UnleashX Manual

[si_kabayan]

UnleashX is my favourite custom dashboard as it's small, fast, and full of features.

Unfortunately there is not much documentations left about it. Void with the volatile nature of internet, or perhaps stored deep down on internet archive site.

There is this one manual in PDF that quite comprehensive but a little bit hard to read. So I took an effort to rewrite (reformat?) it to make it easy on the eyes and probably can be exported to another ebook formats out there. As for now the focus is on PDF, but I think the EPUB generated is quite readable (literally just copy css found on the net and call it a day).

I put the markdown on GitHub, generated PDF and EPUB can be downloaded from its release page.

UnleashX Manual.7z

[HDShadow]

I have the original and just done some comparisons with your rewrite update. It seems mostly the XML code pages/entries that have altered from green/red/blue/black font primary colours on a white background to what I think is better, certainly easier on the eyes, an off-black background.

Good work and thanks for this alternative UnleashX manual source. That alone makes the effort worthwhile.

But that new choice of font colours........................hmmmm, I'm really sorry, I'm not convinced.

However it may look better on a more contrasty monitor than the old TN one I'm using now so I'll reserve judgment on that and wait for other comments.

     

[si_kabayan]

9 hours ago, HDShadow said:

I have the original and just done some comparisons with your rewrite update. It seems mostly the XML code pages/entries that have altered from green/red/blue/black font primary colours on a white background to what I think is better, certainly easier on the eyes, an off-black background.

Good work and thanks for this alternative UnleashX manual source. That alone makes the effort worthwhile.

But that new choice of font colours........................hmmmm, I'm really sorry, I'm not convinced.

However it may look better on a more contrasty monitor than the old TN one I'm using now so I'll reserve judgment on that and wait for other comments.

     

The fonts are `pandoc`'s default fonts that came with its standard package. And am quite like it.

I wasn't installing `pandoc` extra fonts package as it's relatively big, around 500 MB.

We can change the fonts by several methods. The easiest way is by adding these line into `UnleashX.md` metadata, e.g:

---
...

date: 2023-01-04
mainfont: LiberationSans
monofont: LiberationMono
---

But please be aware that different font has different typeface so the formatting maybe off, especially on code block (overflowing).

Another easy approach is by open `UnleashX.md` on your favourite GUI markdown editor where you can fine tune every aspect of target document as you desire.

 

[si_kabayan]

Can't edit post above. Here's manual using Ubuntu and Ubuntu Mono fonts.

UnleashX Manual_Ubuntu Fonts.pdf

[Rocky5]

Some more stuff UnleashX can do. (Requires latest version for some stuff)
 

https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/blob/master/Other/Skin Alignments and Sources.txt

 

and there are more colour options. 
 

https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/blob/master/Save Folder/nkpatcher settings/skins/Dashboard/skin.xml

[HDShadow]

It was just the UnleashX manual XML code display I was talking about not the skin XMLs etc. You can use whatever colours you want and almost whatever else you want in the latter. Its just those UX manual XML code examples font colours I'm questioning not the font used itself which is perfectly legible. I was thinking particularly about users who might be colour blind.  

On the subject of Xbox use fonts: I've converted dozens of TTF/OTF fonts to XPRs. Some work in 480i/480p better than others at those typical Xbox use resolutions.

I have a very long term project to go through my entire UnleashX skin collection (1000+) and 'fix' edit all the things wrong. I'll probably never get them all done because of getting sidetracked by skins I like. I end up spending more time developing and adding to them than is required merely to make them better from the graphic design point of view.

However one of the things that often needs a complete replacement are the unforgivably poor choice of font colour/size and background colour. They have to be legible at 480i/480p but many are not. Such matters are a bit of a hobby-horse for me and I'd far rather have legibility and clarity than whatever it was the original creator was trying to do.

I'd not seen those full (?) UX Fonts and Sources lists before; that's very useful information because there are some things there I've never seen used in any skin.xml. Most of my knowledge on such matters comes from studying existing skins and the UX manual.  

Edited January 6, 2023 by HDShadow

[si_kabayan]

8 hours ago, Rocky5 said:

Some more stuff UnleashX can do. (Requires latest version for some stuff)
 

https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/blob/master/Other/Skin Alignments and Sources.txt

 

and there are more colour options. 
 

https://github.com/Rocky5/Xbox-Softmodding-Tool/blob/master/Save Folder/nkpatcher settings/skins/Dashboard/skin.xml

Thanx, will add when I have time.

BTW, how did you found those options? By dissecting the xbe?

14 minutes ago, HDShadow said:

It was just the UnleashX manual XML code display I was talking about not the skin XMLs etc. You can use whatever colours you want and almost whatever else you want in the latter. Its just those UX manual XML code examples font colours I'm questioning not the font used itself which is perfectly legible. I was thinking particularly about users who might be colour blind.  

On the subject of Xbox use fonts: I've converted dozens of TTF/OTF fonts to XPRs. Some work in 480i/480p better than others at those typical Xbox use resolutions.

I have a very long term project to go through my entire UnleashX skin collection (1000+) and 'fix' edit all the things wrong. I'll probably never get them all done because of getting sidetracked by skins I like. I end up spending more time developing and adding to them than is required merely to make them better from the graphic design point of view.

However one of the things that often needs a complete replacement are the unforgivably poor choice of font colour/size and background colour. They have to be legible at 480i/480p but many are not. Such matters are a bit of a hobby-horse for me and I'd far rather have legibility and clarity than whatever it was the original creator was trying to do.

I'd not seen those full (?) UX Fonts and Sources lists before; that's very useful information because there are some things there I've never seen used in any skin.xml. Most of my knowledge on such matters comes from studying existing skins and the UX manual.  

Syntax highlighting?

You can change syntax highlighting to these styles by editing create file :

$ pandoc --list-highlight-styles
pygments
tango
espresso
zenburn
kate
monochrome
breezedark
haddock

Here's an image comparison:

 

[HDShadow]

Sounds like too much like work for me and I suspect most other people just wanting to refer to the UnleashX manual. Readers surely want it to be clear, understandable and attractive as it is and not have to re-edit it to suit their own needs or tastes.

But I appreciate the information on how to do that.