WIP: Gemstone Fever - (or how I go on after my harddrive toast)

Interesting.

CAn't wait to see more.

I agree with Zubaz, looks very interesting.  Even though it's just the taskbar it gives one the impression of being a nice light colored skin.

mick...you really do have a great color sense. The prior one also had great color balance. 

Ok, I've done a window frame to match now... Progress progress... But I need some sleep now...

Here's the current state:

Very restful on the eye. Might have used a 'gemstone' look ...like cut stones in the start button...same MS colors...

mick, the only thing I can say I'm not too fond of, is the start button, it's just when we look for a skin, well me anyway, we wanna get away from the Win look, after all, that's why we customize our PC's..right?, so anything that has a Win logo, to me, I don't like.. but the rest is ace! .. and please hon, don't take offense, I've seen so many awesome skins ruined by the fact that the start button, actually has START on it, it's a turn-off.

That's in the works (hence the name). The current button is actually the mouseover state, it was easier to do so I made it first...

Well, technically it's not a windows logo... I've intentionally malformed it. I will keep your comment in mind though, and include an alternate button that's not MS related at all.

I don't get offended by negative remarks, as long as they are constructive (like yours :P).

I quite like the take on the winflag.., it could be a bit smoother.. perhaps.. also the frames, corners could also use some smoothing.. trying to be contructive mate.

@ TG.. its easy to say that the winflag or start is 'old' or not a good idea.. but I can assure you , coming up with relevant, good looking, functional start buttons after 10,000 themes have been made...never gets any easier....also..many people still love a good winflag or spinoff of one.. if done tastefully.

Thanks mick hon, you know I will love your finished product!

John, I've seen many many skins, as I'm sure YOU have, that have very unique animated onmouseover start buttons, that are in NO way related to any OS, Win etc.

While all else is looking good, I do have to agree with TG on the start button... it looks too reminiscent of the winlogo and, for me, does detract from the overall appearance of the skin.  Perhaps a gemstone-look in another formation/configuration would be more appealing to those who prefer to get away fron the Win look.

Other than that, however, the purple-grey look is quite nice and I look forward to seeing your final production.

love it so far mick......id do an orb startbutton...(im still a sucker for them).......but just my suggestion only!! its your wicked wb.........

ok... I've made an orb. I didn't think I'd like it, but it came out quite decent.... There will still be an option to use the "winlogotomization" for those who like that though.

You could use an animation in the start button....light behind the gemstones...make the light rotate... or the gemstones.

*IF* I manage to realise what I have planned (unlikely...), this particular orb will be really awesome

Dude!  This looks like one of my all-time favorite shades of blue called Periwinkle!

The community is behind you mickeko and from what I'm looking at, you've got something special going here.

This is a gift.  It takes skills, talent, patience with plenty of trials filled with self doubt.

As long as you put your heart into it, you'll be fine.  Talk to Kitty, vStyler and the other brilliant pros, they'll tell you the truth and will help you along.  Remember, everyone can't do this!  The pros are the first to tell you, this is hard as hell!  I know I can't do this yet.

So there it is.

With an eye like this I don't think luck is a factor, so knock it on out the ballpark!

Cp

it looks great, you did a good job on it.

Thanks for the support! Feels great to get something done other than just planning.

I've been working on the orb animation, Here's a preview:

It'll stop on the hand when hovering over the orb obviously.

I like it, I was unaware that you made WBs.  Cool! 

Well, until I've actually completed one, I don't do WBs. This *will* be the first one ever.

you're off to a great start, my first blind looked like s**t.

and only about 250-300 more images to go

Yeah, could be smoothed out a bit more, but of course it's still in it's infancy stage. But looks great though! Keep on with it!

DITTO!!! My first attempt never got past the taskbar and was a shambles!!  I must have a small brain, WB skinning seems very scary to me...lol.

Yeah, Mick, it's looking really good... I like it a lot.

Yup, from what I'm reading here, my own thoughts included, you've aroused a positive interest in this work and I'm sure it will go over well when complete.

I look forward to your next installment with great anticipation.