I see this as being a great tool for skinners, at least in the aspect of starting off with the colors they want to implement before they start making the actual changes they have in mind.

Here are few things that I think could make it a very powerful tool.

• Include a few blank images (such as the logo) so that it can be better customized. I know a PSD would most likely be impractical at best, so just having some images that someone could use to import into PhotoShop with using the default gdk from the client area would be a good workaround.
• Have the links clickable in the preview. I can understand it'd be a huge thing to accomplish but thought I'd toss it out there. Being able to click on Blog/Gallery/etc to view the results would be wonderful.
• An html file that documents the color changes made (default values followed by the new values) would also be nice also. I would imagine it would be a really small file, since it wouldn't be necessary to include where the values were changed, only the the old -vs- new values (example: "1D3652 changed to 52361D") A demo of the board index would probably do the job, so if the resulting colors aren't quite what the person wanted, they know what to search for to change it. Would work with some of the images exported as mentioned above.
  

The last item would be very helpful to the average user as sometimes, the intended changes don't pan out correctly, or may not be quite what the person wanted, and helps them to know what to search/replace. Like this for example, there are light brown areas that don't work out quite right. Knowing those color values would make it easier for me to tweak it after installing it.


Something else that could be powerfully helpful for a skinner, and I imagine would need to be done by a 3rd party, is a tool that could compare changes made to a custom skin from the default, then apply those changes to an updated skin or at least document the changes in a triple view comparison. Prior version default, current version default and customized skin. Could be a good tool to help a skinner apply similar changes to new colors (from the skin generator) and updated skin code (changes between versions). Basically, similar to the built in skin differences report, but on steroids, as well as something that could attempt to automatically upgrade a skinners work for them.

Nice suggestions Wolfie. :thumbsup:

Very useful suggestions. :thumbsup:

Include a few blank images (such as the logo) so that it can be better customized. I know a PSD would most likely be impractical at best, so just having some images that someone could use to import into PhotoShop with using the default gdk from the client area would be a good workaround.

Generating a PSD at the same time, and including it in the zip you download from this, was one of my pie-in-the-sky goals for this. It is something I plan on looking in to, but I don't know if it's feasible. If it's not, were you thinking just including a blank, recolored, logo in the download, without the IP.Board text? That should really be the only one that might need changed for this, yeah? Since most everything else now is just actual text written on an image file.

Have the links clickable in the preview. I can understand it'd be a huge thing to accomplish but thought I'd toss it out there. Being able to click on Blog/Gallery/etc to view the results would be wonderful.

Adding more views is perfectly feasible, using those tabs at the top, clicking the links themselves in the preview probably isn't. The tabs section is written to be extensible so I can add more views like Blog/Gallery/Downloads eventually.

An html file that documents the color changes made (default values followed by the new values) would also be nice also. I would imagine it would be a really small file, since it wouldn't be necessary to include where the values were changed, only the the old -vs- new values (example: "1D3652 changed to 52361D") A demo of the board index would probably do the job, so if the resulting colors aren't quite what the person wanted, they know what to search for to change it. Would work with some of the images exported as mentioned above.

Should be possible, I'll look into it.

Something else that could be powerfully helpful for a skinner, and I imagine would need to be done by a 3rd party, is a tool that could compare changes made to a custom skin from the default, then apply those changes to an updated skin or at least document the changes in a triple view comparison. Prior version default, current version default and customized skin. Could be a good tool to help a skinner apply similar changes to new colors (from the skin generator) and updated skin code (changes between versions). Basically, similar to the built in skin differences report, but on steroids, as well as something that could attempt to automatically upgrade a skinners work for them.

While not exactly related to the skin generator, it is something we have discussed internally, and an issue we do hope to solve at some point. :)

Generating a PSD at the same time, and including it in the zip you download from this, was one of my pie-in-the-sky goals for this. It is something I plan on looking in to, but I don't know if it's feasible. If it's not, were you thinking just including a blank, recolored, logo in the download, without the IP.Board text? That should really be the only one that might need changed for this, yeah? Since most everything else now is just actual text written on an image file.

