Juniskin thoughts

Mobility - It ain't easy being green!

How many years has it been since SciFi? Two at least, I think. Juni's not exactly been doing nothing, but those freelance projects for various companies do start to add up. It's far past time to make some new things, and with that, Juni was feeling a bit green for the past few months. ;)

See my previous post. and his blog for more details, but so far, as of this posting, Only the Mobihand site is truly live. Handango is activated, but they'll update it when they update, as per usual. Mobility still needs to be added to SBSH's download database, and they've been really busy lately, so we're also waiting on that before we can activate our Paypal store. In the meantime though, Mobihand is a great site run by great people.

I apologize for the delay with Paypal, but I said we would release today, and so we are.

It's been a long way, but we're here. ;)

Update:

Handango is now live. The word from SBSH is that we'll have the download db up and running soon.

Mobility is barely a day old and we're already talking updates. Some of the ideas out there are Phoneweaver support, as much 320x320 support is possible (at this moment, only today screen and WA3), and 480x800 Today Themes, making the skin suite WVGA friendly. At least updates are free. ;)

Mobility Skin Suite - Almost there

Juni lives! I told you he would release something someday, and we are almost there now. The new skin suite is done, the site is created, and there's even a teaser over at Juniskins. The only thing we're waiting on now is for SBSH to add it to the download db.

In the meantime, I can tell you a little bit about Mobility skin suite.  Mobility is a take on a clean simple default look. It has three today themes, 1 Wisbar Advance 3 theme, Pocketbreeze/Contactbreeze, iLauncher meters and tabs, and Pocketweather icons along with two layouts.

As I've talked about before, SPB Pocketplus and Marsware Weatherpanel have been dropped. Weatherpanel in its official form doesn't really exist anymore. If you're a hardcore enough user to stick with Weatherpanel, you're probably hardcore enough to port the icons yourself. We have a lot of customers who are new to Windows Mobile customization, and we just cannot offer support for a program like Weatherpanel. As for Pocketplus, most of our customers don't use it, and it is difficult to skin. When Juni started out, he made a promise to himself to keep things fun by only skinning what he uses. Remember this was supposed to be fun. ;)

Juni mentioned that with this one, there will be a grace period of a few weeks where, if you want a skin for a program added, start demanding it loudly. If enough people want, for example, Phoneweaver, or 320x320 today and WA3 themes, he'll quickly add them. It's not like he wouldn't add anything outside of that time window, it's just that as a skinner, you start to move on to other stuff.

320x320 square screen support was something we planned on offering, especially since we planned on getting such a device. But as it turns out, not many programs support it. This is because MS took the clever decision to make 320 its own resolution. It's not VGA, it's not QVGA, it's 67% smaller than VGA. This means for a program to support it, everything in its GUI has to be scaled... and probably some other stuff that I don't know about because I'm not a programmer. In terms of skins, everything has to be made 67% of VGA. Of the programs we use, only WA3 supports 320x320 (I think). As it is, all the skins are VGA and QVGA, with 240x240 square screen support.

Speaking of other stuff, he hasn't forgotten about updating the other Exclusives to WA3. SWDeluxe and SBSHDeluxe have already gotten that treatment, but Black&White is the next on deck. I've seen the new extra today theme, and the totally new WA3 theme, and with those combined, it looks like a new skin suite. The older themes will still be in there, but there will be a more modern look in B&W for those that prefer it. It also has a really cool Pocketweather layout that uses gianormous icons - totally impractical for use outside of Pocketbreeze, but beautiful. Of course a more practical PW layout is also included.

But that's old stuff, what about new stuff? Those other skin suites I kept mentioning before still exist, although the Wisbar themes will need tweaking now. After Black&White, Juni will continue work on that "summer" theme. That one is really artsy with icons and a WA3 theme that you don't see everyday.  The other skin suite has 3 complete and separate Today theme/WA3 theme combos. Again, it also departs from the default look.

