Well, I already added used space % as its own graph block, so it does not interfere with the Bytes Read/s or Bytes Written/s graphs.



It's not about that at all, and this only affects the desktop module, not the iconic modules anyway.. if you are going to display an individual led per drive on the desktop module (ShowLED=True), then that led takes precedence over the led in the icon, because it makes no sense to display a working led on the drive icon too if you already displaying the led somewhere else...

Same way I'm no longer displaying a drive letter on the icon in the desktop meter if the skinner chooses to display it as text somewhere else in the drive section... it would simply be redundant information.



Eh? If the user wants to do something similar to this with the iconic modules they can, just add iconic drive meter modules for all drives into a sub-dock and it would work pretty much like the weather forecast sub-dock does now.

As for the desktop meter, sorry but I see no point - I think the whole idea is to see all drives at once. At most I could eventually implement something like the "roll up" function of menus, but, again, I see not point and this would not change what the module actually looks like nor what you would have to do to skin it.

Again, not sure what the fuss with the padding is. Skinning the disk meter is exactly like skinning the shelf, only difference is that padding in the shelf is called "offsets", other than that it works exactly the same.

As for the % used graph stuff I was talking about, based on the iStat config file and still work in progress (and in no way as good looking as the original, but then again I am not really a skinner) but it kind of illustrates what can be done (and since this is a demo theme, not sure I am even going to bother or waste time making the vertical version, I just want to finish v26.1 and take a little bit of time off, play a game or something lol):

Here you go, something a bit more presentable:

@ Jorge

OK - I have stopped skinning.

No point creating any more disk skins now they have changed.
When you have the naming conventions if they are changing and the config file I'll revisit.

What do you mean? They have not changed one bit in relation to what you could already do. You can do more now, that is all.

Jorge - like you I have been doing a lot in this department. I need a break and come back FRESH. Nothing more nothing less.
It's like information overload at present, not because it's difficult, I just need to come back with a fresh set of eyes and a fresh brain. Things are beginning to look the same and that is bad. It is like recording music. When you mix non-stop, the ears tell you when you need a break because any change you make seems either unnoticeable or it sounds the same.
Cheers

Ah, ok, THAT I can understand, I too am going to need a break shortly lol...

But, this said, I already have GREAT plans for next release... and I think you and Picco are both going to love it.

For some reason the absolutely best place for me to think clearly and where I have my best ideas and solutions is while taking a hot shower... So, there I was, under the hot water (hope it's not too graphic of an image lol) thinking about the Winstep Theme Builder and what a pain it would be to bring it up to date as a separate application, duplicating code which must then be maintained in sync with the rest of the suite, when it occurred to me that it doesn't actually NEED to be a separate application...

A long time ago when changing the UI and bringing it up to date, I also decided to remove the existing skinning setting panels and options from the main application because they only served to confuse 99% of the users who were not and had no intention of ever becoming skinners.

The idea was to transfer them to a separate dedicated application, the Winstep Theme Builder, but that project never did reach completion. I did make a version that could be used to make native Nexus skins (more versatile than existing 3rd party dock skins) but nobody ever used it for that so I too lost interest in continuing to work on it and focused on adding functionality to the main applications instead. Most skinners are used to editing configuration files anyway.

Back then the skinning settings were sort of "merged" with the rest of the settings, which contributed to "settings clutter" and the "settings overload" experienced by new users. I obviously do not want to go that path again, but why not MERGE the Theme Builder to the main application as if it was a separate application? Imagine, an Internal Command that pops up a unified Theme Builder app that looks for all intents and purposes separate from the main application (but it actually isn't).

This way, all the resources, code, functions, etc, available to the main application would also be available to the Theme Builder, making it exponentially simpler to have it preview the themes being built, would not require me to maintain two separate versions of the same code, etc...

The skinner would start a new Theme by selecting a "base theme" from the currently installed themes, giving it a new name. In the beginning it would look exactly like the "base theme" but then the skinner would slowly make changes to it molding it into whatever he wanted the new theme to be. I think this too would be an order of magnitude better than starting a new theme from "scratch".

I think this approach would be win-win for everyone and, who knows, perhaps more users could get their feet wet making new themes.

You seem happy with this therefore I am happy.
In any of my album projects when it comes to the final mastering, I always look at it like it is 10 years later. If I believe I can say to myself then that "It was good for its time", then I can live with it.
I actually am a moderately quick learner. I enclosed a sample, it's not that I do not understand it, I simply do not like the way it scales sometimes. The only thing I would want is the ability to avoid hues and add my own disk icons, because I also have a color grading application (Resolve) which is different again, but as I mentioned about the icons more than once, I can wait. Hues have a bad tendency when you go very light or very dark of changing or more correctly, hiding the look of the texture's nuances. Color grading does not do that. When I finish this one, it will look more like the calendar placeholder.



P.S. - I KNOW you have looked at some of the changes in the config files of my themes and as for starting with a base theme a skinner had already done, this is how I do it most of the time unless it is a brand new concept. But you already knew that

Honestly, if it does everything v9.5 did and has all the modules since including the Disk meter, yes that would be amazing

Well, if it saves code duplication that's already a big plus, and if it works out well, I won't grumble. Only one point - will it be visible to the user what the config file values and their various options are?

What do you mean? It is/will be a full blown GUI like in the 9.5 days but dedicated to the theme settings, no more editing config files.

You never tried the Winstep Theme Builder?

The way I started doing it - and intend on completing it - is also a mix of a tutorial + theme settings...

BassDudeNZ, check your email... already added support for customized theme icons.

Filenames are

WsDiskDrive.png

And

WsDiskRing.png
WsDiskRingFG.png

There are no options for the drive bar, sorry.

Whenever making new icons, their sizes and positions MUST match EXACTLY those of the default icons (which I am also attaching to this post), otherwise things like the activity led, usage bar, and used space ring will not show where they should. The foreground ring should also have NO DROP SHADOW, as it will overlap the background ring.

Ideally icons should also be 256x256 pixels, although the application will automatically resize them to that size if needed.

@JORGE

Looks great !

Will it be in the gallery or wait until release?

What will?

If you mean the stuff in the Disk Information dialog, that's your "frozen" ring chart style icon, just wanted to show it being used in a theme (which is how I tested if the new theme icon bitmaps were working properly).

Going to upload the beta and also the other theme that does not use a drive icon. As I said, since that one is strictly a tutorial theme, I'm not even going to bother making the vertical version - let someone else who is a better skinner than me do a version that truly does justice to the original.

Yes, tried the TB alpha yeaaars ago, so not new.

What I mean is, when editing the config files, there are a lot of options for individual settings. So, e.g., lets say I'm making a bar graph for the CPU or RAM module, there's the option of having it progress R->L or vice versa, and same also for UPS/Battery. And so on. Will those options be available in the GUI?

Of course. Everything you can do by editing the config files you will be able to do from the GUI - with the added advantage that you will be protected from entering illegal values.