Xbox360 Dashboard is fugly!

[RobertR1]

Nice info Tap In. That's pretty cool. The dashboard is nice n' clean now.

 

[PARANOiA]

My TV's native resolution is 1920x1080, full HD. I've got my Xbox 360 set to 1080p, and the switch is set to "HDTV". As I said, the games look fine, but it just looks like the entire dashboard is using low-res textures.

I'm in the same situation, where the dash certainly isn't native 1920x1080. IIRC it's 720p native, which is a bit of a shame. The pop-ups and overall dashboard content do look as though they're pixelated, which is what you'd expect to happen when scaling a font as much as they are.

As for those complaints about being too "bright and colourful", why not install one of the free themes on marketplace to suit your "black is back" style. Better yet, use one of your own photos, which you have been able to do for months. It's like complaining that the XP or Vista desktop is simply a gaudy shade of green and blue since you choose not to use a different theme and desktop!

 

[scooby_dooby]

Ya no doubt, take your favourite wallpaper, share it from your PC, and then use it as your background, takes all of 2 minutes...

 

[AzBat]

Nice info Tap In. That's pretty cool. The dashboard is nice n' clean now.

This is one of the sources on the design of the dashboard. I thought had another one, but can't find it right now. I'll make another post when I find it after I get home from work...

http://www.designinteract.com/features/xbox/

Tommy McClain

 

[Quaz51]

My TV's native resolution is 1920x1080, full HD. I've got my Xbox 360 set to 1080p, and the switch is set to "HDTV". As I said, the games look fine, but it just looks like the entire dashboard is using low-res textures.

the dashboard is natively in 1280x720 (upscaled in 1080p ouput), the XMB is true native 1080p

 

[D3B]

PS3 looks better imo. The blades take up so much screen space and it has to many advertising.

 

[Arwin]

the dashboard is natively in 1280x720 (upscaled in 1080p ouput), the XMB is true native 1080p

Yes, this stands out particularly when I have the 360 on my 1660x1050 screen. On my 756p LCD it looks much better.

 

[TrungGap]

PS3 looks better imo. The blades take up so much screen space and it has to many advertising.

...

Unless I'm mistaken, the advert is only on the market place blade. So I don't think it contains too much advertising...unless one is too much. It's like saying because ads in HOME, PS3 contains too much ads.

Yeah, the blades do take up a bit of space. But I like 360 use of larger fonts. It makes reading from couch easier.

edited: typos

 

[ninzel]

Text is fine on my TV,I just dislike the design in general.

 

[AlphaWolf]

PS3 looks better imo. The blades take up so much screen space and it has to many advertising.

Function is more important than form (for the dashboard anyway) imo. The 360 dashboard is more functional. I can read the text on the 360 from 10 feet away without my glasses (which is handy when I'm using it to play music while I read a book).

 

[TheMightyPuck]

I think the Xbox360 Dashboard is fine considering it was designed for a controller interface. The one thing I wish I could do would be set the screen saver as black. Likewise the music player screen.

 

[Turok]

Setting aside the native res of the dashboard, it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing 360 feature. I like the look of the PS3 XMB more, but when it comes to functionality the 360 dashboard has the edge.

 

[D3B]

Unless I'm mistaken, the advert is only on the market place blade. So I don't think it contains too much advertising...unless one is too much. It's like saying because ads in HOME, PS3 contains too much ads.

Yeah, the blades do take up a bit of space. But I like 360 use of larger fonts. It makes reading from couch easier.

edited: typos

No, it has it on EVERY blade except for the system.

 

[pipo]

Setting aside the native res of the dashboard, it isn't the most aesthetically pleasing 360 feature. I like the look of the PS3 XMB more, but when it comes to functionality the 360 dashboard has the edge.

My thoughts exactly. And I also second the thoughts that the PS3 font could be a point bigger.

 

[AntShaw]

No, it has it on EVERY blade except for the system.

No. Even look at the pic you posted.

 

[J_Saint]

The ads appear when you sign into Live. Thats one of the reasons why it's slow when signing in.

 

[AzBat]

PS3 looks better imo. The blades take up so much screen space and it has to many advertising.

<snip pics>

You would post a pic using a busy, ugly background. Looks like you just used the first dashboard pic you found on Google. Try this one instead.

If you don't like the standard backgrounds, then connect to your home network or use a USB storage device to get a photo to replace it. And if you like the standard or Glass look better, then change your dashboard trim.


BTW, I found that other site with more details about the dashboard...

The early interface was designed using Flash, but was later created in XUI, Xenon User Interface (pronounced "Zooey"), a Microsoft proprietary tool. Due to Glaser's dislike of letterboxing and the need to use one screen that worked for both wide-screen and regular screen sizing, the game system was authored in a 14:9 format. The screens were authored in 14:9, slightly squeezed into 4:3 and stretched and cropped into 16:9, which shows a little excessive background. They spent several months figuring out the best fonts and sizes to accommodate these changes.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/698/698401p1.html

I've also found some other sources using Google that says the XUI Tool is based on Visio.

Tommy McClain

 

[Dave Baumann]

If you don't like the standard backgrounds, then connect to your home network or use a USB storage device to get a photo to replace it.

Are there instructions on how to do this?

 

[AlphaWolf]

Are there instructions on how to do this?

themes-> customize-> dashboard trim.

 

[AzBat]

First do this...

System blade > Display >

then this...

themes-> customize-> dashboard trim.

Tommy McClain