If we don't hear from Amit by Friday, we'll release Mobility to Handango and Mobihand, and then add the Paypal store once customers are able to download skins. We prefer to release it everywhere at once though. The reason we don't use Pocketgear is that they only send royalties by check (which can't be cashed in Finland), or by very expensive bank transfer. However, you can purchase skins from us directly, from SBSH and SBSH.de, from Handango, and also Mobihand.

So in the meantime, those skins won't make themselves, so it's time for us knuckledraggers to get back to work. After the release of the suite after B&W, there just might be something added to SciFi that you Brown Coats find to be shiny.

So say we all.
(I wish, but Juni nor myself has come up with a look for that)

/And if you don't get either of those references there at the end, then those are not the suites you are looking for. ;)

For your consideration...

Finally the underground upgrade that's underground no more. I can finally announce that SWDeluxe 4.0 and SBSHDeluxe 2.0 are alive and kicking!

The differences between the two themes are as they have always been. They have some similar and some different themes, they have different Pocketbreeze skins, and the older Wisbar Advance 2 themes are still different. However now they do share some similarities, mostly in the new Wisbar Advance 3 theme. There wasn't much point in making a different one, when Juni was so pleased with the first. And that one theme took a long time to create. There is a lot to theme now in WA3, and it's a learn-as-you-go process.

That new Pocketweather layout will probably be with us for some time. Fans of Weatherpanel should see why. It's just a nice layout, that will work with any set of medium and large icons. Of course it means that if he wants to include it with other skin suites, he'll have to make 120x120 icons for VGA.

Getting ready for the move in Pocketbreeze from TGA to PNG support, most of the images are converted to PNG. I say most because there is an issue with transparent being a little less transparent than you'd like, so Juni is in a wait and see mode to see where SBSH goes with that.

And across the board, with all the skin suites, I've updated the instructions. Of course I could just put "Step one: copy the folders to your device. Step two: Select the skins in each of the programs' settings." - but I tried to get more detailed about the specifics.

SBSH has really had their hands full with their site relaunch, but besides fixing stuff for us and getting it back online, they also added FAQs for each of the skin suites. All you have to do is head to SBSH and choose a Pocketpc as your device. Scroll through the programs, and you'll see them all for yourself. :)

Speaking of SBSH, if anyone has problems with their download key, try adding "HD" before it. SBSH has plans to make that optional, but it seems mandatory for download keys that were already present in the database.

Juni will have more to say about the update in his blog later on, but in the meantime, onwards and upwards. He's finishing up Black&White and wants to have that out by the end of the month. :)

Juni's new download site address & other general news

Update! "HD" needs to be added before ALL keys, not just Handango users. I apologize for this mix-up. This was a call made by SBSH and beyond our control. They've been very kind to even give us the kind of download hosting and support center that they have, so if they want to put HD before all user keys then that's how it has to be.

As the users of Juni's skins suites are probably aware, the download site at SBSH went bye-bye with the site relaunch. It's just one of many unplanned things that sometimes happen with site launches, but it wasn't intentional. The "easy" part is creating the new site, the hard part was the code behind it to make it work with the new system. That's why it's taken so long, but I think the wait is going to be worth it. The new site is not only more intuitive, but eventually there will be more content there to offer better support from Juni and I.

That's the good news. The bad news is that the download site address has changed. The plan is to have a redirect from the old address, but since that hasn't happened yet, and the download site is working, if you're a current registered user you may download your skin suites from http://www.sbsh.net/juni_skins.php - I'll be adding this link to the Exclusive suite section over at Juniskins as well. 

As you also probably know, these skins can be downloaded from the download site no matter if you purchased from Handango, Mobihand, or directly from us. There's a minor change for Handango users: the download key is still your Handango order number, but now "HD" does need to go back in front of that order number, just as it appears in your invoice.

