Modern And Sleek Theme For LMMS

[HDDigitizerMusic]

LMMS has excellent features and is becoming an awesome and reliable DAW. I think we can all agree, that the next step in improving LMMS is upgrading the theme to be more slick and clean to fit with the next version.

I know a graphic designer who is willing to contribute a new theme for LMMS for free. She works for a marketing agency who have worked with many commercial projects as a professional graphic artist.

I have worked collaboratively with her to showcase the style direction that we believe would bring LMMS to the next level. You can take a look at the preview below.

My favorite element has the be the beat pattern on the bottom. Its pretty cool how she incorporated the LMMS logo into it.

What do you think of it? Is this the right direction for a new theme? Please reply with your feedback and suggestions below. Once she get's the go ahead for this being used as the default theme in the new version, she will finish the full theme. She is also available to make changes to the style and direction once those changes have been agreed on.

[tobydox]

I like the beat pattern as well - I wonder how this would look like scaled down to the image sizes we currently have.

Maybe we could target this alternative theme for 2.0?

[diizy]

On 06/23/2014 05:15 AM, Digitizer wrote:

LMMS has excellent features and is becoming an awesome and reliable DAW. I think we can all agree, that the next step in improving LMMS is upgrading the theme to be more slick and clean to fit with the next version.

We just did an upgrade of the theme for 1.0 and it's still getting improved constantly. I don't think we have any need to replace the default theme anytime soon, as it's something that is constantly being worked on.

I know a graphic designer who is willing to contribute a new theme for LMMS for free.

That's great. There's never too many themes. It's been discussed to include some alternate themes along with LMMS, however... to do that, I think we should first improve the theme browsing capabilities. It's a bit too clunky to change themes by choosing a directory... we should have something like the plugin browser, that shows the themes in a list, by name (we'd need to add some metadata-file to the themes that holds stuff like theme name, creator, copyright etc.), and possibly even figure out a way to make it possible to change themes on-the-fly (if it's possible to code with Qt).

She works for a marketing agency who have worked with many commercial projects as a professional graphic artist. She is also the designer who created the cover for my upcoming EP.

That's nice. Designing a GUI for a software is however a bit different than designing static art. GUI design isn't just about making flashy and fancy graphics, it's about functionality first - function always comes before form in GUI design.

I have worked collaboratively with her to showcase the style direction that we believe would bring LMMS to the next level. You can take a look at the preview below.

That's all a bit too large to be very convenient for LMMS. There's lots of stuff to fit into the LMMS GUI, most of the elements showcased there look very nice but I have a feeling they wouldn't scale too well to the GUI size we have.

unnamed https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/6778944/3353248/a986d4b4-fa7a-11e3-8f8b-84c6f24f91fb.png

My favorite element has the be the beat pattern on the bottom. Its pretty cool how she incorporated the LMMS logo into it.

Yeah, well, there's the thing - that beat pattern looks nice as a static graphic, but as an actual GUI element, it's way too clunky and oversized. In fact, everything there is oversized. The effect front panel is way too large, the knobs are too big... in fact, if anything, we'd need to slim down the effect panels, to reduce the height, not increase.

GUI design for a complex software is not the same as designing a website. There's windowing, there's lots of stuff to fit on the screen at the same time, wasting space just for the sake of fancy graphics is not something that fits the first paradigm of "function before form".

My suggestion to you is that you first try to make a complete theme for LMMS. Copy the current default theme for 1.0 - or even 1.1, if you want all the current theming features - and then see the amount of work it takes to create a complete, functional theme for LMMS - it's a lot more than making a few fancy graphics... you have to also fit it all together, make sure everything looks good in the amount of size that we have available for each element - we're not going to start increasing the size of elements just to get fancier graphics displayed - that's the very opposite of "function before form".

That said, those graphics do look nice, there's a very nice style to it, but I don't think you'll be able to use any of that for a LMMS theme as-is.

But seriously, like I said... your best bet is to start working on a theme and see how it feels to create a complete LMMS theme. I'm responsible for most (if not all) of the recently implemented theming-related features in LMMS, so if you have any questions about the CSS features or other theme-related stuff, feel free to ask.

Once she get's the go ahead for this being used as the default theme in the new version, she will finish the full theme.

Why does she need guarantees that it'll be the new default theme? There's room for more than one theme in LMMS. She could just as well create an alternate theme for LMMS.

