Hopefully everyone has had a good week and not binged too much on easter eggs (if you’ve participated in that sort of thing). This week has been one where a number of things have been done rather than just one big thing. So we’ve now got a new logo as well as a landing page for the Winamp Community Update Pack (WACUP) and also a plug-in update.
In addition to the above, I’ve also been working on the library window layout changes that I’d previously covered in Week 7. After a bit of time to ensure that the library’s native code isn’t used for handling things anymore (that was fun to get done), It is now at the stage where it can provide one of the following layout combinations (some of which are the same and just depend on what has been selected in which pane):
There’s a few quirks with the painting of the layout that I still need to resolve along with ensuring that all sensible combinations work as well as finalising the initial way that I want to allow plug-ins to potentially register themselves to be usable within the content area.
Some might question what’s the use of this and I have myself a bit as you could just have things in different places with a modern skin but as I often use classic skins and have gotten used to have album art in the space at the bottom of the library window below the navigation tree, I think making it more complete (including resolving some weird handling issues that Winamp’s native implementation has had over the years) will be beneficial.
A prime example is how when the library window is re-sized, it is often possible to have the vertical sizer stick to one of the sides and then that has lead to people not being able to change views (and in some cases doing a full re-install just to get back to a visible state). I will keep that functionality but am also looking to have it work more like the local library views where the position is maintained as a scale instead of an arbitrary position which generally helps avoid “loosing” the library contents.
There has also been some additional changes with the blog handling whilst doing some of the other site updates to waste less space as well as making the site a bit friendlier for being used via Twitter and Facebook embedded links (to make them look better when used instead of having a dummy image, etc).
Finally I can now confirm that there will be an updated version of the Crystal Classic Skins plug-in (gen_classic.dll) by ioannis included as part of WACUP. The aim of this plug-in is to provide transparency for classic skins, similar to the way it is implemented for Winamp’s modern skins.
It’s one of those features that should have been implemented natively to provide parity between classic and modern skins amongst a number of other things that some of which were able to be done in the last 1-2 years of Winamp’s ownership by AOL) and is why very I’m pleased to announce it’s inclusion. Thank you to ioannis for allowing this to happen.
So that’s about it for this week’s update as I now get back to trying to resolve the drawing issues with the library layout changes whilst not eating lots of chocolate eggs :o)
Classic Skin for Life!
Tim H: heh, I hear you https://twitter.com/The_DoctorO/status/714850173386682368 :D
Hi DrO! Thanks for continuing your work on this great player…just one question…its any chance to get freedb services instead of gracenote? Thanks!
rblanca: It’s something that is on my “to consider” list though I’d be more inclined to go with the musicbrainz option that I’d been looking into when I was officially on the project, but having a freedb option cannot hurt.
It all really depends on how much demand there is for such a feature and if anyone would be willing to donate / sponsor the time needed to get it all implemented. I know there was a fair bit of demand post-sale and when Gracenote access ended but I’ve no idea how much interest there still is what with people moving away from Winamp and (using CDs in general).