This new site is coming in stages, so at this stage current users can once again download skins, and I believe all Handango users can as well, but new purchases from Mobihand and Paypal still have a bit of a wait yet. I don't yet have the access to add purchases to the db. That's coming, but I don't have an estimate for that - other than SBSH is on the case. If you purchased from us and I don't have access by this time tomorrow, I'll contact you about emailing your skin suites to you. Of course you'll also be able to download your purchase once I'm able to get them into the db.

While I'm writing this, I'll give an update on what's going on here at Juni Central. Yes, he's still around. He's never left, but he was tied up for over a year doing various projects, most of which you can see in various SBSH programs. He has a day job, so that makes it slow going to release anything new. No shortage of ideas though, and that's the frustrating thing. He's not all about releasing pay-for stuff only, but when you don't have time to release anything, the pay-for stuff does tend to come first. I know he has a ton of smartphone theme ideas he'd like churn out, and some more minimal ppc themes that I'm not so sure he knows is sort of a trend right now.

But before he can get around to the new sexy stuff (or really it seems like the old sexy stuff because most of these new ideas have been in the works for a year now), he's got to do upgrades. The first one ready to go is SWDeluxe 4.0 and SBSHDeluxe 2.0. That one was ready to go when the site went down, and you can check my Twitter updates on my blog for more about that. While we wait for the official release of that, Juni has started on Black & White to add the number one requested feature, now possible in WA3 - black soft keys. He's a a little past halfway done with the VGA version and then QVGA doesn't take nearly as long. He wants to have that done by the end of the month at the latest. Then he wants to use April to work on Navigator, May will be time for SciFi/Jcars, and then finally in June he'll have a month off work and time to work on a new summer theme that he's been wanting to use. After that he wants to finish up a suite that's actually a series of 3. Then when that's done, maybe there will be a way to add the weather icons he wants to use to the homescreen of the SciFi/JCars Smartphone suite. Using Fizz Weather just won't work for these icons.

After that, he'll be available for freelance gigs again, and probably will release various free themes as the ideas come. We plan to move to the US in the next few years, and when that happens, he's going to skin full time, so it'll be a tougher time getting him to NOT release something... and probably not just for Windows Mobile.

So that's the story so far. One thing I think we're going to see, and it is seen in the new SBSH/SWDeluxe, probably as a result of these freelance gigs, is that the updates are going to have better icon work. I've been noticing this myself, and yeah I'm his wife, but I'm also a fan of pretty graphics work, is that his icons are just really nice now - not that they were crap before. But if you've been wondering why he's not as active as other skinners, it's that he's been having problems with his TPS Reports.

News Year's Update and the SWDeluxe Dilemma

The holiday season is over, so as Juni completes the manly part of removing the decorations, I think I'll give our users a much-needed update.

The biggest news is that all those plans that we had finally have some time to see the light of day. Juni isn't taking on any more projects until the upgrades are out, and new skins released. He needs to do a logo for a site, but that's not going to take anytime at all.

I think most everyone knows this, but there are a few reasons that updates and new skins come so slowly. Firstly, Juni has a day job, and doesn't want to be at the computer 24 hours a day. This is supposed to be fun, after all. Secondly, for the past year, it seems that every few months a project from some company or another would come along, and each takes a few months. For example, Juni has done a heck of a lot of the default graphics seen in many SBSH.net programs. We have no regrets there. SBSH is awesome to work with, and has saved our butts many times over with their download hosting. Juni just needs some time to release new stuff before taking on projects.

The biggest challenge at the moment is that when it rains program updates, it pours program updates. Programs that need skin updates are Wisbar Advanced 3, SPB Pocketplus 4, and Pocketbreeze 5.4 and Pocketweather 2.0. The last two aren't as show-stopping as the first two. SBSH is gradually switching from TGA to PNG, but so far still support both. Pocketweather 2.0 has some new bells and whistles to take advantage of that could be nice to explore. WA2 themes still work with WA3, but understandably, proper WA3 themes are sexier. SPB has completely changed the way meters are skinned, and so that is completely non-working until I roll out the updates (which I've already started on).

So to start with, Juni is halfway done with the WA3 update to SW & SBSHDeluxe. It's not a copy of the same old theme, it's a new theme, so the old one will probably still be left in the skin suite just to give some more choice. He's done with VGA, and somewhat done with QVGA. Remember, all updates to everything are times 2. Also with this update he's including a new layout for Pocketweather 2.0.

And from there, he'll just go right on down the line until all the exclusives are updated. I'll bump up the version number to a full point release with the WA3 updates. Me fixing the SPB meters will just be minor point updates.

This brings me to the SWDeluxe dilemma. Once we saw that the SPB meters worked, I brought up the question: "So, do we delete the old extended themes or re-arrange them so it's clear they are for users of older versions of Pocketplus?" Juni's knee-jerk response was to say to completely clean house and delete the old stuff. But then we both thought about how users sometimes need that older stuff, and how that leads to the bigger question of SWDeluxe. SWDeluxe is named for the program Stocks & Weather Today, whose party trick was changing your today theme based on the weather forecast (QVGA only). All of the today themes made for Stocks & Weather Today are extended themes, meaning they will only work with SPB Pocketplus installed... any version older than 4.0. If I were to remove all of the extended themes, then there goes Stocks & Weather Today as well, and the very thing the skin suite was named for. Then again, it would make the zip file smaller.

In product updates, people don't generally like when you take stuff out, but it can be confusing to new users if things are left in that are less than current, like for example, Weatherpanel, or Stocks & Weather Today. But then what about those users who need that stuff, who know what they're doing? No, we can't remove that stuff, but I'll just rearrange it so that it's clear that these skins are dependent on having previous versions of SPB Pocketplus.

I think the same users who like to take advantage of some of the older graphics are the same ones who would know how to make an extended theme become a normal theme. Yes, we discussed doing that as well, but that would make SWDeluxe gi-normous, and all for an older program that probably doesn't work so well anymore. No, I think for now we'll let the older Stocks & Weather Today themes be dependent on having older Pocketplus, and see how it goes.

Even as I was typing the above paragraph, we were still debating about what to do about Stocks & Weather Today. Does it still even work? Maybe I should just make new today themes for it.

The WA3 update will take some time, as it seems he's doing new Wisbar themes entirely, but after that, it's time for new stuff. Yes, B&W will now finally have Black soft keys. :)

PSA: The exclusive skin suites do work in Wisbar Advanced 3

From the emails I've been receiving, there seems to be some confusion as to how the current exclusive Wisbar themes work in WA3. Even I was confused by it and just quickly assumed it didn't work.

As it turns out, that's not the case. There's only two icons and an ini file that needs to be addressed, as well as looking into any extras that may suddenly now be skinnable (the spinning beachball icon??).

Juni will have updates released just as soon as he can, but in the meantime, here is how to use WA 2.x themes in 3.0, without hardly noticing any difference:

1. In the settings, tap on Themes.
2. The 2.x themes are not visible. That's ok. In the menu, select Install.
3. In this window, browse to where you have the theme installed. You may see more than one theme file. Select the one applicable to you (such as Phone Edition, or 240x240).
4. Now you will see that theme as selectable from the list of themes installed.
5. Select the theme and Wisbar will ask which elements to theme. Check them all.
6. Now that the theme is installed, you may be missing some important icons, such as signal strength and the connected icon. This is solvable.
7. Go back to the Wisbar settings, and select Taskbar.
8. In the Taskbar settings, select the Others tab.
9. Make sure that using the default phone and the default networking icon are unchecked. Reapply the theme.

This really should have made your connectivity icons magically reappear. As this is a "feature" of the default WA3 theme as well, I can only assume it's an easily (for the user) solvable bug.

