Good News

[Gemini]

OK, so I have been looking into what it takes to theme/skin Amarok
(and other apps) under KDE4.x and, I came across some great news!
Amarok2, DragonPlayer, Kafeine, etc. ( a few others) all work off
(from what I can access so far) "One" central item known as "KPartGUI"
and other items known as KMainWindow, etc.

So, it does get far deeper than making modifications to the "default-
theme-clean.svg" in usr/share/apps/amarok/images but the good part is,
that once you change those images, any app which uses KPartGUI will
show the same changes. (I think haha)

And, one does not "just" need to modify that particular svg. You can
create an entirely new one and make changes to KPartGUI, and then set
up a new KPartrc etc., etc. (yes I am not fully up to speed on the
whole process yet but I'm working on it :P)

Anyway... the best part of this is the fact that we can give a far
more conforming/professional overall look to all these KApps in far
less time than ever before.
I'm trying to talk the KDE devs into providing some workshops on this
whole thing at the devlopers forums so, hopefully they will break
under pressure :P

I would like to add... I am almost positive that a similar set up
could be put together for other DEs, it is only a matter of each DE's
devs putting together a similar script like KPartGUI to work for their
DE-specific apps
XFCE could utilize "XPartGUI" and LXDE "LXPartGUI".. and so on.
(OBPartGUI, E17PartGUI, GPartGUI)
It's a really nice and useful... brilliant use of a script, to be
used as a central base for the DE's default applications as far as
Media Players and Viewers go.

So... just thought I'd give everyone a little inside look here as to
what to expect. I will eventually go about bringing up the topic to
each DE's devs as to the potential of such a script. ;)

[Gemini]

@Matt... meant too mention, this means it may be possible for me to
make Amarok2 look similar to 1.4.10 "Fast Forward"
it will take putting a lot of changes to the KPartGUI and a mainwindow
svgfile but, it will also cause other apps like Kaffeine and others to
be able to have a similar look and layout

[Matthew Dawkins]

Nice find...lemme know if I can help you in any way? I think the next big project and I'm trying to get EVERYONE on board is KDE4 integration and cleanup.

[Gemini]

OK, thanks... Yup it's gonna take me a bit of reading up (I have a
hard time learning from text haha) I'm one of those "learn by doing,
people"

SOmething else I just saw that has me kinda upset is, has anyone seen
Ubuntu's "XSplash"? The reason it upsets me is... this XSplash is
exactly what I have been wanting to do for some time. I was trying to
figure out a way to get it done during the PCLOS 2009 development.
I'd love to have a bootloader like that. And it frustrates me that it
is always "Ubuntu" that ends up getting things like this and then it
always seems like copying them :(
I grabbed the newest Kubuntu LiveCD just to see XSplash in action and
it's awesome. I wonder if we can find a way to come up with something
like it?
I remember gettinther telling me that gfx bootloader has .gif
capabilities (I think thats what he said :P) But I have never seen any
mention of it within the script.

On Oct 22, 6:22 am, Matthew Dawkins <matty...@gmail.com> wrote:

> project and I'm trying to get *EVERYONE* on board is KDE4 integration and
> cleanup.

[Gemini]

some of the info is confusing... I'm trying to locate the "main" style
sheet on my install... no luck yet :P
I am switched back over to my KDE3.5.10 Granular 1.0 install for now
so I can try to make some changes to the default-clean svg.
The thing to watch for in this svg is, each image is labeled so when
the main.rc calls the svg... it can pick each image out from the
crowd.
In other words, if you select the "Next" button image on the svg,
right click and select "properties" that image is labeled as "next
button" (or something like that) This is what the "main" mapping
theme.rc will look for to place that button where it belongs
(according to the theme.rc coords) The labeling of each and every item
is key to the whole process.
My goal, will be to attempt to give these apps, an "almost" Win Media
Player look as far as the layout.
But first.... need to get all these booting items finished up (one
step at a time gemini... one step at a time):P

[geminiguy]

Matthew Dawkins wrote:
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:48 PM, Gemini <gemini...@gmail.com
> <mailto:gemini...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
>
> @Matt... meant too mention, this means it may be possible for me to
> make Amarok2 look similar to 1.4.10 "Fast Forward"
> it will take putting a lot of changes to the KPartGUI and a mainwindow
> svgfile but, it will also cause other apps like Kaffeine and others to
> be able to have a similar look and layout
>
> On Oct 21, 11:42 pm, Gemini <geminiguy...@gmail.com

> big project and I'm trying to get *EVERYONE* on board is KDE4
> integration and cleanup.
Just so you can see, this is something I was working on for Amarok 1.4.x
it is not finished but maybe I will still finish it, who knows.. there
are still a lot of people using "fast forward" still but shows the type
of customizing I like to do... not necessarily this dark but, in general

[Matthew Dawkins]

All I can say is wow! Can you come over and setup my kde4 desktop :-). Do you like beer or tequila? I like the screenie of your desktop.