The default theme is not something you can just "drop off" like a kid to a daycare. It's not something we can outsource and be done with it. LMMS is, first and foremost, a collaborative open-source project, and the default theme is something that lives and grows with the software, it needs to be constantly maintained, and developed in tandem with new GUI features. Which is why it's something that has to be developed openly and collaboratively, with the LMMS team, so that we all have access to the development process and will be able to change things when necessary.

[Sti2nd]

Vesa worked hard on the current default theme :+1: And appearance isn't everything a theme is, but I would love to get my hands on a good looking theme like that! What we could do is to include two themes in LMMS, the one we have now and the one she will make. Do you think she will agree on this, @HDDigitizerMusic ?

[RebeccaDeField]

@Sti2nd Hi, I am the aforementioned graphic artist :) I agree that Vesa did a fantastic job on the theme he contributed! Because I use Inkscape you will absolutely be able to “get your hands on it” ;) I think that is a great idea! The more themes the better.

[HDDigitizerMusic]

@diizy

We just did an upgrade of the theme for 1.0 and it's still getting constantly improved. I don't think we have any need to replace the default theme any time soon, as it's something that is constantly being worked on.

We want to collaborate on this together. I think that the changes and updates that you have already made are very awesome and I agree that we don’t need to replace the theme any time soon as the default theme is something that should constantly be worked on and improved. I do think that we always have room to grow and collaborate. Like you said there is no reason to stop improving the theme.

That's great. There's never too many themes. It's been discussed to include some alternate themes along with LMMS, however... to do that, I think we should first improve the theme browsing capabilities. It's a bit too clunky to change themes by choosing a directory... we should have something like the plugin browser, that shows the themes in a list, by name (we'd need to add some metadata-file to the themes that holds stuff like theme name, creator, copyright etc.), and possibly even figure out a way to make it possible to change themes on-the-fly (if it's possible to code with Qt).

I would like it if we could help to contribute to the default theme, but if that is not possible then she will be more than willing to create an alternative. I think that your idea of adding a feature that will allow people to select different themes within the interface is awesome. This will help the other graphic artists who want to contribute themes to LMMS as well.

That's nice. Designing a GUI for the software is however a bit different than designing static art. GUI design isn't just about making flashy and fancy graphics, it's about functionality first - function always comes before form in GUI design.

That's all a bit too large to be very convenient for LMMS. There's lots of stuff to fit into the LMMS GUI, most of the elements showcased there look very nice but I have a feeling they wouldn't scale too well to the GUI size we have.

Yeah, well, there's the thing - that beat pattern looks nice as a static graphic, but as an actual GUI element, it's way too clunky and oversized. In fact, everything there is oversized. The effect front panel is way too large, the knobs are too big... in fact, if anything, we'd need to slim down the effect panels, to reduce the height, not increase.

She has experience and knowledge in GUI design and usability. She also has experience in open source programs specifically as she interned with the people who collaborated on the interface for Amarok, the KDE theme as a whole, and other various KDE projects. I agree with you about the functionality and usability, this is just a preview with larger graphics so you can see some of the finer details and we do not intend for the interface to be that big. We created this thread to collaborate on the theme so if you think that it should be less flashy or smaller we as a community can update it.

GUI design for a complex software is not the same as designing a website. There's windowing, there's lots of stuff to fit on the screen at the same time, wasting space just for the sake of fancy graphics is not something that fits the first paradigm of "function before form."

We agree that it is a bad idea to waste space just for the sake of fancy shines or glowing graphics and will create this theme with that in mind. There is something to be said about creating neat graphics that give the users a great experience, and I can see that you are thinking along the same lines because you have already included slick and creative elements in the theme that you created.

My suggestion to you is that you first try to make a complete theme for LMMS. Copy the current default theme for 1.0 - or even 1.1, if you want all the current theming features - and then see the amount of work it takes to create a complete, functional theme for LMMS - it's a lot more than making a few fancy graphics... you have to also fit it all together, make sure everything looks good in the amount of size that we have available for each element - we're not going to start increasing the size of elements just to get fancier graphics displayed - that's the very opposite of "function before form."

I have created many themes myself and understand how it works. If it would be most helpful for us to create an alternative theme, then she can do that.