Pretty much yeah. Because with the gdk that can be downloaded in the client area, it pretty much gives a person the ability to make their own logo. with the text. Would need one with the logo as well (for the html bit). The one without the logo would need to literally be the same as in the gdk once all other layers are removed (shadow, lighting, etc). The PSD I think would be more trouble than it's worth, because I imagine that to generate the necessary code and such would be a pain. But even if it's possible to do it without too much effort, might be a good idea to require the person to 'request' it, just like they need to select which add-ons they have.

Adding more views is perfectly feasible, using those tabs at the top, clicking the links themselves in the preview probably isn't. The tabs section is written to be extensible so I can add more views like Blog/Gallery/Downloads eventually.

At the very least, some of the links should be set to work. Like if someone clicks on Matt's name, take them to the profile view since it exists. Clicking on his profile card button should bring up the little card so someone can see what that looks like. Some of the little things.

Should be possible, I'll look into it.

With the board index, any related images necessary should also be available so that it appears as it should to the customer. A slightly better idea might be to include the same pages (and all necessary images) that are used in the preview. Just the difference being some way to let the admin know the color code changes for some of the different spots (perhaps a hover help tip?) which is the main purpose of the suggestion to begin with.

While not exactly related to the skin generator, it is something we have discussed internally, and an issue we do hope to solve at some point. :)

Pull something like that off and I'm sure skinners would love you for it. Being able to have an enhanced differences tool would make it much easier for them to upgrade skins per release (3.x.y) and could also help to eliminate otherwise missed important changes that affect performance.

I do think that if IPS does it (which would be great), that the tool should be flexible enough to allow someone to add in necessary code to help convert skins from v2.x to v3.x. Obviously it couldn't do all the work, but could put out the changes it can make and then a report of what it couldn't do and what it had to 'guess at'.

Someone adding that functionality would definitely help increase the speed that skinners could upgrade skins for the community, which then helps to populate the community with visual choices for their boards. Now if only something could be done to help modders with their work... :lol:

Skinnners don't use the standard images, so a PSD or GDK would not be necessary for "skinners" as such.. for normal customers making their own skin maybe this would be useful I dunno, most would probably prefer to make at least the banner a bit unique I would have thought.

What would be far more useful is the ability to change the colour of the content areas.. at the moment it seems there are three default colourways (white, mid gray, dark gray) for the content regardless of the colours chosen..(or at least the colours I have played with) this seems pretty limiting - the ability to set that would be incredibly useful to everyone.

I also really don't think documentation is necessary for the vast majority of people who will use the Skin Generator, they just want a skin in their colours.

Skinnners don't use the standard images, so a PSD or GDK would not be necessary for "skinners" as such.. for normal customers making their own skin maybe this would be useful I dunno, most would probably prefer to make at least the banner a bit unique I would have thought.

I also really don't think documentation is necessary for the vast majority of people who will use the Skin Generator, they just want a skin in their colours.

The suggestion overall is generalized. Not everyone would benefit from all parts. The 'documentation' would help someone who is new or still just starting out or just an average person who needs to know what color codes to look for if something isn't quite to their liking.

What would be far more useful is the ability to change the colour of the content areas.. at the moment it seems there are three default colourways (white, mid gray, dark gray) for the content regardless of the colours chosen..(or at least the colours I have played with) this seems pretty limiting - the ability to set that would be incredibly useful to everyone.

Which CSS classes specifically are you referring to? I've got a pinned topic in this forum where I'm asking for feedback on which new classes I should add color choosers for, I know the .row1 and .row2 classes are mentioned in there.

Ahhh well yes I was referring to row1 and row2, sorry I didn't notice the pinned topic :)

I was thinking the same this morning, great idea