When I got my first computer, about three years ago now, my sister came to visit, looked at my screen, with its Desktop Architect theme, and in a critical manner said: "Whatcha wanna put all that crap on yer puter for, don't make it run any faster!".....

Well I was somewhat taken aback by her attitude and said something to the effect that maybe it didn't improve performance, but it looked good, cost me nowhere near what her scrapbooking paraphanalia cost her, and I probably derived much greater pleasure from my desktop than she would hers, with its default XP...to which I got a rather grumpy: "It's nothing but an effing waste of time and money!!!"

However, and here's the clincher, her hypocrisy was soon to be revealed when she saw the 'da Vinci' theme that came with my purchase of XP Plus....when I visited her about a week later, the 'da Vinci' theme was proudly being displayed on her desktop....to which I queried: "Thought you didn't like dressing up your puter cos it's a waste of time and money?" Her reply was just as astounding as the discovery of her customised desktop, as she "only got Plus because of the CD Label Maker" (which was NOT mentioned when she first saw my da Vinci theme) and that "I may as well use the themes if I paid for those as well." Seemed to me, the label maker was the bonus, rather than the other way around....

Then, a few days later, when asked to do a couple of odd jobs, I noticed she was making what looked like desktop icons with some program she downloaded....and even more incriminating, there appeared to be a StyleXP icon on her screen that was suspiciously similar to the one I had recently acquired with the program. Oh yeah, customising my desktop, purchasing XP Plus and StyleXP was a waste of time and money, that is until she was doing it also. A case of keeping up with the Jones', perhaps?

Guess what I'm trying to say, given this and other experiences, is that quite often people will criticise what you have and can do because they have not and can't do, that maybe they have an inward admiration and/or envy they cannot admit to, so judge, criticise and condemn to cover it up....oh how fickle human nature can be at times.

In either event, whether or not someone likes or dislikes your chosen past-time/hobby, if it harms no-one, then continue to follow it and be happy in what you do.

God Bless Skinners

God Bless Skinners

God Bless all Skinners and skinning community


Thanks again for all comments.

I know I feel better knowing that there are more like me out there.

Does anyone besides me feel like a ten year old on crack when they are working on someone elses computer, because you are just dying to change their plain windows skins to windowblinds and iconpackagers and widgets and all so bad it makes you clench your teeth?

Funny thing about freinds and there computers is as soon as they get a virus or there computer crashes they always come to me. So my teeth are clenched and are grinding.

"that a skinner just presses magic buttons and viola"

how I wish the skill of skinning was as much appreciated as the skill in playing a musical instrument

skinhit: Some of us are blessed, you've got some talent in your icons. Po, you break out with some wild stuff just to post in these threads...so whatever happened to that WB you were working on??

When I fell sick with the skinning bug, dark skins were what I wanted. Attempted it, failed miserably. Created another skin, lighter, more minimal. A little flash in the buttons. But I have many more I have not dared to share; incomplete or just not what I think others might want. Or I might find that someone takes special exception to my work, and I really can't take that much "constructive criticism". So I check out what others have done and try to mimic technique in the graphics.

I worked on getting a WB5 skin ported from the Litestep theme "Obsidian". I still have not completed it. Just can't seem to come to a final decision on some of the graphics I used. I started it about 6 months ago. The skin I currently use is my own, I call it "Visual Basic"; kinda like a Vista toolbar rip, but minimalistic. Not a lot of different colors, or blending. Mostly I have been playing with XP VisualStyle.dll, trying my hand. This skin has taken a total of 3 months to become a working skin, lacking only the Please wait and logoff panels.

My family thinks I am nuts. They ask where I've been all weekend, in my room...pixelizin this awesome 25x25 button image. They laugh, asking how big is 25x25 pixels? I show them my thumb and forefinger about a quarter inch apart...

Skinning is not stupid. But it isn't for everyone. Each to his own. Those of us who skin and can't esplain, take a look at NASCAR fans...or World Cup Soccer. What do they get out of it?

Happy skinning!

Well I can't skin anything myself, I've tried but failed. I don't like spending days and weeks and months working on a skin or image, yet I don't mind at all working on my website. I don't mind sitting working one and a half years on several PHP scripts and HTML files to make sure every little thing is perfectly aligned and working to the exact way I want it. Sometimes I ask myself why. I don't know why, maybe it's because of the people that I can impress with it, who knows? I do know that I'm not addicted to it, surprisingly. Some of my friends think I work on the computer too much, but it's only because I have lots of spare time. Also, I do know that if anything it has actually made me smarter, able to learn things quickly, memorize events more than others would imagine, and able to think for longs periods of time like when I was taking the SAT I felt fine after I took the test when everybody else felt tired and not wanting to do anything.

At least your significant others will take a look at your stuff. Last time I put together my desktop I couldn't even get my missus to take a peek and "looka wut I dun".

Oh well, fortunately the foundation of our marriage is not desktop customization, otherwise we would have divorced a looong tima ago.

thanks scorpio logic, im flattered that you think so...

My wife could care less about my skins. I'm lucky if I can get a sniff outta her when I show her what I'm working on


This is a very old thread, I realize. But still relevant

Everyone I know couldn't care less about it. They just care that their computer works and they can do what they need to.

My mother can't even tell the difference between two skins that have the same general color.

get a new spouse and new friends   

My wife is jealous over skinhit. Other than that, she's cool with the rest of it.

Well...next time the wife wants you to paint the house or anything else for that matter..tell her your not into skinning...

Es una perdida de tiempo muy divertida y poco valorada

She is a lost one of time very amused and little valued (translation from WorldLingo. that doesn't make sense!)

Me too but don't care i'm divorced soon so no more problems

Seriously yeah i have to deal with that too but once exposed Codes making/graphics making and all under the skin/theme people finish by understand that it's not so easy to skin and like the idea to make their PC like they wants by customize their Right Click or an option or Visual Style/WB... Seriously who has never change something on his own PC?



that means more:
It is a waste of time very amusing and little considered

I'll never trust those online translators again!

Its funny to see this thread pop up again after over a year.

Thing still are about same except she will give a glance at my screen every once in a while. Nope that can not be right, She glances over to make sure that I'm not chatting with any girls in the forum.

yeah, because of the abundance of females on WC   

My Wife is starting to get the skinning bug. Trouble is she has fallen in love with Richard Mohler!
Baby! Baby where are you? O come on, I can make a wallpapers too. Sorta.

Hey now! There are a few of us.

I won't even go there. My wife 'glances' over my shoulder every now and then. "Who's that? Isn't that a girl's name? Does she email you?"

I tell her 'skinhit's' only a girl on odd numbered days.

and you've got the even.....

Haha! Ditto for me Po'   

Good plan.....