XML for a skin.

[Syphen]

Well basically, I don't know xml. I have some killer ideas for skins but it would probably take me a while to develop them. If anyone knows xml well enough and is willing to create a skin based on some of my ideas just email me at rmd7237@rit.edu and let me know. One skin that i have some visuals for is at www.townofsomers.com/trillian/idea.html

Thanks :)

Syphen

[Sephiroth]

I'd do the XML if I liked the graphics. But those graphics, I'm afraid I'm not very interested in. Sorry!

[lazybones]

Ya if your a graphics person the XML is hard but the visuals come easy (well not easy be you know what I mean) and if your a programer, your at home with the XML but creating the Art is the really hard part...

I'm working on my first skin right now... I'm a programmer so the Art is comming slow (good thing I have a scanner) and I am getting familur with the XML..

For ANYONE I would reccomend XML in a nutshell by O'Reilly... O'Reilly puts out the best books on programming topics.. There books are easy to read and they can usualy keep even the dullest topic interesting... You may also know there books as the ones with the animals on them.

http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/xmlnut/

After reading this the trillian skin filles are much easyer to understand...

I hope that after I finnish my skin.. I will have learned enough to maybe make a basic skin that people can just replace the graphics in.. but it would limmit the artist to the size and shape I chose... I guess I will have to wait and see how my first skin turns out..

[Kid]

why dont you guys just collaborate? ;)

(In future, we might need the "Desparately Seeking the Other Half" forum (LOL)...)

[lazybones]

Originally posted by Kid
why dont you guys just collaborate? ;)

(In future, we might need the "Desparately Seeking the Other Half" forum (LOL)...)

As Sephiroth pointed out.. The artest Idea of a good idea may differ from that of the programmers...

I may consider a joint venture in the furture but for now.. I am learning more about how trillian displays a skin by doing both my self...

MD pointed out in the tutorial that he discovered that loading many small images in to trillian is slower and takes more memory that loading a few large ones.. I am going to attempt to lump all my art in one image file... I am hoping this will solve 3 problems

1. Speed
2. Memory use
3. Having one image should make it easyer to replace artwork for the skin.. be it a color change or creating a new look... Any artist should be able to load one image into photo shop or photo paint and relpace art all they want without touching the code..
It would be nice if everyone learned a little XML and did everything them on thier own but from the complaints I have seen in the forum I think some artist whould could do some really interesting stuff, are getting turned off of skinning trillian because of the code... I only see 2 solutions for these artists.. Team up with a coder or replace art in some form of template..