Neil, don't feal to bad about it :-)

Neil:

Don't feel bad. Remember, I've been posting here since 1999. I can't count the immeasurable help and influence Daniel has been for me. I've even tried to convince him to work with me on a business venture or two. Though we've never met, I think of Daniel as a friend. I hope he feels the way that I do: I feel like we've got an "on the same team" style, friendly CCF rivalry. (Daniel's CCF has usually been a step ahead of mine, and has always enjoyed greater downloads than mine.)

Anyway... my desire to wait for Daniel is just an expression of my desire to do what little I can to help Daniel and this great site. I doubt fifty or sixty downloads is really going to make that much difference, but hey, I figure that every little bit helps.

Sincerely,
Dale

i hear you. i think that is really great that you try to support his site so much. My new one should be up really soon. i think that i sent out my ccf a day or two after you did. Hopefully it will be up soon. I am planning on making another one with the "xp" start menu. when i was about 80% done with this i NEVER USED PHOTOSHOP OR ANYTHING!!!! I am still an amature with the program. i need to start looking into a book or something to learn these features. At that point i had done so many things with the start menu that it would take longer than i wanted to finish the ccf. That is why i left it. i will probably change the titile bar so it does not have those little boxes... i kinda liked them but at the same time it is supposed to be XP replica.

I want to say thank you for your comments they are greatly appreciated. I am kinda embarrased when i look at my first version compared to my new one. Dont take this the wrong way and think that it is a HUGE improvement.. ( basically dont get your expectations too high.. i learned that lesson the hard way)

As far as dithering the graphics... i don;t have any experience with that so i do not know what the graphics would look like if i did dither them. I know that my minimized buttons are dithered but andre did those for me and i can not figure out how to make them posterized without loosing the 3d effect they have now.

As far as the help size.. i will just add a buton there and make it a help section. i was told to do that by andre as well. However i never looked at the text size differences.

I noticed that on some as well... i do not know how to stop that.... how do you make a graphic a SPECIFIC size in Photoshop. that would help a ton!!

Now that i read your next comment i feal dumb. What an excellent idea. That would have saved so much work for me when i was doing it as well. Damn!!

The size of the buttons did concern me as well. i guess i have small fingers so that did not seem so bother me at all... but i do need to think of others as well. i also use a stylus sometimes so that was another reason to keep them small

What color do you recomend that i use for the text. i have always liked the look of the blue and red combo.

The start button was fixed to the same color and also has the "reflection look" like at the top of the task bar... it looks a lot better.... i can't beleive that i left that like that! :)

I was pretty sure that i had a blue desktop background on that version too. it did not match the color of the icons very well but it was blue. I think... that whole thing is better looking as well. The bleue now ,atches the icosns to make it look a lot better

Every pixel should be perfect on the"upgrade" :) I took days to check this

I did think of making te sizes of the favorite channels before but i have so many things that i wanted to change that i forgot all about it.

The numbers on the favorites bar are now all the same time and are aligned correctly.

Again thanks and i hope my file gets posted real soon so you can see this one and critique it!!


Neil Natic

Neil:

In graphic design, the "red on blue" text combo is one of the bad taboos. If you put some bright red text on a bright blue background, you'll see that the edges of the text appear to vibrate. Your brain literally has trouble processing the information. Scientific tests have shown that our brains try to ignore the meaning of red-on-blue text and focus primarily on the shapes of the characters. I recommend white text on a blue background, as you see in Windows XP itself.

As far as resizing and dithering, both are among the most simple functions of PhotoShop. Peruse the online help and you'll be a resizing pro in no time. And be sure to read Daniel's excellent article on optimizing ProntoPro graphics. It's very informative, no matter what level of CCF designer you are.

I look forward to seeing the new version!

Dale

I would love to get a copy of the ccf

[email protected]

Dale, I have just touched up some of the things that i never did in the updated version... specifically the fact that the text had many scaling artifacts. if you would like to see this one let me know. i am not planning on posting this one to the website. i already have posted two... no need for a third one. i also changed the minimize button to the real xp one. I did not change the taskbar because i did not really like the real xp one for some reason... something did not look right... especially when put on the emulator.. it looked horrible. If you would like to see this one just let me know. Like i said there is not a big difference at all between the one uploaded and the one i have now.

Neil Natic

Neil:

People update their CCFs all the time. As you revise yours and make it cleaner and more usable, I would upload it. It will just replace the previous version.

There are a large number of updates I still plan to do for EasyTheater, and I'll upload newer versions as I complete these tasks.

For the benefit of anyone using your CCF as a basis for their own, I'd do the same thing if I were you.

Dale

okay dale, the newest ccf that i have uploaded is up but..... i have another version. i changed the help on the start menu to "sound fields" It is pretty cool. i also added a message that pops up when you press the computer icon from the desktop. it asks whether you want sound in the bedroom, bathromm or both. Thank god for yamaha discretes. i also changed all of my text button to a blank button with the text written by prontoedit instead of the text on the buton it self... great idea!!!! Let me know what you think. i also changed the taskbar and the start bar to a more xpish blue. Thanks for your ideas ad i hope to hear more from you soon. Thanks again.

P.S. if anyone else wants to throw in their two cents please do so. i am going to send the newest file in today when i get home from work. hopefully i will make it in so that daniel can upload it soon.

Thanks again

Neil Natic