ScreensOS Skin

[zhamilton1]

I am in the middle of designing (and programming) a new shell/OS for PalmOS devices.

i am not a graphic designer and would like some of you to try to make some skins for my OS.

You can see my latest screenshot at:
http://www.geocities.com/zhamilton1/SL-6-22.bmp

Take it, change it and show me what you've got... (:

If it is realy good, I will include as the default skin for the OS... (:

You can check out more about the OS in the developers section under OS/Launcher

Enjoy! (:

[quintuss]

Hmm, sorry, but it seems as if the image link is broken.....

[hansschmucker]

Geocities error:
Just right click on the link and choose 'save as'
sometimes it also works to open the link ina new window and then press enter in the location bar again.

Anyway here's the image:
http://hansschmucker.free.fr/clie/SL-6-22.png
http://hansschmucker.free.fr/clie/SL-6-22.png

[hansschmucker]

Here's a skin idea, trying to put your gradient API to good use (of course it's hicolor only):

http://hansschmucker.free.fr/clie/screenos.02.png

[Alistar]

Ooooh.
I like that grey one there hans.

[the_iceman]

Quick graphic setup for this..... just thought I'd share :)

320x320 16bit :)

Deleted image

[Alistar]

I like the design and style Iceman, but I think it is a little bright. Looking at the picture hurts my eyes.

[the_iceman]

should have used a softer red... LOLOLOL..... like I said... very quick setup on this one..... my apologies to you alistar.... maybe turn your monitor down a lil???? *Laughing*

[Alistar]

Ahh, there we go, brightness all the way down to 0. :D

Looks nice though.

[hansschmucker]

And maybe a little less blur... I can't really read the title. And the colors are a bit ... aggressive? On the other hand, the bright colors work wonders for PalmOS in 256color mode, since Palm, for some odd reason included nearly only bright colors. Also it works surprisingly well in LowRes, only the text is blurry.

[the_iceman]

just used it as an anti-alias text... should probably not anti-alias it... it would be clearer...

[hansschmucker]

Probably the JPEG compression, use PNG instead

[the_iceman]

You are right.... the 'bluriness' of the image is due to the jpg compression... and not the image. The PNG came out fine ..... so any fuzzzzzziness is because of the .jpg compression. I softened up the red just a smidgeon ..... not quite as bright. Put just a White 'layer' above the 3d buttons/bars and put in a 20% transparency. Changed the text from anti-alias to regular... so it would have just a little more 'crispness' to it. Still a shade blury but again.. that is the compression routine.

http://www.cliesource.com/gallery/data/506/17096newosscreen2.jpg

[hansschmucker]

Then why don't you just post the PNG? All major browsers support it

[the_iceman]

don't think clie-source likes it.... LOL.... I'm too lazy to post to my site and link...... I can admit it... lol. I was under the impression..... z was looking for some 'ideas'. I would tend to think.... this would accurately qualify as one :) .... may be a smidge blury ... but werks :)

[hansschmucker]

Lol, you're definately right... I'm just a guy who always thinks "Well, we could improve on that, that, that, that and that!" And in the end I never finish anything because I'm still working on Alpha #7354 =)

[the_iceman]

I hear you loud-n-clear hansschmucker. I could take a day or so... and develop one crisper and whatnot. It is difficult to develop a skin for something where there are no real requirements. I know you developed one based on what you saw... and I kinda did the same thing.

I've seen this 'os' thread in the developers section for a long time. I'm not entirely sure if all is on the up-n-up with it. I see that z asked for some suggestions, however I haven't seen any requirements. It is easy to draw pictures..... if one is in development of a OS or Launcher type of program... there should be requirements... as far as number of graphics... where they would be placed... toggle effects... transparency colors ... and more. In all the time I've watched the 'thread' in the developers section.... well... to be frank it doesn't sit well with me.

Each time I see a post... by z and then it is replied to by someone on ClieSource .... there is almost 100% agreement to what the person says here. This goes on and on ... and on. Each time a 'problem' comes up ...a solution seems to be made by the members here on cliesource... and then 'magically programmed/implemented' by the developer. One would think.... the developer would be able to determine the pitfalls.. and solutions on their own, if their skills are at least 'par'.

All in all... Strange. If I'm wrong in all of this... I am sorry.... I've seen people being strung along before... I'm a programmer by trade... and well ..... it all just doesn't fly. These people sure don't appear to be programmers .... from what I can tell thus far. Nothing I've seen .. has given any indication there is really anything in development/coded/tested.. or anything.