But seriously, like I said... your best bet is to start working on a theme and see how it feels to create a complete LMMS theme. I'm responsible for most (if not all) of the recently implemented theming-related features in LMMS, so if you have any questions about the CSS features or other theme-related stuff, feel free to ask.

I really appreciate all of the work you have contributed towards the current theme and am seeking to collaborate. Thank you for the offer, I’ll be sure to contact you for any questions we have.

Why does she need guarantees that it'll be the new default theme? There's room for more than one theme in LMMS. She could just as well create an alternate theme for LMMS.

What she meant was she had wanted everyone's feedback before we created the whole theme. That way we don’t end up creating a theme with a certain type of button or glow, that a majority of the community just doesn’t like. We were planning on creating an alternative theme anyway, so we will just start there.

The default theme is not something you can just "drop off" like a kid to a daycare. It's not something we can outsource and be done with it. LMMS is, first and foremost, a collaborative open-source project and the default theme is something that lives and grows with the software, it needs to be constantly maintained, and developed in tandem with new GUI features. Which is why it's something that has to be developed openly and collaboratively, with the LMMS team, so that we all have access to the development process and will be able to change things when necessary.

I understand and agree. Not only have we based our theme on the work that you have already done, but she uses linux and inkscape for all of her designs, so she is completely willing to provide all of the .svg source files for all of her work so that you, and anyone else who wants to access adapt or improve on her work can. She understands how open source projects work and is not just outsourcing this. She wants to work as a contributor to the project just as you are. She is getting an account to reply and collaborate with all of you on this as well.

Thank you for your time and detail in your reply, Digitizer out.

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 03:20 AM, Rebecca DeField wrote:

@Sti2nd https://github.com/Sti2nd Hi, I am the aforementioned graphic artist :) I agree that Vesa did a fantastic job on the theme he contributed! Because I use Inkscape (another open source program) you will absolutely be able to “get your hands on it” ;) I think that is a great idea! The more themes the better.

Absolutely! And I think it's great that you're a graphic artist using open source software. Huge respect for that!

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 03:31 AM, Digitizer wrote:

We want to collaborate on this together. I think that the changes and updates that you have already made are very awesome and I agree that we don’t need to replace the theme any time soon as the default theme is something that should constantly be worked on and improved. I do think that we always have room to grow and collaborate. Like you said there is no reason to stop improving the theme.

Yes. At this point though... I think there aren't very much things that can be done to the default theme. Right now, when there are so many changes being made to the CSS and theming engine and widgets and all that, I think the default theme serves us best by being a stable bastion, something that changes very little and when it does, it mostly does it in the purpose of showcasing new features of the GUI, the software or the CSS/theming engine.

I'm sure we'll at some point go through a whole new theme revamp again, and at that time, it might be you (or Rebecca) who gets to spearhead that initiative. For now though, I just don't think it's in our best interest to do a huge rehaul of the default theme again... and I might be biased as the creator of that theme, but that's how I feel about it at the moment.

There's very little that can be done with the default theme right now, IMO. There are some small improvements that could be done - some old graphics that could still be replaced: the Spectrum Analyzer for one - but I think with the graphical skills you've demonstrated, at this point your skills would be better utilized by creating a complete, alternate theme for LMMS. Because no matter how good any theme is (and I'm not even saying our current one is best in the world), no matter how awesome something is, it's never going to be everyone's favorite... there's always differences in opinion and taste, so the more options we provide, the better!

Only thing is, the theme engine of LMMS is currently a bit of a moving target... 1.0 broke theme compatibility with all earlier versions, 1.1 is going to break theme compatibility with 1.0, and as for 1.2... who even knows at this point?

I would like it if we could help to contribute to the default
theme, but if that is not possible then she will be more than
willing to create an alternative. I think that your idea of adding
a feature that will allow people to select different themes within
the interface is awesome. This will help the other graphic artists
who want to contribute themes to LMMS as well.

Yeah. I'll amend my earlier statement a bit - I'd like to get these theme browsing capabilities in LMMS, but of course, they're not strictly necessary for including alternate themes - they'd just make switching them easier. Of course, if you can get a complete theme done in time for the release of 1.1, then I see no reason not to include it with LMMS, and I think Toby would also agree with that (based on earlier discussions).

And if you're not in time for 1.1.0, then maybe we can add it in the first bugfix release, 1.1.1...

