Dingoonity.org

While making the PS4 and OldBoy skins I already noticed that the UI looks and feels old fashioned and somehow geeky. The new CFW even supports preview images or cover art, but the result is far from polished.

Most people (including me) would like to have a complete new menu or a port of emulation station, but the underlying structure with sections and links is still a good concept and reinventing the wheel is not always required...

I made a mockup of the main menu and the file browser. Everything in the mockup (but the favourites feature) can be implemented in the current version of Stewards fork of gmenu2x by changing some paint methods. Basically its the same UI elements drawn at different positions. There are no new graphical elements and all icons, themes, screens and dialogs could be used directly without any new config or theme files. You could even use custom backgrounds instead of light gray and the colors specified by the skins.

Why only a mockup?
Right now I don't have the environment ready to olay with the code myself. I haven't done any C++ for a decade and would have to get into Linux and SDL first. Doing this as a pet project is on my todo list, but it'll take some time... Until then I just want to share this mockup with other people as inspiration 

Is there anybody who has the dev environment ready to try this out?

Update

There actually was someone with a kind soul who brought this design concept to life! Thanks @pingflood 

New GMenuNext release is out:

2018.07.02 (Codename: Blast Processing.)

Fix memory address register:
Fix SetCPU not setting CPU clock;
TV-Out working among SetCPU;
Do not use inputCommonActions in MessageBox:
Prevents power button bounce;
Prevents entering in suspend mode while a messagebox is on screen;
Updated compiler flags (optimize size and performance);
UDC autodetect mount point when booting on external SD;
Simplify Link and LinkAction classes;
Use memregs to get UDC status (faster than system function);
Releases will bundle only default GMenu2X assets:
Cleaned up default assets;
Allow to use icons/wallpapers/backdrops pack.

https://github.com/pingflood/GMenuNext/releases

Please report any bug or issue you find and I'll take a look as soon as possible.

After a lot of ideas, discussions and test versions there now is a running version of this menu design. You can basically try it out by replacing the gmenu2x executable with Commander or via SD card. As the code is based on Stewards code everything should be working just like before. All my skins on GitHub have been updated to work with both designs and there are two new skins to get that greyish emulation station look.

Please use this thread to share your opinions on this new menu style!

TL;DR: Jump to installation instructions and beta version download.

Previews below VVV
 

I find it an extremely cool idea

If anyone wants to work on this and is trying to get the dev toolchain setup, I?ve posted instructions here: https://boards.dingoonity.org/ingenic-jz4760-devices/rs-97-developers-toolchain-setup/

I already looked at some of the paint methods and you are right about the messy code - I'd call it potential for optimization 

The mockup just uses transparency to make the icons active or inactive. This should be possible by alpha blending an image/texture in SDL: active 100% and inactive 50%. So instead of drawing a rectangle under the icon, the icon is drawn transparently or opaque.

I'll try to setup the toolchain and try it myself some day, but I think others would also be happy when some of the 'grown code' gets cleaned up this way. At the end of the day this could still be compatible with the current skin system. Only the skin images for the top/bottom bar and selection would'n be compatible. The colors and wallpaper could all be taken from the skin config.

Perhaps we should see it more as an optimization process than a break up 

OMG, that was quick! So cool to see this idea in motion 

This looks well cool, great work

Maybe you can consider working with jack83? His retropie lookalike looks awesome but it could use your selector dialog. In my opinion both together would be perfect

If we say that the left bar uses the skin color of the current top bar and the right area is the background, then all skins should look ok by default: With the PS4 skin the right area would be dark blue (wallpaper) with white font/icons (this skin only contains the settings link icons) and the left area would be a transparent white (not so dark blue) with white section icons.

In theory all skins could be used with the new layout. To get that emulation station design, I'd rather make a new skin: top bar, icons and font in dark grey, wallpaper in light grey. I could even make the OldBoy skin compatible by replacing the top and bottom lines by a transparent color or image for the top and bottom bar, so that it works in both layouts.

What do you think about the current bottom bar? Reduce it and move it to the left bar (cleaner, less geeky, less info) or keep it at the bottom (takes space away from the link list, more clutter)?

With PS4 Skin

Are you just skinning right now or is the menu already working?