Code Monkey - A customizable dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Get help for different MediaMonkey 5 Addons.

Moderators: jiri, drakinite, Addon Administrators

IanRTaylorUK
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:41 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by IanRTaylorUK »

2416 installed and looking much better for Code Monkey and other Skins. Thanks.
Ian Taylor
TIV73
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:31 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by TIV73 »

I just merged all changes to main, get the latest version from github or (once it's approved) from the addons section on the mediamonkey homepage.
Peke
Posts: 17446
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2003 7:21 pm
Location: Earth
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Peke »

Hi,
Approved.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
Image
Image
Image
How to attach PICTURE/SCREENSHOTS to forum posts
IanRTaylorUK
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:41 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by IanRTaylorUK »

Updated using Tools / Addons / Find Updates.

However, immediately after update it showed 1.0.53 installed but 1.0.53 update available!

Coming out of MMW5 and back in cleared this anomaly.

Also noted that the Add-Ons web page for "Latest" does not order the add-ons by update date.

https://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/browse/latest.

So Code Monkey 1.0.53 - being that latest update - in out of view. A minor point but it would be nice to have this page sorted by update date.

Hope this is useful feedback.
Ian Taylor
Barry4679
Posts: 2398
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:07 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Barry4679 »

Interesting. Looks good.
Could somebody post an image in this situation.

ie. Column Browser active. ... The official dark skin is a mess from a Selection perspective IMO. See points 1,2,3,4,5 in the above diagram. Which control holds focus? Also I find the colour|brighness differences in the Column Filter rows difficult to detect easily.

I have reported this, but the forum has become a Black Hole lately re usability feedback. I guess that they must be up to their in alligators atm.
Want a dark skin for MM5? This is the one that works best for me .. elegant, compact & clear.
IanRTaylorUK
Posts: 536
Joined: Fri Dec 27, 2019 4:41 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by IanRTaylorUK »

Hi Barry,

Entire Library / Albums / Column View / Psychedelic / The Doors ....

https://octoberclub-my.sharepoint.com/: ... g?e=R2saKp

Left Playlist and Selected on. Seems to still exhibit the issue noted in your second link.
Ian Taylor
Barry4679
Posts: 2398
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:07 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Barry4679 »

Thanks Ian. I had not noticed that its install was now more straight forward, ie. has moved from GitHub to the normal MM ecosystem.

I installed it.

Visual Studio has never been my tool of choice, so the theme gives me no warm fuzzies, but I like the skin. I find it easier to read overall, especially the tones in the "selected" Column Filter rows.

Some feedback to TIV73, using the Material Design (Dark) skin as a point of reference:
  • my main issue is the heading lines (red arrows in the above illustration ... in Code Monkey they disappear into the background, making the whole thing a bit of a muddle from my POV ... ie. no longer bolded, white on black ... I would really like that issue to be improved somehow
  • I found the blue letters on a black background hard to read in the Selected tab of the Preview panel, which I had configured to Smaller font ... it is top right, so at the far edge of the screen, away from eyes ... I worked around the issue by turning off the panel's Editable option, which makes the text white on black ... generally I found orange on black easier to read than blue on black ... I have impaired eyesight so YMMV on this issue .
  • I strongly disliked the font at first ... it seems antiseptic, and is unattractive IMO ... but I grew to like it better after a while because it has more white space between the letters ... the skin reclaims some space by allowing less spacing between elements, which I am OK with ... but the overall downside is that contains less info per horizontal inch (see green boxes in my first image) ... I think that the readability gain is worth the loss of info and the ugly appearance for me ... not yet come to a final decision about this
  • the bold Collection name in the menu bar (orange arrow) is a bit of an eyesore IMO ... I don't think that there is any meaningful gain from the extra prominence given
So my general early impression is that it is a thumbs up, although I wouldn't continue to use it if there was no way to improve the issue in my top bullet point.

Thanks for making the skin.
Want a dark skin for MM5? This is the one that works best for me .. elegant, compact & clear.
TIV73
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:31 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by TIV73 »

Thanks a lot for the feedback, appreciate it!

I can see how some elements could be considered to blend too much. That's actually kind of what I was going for, understated and uniform with a little splash of color thrown in. No question that tastes, needs and use cases differ from person to person, though, so while I like the current look of the skin I'm currently waiting to see how the requested skin customization feature works out. I'd love for people to be able to customize the skin they are using to fit their preference, code monkey or otherwise.

