Skin naming conventions and standards

[srs]

In an effort to make skins more portable (and easier to install and use), we need to come up with a set of standard conventions.  The original intention of separating the skin and config files is that the user's personal settings are stored in the config, while the general layout and appearance is stored in the skin files.  This is why there is only one config file, and there can be different skin files.

Now, in order for different skins to work with the same config, there needs to be some sort of standards, ie. stuff that the skin expects will be there in the config.

To this end I propose the following:

for shortcuts the following "groups" should be used:

quick

• where
• = 1..n - This group will be for quicklaunch shortcuts.
  apps
• - This group for general applications
  games
• - This group for games
  
  for the poom filters (I have decided that the poom fomats are better off in the skin file itself, and this will be the case in future versions)
  
  taskfilter,taskfilter
• 
  calendarfilter,calendarfilter
• 
  
  
• = 1..n  and these should be in grouped together.
  
  for the rss and weather feeds:
  
  rss,
• 
  city,
• 
  
  some standard text:
  
  owner name
  owner address
  owner phone
  
  some standard images:
  
  owner image
  
  ---------------------
  
  This is not meant to restrict skins in any way, but rather make it easier to switch to different skins while maintaing the same config.  It would be great if future skins could make the best effort to adhere to these standards (ie when needing an id for shortcuts use either quick
• , apps
• , or games
• ).
  
  Any comments on additions / changes welcome.

[arbitrajeu]

Might I also suggest:

storage,storagex,... for standard storage devices - most people have just one so things should be fairly interchangeable, especially with the upcoming <name> parameter.

[srs]

good idea.  I had forgotten about that.

[dasilva]

srs


I think this is a great idea, thanks for bringing it up.

Also, what do you think of:

hometownclock, <city name>, <timezone>
potentially for the first clock in the clock page.

Cheers -David

[rbg08]

Agreed.  All my future skins will adhere to these guidelines.  I would recommend updating the skin reference file as soon as possible to include these instructions (as well as list the new 098 commands' syntax ).

[jhollin1138]

I hate to say this, but it might be time to consider some type application to edit the "config" file.  With some type of application, the "rules" could be controlled a little better.  If I had time, I am sure I could come up with something (I am sure you professional programs would laugh at it  ).

[fishboy]

I will work on adding this information to the configuration file section of the reference.  

rbg08, the 0.9.8 commands are already in the latest reference I posted (albiet the if,var... is currently incorrect).

[rbg08]

Sorry, fishboy, didn't see you had already updated the skin reference.

[fishboy]

In the case of shortcuts, what about a more general approach such as:

apps

•     where x=1..n
  
  Here the skinner can choose how to break up the icons and display them, and the user can specify their order.
  
  OR
  
  apps
• -[y]     where x=group (1..n), y=index within group (1..9/10)
  
  This allows the the skinner to support more groups (not justs quick, games, and apps), and the user can specify what group the icons belong to.
  
  Just a suggestion.
  
  EDIT:  Recommend y = 1..n instead of 1..9/10 to allow for mutiple pages of icons per group.

[fishboy]

Another advantage for using (at least for me)

apps

• -[y]
  
  is that variables can be used to display the correct icons.  I used this format with my glauncher (tabbed launcher) and reduced 8 regions of code to 2 (the if,var statement helped reduce 4 regions to 1).
  
  Example (var16 is the group to display):
  
  Code Select Expand
  
shortcut,4,0,apps%var16%-1,s
button,4,0,16,16,-1,0,%apps%var16%-1


[srs]

ah, ok I understand now...

yes, now that I come to think of it your way might be the most flexable

apps-

• -[y] could be the general shortcut name....
  
  each text heading could be user defined in the config, eg
  
  apps-[0]-[y] could be the equivalent to the old quick launch shortcuts, and the name of the "group" could also be in the config (like you do with the glauncher), with text,apps-[0],Quick Launch.
  
  yes, this is much better, very good idea fishboy.

[fishboy]

Thanks, srs, glad that I can help.  I have just a couple of questions:

1) Would we need to include the brackets ([]) around the indexes, or would something like "apps-0-0" be acceptable (doesn't matter to me, just want to be clear on the specs).

2) Will the indexes begin with 0 or 1?

I like your idea of how to associate text to a group name.  The config file might look something like:

Code Select Expand


text,apps-[0],Quick Launch

shortcut,apps-[0]-[0],\windows\iexplore.exe,Internet
shortcut,apps-[0]-[1],\windows\calc.lnk,Calculator


[srs]

1) I think it may be easier to type (especially on the ppc) without the barckets so, apps-1-1

2) indexs should start at 1 to be consistant with city and rss starting at 1