[geminiguy]

Matthew Dawkins wrote:
>
>
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:35 AM, geminiguy <gemini...@gmail.com
> <mailto:gemini...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Matthew Dawkins wrote:
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:48 PM, Gemini
> <gemini...@gmail.com <mailto:gemini...@gmail.com>

> <mailto:gemini...@gmail.com

> <mailto:gemini...@gmail.com>>> wrote:
>
>
> @Matt... meant too mention, this means it may be possible
> for me to
> make Amarok2 look similar to 1.4.10 "Fast Forward"
> it will take putting a lot of changes to the KPartGUI and a
> mainwindow
> svgfile but, it will also cause other apps like Kaffeine
> and others to
> be able to have a similar look and layout
>
> On Oct 21, 11:42 pm, Gemini <geminiguy...@gmail.com
> <mailto:geminiguy...@gmail.com>

> <mailto:geminiguy...@gmail.com

Haha.. thanks! Actually some really really strong coffee or hot apple
cider (with a touch of some good scotch-whiskey) :)
The screens are from my KDE 3.5.10 install here are some of Kaffeine too
It takes some work but, I am sure I can get a KDE 4 desktop to look nice
and matching across the board.
Nothing worse than an OS where every app has a completely different look
to it (it's very unprofessional looking and makes me cringe) :P

[Anurag Bhandari]

A very interesting this to note. A definite time saver for the
designers and artists. :)

On Oct 23, 2:09 am, geminiguy <geminiguy...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Matthew Dawkins wrote:
>

> > On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:35 AM, geminiguy <geminiguy...@gmail.com
> > <mailto:geminiguy...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> >     Matthew Dawkins wrote:
>
> >         On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 10:48 PM, Gemini

>  kirockerbg02.jpg
> 190KViewDownload
>
>  snapshot595.png
> 713KViewDownload
>
>  snapshot599.png
> 257KViewDownload
>
>  snapshot601.png
> 37KViewDownload

[geminiguy]

Hi Anurag...
Good to see you.
Yup, This should make some designing more centralized. Although, I am
still searching for the overall interface script which can be used to
position play buttons and such.

[Jeremiah Summers]

Wow I didn't realize how long it had been since I had saw Amarok 1.4.x I guess I'm one of the few that prefers the new Amarok look. Very nice theming by the way. I'm not a skull person but other then that, I would have no complaints. Maybe you should customize peoples desktops professionally you could get a show on TLC ;)

[Jeremiah Summers]

Now that you guys have a logo decision (that I quite enjoy) would anyone have any ideas for a logo for Synergy Linux. I Love the color palette that was chosen for Unity and the leaf to symbolize we're related. I just haven't decided how to tie that all in. Suggestions are appreciated.

[Richard]

Preferably Green instead of Blue though hey Jeremiah? (Especially since I've
spent ages greening all the icons :)
--
Richard.

[Gemini]

haha... I remember the "green" obsession. I think I still have some of
the stuff you did on a disc somewhere :)
I'm still an Amarok 1.4.10 layout fan for the most part. If I can
theme 2 to my liking I will be much more pleased with it.
The thing which has me most upset is, they did not use the toolbar
layout abilities available for Amarok2 or the newest Kaffeine. I
believe I can fix that though via each apps KPartgui.rc (or I have to
create one for each)
I have been digging round here n there to see if I can find the script
which Amarok2 is using to call images from the default-clean-svg file.
I need to get it all figured out. I know the items I am looking for
(or need to create) but I wish the devs for Amarok would realize that
customizability (is that a word? :P) is very, very important to a lot
of folks.
Sure... I can move the button-bar to the bottom now but.. I want to be
able to set the buttons to the bottom center of the window, etc.
They really need to start working on adding theming and layout
abilities to the end-users They definitely took a few steps back in
that area... Other than that, I like that the context panel is more
useable now with functional lyric & wiki pages. And it still plays as
good as ever.

[Custom Processing Unlimited]

what about two leaves similar to (if not the same as) the Unity leaf side by side in a yin-yang fashion with energy of some sort (like lightning, but doesn't necessarily have to BE lightning) connecting them (very closely)  Synergy, conceptually, has a "bringing together" and "harmoniously collaborating" kind of feel to it, and that is the first image that comes to mind for me (that fits the barriers suggested for said logo)...

--
"Custom" is NOT mass produced... then it's just a product line.
Custom Processing Unlimited