Also, the active tab definitely stands out. That element was probably one of the things in the skin I thought the longest about, specifically because of that reason. I'm still not 100% sure if I like it or not. The reason why I ultimately kept it like that is because the bright blue active tab is one of the most striking visual features in visual studio and I wanted to give a nod to that.
For the time being I think I'll keep the highlight like that, but maybe I'll change it at some point in the future if I get sick of it.
Barry4679
Posts: 2398
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:07 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Barry4679 »

TIV73 wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:39 am I can see how some elements could be considered to blend too much. That's actually kind of what I was going for, understated and uniform with a little splash of color thrown in.
Now that I have spent some more time with it, I appreciate the understated and uniform nature of it better.
  • in Grid mode it looks really great ... just enough information, without detracting from the album covers
  • in List By Album mode it is very good also. The album covers give good demarcation, and the blue links fields are attractive and emphasise key info amongst the lessor text
  • List mode is OK ... headings are in their expected top-most position, so everything is intelligible
  • I don't like List view + Column Filter at all ... it looks like a prototype, desperately needing a stylesheet ... IMO the column heading for the main data rows needs to be bolded, or shaded or something ... hopefully you will get more feed back like this
There is one thing that is definitely wrong; Context Filters. I filtered the above display by the "brothers" ... the filter criteria is invisible ... it affects all displays.

I remain unconvinced by the blue highlight at the top of the above image. It fails your "understated" aim, Imo. ... It is like a big ugly notch at the top on high-end Android phone. ... My favourite view of the skin is with my mouse cursor resting on it, to turn it off. Am tempted to "fix" it with a bit of black sticky tape, as Zukerberg did with his laptop's camera some years ago :D

The thing is that it supplies zero new information. The active Collection is clear via the the breadcrumps, and is also highlighted should the user have the left hand panel open.
TIV73 wrote: Sat Jun 19, 2021 3:39 am Also, the active tab definitely stands out. That element was probably one of the things in the skin I thought the longest about, specifically because of that reason. I'm still not 100% sure if I like it or not. The reason why I ultimately kept it like that is because the bright blue active tab is one of the most striking visual features in visual studio and I wanted to give a nod to that.
For the time being I think I'll keep the highlight like that, but maybe I'll change it at some point in the future if I get sick of it.
My vote is that you don't change it. I think that it is a definite plus.
Want a dark skin for MM5? This is the one that works best for me .. elegant, compact & clear.
TIV73
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:31 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by TIV73 »

Barry4679 wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:01 am There is one thing that is definitely wrong; Context Filters. I filtered the above display by the "brothers" ... the filter criteria is invisible ... it affects all displays.
Yeah, that field is hard to read. I'll have a look at it, thanks for noticing!
Barry4679
Posts: 2398
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:07 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Barry4679 »

TIV73 wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 1:58 pm
Barry4679 wrote: Sun Jun 20, 2021 3:01 am There is one thing that is definitely wrong; Context Filters. I filtered the above display by the "brothers" ... the filter criteria is invisible ... it affects all displays.
Yeah, that field is hard to read. I'll have a look at it, thanks for noticing!
This is still my favourite MM5 skin but a large margin. Thanks :D
But I do find that the active Context Filter criteria box issue a PIA. Any update on that?
Want a dark skin for MM5? This is the one that works best for me .. elegant, compact & clear.
TIV73
Posts: 229
Joined: Sat Nov 12, 2011 1:31 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by TIV73 »

Are you still seeing that somewhere? Should have been fixed in version 1.0.55 of the addon.
Image
Barry4679
Posts: 2398
Joined: Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:07 am
Location: Australia
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by Barry4679 »

TIV73 wrote: Fri Jul 23, 2021 5:40 am Are you still seeing that somewhere? Should have been fixed in version 1.0.55 of the addon.
Is all good. Sorry my error.
I looked in this thread, and did the the MM5 Find Updates procedure a few times.
I (falsely) assumed that the procedure applied updates, rather than just found them.

Skin is perfect now. Thanks
Want a dark skin for MM5? This is the one that works best for me .. elegant, compact & clear.
zombiefly
Posts: 190
Joined: Fri Jun 08, 2007 3:33 pm

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by zombiefly »

this skin is amazing :D
Q: changing font. is it as simple as unpacking it and changing the font name like the old days? I want to try with the win11 system font.
MM5 latest [Gold] / MMA latest | OnePlus 8 PRO | Noise I make: Pushkin on Soundcloud
Image
drakinite
Posts: 965
Joined: Tue May 12, 2020 10:06 am
Contact:

Re: Code Monkey - A dark skin inspired by Visual Studio

Post by drakinite »

Yup! You can use a web safe font (https://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_websafe_fonts.asp) or do what TIV73 did and put your font file inside the skin and define its URL in skin_base_add.less (lines 37 and 38)
Image
Student electrical-computer engineer, web programmer, part-time MediaMonkey developer, full-time MediaMonkey enthusiast
I uploaded many addons to MM's addon page, but not all of those were created by me. "By drakinite, Submitted by drakinite" means I made it on my own time. "By Ventis Media, Inc., Submitted by drakinite" means it may have been made by me or another MediaMonkey developer, so instead of crediting/thanking me, please thank the team. You can still ask me for support on any of our addons.
Post Reply