HAI~! The great jurassicplayer, self-proclaimed resident otakubot among various other things has decided to visit the blogs in order to do one thing: Rage on how retarded everyone has been on that wonderful thread about designing your own menu.
For whatever retarded reason, half of everyone seems to be dead set on getting an XMB styled UI...WHY THE FUCK DO YOU EVEN WANT THAT? Like really? It's practically pointless.
Let's say we went with an XMB style. The categories might be split up something like this:
- Games
--- Favorites
--- All Games
--- Homebrew Games
- Applications
--- Favorites
--- Homebrew applications
--- Moonshell2 link
--- DSOrganize
- Music
--- Favorites
--- Playlist
--- All Songs
- Video
--- Favorites
--- All videos
- Settings
--- Brightness?
--- DSTWO Settings?
--- Toggling on/off other menus?
--- etc.
Doesn't sound too bad right? WRONG.
Out of that list, over half of them just use the fucking file listing or w/e is going to be used. Sure it's great to have things separated into a category and whatnot, but that is why they came up with folders. Rather than dicking around with replicating the file list multiple times, why not use folders how they are supposed to be used and then utilize that productivity for something actually productive.
I constantly find myself wondering why the fuck everyone likes the XMB menu and I have reason to believe that it's just because of that animation in the background. Yes, it's a great smooth animation, but wtf really? Are there really people who like stuffing their taskbar across the middle of their desktop and leaving the rest of the screen for NOTHING?
So no, people who want another XMB styled menu are dull in the head. Do I like the XMB menu? No, not really. The animation they have is nice, I once found a marvelous theme for the PSP where they did the sensical thing and put the goddam selections on the bottom, because if you aren't going to use most of the screen for anything else, then you might as well fucking move those icons out of the way to enjoy a background.
Now onto the next semi-prevalent idea. Moonshell2/M3Sakura remix.
As I'm sure some of you know, I like MS2/M3Sakura, but no. Yes there are many great things in the UI that are lovable. The sliders of the M3Sakura, the various extras of Moonshell2...BUT FUCK, MS2 already covers it and can be used as an alternative UI already. It doesn't need a replacement that just adds sliders.
Following in the footsteps of DSOrganize:
DSO is a marvelous piece of homebrew. One of THE BEST homebrew IMO. Granted the UI isn't the most beautiful, but it has a number of small applications that are useful to the common user who happens to not have a phone that has a similar function and just happens to want to use their DS in such a way that would be somewhat productive in their life. This is a rather small minority of people, but there are still some there and I respect those people for what they want to do. With that said, there is little point to have a menu that shoves in a small subpar application just to "have the application" when there are other homebrew that may cover ground on the front. Media player can be considered an exception to this since apparently we all love being able to listen to music and browse around our microSD.
Coverflow styled UI
No, just no. Yay pretty covers, but no. It's a bad idea. I mean, what are you? Like...12? OH WAIT... :|
Coverflow is something I never really understood, possibly because I couldn't really care less about seeing the covers for games that I don't really play anyways. The main positive of coverflow is that it is easier for children to use, but really what is most likely going to happen is that there will just be this massive influx of people who want to have cover art support no matter what kind of file listing there is, so really the use of a coverflow UI is worthless. If you still want it, there is DSCovered which should work anyways.
AKAIO/Wood styled theme
The DS2's default UI is practically the same as those two, if you want to nitpick on small details, just get an R4 and live with the Wood UI or something. The goal is to create a menu, not reimplement one.
Like MENUdo:
Multitasking is a great idea...if there was a point to doing that on the DS ._.
Just what in the world do you want to multitask on your DS? Great, so you can play music with whatever you are doing on your flashcart. Granted there is not very many things you will be doing on said flashcart, but shit at least you know you can do it ._. Don't get me wrong, there are some parts of MENUdo I like, like how they aren't putting a bar of icons across the middle of the screen, but something more like maybe DSKiosk only with a file list rather than icons. Also, flicking around stuff because of physics engine is stupid and pointless.
The DSi/3DS menu:
It's called Dsision/Dsision2/or the regular plugin screen.
EZFlash MS2 based kernel:
Did anyone suggest this? Nope. Isn't this MS2 based and didn't you just say fuck cloning the UI again? Yep. But for all the dunces who don't know why I am bringing this UI up, it's because even though it is MS2 based, there are parts of it that are fairly different from any other flashcart UI. Granted I don't speak for all EZVi users, but there IS some sort of inherent beauty IMO about not having a filelist on the lower screen and it really shows in Env's contest entry for the EZVi skin contest. Honestly I find that theme to be really amazing and even though I'm pretty proud of my theme, I wouldn't disagree to losing against that theme.
To bring everything together (prematurely btw, there are still shitloads I could harp on, but lack of time only gives so many allowances):
I think the first things to sort out is which screen is going to be the main screen that will have the file list/grid and which will have the other stuff. Most would probably be predisposed towards having the files on the lower screen (I too have that preference), but having the lower screen as the holder for everything leaves the top screen at risk of being like the CycloDS's top screen which does absolutely nothing...except show a picture ._.
