Craig Thomas (craigt on the Media Browser forums and creator of the Chocolate theme, as well as other plugins) has announced a new theme in the works…Simplicity.  You can see a couple of screenshots of it on his site.

Be sure to click on the Simplicity link at the top of the page to get to the screenshots and current progress page.

It looks pretty nice, but then again, I’ve always been a fan of less-is-more.

I try to keep up with as many sites and blogs as I can, but eventually, some fall off of the radar.  Usually it’s because they post sporadically or change their focus and my interest isn’t in the material.  Jas Manghera (Soultaker), a senior developer for Media Browser and creator of the popular Diamond theme, has one of those blogs that fell off my radar.  Of course, there’s a perfectly good reason for it…he’s too busy to post as he’s burning up Visual Studio.

I just decided to go visit his blog this morning as I caught a link to it while browsing the new Media Browser site design and came across a nice bit of info that I was unaware of regarding the upcoming Diamond 0.3.  It now features the ability to display individual backdrops for each of your media entries on the Extended Home Screen by using the ImagesByName General folder.

I’m not going to waste time or space writing about it here.  Jas explains it in detail on his blog…complete with screenshots.

I decided to compile the latest build last night, which is something I haven’t done since the official release of Firestorm.  Nothing too groundbreaking there, but I also decided to pull and compile the latest build of the Diamond v3 branch.  I was a bit worried about the changes made to it since I’ve grown quite attached to it and I didn’t want to see what happened to Vanilla to happen there.  It didn’t…it’s a little different, but I definitely like the changes and the look is still basically the same.   It’s noticeable darker, but I like it alot.

It has also been moved to the new plugin architecture like Vanilla was.  I like the new modular approach for everything.  It will slim down the main installer and allow you to add/remove whatever you like.  I think it also helps separate the developer’s contributions a little so that we can all see who is responsible for what.  Considering Media Browser is remaining free (for now, anyway), it can help with making sure donations go to their proper parties.

Keep up the fantastic work guys and for those waiting for the release, be on the lookout!

Those of you using the new Firestorm release of Media Browser may be asking, “What happened to the Vanilla theme?”…and rightfully so.  Well, Throgmorton, creator of the theme, has decided to modularize it into a plugin for Media Browser and it has been removed from the default installation.  Don’t worry, you can still very easily get it and I’m going to show you how (in case you’ve missed the instructions elsewhere).

The first thing you’re going to want to do is to close out Media Center on your VMC/7MC system.  I’m expecting you already have the new Firestorm release installed, so we’ll get past that and move on to the Windows programs menu where you’re going to want to find the Media Browser entry and then click on the Configurator link to open that.  Once open, find the plug-ins tab at the top and click on it.

Next, click the Add button below the plug-ins list box.

This will bring up the Add Plugin window, where you will click on the File menu at the top and then choose Sources…

TheAddPluginSourceWindow will now come up and you will type in http://www.throgsoft.com/plugins/plugin_info.xml

Click on OK to download the XML file that will add the plugins available to the list.  You will then select the theme you want from the list and click the Install button to download and install Vanilla.

That’s it!  You can now close the Configurator, fire up Media Center, go to Media Browser and Vanilla will be in the themes that are available from the Configuration screen.

Support issues should now be directed to Throg’s new website, which includes a support forum.  If you like Vanilla and would like to see its improvements continued, a small donation is always appreciated.

All instructional images from Throg’s site.

In a couple of weeks, you should all get to try out the latest beta release 12 of Media Browser.  Until then, for those of you who aren’t running SVN builds, I have decided to post a few pre-release screenshots of the current state of one of the new themes that will be included – Diamond.

The new root page:

Activated trailers plugin:

Coverflow:

Detail:

Poster:

Thumb:

Thumbstrip:

TV strip:

Movie info screen:

Top menu (this is hidden until you hit the ‘up’ arrow on your remote, then it drops down…very cool:

Most of these screens won’t do it justice since this is just my test box and I never really run any of the customizations that many users on the Media Browser forums do (custom poster art and backdrops).  I think you get a good idea though.

There’s plenty more to come, but my spoon is small :)