[mythtv-users] [WIP] New themes: Barry & Anita

Sam Jacobs samlists at ijacobs.co.uk
Thu May 8 18:27:59 UTC 2014


On 8 May 2014 at 08:11:38, Justin Hornsby (justin0hornsby at gmail.com) wrote:
> Look ma, two new themes I actually like the look of!

Thank you very much :)


> I love how appliance-like they are - only judging from the screenshots
> so far of course

I’ve been trying to find words to describe what sets these themes apart, and I think that describes it perfectly. MythFrontend is very flexible, but my aim with Barry and Anita was to create an experience that was not only tightly focused on watching and recording TV, but one that was targeted specifically towards use with a remote control—hence the use of fastext (colour) buttons throughout (which do require user configuration to actually be useful, alas).

None of the existing themes really *felt* like a DVR, which for me is kind of the point. At various points since 2008, I’ve owned or rented Virgin Media’s V+HD, Sky’s Sky+HD (both the old guide and the new ones) and BT’s old Microsoft Mediaroom powered Vision+, and have spent time using a Top Up TV DVR, a Humax PVR-9150T, a cheap and nasty Goodmans thing that lasted 3 days before being returned, and a Humax YouView box. With the possible exception of the PVR-9150T, *they* all felt like DVRs, and it was really frustrating me that even with the reasonably simple MythCenter and the DVR menu theme, MythTV still felt… ill suited to its stated role.

> - and... READABLE.

Yeah, this was also a priority for me, and I’m really glad you noticed it.

The font in the Barry screenshots is Lucida Grande, which is the Mac OS X UI font and unfortunately not redistributable. I wrote a script that used sed to replace the font with different ones, and that spiralled into what you can see if you poke around inside Barry’s “customise” folder.

I decided when I started working on Anita to offer a less customisable experience, so only one font, Lato, is available. I’m very pleased with that choice—I love the way it looks on the TV and on my MacBook—and I tried to use it in Barry, but it just didn’t fit.


> Would you ever consider hiding the file sizes in favour of widening
> the date field? I know it's sometimes handy to know the filesize
> (failed recordings & all that) but that information is already in the
> info panel.

Ha! My fiancé was highly amused when I showed him that, since he’s been telling me the same thing literally every day for over a week now and I haven’t wanted to listen! Maybe I should listen…

> Anyway, it's all looking good so far - thanks for deciding to offer
> something a little different!

Thanks Justin. Coding a MythTV theme is *a lot* of work—tons more than I thought it would be, I can’t even begin to express it—so your comments have been much appreciated!

Thanks,
Sam

> Justin

--  
Sam Jacobs on MythTV 0.27, UK Freeview SD & Freesat HD, EIT-only EPG
Mac mini, MBE+FE: OS X Mavericks, bundled FE, macports BE
Acer Aspire L310, SBE: Debian testing, Elgato EyeTV for DTT Stick (Hauppauge Nova-T USB Stick in disguise!) & DVBSky S960 DVB-S2 USB

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