OSNEWS.Com WindowBlinds 6 review

honestly, the vast majority ARE ugly. . . That is not to say, however, that there are not some truly exceptional skins (and artist) out there: Vstyler, Basj, essorant and Cycoced are just a few of the many exceptional artists. Skins such as Vienna, V2 Spectrum, Glassmaxx, Buuf, Sonix07 and Vectra to name just a couple of dozens of truly great WB themes.

I would like to say, however, that just because I don't necessarily like certain themes, that they are not great to someone else. . . It is all a matter of personal taste, so you have to appreciate the diversity of styles and all of the hard work by all of the artists who submit their work!

I would like to personally thank all of you artists out there who continually submit great work!!

My Top 11 (in no order):

1. DogmaX4
2. Vector-Cell
3. Retro
4. CopperDeckII
5. ChristmasTime
6. Aquarium
7. Blackcomb
8. K-TEK steel
9. 5imple
10. FauxS-TOON
11. Fett

I think that the new Vista skins are incredible . . but they need to rest like a good wine until I add them to my Top List.

On the whole, I thought the review of the app was good.  I thought the focus on the skins was unfair.  No one criticizes the templates that ship with Word or color schemes in PowerPoint (shudder).

I would have like to see them mention the recoloring that is possible.  *THAT* feature should be splashed across every review.  It is simply awesome.

My list of a few.

Adrenaline
Black
CeirousSX
Delta
Ecliz Deluxe
Eminence
Mac OS X Leopard
Optix
Pristine OS
Sexy
Smooth Blue


I really have to agree with that...which should be obvious from my list. I like clean, sleek, and highly usable skins. I don't like the big, gaudy, in-your-face Fisher-Price looking stuff (that's why we skin in the first place, to get rid of Luna!).

I haven't updated to the final version of WB6 yet...but I wasn't too impressed with the new skins that came with it (or for it). Reminiscent of older WB version skins or something. Adamant looked nice...but there were no shadows and no toolbar icons, I thought something meant to showcase what the new WB can do would at least include that stuff.

Actually Brad....nothing can be done. It all boils down to personal taste. I personally wouldn't fret over the comments about the skins. The person sitting next to the one that wrote the review might have had a whole different opinion about the skins. And there are tons of great skins as well as some that aren't all that good. But like whats been said...what I like...you might not. Its just great that we have so many different skinners that can put out enough diverse skins that can appeal to everyone.

All I can say to anyone that cannot find at least 30 or more great skins here that would appeal to their taste...theres always...and I shudder to say....luna....in 3...count them...3 different colors!

And theres always SkinStudio where they can make what they want.

I think there are so many choices you can't help but find a few skins to enjoy. Plus with the better ability to alter color and fonts in skins, even novices can change a skin they may not like into one they do.
I agree the skins that came with WB6 weren't exactly my cup of tea, but overall I tend to find at least one skin a month that I really like, and then several that are good. Can't please everyone though that is true.

Here are my top 12 favorites:

1- Azenis2 (JJ.Ying)
2- Big Sur (geyster)
3- Cryo64 Exodo YQ (D. Arnaez)
4- devoir (essorant)
5- LovesDyingEmbers (BoXXi)
6- Mica (PurrBall)
7- Paippr (^^Gabriel)
8- SexyXP (vStyler)
9- Stargate SG1 (vStyler)
10- Tiger Glass (IOU)
11- Vienna (vStyler)
12- Vienna2 - Spectrum (vStyler)

IMHO, each of these 12 WB's are creatively designed, make artistic use of color and are well crafted. There are quite a few others of this caliber in the gallery but these are among my favorites. Also, none of these have that bloody user pic sticking out the top of the Start Menu. I just hate that.

I think that determining whether a skin is nice to look at or ugly is TOTALLY a personal choice. To state that we are hurting for nice skins is unfair. Kind of the old "One mans trash another mans treasure" scenario. I mean, there are tons of skins that have a lot of downloads that I personally haven't downloaded, then again there are some that haven't seen alot of downloads that I've downloaded and used. I disagree with their assessment on the skins. I think the real beauty of a piece of software as versatile as Windowblinds promotes the pinnacle of creativity which by the way is the intention of this software. I think anyone that overlooks that aspect of it is missing the whole point of Windowblinds. I'm convinced that skinning is still in it's infancy stage and the true potential won't be realized for some time. Let's face it, we have a mix of extremely experienced artists and a lot of budding artists and some in the beginning stages, all of this provides us with some really great choices and ton's to look forward to. I personally think that there will always be skins that don't appeal to some and others will love. I mean really, most are made to meet our own personal taste.

For long-term usability (in no particular order):

Adrenaline
Eminence
Dreamland
SouLuna
Ecliz
AeroGlass
Thallos
Ceirous
Jadaero
The Invi Series

I could easily have listed another 20+ favourite skins that I love, but these were some of the best.

One of the major things I've noticed is how some of the major players who provided quality content for WB just seem to have disappeared.
There's still great themes coming out from great artists today, but the "godfathers" of WB skinning (those who set the bar for the rest on quality concepts) just aren't visible much anymore. Talking here about artists such as Mike B, Essorant, Xino, Gabriel, Voo, etc. I'm sure you can think of others also.
Without the quality & "trend-setters", the newer skinners have little point of reference from which to work from or towards.