She has experience and knowledge in GUI design and usability. She also has experience in open source programs specifically as she interned with the people who collaborated on the interface for Amarok, the KDE theme as a whole, and other various KDE projects. I agree with you about the functionality and usability, this is just a preview with larger graphics so you can see some of the finer details and we do not intend for the interface to be that big. We created this thread to collaborate on the theme so if you think that it should be less flashy or smaller we as a community can update it.

That's good to hear. I was mainly just saying all this because I wasn't sure if you know what all theming & GUI design entails, but it seems you two have things well in hand.

I have created many themes myself and understand how it works. If it would be most helpful for us to create an alternative theme, then she can do that.

At this point, I think it would. Because it's always good to provide options, and no one theme can possibly ever satisfy 100% of our users. Like I said, I think sometime in the future, there will come a time to completely change the default theme again, and I may not have the time to do it by then (I'm starting school again next fall, so I'm going to have less time to contribute for LMMS) but for now, I really think that creating more options for the users, creating more and different themes for LMMS would be the best way to contribute.

[diizy]

Also, if there are some theming capabilities that are still missing - some things you'd like to be able to do with a theme, feel free to let me know - if it's in the realms of possibility, I can implement the changes for it... very large features aren't going to get implemented for 1.1 anymore, things like svg support or such, but if there are any smaller theming features that you'd need, it can maybe be done. It doesn't hurt to ask, at least...

Some caveats: Qt (or at least Qt4, not sure if they've improved this in Qt5) doesn't deal with CSS-styling very well for custom QWidgets, which we have lots of... so we often have to use some tricks and hacks and lots of custom qproperties in the CSS to implement theming features. Particularly, we don't have most of our widgets using the box model - I'm sure it could be done, but I haven't yet figured out a way how we can read things like margins, paddings etc. from the CSS without basing the widget on an existing, non-custom widget.

Another thing - don't ask about the subwindow titlebars... Qt doesn't implement theming of any kind for them, and we'd have to write our own complete titlebar widget from scratch in order to be able to change them... in other words, it'd be a lot of work. So the titlebars sadly are going to have to stay blue for now...

[eagles051387]

Vesa there could be some things that can be done. Why dont we give users the ability to have a number of themes to choose from

On Tue, Jun 24, 2014 at 10:34 AM, Vesa V notifications@github.com wrote:

On 06/24/2014 03:31 AM, Digitizer wrote:

We want to collaborate on this together. I think that the changes and updates that you have already made are very awesome and I agree that we don’t need to replace the theme any time soon as the default theme is something that should constantly be worked on and improved. I do think that we always have room to grow and collaborate. Like you said there is no reason to stop improving the theme.

Yes. At this point though... I think there aren't very much things that can be done to the default theme. Right now, when there are so many changes being made to the CSS and theming engine and widgets and all that, I think the default theme serves us best by being a stable bastion, something that changes very little and when it does, it mostly does it in the purpose of showcasing new features of the GUI, the software or the CSS/theming engine.

I'm sure we'll at some point go through a whole new theme revamp again, and at that time, it might be you (or Rebecca) who gets to spearhead that initiative. For now though, I just don't think it's in our best interest to do a huge rehaul of the default theme again... and I might be biased as the creator of that theme, but that's how I feel about it at the moment.

There's very little that can be done with the default theme right now, IMO. There are some small improvements that could be done - some old graphics that could still be replaced: the Spectrum Analyzer for one - but I think with the graphical skills you've demonstrated, at this point your skills would be better utilized by creating a complete, alternate theme for LMMS. Because no matter how good any theme is (and I'm not even saying our current one is best in the world), no matter how awesome something is, it's never going to be everyone's favorite... there's always differences in opinion and taste, so the more options we provide, the better!

Only thing is, the theme engine of LMMS is currently a bit of a moving target... 1.0 broke theme compatibility with all earlier versions, 1.1 is going to break theme compatibility with 1.0, and as for 1.2... who even knows at this point?

I would like it if we could help to contribute to the default theme, but if that is not possible then she will be more than willing to create an alternative. I think that your idea of adding a feature that will allow people to select different themes within the interface is awesome. This will help the other graphic artists who want to contribute themes to LMMS as well.

