New skin and improved skin design theory.

[Guest Honest John]

Looking at all the skins available for the SPV, I was struck by the fact that most of the "designed" ones with boxes and fixed areas for plugins were constrained by the screen size and had to omit one or more plug in to avoid clutter.

Thinking about this problem logically, the plugins fall into 2 categories.

"Always present" and "visible only when there". The latter category consists of

i. All Day events

ii. Call in Progress

iii. Missed Calls.

iv. Cell Broadcast

When designing a skin, therefore, it seems sensible to put the "Always present" plugins first, and then use a common area for the "visible when present" ones, working on the theory that very rarely will all 4 of the 2nd category be present.

Using that methodology, I have put together a skin that

i. Has EVERY plug in available ( except MMS that doesn't work anyway, Cell Broadcast and Owner Info [if you don't know who you are, then I am sorry about omitting this!] )

ii. Is NOT cluttered in normal use

iii. Is particularly useful for Missed Calls or Call in Progress (try it!)

I make no apology for nicking XML code from some previous writers, as well as 0909's original skin, :oops: cutting it in half, inverting the bottom half and changing the colour! I am also grateful to Spacemonkey for his helpful comments during development.

Anyway, here's my effort and it is available in 3 colours here. Remember, this skin's main benefit is that it has all the important plugins.

And here is the ZIP FILE with the 3 skins and XML code if you think its any good.

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Incidentally, if you like any skin that has been written and is available on the Forum or elsewhere but don't particularly like the colours, try using IRFANVIEW to change them to your heart's desire - available free of charge at http://www.irfanview.com/