THE YEAR IN SKINNING: A look back on 2002

Thanks for this interesting read.

Go boy!

Looking forward to the new goodies on Desktop X and WindowBlinds.

26 pages??? My goodness....

The best skinning article that I ever saw. Thank you for taking the time for doing it.

Quite a good read...all that happened? [I must have been asleep]...

Good, saves me the hassle of writing it.

Strangely though, when you glance over it, it looks something like: WindowsXP, Stardock, treetog, WindowsXP, Stardock, treetog, Stardock, treetog, WindowsXP, Stardock, treetog, treetog, Stardock, Stardock, Stardock, WindowsXP, treetog, Stardock... aaaaaarrgh!!!

Well we all write from the perspective we know.

As we discussed on Neowin, I suspect if one of them wrote it it would have been all about msstyles even though there was zero new software for dealing with them and only a few hundred skins.

Hovernews, Hoverdesk, Hoverweather, Aston shell, Talisman, Winamp 3, etc. all got a lot of coverage too. But since I wrote it, I focusd on what I know about.

Like the Skin Primer, I would have loved if someone else would write an indepth article of that nature but sadly, no one ever does.

That's 'cause no-one types as fast as you do.

You are right though, participation in things as such is always low, people seem to focus on skinning the apps. The nitty gritty aspect is for those too deep in (me raises hand). Perhaps it's for the best.

Typing speed is the key. But really, there are plenty of people who can type fast, it's just that they don't want to put in the time to contribute this sort of stuff.

The number of views such an article gets is way WAY too low to justify the time it took though for it to qualify as "marketing". If the overall article has a Stardock bent I'd say that's due to 2 factors - 1) I'm obviously most aware of what Stardock did last year and 2) I think it would be hard to argue that any single entity did as much in skinning last year.

I have updated it though because I feel Aston needs more coverage than it received. Aston was one of the bigger stories of last year I'd say.

i would have like to have been consulted and had the option of submitting skins to represent my company on it. I wouldn't have chosen those but those seem to be the only ones that we did windowblinds for. We've done higher profile and better looking skins. Considering you included us it would have been nice being asked or even a heads-up that our name was being used. Since we know you. Not like your a stranger or something.

not to mention you really need to get out more If you did, you would know that MMD3 by barti bartman was by far the biggest success story and most popular skin for winamp 3. And besides considering who are clients were in 2002, i think we deserved more then a casual reference in an article about Windows Media Player for Skinning in 2002.

are=our

Well i'll add an update to "The Year in Skinning" for 2002.

Windows Media Player 9 Series (Corona):

Microsoft does it again with their release of Windows Meda Player 9 Series. 9 Series is an across the board release unlike its predecessor Windows Media Player for XP. This means any user with an Windows Operating System of 98 (Service Pack 2) or higher can download this feature-rich media player. With over 120 new features in Windows Media Player 9 Series, there’s a lot to explore and something exciting for everyone. New features include: Fast Streaming (Instant-on), Mini-player and full screen audio modes, new audio effects including Crossfading and Volume leveling, Sound effects for button events (dependant on the skin authors to include this in)and many others. You can download the latest version of Windows Media Player 9 Series here http://windowsmedia.com/9series/Download/download.asp

To sample a skin utilizing sound events and crossfading you can download it here http://www.theskinsfactory.com/fullview.asp?alt=CustomSkins&item=61


Honorable Mention:

MMD3 by barti bartman for Winamp 3 hit the skin sites like a shotgun blast winning over skin users and showing off the versatility of the Nullsoft's Winamp 3 skinning engine. While MMD3 is not entirely innovative in shape it makes up for that in style and features. Now with over 70 preset color themes, 2 winshade modes (horizontal and vertical)and many other features this is by far the most exciting skin created for Winamp 3. You can view and download here http://www.deskmod.com/?show=showskin&skin_id=17332

Jesh, actually I did an update to the article BEFORE you wrote your posts. I mentioned WWN and include a screenshot of it.

If you don't like my article, Jesh, that I wrote on my own time, feel free to write your own. My article is now 30 pages long. If I had to go and run around getting permission and interview people on top of writing 30 pages after countless hours of research it would never have been done. But I can certainly remove all mention of the Skins Factory if you wish. You really have a lot to learn about media coverage. If I ragged on every magazine and webzine that wrote about us that didn't include every last thing I wanted them to, I would quickly find that none of them would be willing to write about us.

Remember: Everyone thinks the stuff they were working on was the biggest thing in the world. Myself included. The difference here is that I'm the one who wrote the article and so my own world view is going to be (not intentionally) more in focus.

Jesh, I have to ask, when did you read this article? I had updated this at noon today and it included MMD3 in there with screenshot. That's an hour before your post.

read it last night. i'll reread.

or early morning. days and nights blend a bit too much these days.

oh i'm not ragging on you i just would have like the option of submitting images that represent my company. Its not like your a stranger like i said writing an article. A "hey Jeff we're including you in an article do you have any skins you want to show" etc would have been nice. Well as far as being the biggest in the worl i'm not that egotistical but i think the clients who come to us speaks for itself. Though i think we are the biggest in the world hehe just kidding

Oh and another honorable mention would definitely be Mikkel Madsen of MMX. Simply a beautiful and huge photorealistic icon set based on William Bart's Mercury theme for Mac. Probably one of the best icon sets out there and embraced by community spawning a ton of screenshots of people's desktop sporting his icons. You can See the MMX icon sets here http://www.mmicons.com/

Brad, you did a splendid job. It's a great article.

i noticed the image you used to represent the skinning for this article is a knife set. Did you just see Silence of the Lambs? hehe

this is too much.... I can't wait to see what happens in 2003.

Froggy was thinking of skinning in the general sense of the word. Those knives are his tools when he practices his hobby on the unsuspecting critics.

Craeonics: Shhh. No one must know.

Since the MMD3 skin was mentioned, it’s important to mention that one of the things that makes it so successful is the fact that it is, first and foremost, a superb media player UI. Too often, skinners shoot for novelty and neglect the fact that a skin is a functional interface that helps a human interact with software.

There must be a balance between design and usability. In fact, I recommend that every serious skinner make an effort to learn about usability, especially about Fitz’s Law (Winamp skinners are notorious for neglecting this factor by making buttons too small or rivets that are mistaken for buttons).

Skins should delight users on many levels. But a user who struggles with basic functionality will soon abandon the skin, regardless of the initial “coolness” or novelty, will quickly seek out something a replacement.

This is an important factor to consider when a client plops down money for a skin as marketing vehicle with the hopes of a great return on investment.

The MMD3 skin is, in my opinion, quite usable and continues to delight the user over and over again. It’s a shining example of “raising the bar” in media player skin design; a solid balance between design and usability.