Yeah. I'll amend my earlier statement a bit - I'd like to get these theme browsing capabilities in LMMS, but of course, they're not strictly necessary for including alternate themes - they'd just make switching them easier. Of course, if you can get a complete theme done in time for the release of 1.1, then I see no reason not to include it with LMMS, and I think Toby would also agree with that (based on earlier discussions).

And if you're not in time for 1.1.0, then maybe we can add it in the first bugfix release, 1.1.1...

She has experience and knowledge in GUI design and usability. She also has experience in open source programs specifically as she interned with the people who collaborated on the interface for Amarok, the KDE theme as a whole, and other various KDE projects. I agree with you about the functionality and usability, this is just a preview with larger graphics so you can see some of the finer details and we do not intend for the interface to be that big. We created this thread to collaborate on the theme so if you think that it should be less flashy or smaller we as a community can update it.

That's good to hear. I was mainly just saying all this because I wasn't sure if you know what all theming & GUI design entails, but it seems you two have things well in hand.

I have created many themes myself and understand how it works. If it would be most helpful for us to create an alternative theme, then she can do that.

At this point, I think it would. Because it's always good to provide options, and no one theme can possibly ever satisfy 100% of our users. Like I said, I think sometime in the future, there will come a time to completely change the default theme again, and I may not have the time to do it by then (I'm starting school again next fall, so I'm going to have less time to contribute for LMMS) but for now, I really think that creating more options for the users, creating more and different themes for LMMS would be the best way to contribute.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/880#issuecomment-46945292.

Jonathan Aquilina

[Sti2nd]

Luckily Rebecca agreed on making a theme in addition to the default theme, so we'll still get what seems would be a delicious alternative default theme for LMMS!

@diizy Theming capabilities that are still missing: The new default knob, with the white dynamic circle.

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 07:11 PM, Stian Jørgensrud wrote:

Luckily Rebecca agreed on making a theme in addition to the default theme, so we'll still get what seems would be a delicious alternative default theme for LMMS!

@diizy https://github.com/diizy Theming capabilities that are still missing: The new default knob, with the white dynamic circle.

You change the knob graphic by replacing the .png, and the line colour is defined by palette - for now: we were going to introduce a separate property for line colour, but it would require subclassing all the default knob types, which is a lot of work so it was postponed for 1.2. You can still change the appearance of the knob, it's just that you need to do it by modifying the palette.

The "windowText" palette colour is used for the knob lines and arcs. Exception is the vintageKnob which is currently only used in mallets and I believe it uses the "shadow" colour.

[oeai]

Can i ask for new option for knobs and other colorful controls? when volume (for example) changes then the color of the line around knob or inside slider also changes from green to red (or white\blue\green) and also for the knob pointer line. so you just can change it dependently on different colours and set it in some kind of design mode. not sure if it is possible right now without css\svg support, just some next-stage maybe.

[HDDigitizerMusic]

@diizy Sounds great. I'll totally contact you when I need some coding help. I think we have all agreed on this becoming an alternative theme.

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 08:24 PM, Ra wrote:

Can i ask for new option for knobs and other colorful controls? when volume (for example) changes then the color of the line around knob or inside slider also changes from green to red (or white\blue\green) and also for the knob pointer line. so you just can change it dependently on different colours and set it in some kind of design mode. not sure if it is possible right now without css\svg support, just some next-stage maybe.

Yeah, this isn't possible currently.

Maybe in the future, we'd first have to get the knobs subclassed (like I mentioned earlier), and then introduce a lineColor property to the knob subclasses. For the knob line, this could maybe be done as simply as using a conical gradient for the knob's lineColor... not entirely sure if it'd work that way, but it might... that wouldn't work for the arc around the knob though, that would need to be coded in the paintEvent.

[tresf]

Please keep me @tresf on copy of progress as it is made. I'm very interested in seeing progress on this and helping with the code where necessary.

As far as being the new default theme, time can only tell. Coming from someone who's contributed a few items to the existing theme, I can speak on behalf of the tremendous amount of work this stuff takes.

If you do indeed plan on sharing your Inkscape artwork with the team, please keep us posted as to how to access that.

