[mythtv-users] Merge of OSD and Main themes causes WAF to Plummet

[Michael Jones]

>-----Original Message-----
>From: mythtv-users-bounces at mythtv.org [mailto:mythtv-users-
>bounces at mythtv.org] On Behalf Of Raymond Wagner
>Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2011 10:50 AM
>To: Discussion about MythTV
>Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Merge of OSD and Main themes causes WAF to
>Plummet
>
>On 3/1/2011 12:01, Dan Armbrust wrote:
>>> Yes the user should have to learn to edit a theme in order to make
>>> that change.  This is a specific one of a kind modification that
>>> anybody can do in the text editor of their choice.  "Learning" how to
>>> do this is not a major inconvenience.
>>>
>>> I say if font sizes were adjustable via the mythfrontend GUI it would
>>> take the user longer to perform the modification.  GUI's with five+
>>> layer deep sub-menus, slider bars, check boxes, ratio buttons, etc.
>>> take a lot longer to adjust than a simple XML formated text file.
>> In windows 7, you choose "Small, Medium or Large".  In myth, folks
>> think that the "easy" way is to go manually edit XML.
>
>There's nothing preventing a themer from releasing independent small,
>medium, and large themes, with elements resized and repositioned for
>larger text, as is likely how Windows handles things.  It all comes back
>to the fact that no one is being paid for this, so their efforts are
>only going to go to places that they will personally use.  They'll just
>pick the one size that works for them.
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As the person who started this diversion.. I feel obliged to jump in again..


It's pretty obvious to me by the amount of churn here that there is
something to this issue as it is affecting more than just me. I'm noticing a
few things that are catching my attention.   What's needed are a few things:
... (and for those poised to jump all over me for tossing out ideas without
being able to back them up by contributing code... YES, I do understand that
this would take time and effort by the theme builders and/or developers..
believe me.. I DO, and if possible I'll be happy to help out in some way as
time permits)

These are purely theoretical ideas for those with an open mind to toss
around....

1)  An efficient "novice friendly" way to adjust certain characteristics in
a theme.  Not a way to fully rewrite or corrupt the theme designer's
efforts, or the integrity of the theme itself, but a way to make the theme
more useful on a purely practical level. 

I'm no XML or Theme expert.. but spending a couple hours over the last week
attempting (unsuccessfully I might add) to find a way to adjust the number
of rows and columns in the Videos Gallery view demonstrates that it's not as
simple as "just open the XML file and make a couple adjustments" to do it. 

Barring the creation of a graphical wysiwyg theme editor which is a
practical improbability.. How about some structure within the theme that
allows for simple/small adjustments.  This could be as simple as thorough
commenting the theme XML file(s) to show where things are and are not
adjustable or as complex as a set of commented, standardized presets in the
beginning of the XML file that could be "single point of adjustment" to
affect certain items across the theme.
	
2)  A way to adapt a theme for different size screens
(16:9/4:3/Big/Small/etc)

Scalable themes.  I'm guessing this would require quite a bit code
development, but how about some method of creating a scalable theme?  Some
way in both the XML and the MythTV code that would allow the theme
designer(s) to create a set of maximum/minimum constraints, then MythTV,
with some relatively simple mathematical calculations could make the
appropriate adjustments to relative position and size to display it on the
known present screen size.