Question regarding skins with Emby

[jsc1205 51]

I was browsing around in the Plugins section and I was not aware that there are skins you can download/purchase similar to how Kodi has skins.  I know they are under the Windows Media Center section, but is there a reason why we cannot get skins for the regular use of Emby outside of Windows Media Center?  Are there limitations that prohibit it?  

 

I know being a past user of Kodi, this makes the interface great for the user and gives the ability to see/use different visuals.  For instance....Emby has a plugin for studio logos....why is it not utilized?  

 

Thanks for any info you can provide!

[ebr 16184]

Hi.  With all the different platforms we run on "skinning" is a bit more complex in our environment.  At this time, you can adjust some things in the web presentation with custom css and most of the apps provide some different color schemes.  More types of customization may be possible in the future.

[jsc1205 51]

Hi.  With all the different platforms we run on "skinning" is a bit more complex in our environment.  At this time, you can adjust some things in the web presentation with custom css and most of the apps provide some different color schemes.  More types of customization may be possible in the future.

 

Thanks for the response and I figured as much.  I know there has been requests of getting audio/video codec logos to display in Emby rather that verbiage.  But since the studio icon plugin already exists, is there a way to get work?

[ebr 16184]

Hi.  The current design trends are away from lots of graphic/logo information display and more towards simple text so that is where are designs are at the moment.

[Luke 42079]

This is an area we're interested in exploring more, it's just hard to prioritize it ahead of other core development.

[maxiniedermeier 17]

Hi,

Is there already more detailed information?

The current user interface is somehow no longer up to date and you can't really use skins on every device.

An update to the normal interface would be a start
soon -> 2025?

[Luke 42079]

3 hours ago, maxiniedermeier said:

Hi,

Is there already more detailed information?

The current user interface is somehow no longer up to date and you can't really use skins on every device.

An update to the normal interface would be a start
soon -> 2025?

Hi, what do you mean exactly by not up to date?

[maxiniedermeier 17]

It's 2024, most apps look a bit more modern.
I've been using Emby since 2017 or 18, but not much has changed in the user interface since then.
Just came across it by chance as an example/comparison

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/5.PNG

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/4.PNG

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/1.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/2.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/3.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer

It would be nice if Emby went in a similar direction
Even better if the best features of Emby and other competitors could all be found in one place

[Luke 42079]

2 hours ago, maxiniedermeier said:

It's 2024, most apps look a bit more modern.
I've been using Emby since 2017 or 18, but not much has changed in the user interface since then.
Just came across it by chance as an example/comparison

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/5.PNG

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/4.PNG

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/1.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/2.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer/raw/main/docs/3.png

https://github.com/avdept/JellyBoxPlayer

It would be nice if Emby went in a similar direction
Even better if the best features of Emby and other competitors could all be found in one place

@maxiniedermeieris it just me or does most of that already look pretty much just like our UI? Some small differences such as the font face, they put tabs on the left, we center them, etc.

[maxiniedermeier 17]

In terms of usability, yes, the appearance of the interface is more similar to Winamp, as I said in terms of appearance, functionally great but a few details would simply be nicer in 2024:

- floating display of the playback position in the cover (Stremio)
- level display in the playback bar when playing music (Plexamp) maybe one or two visualizations and a
similar function to SuperSonic from Plex/Autoplay were already in the feature request I think
- autoscroll when you move a title up or down in the playback queue
- a few rounded corners here and there, a few animations when opening the player, for example

to name a few examples, this would simply create a nicer overall picture.

Since Emby is there for watching and listening to media and a lot of it also runs on the TV, I think there is still room for improvement here. Also a few descriptions, for me, who is already used to using Emby, I can handle it without any problems, but if, for example, someone who is using Emby for the first time wants to open the film library on the TV and doesn't know that the menu appears on the very left + left (it doesn't work in the top header, though. Intentional, unintentional?) it is sometimes a bit difficult.

https://www.stremio.com/

https://www.plex.tv/de/plexamp/

[visproduction 315]

Max,

Styles can be adjusted on the Web with custom css.  You can also adjust the actual player screen controls with size, font, positions and colors. 

Other Emby versions and TV apps do not have the custom css styling option.  I agree with your point that these would be nice to have updated features.  But it is very time consuming to work on updating a GUI.  I have found on large social media site projects, especially with audio / video, that GUI updates take designers, devs, PM's and QA easily 3 - 6 months for first update version test.  It's heavy on staff hours and very expensive to do.  When you already have interfaces that work, it's hard to sign off on spending staff hours to make essentially minor facelift changes.

I make my server's playlists look different on workstations with custom css. 
Check out this forum for style tweaks by forum members:
 https://emby.media/community/index.php?/forum/144-web-app-css/

Examples: