AuralCandy.Net
A while ago I found a new DJ-software for Mac called djay.
While the software itself is limited and generally unimpressive, it has one detail that makes it unique. Instead of using skins or some other custom interface, djay (for the most part) utilizes standard interface elements of the Aqua/Cocoa engine.
I started to think would this kind of approach make any sense with Virtual DJ, because there are few obvious advantages:
- No more skins made for spesific screen resolution, since the user interface can be resized to any preferred size.
- Consistent and familiar look & feel of the user interface.
- More flexible user interface customization.
I realize that the whole point of skins is to have different enviroments with varying functionality. However, ultimately the amount of functionality a skin can have, is always defined and limited by Virtual DJ's engine. Many programs have customizable toolbars etc., so in theory it would be possible (although not necessarily easy) to build a standard Aqua/Cocoa interface for Virtual DJ which would allow the user to build his/her own interface from all the available functions (=buttons, sliders, displays, lists, etc.).
Naturally this would be such a dramatic change to the structure of Virtual DJ, so it would be hard (and almost certainly very impractical) to include both Aqua/Cocoa-interface and legacy-skin support to the same application. Therefor this kind of approach would pretty much require splitting the Virtual DJ developement into two (partly) separate branches. I'm not suggesting that dividing resources with a small developement team would make much sense, but it's still an interesting concept in theory.
What do you guys think?
While the software itself is limited and generally unimpressive, it has one detail that makes it unique. Instead of using skins or some other custom interface, djay (for the most part) utilizes standard interface elements of the Aqua/Cocoa engine.
I started to think would this kind of approach make any sense with Virtual DJ, because there are few obvious advantages:
- No more skins made for spesific screen resolution, since the user interface can be resized to any preferred size.
- Consistent and familiar look & feel of the user interface.
- More flexible user interface customization.
I realize that the whole point of skins is to have different enviroments with varying functionality. However, ultimately the amount of functionality a skin can have, is always defined and limited by Virtual DJ's engine. Many programs have customizable toolbars etc., so in theory it would be possible (although not necessarily easy) to build a standard Aqua/Cocoa interface for Virtual DJ which would allow the user to build his/her own interface from all the available functions (=buttons, sliders, displays, lists, etc.).
Naturally this would be such a dramatic change to the structure of Virtual DJ, so it would be hard (and almost certainly very impractical) to include both Aqua/Cocoa-interface and legacy-skin support to the same application. Therefor this kind of approach would pretty much require splitting the Virtual DJ developement into two (partly) separate branches. I'm not suggesting that dividing resources with a small developement team would make much sense, but it's still an interesting concept in theory.
What do you guys think?
Posted Tue 07 Apr 09 @ 3:35 am
SBDJ
This would mean a major departure from the PC version, and I just can't see that happening.
Why make things different and awkward between versions?
VirtualDJ's skin engine is extremely flexible.
Why make things different and awkward between versions?
VirtualDJ's skin engine is extremely flexible.
Posted Tue 07 Apr 09 @ 10:06 am
AuralCandy.Net
SBDJ wrote :
VirtualDJ's skin engine is extremely flexible.
True, but the whole point behind my concept was that in order to alter the functionality of the interface there would be no need to create a new skin. What I ment was the ability to drag & drop desired buttons, sliders, etc. into the interface just like you e.g. drag & drop buttons to modify the Firefox toolbar.
Anyway, bear in mind that this is just theoretical brainstorming and I'm not suggesting that this would be a practical path to follow :)
Posted Tue 07 Apr 09 @ 11:15 am
xTIMMYxCOREx
I love this idea. Why make the versions different? Well thats really the same question of why make Aqua/Cocoa? It's a great User interface. It's smooth, it works, has awesome keyboard support. I was actually thinking the same thing, could we make a skin that uses real OS-X UI components. Skins are flexible but so far nothing comes close to a real OS-X grid!
That said... anyone want to work on a more "mac-like" skin with me? Sized for the latest MacBook Pro?
That said... anyone want to work on a more "mac-like" skin with me? Sized for the latest MacBook Pro?
Posted Thu 16 Apr 09 @ 4:59 pm
Dan (djtouchdan)
xTIMMYxCOREx wrote :
That said... anyone want to work on a more "mac-like" skin with me? Sized for the latest MacBook Pro?
That said... anyone want to work on a more "mac-like" skin with me? Sized for the latest MacBook Pro?
What did you have in mind??
Posted Thu 16 Apr 09 @ 5:19 pm
xTIMMYxCOREx
Just follow the Apple Human Computer Interface Guidelines. I do UI design for a living so I could mock something up.
Posted Thu 16 Apr 09 @ 7:35 pm
Dan (djtouchdan)
Mock something up and i might be able to help program and develop it with you.
Posted Fri 17 Apr 09 @ 3:56 am
AuralCandy.Net
Creating a native-like OS X interface for Virtual DJ is impossible using the current skinning engine. Sure, it could look like a native application but it would be only skin-deep since it would still be just another BMP-image like any other skin...and therefor pretty much lose all the benefits on having a native GUI-toolkit interface.
In order to really make it, one would need to create a native OS X interface using the Interface Builder included in the Xcode developement tools. This graphical user interface acts as visible user layer, a sort of a "remote control", to the actual program. Naturally the GUI-less program executable (in this case the Virtual DJ engine) needs to have a support for calls coming from the external GUI-controller layer.
In order to really make it, one would need to create a native OS X interface using the Interface Builder included in the Xcode developement tools. This graphical user interface acts as visible user layer, a sort of a "remote control", to the actual program. Naturally the GUI-less program executable (in this case the Virtual DJ engine) needs to have a support for calls coming from the external GUI-controller layer.
Posted Fri 17 Apr 09 @ 4:06 am
VOG_
anyways guys VDJ uses Carbon not Cocoa
Posted Sat 18 Apr 09 @ 12:26 pm