The VideoLAN Forums

I'm a computer scientist, but it doesnt actually say anywhere how you make one, i have tried opening a .vlt file and its not readable. I know about images and xml's etc etc just need an example of what to create and how to test it.

do you have an example i can hack? its always the easiest way to learn. want to make an iTunes 6 skin

cheers

Everything is explained on http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins2-create.html.

yes you pawned someone else off with that answer i noticed. its useless and you guys wonder why no one seems to make skins for vlc!

you should restructure that and stick some good examples up there, its a b**ch to read, i did find the "rename tar.gz to .vlt" in the end... but tbh if i have to read the whole thing just to learn how to create a basic file i'm not sure i have the patience.

Could probably get to it now but, would mean installing something to create tar.gz files in windows cos that's where photoshop is... etc - can i suggest you guys go about creating a "How to customise a Skin" section? would be far easier to learn!

but if that's the only answer you recieve on here, i'm off to use XMMS

yes you pawned someone else off with that answer i noticed. its useless and you guys wonder why no one seems to make skins for vlc!

The remark "it doesnt actually say anywhere how you make one", in your first post, seemed to indicate that you didn't see the page i linked to.

you should restructure that and stick some good examples up there, its a b**ch to read, i did find the "rename tar.gz to .vlt" in the end...

That's right, we should probably do that. But it takes time and motivation, and until now, noone has proposed to do so. Feel free to do it yourself, i will be glad to add it to the website
Also note that the "Compression" section is referenced at the beginning of the document.

but tbh if i have to read the whole thing just to learn how to create a basic file i'm not sure i have the patience.

This is not supposed to be a tutorial, but a reference that you can consult when you want to know something particular (e.g.: what are all the possible attributes of the Video control?).
Examples can be found in the existing skins.

Could probably get to it now but, would mean installing something to create tar.gz files in windows cos that's where photoshop is... etc

As explained in the documentation, VLC is able to load a skin directly from the XML file, which means you don't have to compress the whole thing all the time when designing the skin. You can start worrying about making a .tar.gz when everything else is finished

can i suggest you guys go about creating a "How to customise a Skin" section? would be far easier to learn!

This is also a good idea, but writing docs is not so fun, and i don't have much free time. Your help is again welcome!

but if that's the only answer you recieve on here, i'm off to use XMMS

No problem, VLC now has some support for the Winamp2/XMMS skins in the development version

i thought winamp2/XMMS skins were just re-painted bitmaps rather than proper skins in the conventional sense...?

incidentally, i just had a look at the tutorial for winamp3 skins - FORGET IT!!! there's no way i'm going to spend the hours it'll take just to read through the tutorial to learn how to make those! I adapted someone elses skin and then made my own from scratch in an afternoon, much simpler and cleaner - less of that fancy nonsense.

mark

Yes, Winamp2/XMMS skins have a predefined layout. But there are hundreds of them, so it's nice to be able to use them for VLC!

Don't worry, there is no plan to support Winamp3 skins. And even if there was, we wouldn't give up the "simple" skinning system we currently have.

Am I missing something, or do you really have to make skins this way? Do you really have to type the dimensions of each picture? If so, then that's why not that many people are making skins. Maybe if you could use slices somehow. A seperate program for making VLC skins would be perfect! I'm sure there's a programmer out there that could make this program for free. It really shouldn't be THAT hard. But, then again, I'm not about to do it so whatever.

Am I missing something, or do you really have to make skins this way? Do you really have to type the dimensions of each picture? If so, then that's why not that many people are making skins. Maybe if you could use slices somehow. A seperate program for making VLC skins would be perfect! I'm sure there's a programmer out there that could make this program for free. It really shouldn't be THAT hard. But, then again, I'm not about to do it so whatever.

I agree with this man, he is right on.

if only programming vlc were as simple as clicking a button and voila...

If you've ever designed a webpage, be it html or xhtml you'd know that with CSS you require "dimensions" as well... otherwise you might end up positioning an image somewhere it does not belong. even with coding html you may require to set dimensions for tables etc... so its not always easy... what we DO need is a "tutorial" on how to design skins for VLC

- Asim

I really do not know whats the problem with you. I mean, creating skins is so easy. You just create an image of what the player should look like, one with the buttons hovered and or pressed. And the you just take the coordinates and dimensions and put them into the xml file, place the buttons accordingly and voila. Takes not so long to create a simple skin. Of course, more complex skin more effort, but that is the same with all skins for all media players. If you think creating skins for VLC is harder then doing it for other media players you are wrong.

I think that using slices, like in photoshop, would be perfect. It creates an html with the position and size of all the pictures. So all you have to do is save the original, then the different button states. It really wouldnt be that hard to make a program that reads the html it creates, and make an xml from it.

Ricky

It really wouldnt be that hard to make a program that reads the html it creates, and make an xml from it.

i agree, but do you have the time and skills to do it...?

i don't have a problem with the existing way of making skins. my skills are extremely limited but any coding or scripting i have done has always been in text - i prefer it that way. i'd always much rather see exactly what i'm creating instead of having some software do it for me; especially for something as simple as this.

mark.

eugh... poor sap... guess he/she/it doesnt realize his/her/miscellaneous' IP address can be traced... rofl

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