The only icon that officially needs to be redone is the battery recharging icon. I think the system message icon may need some work as well. Otherwise, the themes work very well. If the theme doesn't look as it should for you, a soft reset should fix that. Otherwise it may be time to check how well the default Wisbar themes are working, and to contact Lakeridge.

Of course Juni will update the themes, but in the meantime they do work in WA3. :)

Twitter Updates

For anyone interested, I (and perhaps sometimes Juni) will post little rants and raves or whatever is on our minds over at Twitter. These updates appear on a sidebar here on the blog as well. Not everyone will agree with whatever is said there, but that's ok. It's not all about skinning, it's just for... whatever. :)

All about Wisbar Advanced 3

So I was feeling adventurous and headed over to Lakeridge to check out the Wisbar Advanced 3 beta 7. From what little I used it, it seems to work well enough, although Chris still has the timeout on it. One thing I did notice is that it doesn't see Wisbar 2 themes at all, so currently none of Juni's skins will work with Wisbar Advanced 3....for you adventurous beta with time-out types.

Juni got involved with another project, more vector icon goodness, and there's plenty of icons to do still, so I'm thinking he's going to wrap that up about this time next month. I know the developers will be expecting it at least by then, so there's a change in plans. IF it's feasible, Juni will put aside the Smartphone exclusive and instead work on the current ppc exclusives to get Wisbar 3 compatibility. What I mean by feasible is, if Chris still plans a lot of changes for how the themes are made, then it's better just to wait a little while longer.

I just wanted to let you guys know we're aware, and Juni has a "No exclusive theme left behind" policy. ;)

Summer update: Yeah, we're still here :-)

It's been so long I don't even know where to begin. If you're wondering where the new skins are, they're still in progress. For just about this entire year, since the release of SciFi last Spring, there's been one project after another. Many of those have been with Sbsh, but some other companies as well and even a manufacturer. When one project would end, there would be time for maybe a quick free skin, and then on to the next one. Juni has done some of his best icon work yet in, for example, the Pocketbreeze settings icons, and he had a blast making them.

So it's been great, awesome to work on great programs with people who are easy to get on with, and good graphics come out of that, but it's frustrating as well when you have your own stuff to release still. The progress report is nearly the same as last time. I know he has at least one or two more projects, but he really is in a mindset of wanting to release the first smartphone exclusive: SciFi. I've not seen the SciFi theme yet, but I'm using Jcorder on my qtek 8500 and it's that skin I was talking about in an earlier post: the best skin I've ever used on anything ever. Right now it's using Facade and SmartMonitor, but the final version is going to have Smartmonitor removed since it's deader than a doornail now. :(. He also has a problem with the weather icons. He can't do a straight port of the SciFi/Jcars icons and have them work in Fizz Traveller (and Fizz Weather with a hack). So either he needs to come up with something new or he needs to find another weather program.

But otherwise, portrait is done, and Landscape is getting there. The idea is obviously inspired by the ppc versions, but I can tell so far, Jcorder is no straight port of Jcars, it's completely new. I think SciFi could work great as a staight port but I haven't seen what he did with that yet.

On the Pocketpc side of things, he added yet another theme, making 3 complete themes, for the next skin suite on deck after SciFi for Smartphone. I can't even give a hint because the hint would give away what the theme is for this set. :) I'll say, I think you guys are gonna like it. :)

So basically it's the same ole story, lots and lots of ideas, less time to do them, but he's around, he's still working, it's just ..well, kind of slow. There's nothing for it though, since it's not his day job, I just try to plough the field as much as I can to let him enjoy it.

In other news: Upgrades. I did a minor update to all the skin suites but SciFi, which didn't need it, to add 240x240 today themes for you Treo users, like myself. ;) We had NO idea the themes looked that bad, so the same night I got the Treo was when I started porting the backgrounds, which was more art than science. As it turns out doing all-cropping or all-resizing just doesn't work. In fact in Navigator I got to make some waves of my own. :) All my changes were Juni tested and approved. Just because I did it and not him doesn't mean he wasn't sitting on the couch next to me as we chatted about how to make this or that look better.