Another point is that newer users are venturing more into skinning as SkinStudio becomes easier to use and WB easier to skin, so the quality of newer skins may lack some of the polish that comes with experience and time in the field.

And that's my two cents.

It would be difficult to cull out some of what people think are "ugly" skins. Some of what I think is "ugly as carp" just made the top X lists of some posters on this thread. Right now I'm using StealthOS - which I'm sure others would dis.

If the WB library were cut down to just a list of one person's favorites, then lots of good stuff would go by the wayside. I'd, for instance, like to see a Vista re-amp of ReGeeked, but I'm sure many folks would consider that just wacky.

I don't have the new version yet. But, from what I have seen it is first rate. I can't wait to try out the color changing features on some of my favorite skins. I do think the review was a bit unfair about the quality of skins though. Skins are completely a preference. I can't think of a category of preference that doesn't have at least five master level quality skins already available. Sometimes people forget (or don't realize) that creating skins really is an art. It's not just gettings all the margins lined up. And as art the level of skill varies greatly from person to person. So, if the only gripe was the reviewer couldn't be a$$d to search through the hundreds of available skins for what he liked, you came out pretty good

Actually one of the only few skins I truly like is Molten, with the animated dragon and start menu. I use it along with the standard lava dreamscene, which is also one of the few I can actually use for more than a little while.

Searching through hundreds of anything sux bad, there are over 700 pages in some of these galleries and after a couple hours of seeing nothing I like it's very hard to be bothered going further. Maybe a more comprehensive search function is in order.

In my opinion; a "journalist" who writes sentences like: "There are ten million billion themes out there, but 99% of them are - excusez-moi - utter rubbish". Hasn't really the qualifications to write a review about anything.

Duh... yes each of us has their favorites. None is using all the 4000+ skins that have ever been made. But to claim that all of us want a skin that is "subdued, elegant, and consistent" is utter bull.....
You will find that a majority will settle back to a "subdued" and "elegant" skin after a while, just to swap to a more gaudy theme now and then.

The whole point of WindowBlinds is to give us the choice of what skin we use!

I prefer the sleek and elegant skins if I spend a day before the computer and want a whole lot of work done. But I also love snow-flakes on my Taskbar and I even will load the dragon now and then, just because it looks so damn cool.

WindowBlinds is about choices, and 100% of the Blinds available here give us that choice.

removed at request by poster - [Erk]

Tastes and preferences will vary from person to person. For anyone to suggest that WB6 is useless or not worth having because no one has catered for their esoteric and eclectic tastes is just moronic.
Sure, so one person likes "subdued, elegant and consistent" themes... but that doesn't mean everyone else will. Moreover, one who is looking for a certain type of look is sure to be critical of everything that they try out.

Very few skinners will actually skin to satisfy others' tastes and those that do, won't do it to please just one individual, or won't do it for free. They'll either skin for themselves, preferring to create what they would like to see in a skin, or cater for as wide an audience as possible, or find a midway and cater for both.

What WB6 + SKS6 does indeed offer, is the ability and freedom for users to be able to satisfy their own desires in a skin, and as this duo of applications become easier to use and more accessible to the general public, more and more variety will emerge. That's not necessarily to say that it will consist of quality themes, but there will be some diamonds that will emerge from the plethora of new content.

However, I strongly believe that quality standards are set by the more established and experienced skinners. When a newcomer is inspired by an awesome skin, or the style of a consistently great skinner, they'll have something to aim for when creating new content.

Some of my (current and all-time) favorites:

NuageRedux
Universe Metal (hoping for an update there)
Black
Sage (if only treetog would update that one)
StealthOS
Vienna2
PixOS
DogmaX4
Toreup XP (just because it puts a smile on my face)
Peony (for my female side)
Transylvania
Cabal (I'll never get bored of that one..)
Ealm


(if a mod could please delete post #13)

In the early days of skinning.. Luna was a template in which almost all other skins evolved from. That stigma, can still be seen in the majority, if not all.. uxtheme based creations. Very few ventured into using stylish start menus, but then came in the "gel" glam.. then I guess what you could call 'block type' glass. IMHO, no matter what an artist did with that, it was stagnant. Lots of color, and great design, but stuck in a static shell with no luster.

The artists here, tended to follow that tradition. When I first came around to testing out the WB community, the Luna effect was still strong. And, it's only been in the last year or so, that the trend is starting to move towards an evolutionary point that makes a great skin, well.. great. For me, ... it's usability. Top themes on my user list, include those that have streamlined start menus, clean but flashy buttons, colorful context menus, and for the love of Pete, white inner window panes. One thing that throws me off from the get go, is a kick ass theme.. and a black or darkened window and I can't read text from websites or software apps because by default, text is black.

For a great theme to be used for a long time, such as:

Azenis, Ecliz, Vienna, Xaphire, V2 Spectrum (to name just a couple)

They apply everything that's needed for a theme that's nice to look at, but doesn't give you a headache to stare at all day. Other great themes get murdered by gaudy start menus, oversized window bars, and dark on too dark color schemes. On top of all that, the majority of skins are what color? Yep.... blue. It too, can be overused.