Just my 2cents

Ice

[hansschmucker]

Maybe it is that way maybe not, but if there's a slim chance for a nice GUI, I'm interested. About those problems/resolved things. I only watched the last few days and the questions were mostly interface questions, something that's rather typical for the last step of production.

[the_iceman]

I hear ya there :) as I stated.. I could be wrong :)

all I know... I'd be hard-pressed to get rid of my zlauncher ... LOLOLOLOLOL ..... I think I've hard-wired it into my PDA hehehehehhehehehe

[hansschmucker]

Zakai, maybe you could just do a few photos (or maybe even a video) showing your Clié running an alpha, to clear up the situation...

[zhamilton1]

Alright, the amount of writing of solutions/problems is not even 1/10 of it. It's huge bigger than I thought. But its like that for most projects. ScreensOS was nothing like it is now that it was then. There was just an idea now concrete what so ever.

My last beta for this OS was made a year ago with an API I wrote in two days and wrote a single line of code to activate a window which could be moved around. This has kept me going for a year now.

Although I have rewritten the damn thing over 10 times it never reach anything because I was writing with thin-air... no function decisions, no feature decisions, no what to include and what not to include and it failed everytime.

Then since passover, I stopped coding and decided that the only way this thing is ever going to leave the ground is by making more concrete desicions.

Right, ScreensOS's api does not need to know where buttons go since that is how the api is used and not built however I wanted to know what functionality the api would give in turns of transparency and other things like gradients...

ScreensOS has improved a huge amount forward. I am changing much less today which means that ideas have settled in. Once I feel fine with the layout, which I do... what colors I use is not important to finish the API since adding bitmaps is not the problem.

I know that many of you want a 'working' beta but that just does not exist... I know I want one... but good things take time and for this OS to realy shine it needs to finish some loose ends...

But I assure you these loose ends are finishing off...
What's left you might ask:
1. Finding a way to make transparent forms or just fogetting the idea and making square forms.
2. Scraping the ends of the messages component in turns of what calls what and when.
3. Designing the controls and thier messages
4. Design of text (for multi-languages)

That's basicly it... (: (or at least for now (: )

Look, I can't promise you anything... but if it does come out, it will be a great OS if you helped and gained from it... (:

Remember that I am alone on this project and while I do have companies before me who have made OS's, I have much of the hard work done for me by basing my OS on PalmOS's system (which thier OS is based on another... (: ).

I am doing the actual UI part not the input/output, dealing with threads and so on part so I am not creating a kernel (which most people making an OS get stuck at... (: )

Think of the OS more as a Shell but with extras. That's all PalmOS is missing... A GOOD SHELL... and I am trying my best to be a big part of this and hope you will join me make it become better and release sooner. (:

[hansschmucker]

Amiga, right? PalmOS is based on Amiga.

Anyway, about transparencies. How about allowing a windows's shape to be composed from multiple rectangles instead of using bitmap transparencies. For example, my grey skin would consist of two rectangles for the form and three rectangles for the shadow

1111
11112
33333333
333333334
333333334
333333334
333333334
55555555

[zhamilton1]

Nice idea, I'll check it out! (:

And no its not amiga but Kadak (www.kadak.com) I find this info in the knoledge base (:

[hansschmucker]

Surprising, since POSE is based on UAE. Anyway, of course you can use rectangles only to process the window outline, not in-window transparency. However it's about 10 times as fast as true transparency, since all you have to do is sort the sub-windows and do a couple of memory copies. So you process areas instead of individual pixels. However I would still allow use of transparent pixels if requested by an application (Most applications use transparency only in a couple of areas, so it's a good idea to divide a window into transparent and non-transparent areas and process those seperately, shouldn't slow down the overall system speed too much)

[Unregistered]

Originally posted by hansschmucker
Surprising, since POSE is based on UAE. Anyway, of course you can use rectangles only to process the window outline, not in-window transparency. However it's about 10 times as fast as true transparency, since all you have to do is sort the sub-windows and do a couple of memory copies. So you process areas instead of individual pixels. However I would still allow use of transparent pixels if requested by an application (Most applications use transparency only in a couple of areas, so it's a good idea to divide a window into transparent and non-transparent areas and process those seperately, shouldn't slow down the overall system speed too much)

Hans, I tried to email you about something but it seems your mailbox is full.

554 delivery error: dd Sorry, your message to [your mailaddress]cannot be delivered. This account is over quota. - mta157.mail.scd.yahoo.com

Just to let you know =)

[hansschmucker]

I'm not on yahoo anymore: hansschmucker ata e-garfield.com . And no attachments > 2MB, please!