As Vesa has illustrated, there are many areas in the LMMS GUI where larger, smaller or re-positioned widgets require code changes due to the almost purely static layouts that have been used over the years. Since these don't play nicely with dynamically sized/positioned content something as simple as re-positioning an LED can be quite the daunting task, but please don't let that hinder progress. :smiley_cat:

In any case, this topic has already stirred enough interest to validate it's merit. Once you get positioned with forking on GitHub, please link us your fork. You have many interested parties. :)

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 09:23 PM, Tres Finocchiaro wrote:

As Vesa has illustrated, there are many areas in the LMMS GUI where larger, smaller or re-positioned widgets require code changes due to the almost purely static layouts that have been used over the years. Since these don't play nicely with dynamically sized/positioned content something as simple as re-positioning an LED can be quite the daunting task, but please don't let that hinder progress. :smiley_cat:

It's less an issue of static layouts, but rather the issue I mentioned earlier... Qt's CSS support is kind of hit and miss - it works great for standard widgets like buttons and such, but when it comes to custom QWidgets that use completely custom, written-from-scratch painting code, then all bets are off...

Basically, right now I'm not even sure if we have any way of defining something as simple as a LED position in the CSS. If we take the effect front panel for example, all the subwidget positions (the on/off led, the 3 knobs, the controls button) are hardcoded, and the size of the effect panel is also hardcoded. I can't see any convenient way to have that layout be modifiable in the CSS... we would basically need to do something weird, like have overlapping layouts for all of the subwidgets, then modify their margins with the CSS, and I've no idea how well something like that would even work...

So for now, if we want to change these, then it has to be a change that works for all themes. That's not to say that changes can't be done, it's just that we have to figure out what works best for the GUI and the software as a whole.

[tresf]

I can't see any convenient way to have that layout be modifiable in the CSS

I'm not suggesting that. What I'm referring to is -- more generically -- a layout that allows widgets to assume their natural size and some UI behavior that allows elements to flow into eachother as needed. All conceptually of course, but this is common in most graphical tool-kits.

Here's a better explanation of what I'm referring to: http://edn.embarcadero.com/article/29572

QT acts as our GUI toolkit and actually does have some capabilities for this but from my research it is limited. To free the programmer (where appropriate) from hard-coding element positions could have some significant advantages including common concepts such as overflowing toolbars, content rearranging to window size, etc. Again, only where appropriate, but I believe could help theming in many areas.

[diizy]

On 06/24/2014 10:28 PM, Tres Finocchiaro wrote:

I can't see any convenient way to have that layout be modifiable
in the CSS

I'm not suggesting that. What I'm referring to is -- more generically -- a layout that allows widgets to assume their natural size and some UI behavior that allows elements to flow into eachother as needed. All conceptually of course, but this is common in most graphical tool-kits.

Oh. Yeah, we already have that, like in the FX mixer where the size of the channel area changes according to the size of the window, pushing the effect rack to the side. No problem there.

Simple layout tricks like that are relatively easy, but when it comes to complex layouts, things start getting a bit hairy...

QT acts as our GUI toolkit and actually does have some capabilities for this but from my research it is limited. To free the programmer (where appropriate) from hard-coding element positions could have some significant advantages including common concepts such as overflowing toolbars, content rearranging to window size, etc. Again, only where appropriate, but I believe could help theming in many areas.

Yeah, reorganizing/overflowing toolbars for eg. piano roll is on the agenda. This is one of those tricky things though, I don't think Qt has any kind of automatic convenience classes for implementing something like this, so it probably needs some kind of program logic for dividing/organizing the layout based on the window width...

[musikBear]

short comment - a thought for users with sight problems, could/should also be in this scope. Vesa has mentioned color-blindness, but ..look aside from 'color', and you have a somewhat more problematic condition :D A theme for this? Wiki guide for theming & css possibillities needs updating. (Gues this would be a job for one of those who already know theming), before release. And :+1: to Vesa who has made this possible in the first place

[tresf]

@HDDigitizerMusic @RebeccaDeField it's been a few weeks... how is progress going on this? :cat2:

[RebeccaDeField]

@tresf I have been pretty busy for the past week but I have worked on this in my free time and am making good progress. I will be posting some more detailed updates soon and if I have any questions I'll be sure to let you know :)

[RebeccaDeField]

I have been working very hard on the first round of icons for the new alternative theme that I'm contributing to LMMS. I have just finished designing the first draft of some icons to scale in Inkscape. If you have any suggestions I would be happy to hear them. :)

[tresf]

@RebeccaDeField, thanks for sharing! I can't wait to see these in action.

Let us know if you need any help from a code and/or testing perspective.

