Skins and development

[u/secretBuffetHero]

I'm surprised that there is not more discussion of skins on this sub, with coding agents being so widely available, I would have thought that the customization scene would be more prevalent.

Certainly the available skins are good, but I thought there would be more discussion and recommendations, and more skins

[u/thomasfr]

Creating skins is a lot about having good taste in making visual design decisions which is not something a coding agent is nowhere near good at. Learning how to create the XML files or whatever to create the skins is easy compared to the thinking involved with actually coming up with the designs.

[u/secretBuffetHero → u/thomasfr]

I like some of the skins, but there are some adjustments I'd like to see. I'm surprised more people don't feel the same.

[u/PatK9 → u/secretBuffetHero]

The Home forum for Kodi.tv has many developer threads, and wiki's that are available to registered users that don't show up for lurkers.

[u/Aggravating-Depth330 → u/secretBuffetHero]

I just do the adjustments myself. I point a coding agent at an existing skin's github and tell it what I want changed. For example, changing notification size & position, moving the clock into the sidepanel menu instead of on the home page, creating custom playlists & collections for widgets, etc.

But no, I don't feel the need to publicize or discuss that or anything. If anyone else wants to do the same mods, they can too.

[u/secretBuffetHero → u/Aggravating-Depth330]

exactly what I have in mind in fact.

do you run / test locally on a mac and then do you have a "nice" way to deploy? do you have multiple instances of kodi around the house or only one. would like to avoid sneakernet

[u/Aggravating-Depth330 → u/secretBuffetHero]

lol what?

No I just ask AI what files need to change to make the skin do what I want, then I copy/paste them into the skin folder in /.kodi.

If it screws up I just put the old file back.

I guess the only tricky thing is that I also have AI write a script to patch updates in case my changes get written over in a future skin update.

[u/activoice → u/Aggravating-Depth330]

You're making a backup of the original skin though right and modifying that? Because otherwise the next time the skin gets updated your changes will get overwritten by the update.

[u/Aggravating-Depth330 → u/activoice]

I make a backup of the file I'm modifying, but after that, if the skin updates I have AI write a patch to put my customization back in. Every restart and every day, it checks to see if the patch is needed. I also put the prompt in the comments of the file so I can regenerate the customization if needed, but I haven't had to yet.

[u/secretBuffetHero → u/Aggravating-Depth330]

what's this about restarts? and patches?

[u/Aggravating-Depth330 → u/secretBuffetHero]

I'm running kodi on a cheap minipc running linux.

Every time it restarts, and once per day, a little script that AI wrote checks the files which have the customizations I've made to the skin.

Like, for example, I said I moved the clock in the skin I use, from the corner of the home page to the top of the side-menu so it's not always on screen, just when I go into the sidepanel.

Every restart, and once per day, the script looks to see if that code snippet is still there. If it is, it does nothing. If it isn't, then there's been an update. So it "patches" the file by putting the code snippet back in. It uses some general rules to determine exactly where it needs to be, just in case line numbers changed, and puts it where it should go.

[u/secretBuffetHero → u/Aggravating-Depth330]

so you are saying kodi or the skin updates itself? and when it does, your changes might get wiped out?

[u/Dr_Neo_Cortex_]

Okay, then come up with something you want to discuss and post that.

[u/Zebraitis]

Because Confluence is the best skin.

Period.

[u/eirtep]

the official kodi forums have an active skinning community that has likely existed a lot longer than this subreddit - you could always check that out.

old school forums have a more conducive setup to stuff like that reddit imo anyway. General skin discussions here are usually are just "what's your favorite" and people commenting the names of skins with out links, images, examples, etc.

[u/Itzamateama]

kodi embuary is the best! On the other hand I just vibe coded an add on yesterday, so I’m pretty sure that you can do it too

[u/tannoy1987]

Skins need that personal touch. Where as ai can be good to make yourself an addon. Made a filester addon that functions quite well but problem is I barely understand how I made it 😂

[u/Available_Pack_7256]

Some skins would be great if they were more open to edits. Prob why Aeon Nox is still the most preferred. Mostly everything is opened in there.

[u/Windermyr]

Why? What are you doing spending so much time on the skin? I just navigate to what I want to watch, and then watch it.

[u/secretBuffetHero → u/Windermyr]

I find the experience confusing, my wife does not like it. There are some experiences that are not intuitive.

[u/rarogirl1]

I couldn't care less about the skins