannot work because skinned windows are not like normal windows. Apart from that the built-in maximize action for use in skins is fully functional.

A fullscreen controller will be available in a future version of VLC, the code for that has been recently made.

Apart from that, most problems you mention are due to the bad design of some skins. The fault there lies with the skin designers not with the system behind the skins.