[RebeccaDeField]

Thank you for your feedback! I will definitely be contacting you if I have any questions. Once I get into the more major design elements there will be things I need help with. I'm more of a designer than a coder.

[eagles051387]

Love the look as well cant wait to see them in play :)

On Sun, Jul 20, 2014 at 7:54 AM, Rebecca DeField notifications@github.com wrote:

Thank you for your feedback! I will definitely be contacting you if I have any questions. Once I get into the more major design elements there will be things I need help with. I'm more of a designer than a coder.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/880#issuecomment-49538025.

Jonathan Aquilina

[Sti2nd]

Totally waaant :smile: :cake:

[rubiefawn]

Yes. I like this. I tried making a similar theme a couple weeks ago but inverted but I'm not a pro so it didn't turn out so well. xD I'm glad to see such amazing improvement.

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 2:32 PM, Rebecca DeField notifications@github.com wrote:

Glad to hear it @Sti2nd https://github.com/Sti2nd! I've been busy making small (but important) tweaks to make the icons clear in the program. I'm almost complete, and should be adding a download link soon so that anyone can use them in their alternative themes or even improve upon them.

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/880#issuecomment-54213172.

[emersonhsieh]

Looks good! Keep up the good work! :D

[tresf]

@RebeccaDeField, @HDDigitizerMusic is there any progress on this? I am trying to clean up bug reports that are redundant or probably won't be completed and this thread hasn't seen any updates since July. :beer:

[RebeccaDeField]

@tresf Hi, yes, there has been progress on this. I am very busy and I want to create a quality theme over putting one out right away, so it should take a while to complete. I have still been working on it in the time I have to spare. Is there a place I should move this too so that it does not clog up the reports?

[tresf]

Glad to hear!!! No, this place is perfect.

[hasanberacoskun]

The more the better. Right?

[exTunes]

really looking forward to this theme :) keep it up :+1:

[RebeccaDeField]

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to give an update. I am excited for 2015 because I have a lot more time to work on this and already have been able to spend numerous hours getting the icons done in the days that have already passed. I am going to be taking a look at the code to see what I can do, but my coding skills are limited. I noticed a file in the themes folder and asume that is the file that I need to be editing. Am I corect? There are some elements that I will need help with the coding aspect, so if anyone is available or willing to donate their time to colaborate with me on that, I would really apriciate it!

[diizy]

On 01/09/2015 06:06 AM, Rebecca DeField wrote:

Hi Everyone,

I just wanted to give an update. I am excited for 2015 because I have a lot more time to work on this and already have been able to spend numerous hours getting the icons done in the days that have already passed. I am going to be taking a look at the code to see what I can do, but my coding skills are limited. I noticed a file in the themes folder and asume that is the file that I need to be editing. Am I corect? There are some elements that I will need help with the coding aspect, so if anyone is available or willing to donate their time to colaborate with me on that, I would really apriciate it!

styles.css defines the css code for the theme. The syntax is mostly just basic css which is very easy, you can pretty much learn it from example and by trial & error.

[RebeccaDeField]

Thanks for the info dizzy, that is what I thought. :)

[tresf]

@RebeccaDeField if you have any problems with the CSS or what it means, in addition to Vesa (diizy) who is the most knowledgable, you can feel free to also tag myself, @mikobuntu, @Umcaruje.

I'll also go out on a limb and say @DanWin and @curlymorphic could help out too.

The reason I mention this is that not all people are subscribed to this bug report by default, so knowing who to ping on this list can really help, just put the @ symbol in front of their username. :pizza:

[Sti2nd]

I noticed a file in the themes folder and assume that is the file that I need to be editing.

Or just make a new folder anywhere and go to settings-->paths and select the new artwork folder I and @StakeoutPunch can assist you as well about the CSS file, we have made themes our self :)

[tresf]

Or just make a new folder anywhere and go to settings-->paths and select the new artwork folder

:+1:

I and @StakeoutPunch can assist you as well about the CSS file

:+1:

Thanks for offering your help Stian. :+1:

[LandonPowell]

That beat pattern looks sick. I'd recommend some octagonal buttons for play/pause/stop. as well as removing the yellow and red from the CPU and slider. This should keep things more uniform.

[badosu]

@RebeccaDeField This update looks so cool! I would love to help, but I guess we would have to harmonize the current buttons dimensions to make it more suitable. Maybe it's a matter of preference but I have difficulty as they are so small.

