Theme Creation/Skin Creation
Asked by Mark Norville on October 25, 2026 - 2 replies
Hi Rick and Team,
Following the iRobot skin thread, it has kind of got me thinking about having a complete and utter new skin creation tool which gives you multiple options on how a skin looks or a complete remodel of how Zen looks.
I am not sure if this is possible, I know that you have the basic model so you can tweak that to your business model.
However, it would be fantastic if users could design or simply copy skins from other companies.
So as an example, I am going vertical so to have say a section at the top where music videos play as an example at the top and then have the menu system at the lower side would look fantastic.
It would open up a can of worms on how Zen looks even though it looks fantastic now with the updated version.
However, it still looks like Zen but with a few graphical tweeks.
I know that potentially this is going to be a dead wishlist but hell if you do not ask, then you do not get.
Regards
Mark
2 replies
Rick - October 26, 2026
Hi @Mark Norville ,
Thanks for asking. That's exactly how good ideas reach us.
You're right that a skin today changes the look (colours, backgrounds including video, tiles, covers, fonts, logo and intro music) but not the layout itself. That's on purpose: a kiosk has to behave the same every time, with touch, keyboard and controllers, and a fixed layout is a big part of why it does.
A completely free layout designer isn't something we're planning. But your concrete example, a portrait setup with a video area at the top and the menu at the bottom, is a really good idea. A small set of alternative layouts you can choose from is something we can do well, and we've added it to our wishlist.
One thing we can't do is copy the look of other companies' products. Their designs and branding belong to them. We'd much rather help you build something that's your own.
In the meantime, if you haven't tried it yet: Administration → Appearance → "Create your own skin" lets you build a skin from scratch, including a separate background video for portrait screens.
Mark Norville - October 26, 2026
Hi Rick,
Many thanks for your reply. Yes, it would be a grey area especially if you used the same graphics as a company.
The same design is passable, as you can only have a jukebox so many ways.
Kodi as an example skinners will copy designs such as Metro when Xbox released it, but when they use the same graphics so it is a mirror image, that is when it hits a desist order.
It would be fantastic though to see videos and visuals at the top, and to be able to keep using the jukebox at the same time, yes of course full screen when the screen saver kicks in.
The thing about skinning though is reasonably you cannot skin for all monitors, unless it adjusts to different screens. I have new tech coming in late Dec hopefully just in time for Christmas, but a waste of time me skinning for those until I get the units as they are 4:3 aspect ratio (arcade) so I know what I want to do for skinning with them as they are Japanese style machines, so I will be look at Anime/Manga for designs.
Regards
Mark