My OperaTime for a Change
Monday, March 20, 2006 12:14:59 PM
I think it's high-time I changed the title of this journal. I haven't really had any ideas lately that aren't just niggling bug-fixes that I'm sure Opera is aware of anyway.
Instead I've been focusing my time making a better Opera Skin. Well, not 'focusing' so much as 'fiddling when I should be doing homework'. I've started off with a skin called 'noname' and I'm editing it down... removing extra pixels here and there... slowly changing colors... just getting it to look and behave like I want: A very utilitarian, very /thin/ skin that isn't roundy and annoying like Breeze. So far I'm quite pleased with what I've done. There are a lot of things that need some work still, and in the end I also intend to re-make all of the buttons (the last task, since it'll be the most annoying
), but I'm slowly getting there. The version I have now is good enough for me to ditch my long-loved Dark Tofu and use it permanently everywhere (including in Opera@USB ).
I think there could be more documentation about Opera Skins, though... I've found the current Skin Tutorial to be lacking in some areas, mainly the documentation of all available sections and to what they refer. I think this could best be handled with a /ton/ of images and bright red arrows showing the affected part of Opera and two example images (for example: [Addressbar Skin] with all of the options set to -10 and then all set to 10 -- it'd give a /very/ exaggerated view, but it'd make it easy to see the difference. There could be an arrow pointing to each area showing where 'padding' affects and where 'margain' affects, etc). This is something I may actually do myself someday... probably just as a webpage, or maybe as a wiki. It'd be nice to have for new skinners (like myself).
I look forward to the day I can upload my skin, though... sure it's my first skin, but if all goes as planned, it'll be perfect (for me) and I think a lot of other people will like it, too.
Now... about that homework...
Instead I've been focusing my time making a better Opera Skin. Well, not 'focusing' so much as 'fiddling when I should be doing homework'. I've started off with a skin called 'noname' and I'm editing it down... removing extra pixels here and there... slowly changing colors... just getting it to look and behave like I want: A very utilitarian, very /thin/ skin that isn't roundy and annoying like Breeze. So far I'm quite pleased with what I've done. There are a lot of things that need some work still, and in the end I also intend to re-make all of the buttons (the last task, since it'll be the most annoying
), but I'm slowly getting there. The version I have now is good enough for me to ditch my long-loved Dark Tofu and use it permanently everywhere (including in Opera@USB ).I think there could be more documentation about Opera Skins, though... I've found the current Skin Tutorial to be lacking in some areas, mainly the documentation of all available sections and to what they refer. I think this could best be handled with a /ton/ of images and bright red arrows showing the affected part of Opera and two example images (for example: [Addressbar Skin] with all of the options set to -10 and then all set to 10 -- it'd give a /very/ exaggerated view, but it'd make it easy to see the difference. There could be an arrow pointing to each area showing where 'padding' affects and where 'margain' affects, etc). This is something I may actually do myself someday... probably just as a webpage, or maybe as a wiki. It'd be nice to have for new skinners (like myself).
I look forward to the day I can upload my skin, though... sure it's my first skin, but if all goes as planned, it'll be perfect (for me) and I think a lot of other people will like it, too.
Now... about that homework...
