[THEME] My Theme (WIP)

[KRC]

This is the theme I have been working on, I have attached a couple of snaps.

A very simple but effective theme, no individual emulator backgrounds, weather icon is hidden.

Looks good on widescreen lcd tv,

Name - Dont Know Yet?

1024 x 768

Version 4 Theme

I just want to say a pre thanks to amos_82 and Draco1962.

[Adultery]

I think you're too hard on yourself! It looks nice!

[Draco1962]

A pre-You're Welcome! It's a modest start and I have to agree with Adultery, don't be too hard on yourself. To be honest, if it looked like crap, I would still congratulate you on creating your own theme as you are in a small minority.

[AlphaUMi]

I admire guys like kacey who are willing to make themes... unlike me. Think of it as a learning process... The best way to learn to make themes is... making themes!

Keep your work up! Your start is nice for my tastes... just an aesthetic opinion of course... no knowledge to share on this topic.

[KRC]

I've made a charcoal black alternative to this theme aswell, the next step for the this theme is backgrounds for mame, jukebox etc...

i already have some cool images that i can integrate to the backgrounds via gimp.

[djour]

I like it. Your setup is very linear.

If I may make one suggestion, use a sans-serif font. They are easier on the eyes when displayed on monitors and TVs. Serif fonts are more suited for print.

[KRC]

I like it. Your setup is very linear.

If I may make one suggestion, use a sans-serif font. They are easier on the eyes when displayed on monitors and TVs. Serif fonts are more suited for print.

I'll give the font a lookover, I've finished the backgrounds in the multimedia tab, ie. Jukebox,radio etc. I'll upload some snaps soon.

[Draco1962]

Microsoft uses Sego UI for the Xbox 360 screen fonts (and it looks good in use with Windows 7 Media Center). I have begun to use it in work I have been doing on my HTPC themes as it looks good on the "10 foot user interface" (the theoretical average distance from recliner to TV screen viewability).

For those that don't know the difference, a Serif font is one where there is a little piece hanging off the ends of a letter as in the Times New Roman font. Obviously, Sans Serif is "without the dangler."

[KRC]

Because I don't have mame and Daphne setup, could I upload my theme so someone can test it.?

[mooboom]

This looks nice to me good work. Would it be easy to expand to 1920 x 1080 for HD TV native support?

Microsoft uses Sego UI for the Xbox 360 screen fonts (and it looks good in use with Windows 7 Media Center). I have begun to use it in work I have been doing on my HTPC themes as it looks good on the "10 foot user interface" (the theoretical average distance from recliner to TV screen viewability).

For those that don't know the difference, a Serif font is one where there is a little piece hanging off the ends of a letter as in the Times New Roman font. Obviously, Sans Serif is "without the dangler."

That is a very intresting pair of facts, thank you.

[KRC]

It would be best to ask another member about another resolution, maybe draco1982 will know, he's helped me alot.

[Draco1962]

You may want to reference the images I have provided here with regards to resolutions. This is really helpful in determining what resolutions to use and how well they will scale up or down for others within their aspect ratio.

For example, 1024x768 scales down to 800x600, 640x480, etc. as it is within the 4:3 aspect ratio. 1920x1080 and1280x720 are the more popular 16:9 aspect ratios found in HD resolutions. If you want to have images for 1024x768, they will display at 1920x1080, but because you will be forcing it to go from 4:3 to 16:9 aspect ratios, you will have noticeable horizontal and vertical distortion of the image.

To cater to those that want HD, you will have to create basically 2 different separate themes. If you create a 1680x1050 or 1920x1200 image (a 16:10 aspect ratio), you can fudge just a little when using with 1920x1080 as it is much closer to 16:9, but you will still experience some vertical distortion.

Whatever ratio you decide on for your theme, it is always better to work at the highest resolution possible and scale down within that aspect ratio to avoid graininess or pixelization of the image that occurs when you try to scale up.

[KRC]

Some more snaps of my progress, staying true to my theme.

Should have emu backgrounds finished soon.

[Draco1962]

Looking good! If you don't mind a suggestion - You may want to eliminate whatever is causing the black bars for each game showing on the lists. About a 30% opacity might be OK if you desire to have something there, but would love to see more of the actual BG art showing which, btw, is great!

[KRC]

@Draco1982 ,

I will give the opacity a go later tonight, I dont know whether to make them more opaque, remove the bars completely or shorten them so the bg image is not blocked.

Im always open to anybody's suggestions, so if anyone has a suggestion, feel free to tell me.

[KRC]

Attached is a revised snap of my n64 emu bg, i have took suggestions into consideration and come up with this, the unselected image is gone from the rom list, font has been changed, and a general tidy up of the UI. looks cleaner to me and the images have their own space.