The EZVi kind of splits the two, keeping the filelist on the top while more tedious things are kept on the bottom (ie. cheats, settings, things that actually require interaction).
As to whether it's a file list or a grid, there is probably going to be either option anyways, so little point to argue about it. Would be nice to keep in mind that there are multiple ways to display a list:
Single line - No icon
Single line - with icon
Double line - No icon (possibly the stupidest option possible)
Double line - with icon
So people should get so caught up in having large icons (there is quite a number of Acekard themes that people have made with just large icons in mind). And of course, this could have internal names or remove the Release numbers as well.
Categories are simple to do. Having a different folder for all of your files really isn't that complicated, and if it bothers you so much, then ask for custom icon support for specific folders. Problem solved. All you need then is a shortcut key to get to the top level of your microSD or not even that, just use B as you normally would in a regular menu. It provides almost the EXACT SAME THING. So it's near retarded to suggest splitting shit into categories and then have the same file explorer pop up, just organize it yourself.
Something that I like the AK menu for is the start menu that has the file managing tools in it as opposed to having to remember various shortcuts for functions used only on occassion. On a computer it might hold traction, but i just don't see myself going around folders to cut and paste things around a whole bunch on my DS. In this case, a favorites button makes a lot more sense.
Smoothness of the UI is something rather low on my list of things that must be required immediately. Smoothness just seems to be something more of an additional refinement, so maybe people would want to BACK OFF the issue for the moment :\
Animation is something everyone seems to love. Personally, I would love to have animation for either screen possible and maybe two frames available for each button. Sometimes charm is lost with more than two frames as a restriction, but animations are always fun.
Possible ideas: Taking from the PSP's menu, having a bit of a preview or "trailer" video of the game that plays maybe after a couple seconds of hovering over the game/homebrew would be nice. If you are planning on doing something as dull as cover art, might as well go all the way. It doesn't NEED to take up the entire screen, nor does it have to be all that detailed or anything. But this kind of suggestion requires more dedication from the community, most of whom just sit and look pretty.
Just a stolen idea from practically everywhere, but having a booting animation does add aesthetic awesomeness to a menu.
Something that should be kept in mind is that some people have bad touchscreens or buttons, and so having two options would be nice. What does this mean exactly? Well, for one there would be a way to control typing with both the touchscreen and the d-pad. This way, even if your accuracy is as terrible as mine is on the touchscreen, you can still get shit done.
Quite honestly, I'm far from done with this, but I need to sleep. I can only hope that people will stick around as I continue my ranting and pray that there will be a decent UI that will come about from my words and not just another knock off from somewhere else.
For whatever retarded reason, half of everyone seems to be dead set on getting an XMB styled UI...WHY THE FUCK DO YOU EVEN WANT THAT? Like really? It's practically pointless.
Let's say we went with an XMB style. The categories might be split up something like this:
- Games
--- Favorites
--- All Games
--- Homebrew Games
- Applications
--- Favorites
--- Homebrew applications
--- Moonshell2 link
--- DSOrganize
- Music
--- Favorites
--- Playlist
--- All Songs
- Video
--- Favorites
--- All videos
- Settings
--- Brightness?
--- DSTWO Settings?
--- Toggling on/off other menus?
--- etc.
Doesn't sound too bad right? WRONG.
Out of that list, over half of them just use the fucking file listing or w/e is going to be used. Sure it's great to have things separated into a category and whatnot, but that is why they came up with folders. Rather than dicking around with replicating the file list multiple times, why not use folders how they are supposed to be used and then utilize that productivity for something actually productive.
I constantly find myself wondering why the fuck everyone likes the XMB menu and I have reason to believe that it's just because of that animation in the background. Yes, it's a great smooth animation, but wtf really? Are there really people who like stuffing their taskbar across the middle of their desktop and leaving the rest of the screen for NOTHING?
So no, people who want another XMB styled menu are dull in the head. Do I like the XMB menu? No, not really. The animation they have is nice, I once found a marvelous theme for the PSP where they did the sensical thing and put the goddam selections on the bottom, because if you aren't going to use most of the screen for anything else, then you might as well fucking move those icons out of the way to enjoy a background.
Now onto the next semi-prevalent idea. Moonshell2/M3Sakura remix.
As I'm sure some of you know, I like MS2/M3Sakura, but no. Yes there are many great things in the UI that are lovable. The sliders of the M3Sakura, the various extras of Moonshell2...BUT FUCK, MS2 already covers it and can be used as an alternative UI already. It doesn't need a replacement that just adds sliders.
Following in the footsteps of DSOrganize:
DSO is a marvelous piece of homebrew. One of THE BEST homebrew IMO. Granted the UI isn't the most beautiful, but it has a number of small applications that are useful to the common user who happens to not have a phone that has a similar function and just happens to want to use their DS in such a way that would be somewhat productive in their life. This is a rather small minority of people, but there are still some there and I respect those people for what they want to do. With that said, there is little point to have a menu that shoves in a small subpar application just to "have the application" when there are other homebrew that may cover ground on the front. Media player can be considered an exception to this since apparently we all love being able to listen to music and browse around our microSD.
