New skin is coming (Silhouette_4in1)...

[MFB]

/szc\ , that new skin of yours is one of the best I have use since Bionic and Mac Lover
 
 

[Newton]

Sasha,

Excellent work, as usual. 

In my case, I prefer your 4-1 design on this skin scheme, because it presents a novelty that push a little beyond the limits of the design possible for Avast.

The only downside that the Avast team might find is the use of words instead of symbols for the buttons. This could be fixed though, by creating different versions for each language possible. I know it's not because of you, but because of the limits linked to the Avast software existing code and the skin builder limitations.

That's what I meant the other day when I was saying that a creator should never create barriers for his/her inspiration. That's a nice example we have here.

Congrats! 

[szc]

Thanks my friend !

Yes, it would be great if we could just make a graphic part of the skin, and all those buttons just as a graphic background without the text... if we could somehow "link" coresponding text for each button to some external text file or something containing those command names such as LOCAL DISKS, REMOVABLE MEDIA, RESIDENT SCANNER etc. , that would be wonderful. No problems at all for different language versions then... Every single time skin is started, it would "read" local text file in current language, and then everybody could enjoy this skin in his own language...

Icons... yes, it would be easier, but we are here to explore new horizons and if needed to conquer new ideas. I personally made many skins with icons, and people kept complaining that skins are good, but not professional enough just because of those icon-gamey feeling they've got while using those skins... so, I tried to make something completely different this time... I know, it's not the best solution to put words instead of icons, if you have to make those words as graphic pieces instead of actual text files... this way, we can not "translate" bitmaps... so those words will always stay in English language. If I could just somehow use standard text instead of graphics, that would be great. I'm sure, Alwil guys would find a way to automatically change those text pieces into current language on each computer... this way, we are pretty much stuck with bitmaps... believe me, if I could use text instead of bitmaps, it would help me finish these skins much, much faster than ussual, and it would spare me a lot of extra drawing...

Unfortunatelly, at this point, I'm not sure is it possible to do something regarding that... Alwil guys (again) could tell us little bit more about this idea, if they just came to this thread, at least one of them... but, still no word from them... I haven't even heard from anyone anything regarding this new skin. When it will be available for download from official avast web site, and even is it going to be available ?

Alwil, please... let us know...

Thanks in advance !

[Newton]

Don't worry, I perfectly understand the issue about the text versus the icons.

Anyway, a lot of countries use the English language as the "second" language, so actually I don't see any problem with the use of English text. For example, here in Québec, programmers learn to program in English, even though the official language is French. I was not criticizing you, on the contrary, I think you once again made great work. It's not up to you to change the Avast code.

Even with the actual code, I believe Avast is a step beyond all other antivirus software because of the skins possibility.

[szc]

Newton, I know you weren't criticizing me... no need for explanation my friend, I completely understand you... it's just, I felt like I had to explain this text over bitmap situation little bit better. I would be really happy if there is any possibility we can use some external text files or something in the future... it would make us all much happier.

Cheers !

[Newton]

About the famous "icon/gamey" versus "text" thing, I counted the skins for kicks and there are about 30 of them with icons and 5 with text. So I guess I am beginning more to understand now why some people are wanting something different.

But I absolutely do NOT agree with those people who think that the "icons" skins are not "professional".

I simply think it's a matter of taste. All the available skins look "professional" to me. 

[szc]

I sent new versions of skins to Ondrej (changed few minor cosmetic things at Vlk's request as well as fixed small glitch when it comes to proper showing of sliding panels).

I'm sure it won't take long till they re-test everything and upload them to official download section.
Once those new versions are uploaded and ready for downloading, I encourage everyone to download new versions and replace the old ones, since there are some fixes included in new versions...

Thanks for your interest people !

Regards !
Sasha