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Research for: Is Skinning getting too hard?

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Research for: Is Skinning getting too hard?

Preliminaries

from WinCustomize Forums

I'm working on an article on the above topic.

Is it getting too hard for people to get into skinning?

Consider these items:

  • To make icons for Windows Vista now requires the icon author to invest in making 256x256 icons. When Windows 3.1 came out, 32x32 was the largest sized icon. A 256x256 icon has about as many pixels as a screenshot of a full-screen DOS VGA game did.
  • Windows Media Player is incredibly complicated to skin for and the media player market is very fragmented. I use iTunes myself which isn't even skinnable. So there's a lot of work to make skins but the skinnable media player market has dramatically shrunk from the Winamp glory days.
  • Making a GUI skin that looks as good or better than Vista Aero is very difficult now. When skinning first took off, it was Windows classic which looks like crap. And so even if you were just skinning the title bar and borders, it was still a lot better than what you started with.

So what do you think this means and what could be done? I have some opinions on this but I'd like to hear what you guys think first.

22,023 views 31 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
1) Icons is a HUGE task. There's a demand for as many icons as possible, especially file type icons as a criteria for a successful pack. And in particular for premium suites. A minimum pack would contain about 50 icons. And then you'd have no file type icons. If we add some standard file type icons, a typical IP would contain 110-120 icons at least. To make these look good, I do them at 512x512 px and scale them down to match the new Vista size. This makes the detail level rich, but it's a lot of work. You could easily spend hours on a single icon, and you have at least 50 to do. It's not impossible, it's just a huge task for beginners (and veterans too), unless they've made up their mind about it and are prepared to put in many many hours of work.

2) I use iTunes myself and never dared skinning any media player except WA 2.x. All that xml scares me away as codes are pure gibberish to me. No matter how many times I sit down and try to learn a little I just get more confused.

3) Sure there's a lot of elements to skin, but pulling of a WB isn't as hard as it might seem. To make it look as good or better than Vista Aero, as you say, is simply a matter of the talent of the person behind the skin, and personal preference of the person who uses the skin. If I didn't have a job and other obligations, I could probably roll out a pretty good looking wb in a week.

I think the amount of work and time involved in creating skins, might hold some people back. There's a lot of knowledge to it too, gotta know how to use PS i.e., if you're doing media players, you're gonna know how to code them or have someone to do that for you. If you do know these things, skinning itself isn't so hard getting into, there's some experience involved for sure and you gotta invest a lot of time too.

A good thing is collaboration, people can learn from each other, do each their part of a suite, if that's what they're doing, knowledge will be shared that way, plus they can encourage each other.
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, I've had an idea floating around in my head that I think would make it easier and fun for beginners to skin. What if in SKS, or even a separate app, for each GUI element you had a drop down list of pre-made graphics with the ability to control the hue, tranparency, contrast, etc. For example, you open up the brand new "Skin Wizard" utility that comes with SKS. An option comes up asking you "Chose the type of window boarders" Then of course 'Change color' and 'Change transparency' or maybe even 'import custom graphic' options along with. Select one of the many pre-made graphics then 'Next'..."Chose the title bar buttons"...etc. Get the idea?
Someone who has never even tried skinning or even a graphic app, could make a skin in minutes.
Just an idea.


That would be too good to be true Patrick..nice idea if it were at all possible,

3) Sure there's a lot of elements to skin, but pulling of a WB isn't as hard as it might seem.


Its always that first blind thats the hardest - but you have to admit, to a 'newbie' just starting out buying object desktop without much skinning or even graphics ability , it can look like a monumental task and scare off otherwise hidden talent.

Elemental: Reforged
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well, I've had an idea floating around in my head that I think would make it easier and fun for beginners to skin. What if in SKS, or even a separate app, for each GUI element you had a drop down list of pre-made graphics with the ability to control the hue, tranparency, contrast, etc. For example, you open up the brand new "Skin Wizard" utility that comes with SKS. An option comes up asking you "Chose the type of window boarders" Then of course 'Change color' and 'Change transparency' or maybe even 'import custom graphic' options along with. Select one of the many pre-made graphics then 'Next'..."Chose the title bar buttons"...etc. Get the idea?
Someone who has never even tried skinning or even a graphic app, could make a skin in minutes.
Just an idea.


That would be too good to be true Patrick..nice idea if it were at all possible,


patrick24, I don't want to give it away to soon, but this has been in the works, from GUI Magic, for the past two months. Nothing finalized yet, still have a few kinks to work out.
Forgot to mention, as of now (this may change later), it will be call B.Y.O.B. Build Your Own Blinds.

To me skinning (as others have touched on) isn't harder, just more time consuming.
Back in the day, you could do a WB in 3 or 4 hours. Now it takes 3 or 4 weeks. Big difference.
Same goes for Iconpacks. 100% more detail is involved now, also.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A certain level of difficulty is a GOOD thing...you give people the ability to make insatnt WB's and you will have FLOOD of mediocre skins.

Now if its just for their own personal use thats fine...but I dont want to see Wb's from people who didnt even learn to use a graphics program.Wincustomise is already slipping even in the windowblinds section by letting certain skinners get away with ripped graphics in their blinds.

Wincustomise used to be very vigilant in ALL your images in your skin had to be your own(down to the tiniest button)...now its starting to become a button buffet where you can use what you like as long as no one complains or can prove where you got it(like Vista images)Make your own dangit!

Z71's idea sounds cool,Build your own blinds...but if they all look like modifications of a few basic types...keep them on your own pc...or in the screenshot section.  
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
or in the screenshot section


Looks like that one is confiscated already...

Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Z71's idea sounds cool,Build your own blinds...but if they all look like modifications of a few basic types...keep them on your own pc...or in the screenshot section.


That's exactly what I planned on doing. Starting off with just a few basic types and adding more as the year went on.
After rereading that a few time, I may of misread it the first time.
It'll be hard to come up with 20 different WBs to put together. That might take years.
They're a few basic types, but I'll try to make them unique as possible.
They won't be for elders in the community, more for newbies or grandmothers having fun with thier grandkids. You know, fun stuff.
I'm still not sure if it'll see fruition. That's why I didn't want to let the cat out of the bag to quick. It's more in the devolopment stage, right now, more than anything.