[mythtv-theming] Theme Competition Voting Now Open

Robert McNamara robert.mcnamara at gmail.com
Sun Mar 14 20:26:09 UTC 2010


Hello themers and trunk users,

Voting for the theme competition is now open!  You can see the
competition voting site here:

http://www.mythtv.org/theming-competition

We have three eligible themes in the competition:  Childish, a 4:3
theme aimed at children from Michael Lynch, LCARS, a theme inspired by
a popular Science Fiction franchise by Gary Butters, and TransBlue, a
clean blue colored theme from Reto Wechner.

Some things to remember:

* These themes will only work properly against current trunk.  They
will not work with .22.  Votes based on your experience with them in
.22 would be unfair as they use different formats for several of the
widgets.
* Please judge each element of all three themes available by each of
the criterion.  *DO* try all three themes!   Read the criterion
carefully and make sure to consider each.  This means taking more than
just the time to use the theme, but also looking deeper into the code
in some cases.
* Please read the criterion for voting:

Usability: The theme should be easily used by someone not experienced
with MythTV. The behavior should be predictable and understandable.
Text should be readable and Images should be easily interpreted. Your
theme should be fully compatible with MythTV trunk upon submission.

Consistency: All themed screens should exhibit an overall unified
design, and should behave similarly to one another. Single-purpose
widget use should be minimal or non-existent.

Originality: Your theme cannot be a copy of an existing MythTV Theme,
DVR interface, or other media center "skin." Clear copies of XBMC,
etc. skins are not eligible to compete. It is absolutely okay to get
inspiration from other designs and use a similar approach, but the
work must be very clearly your own. MythTV developers reserve final
say on whether a theme is original.

Visual Appeal: The tasteful use of images, design aesthetic, and
widgets to create an interface with "Wow!" factor.

Cleanliness of Code: The theme should follow common MythTV theme code
practices, including four-space indentation and linefeeds between
widgets. The images and XML should be well organized into directories
and the code should be easy to read and understand. Commenting is
strongly encouraged.

We will make every effort to announce the winner of the competition by
the release of .23.

Thanks, and let the voting begin!

Robert


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