Coverflow styled UI
No, just no. Yay pretty covers, but no. It's a bad idea. I mean, what are you? Like...12? OH WAIT... :|
Coverflow is something I never really understood, possibly because I couldn't really care less about seeing the covers for games that I don't really play anyways. The main positive of coverflow is that it is easier for children to use, but really what is most likely going to happen is that there will just be this massive influx of people who want to have cover art support no matter what kind of file listing there is, so really the use of a coverflow UI is worthless. If you still want it, there is DSCovered which should work anyways.
AKAIO/Wood styled theme
The DS2's default UI is practically the same as those two, if you want to nitpick on small details, just get an R4 and live with the Wood UI or something. The goal is to create a menu, not reimplement one.
Like MENUdo:
Multitasking is a great idea...if there was a point to doing that on the DS ._.
Just what in the world do you want to multitask on your DS? Great, so you can play music with whatever you are doing on your flashcart. Granted there is not very many things you will be doing on said flashcart, but shit at least you know you can do it ._. Don't get me wrong, there are some parts of MENUdo I like, like how they aren't putting a bar of icons across the middle of the screen, but something more like maybe DSKiosk only with a file list rather than icons. Also, flicking around stuff because of physics engine is stupid and pointless.
The DSi/3DS menu:
It's called Dsision/Dsision2/or the regular plugin screen.
EZFlash MS2 based kernel:
Did anyone suggest this? Nope. Isn't this MS2 based and didn't you just say fuck cloning the UI again? Yep. But for all the dunces who don't know why I am bringing this UI up, it's because even though it is MS2 based, there are parts of it that are fairly different from any other flashcart UI. Granted I don't speak for all EZVi users, but there IS some sort of inherent beauty IMO about not having a filelist on the lower screen and it really shows in Env's contest entry for the EZVi skin contest. Honestly I find that theme to be really amazing and even though I'm pretty proud of my theme, I wouldn't disagree to losing against that theme.
To bring everything together (prematurely btw, there are still shitloads I could harp on, but lack of time only gives so many allowances):
I think the first things to sort out is which screen is going to be the main screen that will have the file list/grid and which will have the other stuff. Most would probably be predisposed towards having the files on the lower screen (I too have that preference), but having the lower screen as the holder for everything leaves the top screen at risk of being like the CycloDS's top screen which does absolutely nothing...except show a picture ._.
The EZVi kind of splits the two, keeping the filelist on the top while more tedious things are kept on the bottom (ie. cheats, settings, things that actually require interaction).
As to whether it's a file list or a grid, there is probably going to be either option anyways, so little point to argue about it. Would be nice to keep in mind that there are multiple ways to display a list:
Single line - No icon
Single line - with icon
Double line - No icon (possibly the stupidest option possible)
Double line - with icon
So people should get so caught up in having large icons (there is quite a number of Acekard themes that people have made with just large icons in mind). And of course, this could have internal names or remove the Release numbers as well.
Categories are simple to do. Having a different folder for all of your files really isn't that complicated, and if it bothers you so much, then ask for custom icon support for specific folders. Problem solved. All you need then is a shortcut key to get to the top level of your microSD or not even that, just use B as you normally would in a regular menu. It provides almost the EXACT SAME THING. So it's near retarded to suggest splitting shit into categories and then have the same file explorer pop up, just organize it yourself.
Something that I like the AK menu for is the start menu that has the file managing tools in it as opposed to having to remember various shortcuts for functions used only on occassion. On a computer it might hold traction, but i just don't see myself going around folders to cut and paste things around a whole bunch on my DS. In this case, a favorites button makes a lot more sense.
Smoothness of the UI is something rather low on my list of things that must be required immediately. Smoothness just seems to be something more of an additional refinement, so maybe people would want to BACK OFF the issue for the moment :\
Animation is something everyone seems to love. Personally, I would love to have animation for either screen possible and maybe two frames available for each button. Sometimes charm is lost with more than two frames as a restriction, but animations are always fun.
Possible ideas: Taking from the PSP's menu, having a bit of a preview or "trailer" video of the game that plays maybe after a couple seconds of hovering over the game/homebrew would be nice. If you are planning on doing something as dull as cover art, might as well go all the way. It doesn't NEED to take up the entire screen, nor does it have to be all that detailed or anything. But this kind of suggestion requires more dedication from the community, most of whom just sit and look pretty.
Just a stolen idea from practically everywhere, but having a booting animation does add aesthetic awesomeness to a menu.
Something that should be kept in mind is that some people have bad touchscreens or buttons, and so having two options would be nice. What does this mean exactly? Well, for one there would be a way to control typing with both the touchscreen and the d-pad. This way, even if your accuracy is as terrible as mine is on the touchscreen, you can still get shit done.
Quite honestly, I'm far from done with this, but I need to sleep. I can only hope that people will stick around as I continue my ranting and pray that there will be a decent UI that will come about from my words and not just another knock off from somewhere else.