This brings me to the topic of resolutions. We'd somehow thought the Advantage had a wonky resolution, so scratch that from the list, but otherwise, if your device has something outside of 240x320, or 480x640, or 240x240, let us know and we'll see if we can't make the exclusive today themes fit your screen. Now the exception to this for the current themes might be the new Toshiba, because I don't think he made the base image file a high enough resolution, but IF he did then that's not a problem. We thought it would be this huge deal to add to Juni's workload, but as it turns out, backgrounds are my thing. All he has to do for future skin suites (or a current one if someone needs it) is send me the psd and I can make it fit different screen sizes. It takes some hours off the process for him, and I'm the one whose always telling him how to make the backgrounds better anyway.

That's a complete 180 from my last statement saying we'd support vga and qvga and that's that. It's no big deal, but it is tough to know every device out there, so hopefully if someone wants one of our skins, and has a wonky resolution device, let us know and we'll see if we can make it work. :)

This leads to upgrades that didn't work: 240x240 extended themes for Spb Pocketplus. Is there a known bug in Pocketplus where the meters sometimes work and sometimes don't? When I first loaded the themes, the meters worked great. And then I went to one of Spb's themes and those meters refused to load. A couple of soft resets later it came back, but then, our meters wouldn't load. So I removed and reinstalled, and even just switching between a nonextended theme, where you should see the default meters, and Spb's own themes, I'd loose the default meters entirely and only the ones from latest theme would stay loaded. Emails are starting to slowly trickle in about Pocketplus, so I guess I'm going to have to email Spb, because their skinning tutorial says are skins are still in working order, but I can reproduce the issue with their own themes, so I don't know what's up there.

The long and the short of it is that if I can't even test the themes and have them kind of work sometimes, then I can't release them. We may have to take this to the extreme and remove Pocketplus support from all the current and future skins if we can't get this hashed out. The problem is, customers are buying the skins thinking they'll work with Pocketplus, and from our emails we don't seem to be the only ones who can't get Pocketplus to behave right now.

It's a loose/loose situation. If we remove the Pocketplus support from all current and future skins, then new customers won't be fished into something that may or may not work. But then there's the obvious "Hey, I paid for this and the old version had the pocketplus themes and now they're gone, WTF??" So I'll just keep an eye on it, won't be hasty, and will see if it's anything we can fix.

Next on the list of upgrades: Juni may want to add another theme to SciFi. I wish I could give you a hint but any hint would give it away. Sadly it's not BSG, but it's something about as shiny cool. ;) And there's been some crazy talk of more Swdeluxe themes as well, something a bit different, but in keeping with the spirit of Swdeluxe. :)

SBSHDeluxe is finally at Mobihand

After much procrastination and laziness on our parts, SbshDeluxe is finally over at Mobihand, as some have already discovered. :) There was a bit of a snafu when I was uploading the screenshots, and somehow the SbshDeluxe screenshots ended up on the SwDeluxe page - OOPS! If you happened to be browsing that product page during the 5 minutes when I didn't notice it, I apologize for the mixup. I've got the screenshots from juniskins back over on that Mobihand Swdeluxe page until such time as Juni wants to make something better. You can at least tell what Swdeluxe is though, and it's not being represented as a completely freaking different skin suite.

In other news, remember that smartphone theme I talked about before, the brown one? I don't know what happened with that. I just assumed Juni posted it, but obviously he hasn't. I know he finally finished up on one project so maybe that slowed him down. I know at least the landscape version is ready. I'll post more about that when I know whether or not he's playing around with it, or if he just scrapped it altogether. He sometimes does that.

And now that WM6 is out, it's time to look for my dream pocketpc - it has a keyboard, and as small a footprint as possible for a vga 480 x 640 display. Dream on, huh? Well, I can hope....