I see the Magic Suite being talked about... seriously reminds me of TSF's Disney theme..and just like it, is just FLIPPIN' HUGE!! The theme takes up too much screen space. It has a lot more potential you guys let some of the air out.

That's my two cents. People can sit and comment about one side or the other, but what it really boils down to, is how the theme presents itself. Think of it as fine, hand crafted jewelry... next to Walmart's $4.00 rack of costume plastic. Top artists are the same as top players in any field... you can expect to hit one out of the park some days, but you can't expect too everyday.

My thoughts exactly.

Ktek steel
NeOS
Gt3
Silver web
Faux Toon
Dream Land
copper deck
Azenis
Vienna vista

I have roughly 200 skins downloaded....give or take a few in my WB folder...and more than likely half of that saved in another folder...and I like each one for varying reasons. Some are very simple...some have intense graphics...but my preference is sleek..simple, easy on the eyes and usable. For quite awhile now I've been using Ecliz Transparent...now I'm using Mike Bryants Solarion skin...and as far as I know I have every skin Mikes ever done because I like his style. But I couldn't possibly make a list of a top 10...because tomorrow that could change.

Then you have skinners such as IRBRainiac that puts out utterly amazing stuff...So you have people skinning from so many different styles...how on earth this reviewer can't find something to use just boggles the mind. I seriously doubt he even looked for any length of time through the WB library. And anyway....he's just one guy who obviously hasn't paid any attention to the download count on a lot of these skins.

Actually Brad WB is stressfully unflexible in many areas of windows, Vista only furthers this restrictive frustration. The main reason my style in particular has gone far more minimal is because of the restrictive nature of the beast, that may be a good thing for those who like the simpler style but I am positive if more priority could be given to making every area of WB independant and not inherited from some other area I could produce much more original skins and WB would be a FAR superior skinning engine, it's the main problem with how WB operates at this point in it's evolution.

Give me more rope, I promise you won't find me hanging on the end.

Some skin's I would recommend? Anything by Mikeb, danilloOc, Tiggz, Basj and IR Brainiac.

To each his own.

Your damned if you do and your damned if you don't.

As Forrest gump wold say..

That's all I got to say about that.   

Well, I agree: It's a great program. As for "Most of the skins are ugly." Well, DO something about it. I don't hear of them making a skin, and if you don't like a particular skin, hey....guess what? MOVE ON!
I get tired of detracters, and other negative types, along with the "Raters" and critics.
Anyhow that's my 2 cents worth of rant.
Oh...I almost forgot! My humble thanks to ALL the folks who try to improve things.

Light a candle rather than cursing the dark.

Choosing the best 10 is fairly easy - there are only about 15 or 20 that O actually use. The best are (in alphabetical order only)

Azenis2
Antares
Cabal
Cyclops
Diamond
DogmaX4
FausX-TOON
Parsec
StealthOS
ThunderStorm

Most other skins are either trying to make a machine look as if it is running a different OS (Mac or Vista) - something that seems to me to be utterly pointless, or they are too 'clever' . As has been said here before, in order to bew usable a skin needs to be simple, elegant, clean and efficient. Too many skins look good for a couple of days then the novelty wears off and you delete them.

BTW I know that ~FausX-TOON breaks my own rules, but it's just too darn good to leave out!

There are some great skins for windowblinds but most of these great skins have been around for years. Over the past year, actually longer the variety of styles of skins has been limited and unattractive to me. I rarely download windowblinds skins these days.

I am a bit of a minimalist and prefer to use skins that include compact menus. Many skins that I might like otherwise do not include compact start menus and as a result they don't get used. Many of my favourites have been mentioned above. In no particular order, my favorites are: DogmaX4, Ealm, Vector-Cell, Retro, TopaX, 5imple Alpha, and just about anything by essorant (as long as it includes a compact start menu). In fact I have been thinking about buying his premium skin Nuage but the screen shot suggests that it does not include compact start menus. If it does, someone should let me know.

I see the challenge as being able to create a community that can produce a wide enough range of skins to suit a wide variety of tastes. This is not an easy task. I have tried skinning myself and have found that I do not have the aptitude or skill for skinning. I also found the learning curve associated with the skinning software to be too step. In my early efforts I was frustrated by poor documentation and what seemed to be a very tedious process.

However, it looks like skinstudio 6 is a significant improvement over previous versions. If I can find the time I may try my hand at modifying some near favourites so that they better suit my tastes. I think that recent efforts to create a supportive skinning community via a wiki and skinartistry.com have the potential to improve things greatly.


Thats my two cents worth.

      


In no particular order:

Dreamland
StealthOS
Eminence
Vienna
Vienna2 Spectrum
Ecliz
Ecliz Deluxe2
Nuage Redux
Ceirous SX
Tiger Glass (IOU)

There's about 20 more blinds that immediately comes to mind.

As far as people thinking that some of these blinds are ugly, well they need to go back to Windows default.

Cp