[StakeoutPunch]

@badosu The icons she linked earlier are the same dimensions as the current theme's icons.

[tapir]

Any updates on this wonderful proposal?

[RebeccaDeField]

I will post an update once I have anything "update worthy" to post (which could be quite soon).

[RebeccaDeField]

@tapir @tresf @diizy

Amung other things, I have been working on some splash screen ideas for this theme. I narrowed it down to a few that I have attached to this comment. The current splash screen is already beautifully done, so I took a lot of insperation from that. I would love to get some feedback on what I came up with to give me some direction.

I think I am leaning towards this one because of the simplisity. I was going for something fresh and clean without being overwhelming.

I saw a lot of other themes and splash screen ideas that incorperated elements from the logo so I thought I'd give it a try.

A little more on the obnoxious side, but it definitely gives it a more edgy feel.

I noticed that the text that appears with the version of the program is flush with the edges of the splash screen. Is there any way to move this to be centered? If not, I can make some adjustments to the graphics.

Bellow is a link to the .SVGs for all of these in case someone wants to play around with it, or use it for another theme they are creating. You will also find the icons I created and the initial demo Digitizer posted.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5GN3ENY4hhYWndmX3pxMUdLSEU&usp=sharing

[tresf]

I noticed that the text that appears with the version of the program is flush with the edges of the splash screen. Is there any way to move this to be centered? If not, I can make some adjustments to the graphics.

Out of the box, no, since we're using QT's QSplashScreen directly, but we can certainly subclass it if needed. We've done this for our file save dialog, so it is certainly possible. I'm not sure if we store any custom dimensions or locations in our theme yet, so we'll have to talk about where this coordinate should be store... :)

Here's the blurb on QT's website about that text you are talking about...

PS, nice work. :)

[eagles051387]

They are all beautifully done.

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 1:31 AM, Rebecca DeField notifications@github.com wrote:

@tapir https://github.com/tapir @tresf https://github.com/tresf @diizy https://github.com/diizy

Amung other things, I have been working on some splash screen ideas for this theme. I narrowed it down to a few that I have attached to this comment. The current splash screen is already beautifully done, so I took a lot of insperation from that. I would love to get some feedback on what I came up with to give me some direction.

[image: splash1] https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/7960169/6321331/26880c0a-baae-11e4-9cd9-e06a7efea289.png I think I am leaning towards this one because of the simplisity. I was going for something fresh and clean without being overwhelming.

[image: splash2] https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/7960169/6321332/26886f60-baae-11e4-8d96-d70d71fb99ea.png I saw a lot of other themes and splash screen ideas that incorperated elements from the logo so I thought I'd give it a try.

[image: splash3] https://cloud.githubusercontent.com/assets/7960169/6321333/26895466-baae-11e4-8019-f72c3866d66c.png A little (or a lot) more on the obnoxious side, but it defititly brings a more edgy feel.

I noticed that the text that appears with the version of the program is flush with the edges of the splash screen. Is there any way to move this to be centered? If not, I can make some adjustments to the graphics.

Bellow is a link to the .SVGs for all of these in case someone wants to play around with it, or use it for another theme they are creating. You will also find the icons I created and the initial demo Digitizer posted.

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B5GN3ENY4hhYWndmX3pxMUdLSEU&usp=sharing

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/880#issuecomment-75475298.

Jonathan Aquilina

[Spekular]

I think I like the middle one most, but they're all amazing. I almost wish we had three splash screens XD @tresf Iirc someone mentioned how blender has the in-program splash with "restorr previous session" (or something) and a list of recent projects. With some major subclassing maybe the splash could be modified to do that? As in show up while the program loads, then list options (perhaps the art would need to change too) once lmms is loaded, and go away when you click elsewhere.

[eagles051387]

I was thinking something which you would all probably say I am crazy for suggesting. Why not on each application start it randomly picks one of those 3 splash screens.

On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 8:15 AM, Spekular notifications@github.com wrote:

I think I like the middle one most, but they're all amazing. I almost wish we had three splash screens XD

— Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHub https://github.com/LMMS/lmms/issues/880#issuecomment-75497828.

Jonathan Aquilina

[tapir]

Middle one has my vote for simplicity. Maybe the background pattern can be a little bit more evident.