Frogboy has jotted down his thoughts on how skinning has changed these last few years. Or more specifically, how the ever elusive ‘community’ has morphed into its current state.

“In the beginning, the content came from the community. The software itself was developed within the community as well. […] When Windows XP came along in 2001, things began to change. […] The number of people willing to create content dramatically decreased as a % of the user base. […] The same community that produced incredibly talented skinners increasingly became a community of consumers waiting for someone else to make things for them.”

Now Froggles isn't stupid. He founded StarDock many, many years ago and has raised it to be the giant that it is today (at least what customisation is concerned), so he obviously knows what he is doing.

But he has always held the misconception that the ‘skinning community’ is a mix of developers, skinners and users. The developers create the applications, the skinners provide the fancy eyecandy for it and the users, well, do nothing aside from bitching and complaining.

There is a symbiotic relationship indeed, but it is between devs and skinners. Users do not enter into the equation. This also lies at the root of what is wrong with WinCustomize. Its main audience consists of users with user issues and user problems and to such an extent that it looks more like a helpdesk, or indeed, a market, than a ‘skinning community’. Yeah, users make sense when you look at things from a commercial point of view, but they don't create, so (to me), they don't matter.

Back in the days of skinz.org, I used to think there was a skinning ‘community’, because I never went elsewhere. Truth is, there is no community, there are only separate communities, usually centered around a single site, but largely independent from the other communities.

“Already, there's consequences. There will be no ObjectBar 3. It's too expensive to develop and there's too little help from the community to justify the effort versus the revenue it generates. DesktopX barely is surviving and only because Stardock uses it so heavily internally.”

Ouch.

Doreen and I had a discussion about the evolution of skinning some time ago (if you can call it a discussion, since we tend to agree on things), triggered by a skinnable app on the PocketPC. It was a little app that provided a toolbar or something, but the key factor was that it was quite easy to skin. It was quite popular. Then the devs released version two, which was scriptable.

“Yay! Scriptability!”, I hear you say. This would provide excellent avenues of explorations of customisability.

Trouble is, it didn't catch on.

Doreen's theory is that the new format was simply to difficult to grasp. Yeah, it was powerful, but making a skin would take an exponential amount of time compared to the previous version. Skinning should be fun, as Scarebear would say. Slaving over hundreds of images plus having to know a scripting language and what not demands a lot from the skinners. No wonder they drop out. Hell, I don't see myself making WindowBlinds skins, because even with a visual tool to aid me in the process, there are so many factors involved, so many elements to skin, it's just not fun anymore.

Instead, I just ripped someone else's visual style and tweaked the colours to make it a lot darker.

There is an inverse correlation between the complexity of the skinning format (either the syntax or the amount of files) and the number of skinners willing to take a stab at things. This is probably why apps with novel formats like Xion are so refreshing.

Anyway, it is a thought provoking article. Be sure to also check the comments on the post at WinCustomize. || craeonics | comments (23)

Tripped across this on jarkles' blog (I know, that link won't last). Apparently, there's a new shell on the horizon: Cairo. Its history goes from a Samurize config, through Desktop X, to its current closed alpha C# implementation. Ambition is rampant, as the devs seem to suggest that a file-management replacement will be part of the package.

“Cairo is a revolutionary desktop environment for Windows. Our goal is to develop a desktop experience that increases productivity and advances current technology standards. With a focus on stability, performance, and productivity, Cairo is sure to turn a few heads.”

And the feature list adds:

“With Cairo you can transform your desktop from the dated Windows user-interface to a brand new system that will change the way you use your computer forever. Taking advantage of proven functionality, and with stability and performance in mind, the Cairo Desktop system aims to give users a productive and easy to use shell that advances current technology standards. Welcome to the Revolution.”

A lot of big words. But I'm going to reserve judgement until I can actually give this thing a spin. That is, if I can. The upcoming milestone build will be Vista only *sob*

Until then, we can only gawk at the pretty screenshots. || craeonics | comments (10)

So you've got your windows skinned, your wallpaper hand-picked and your icons all matching up. What's left to customise? The little pointer you move around all day ofcourse. Oft forgotten, Windows already provides ways to change your cursors, but CursorFX, formerly CursorXP, formerly CursorEx, takes things a step further.

“Stardock is pleased to announce the official release of CursorFX. CursorFX is a free program that allows users to customize their mouse cursors in ways far beyond what Windows is capable of doing on its own.

The default Windows mouse cursor technology is the same today as it was in 1993 when Windows NT 3.1 was released. It lacks functionality and visual effects that are easily possible with any remotely modern PC.

CursorFX updates the Windows mouse cursor engine to support fluid animations, alpha blending, effects, real-time shadowing, user-action mouse states, mouse cursor resizing on the fly, color changing, trails, and much more.

CursorFX is a replacement to CursorXP which only ran on Windows XP. CursorFX runs on Windows XP and Windows Vista and includes dozens of new features and tweaks over CursorXP.”

CursorFX comes in two flavours, the basic, free one and a $20 plus version that, amongst others, adds on-click events, trail effects and dynamic shadows. And with all that said, I suddenly have this urge to go create me some cursors. I've been staring at the bloody default ones for ages now. || craeonics | comments (9)