Frogboy Frogboy

Skin Applications - where do we go from here?

▼

Skin Applications - where do we go from here?

from WinCustomize Forums
Does anyone get the impression that customization SOFTWARE (not talking about skinning itself) is starting to slow down in terms of development? Sure, individual programs continue to move forward with new versions (WindowBlinds, Hoverdesk, DesktopX, Litestep, etc.) but we haven't seen a lot of NEW skinnable programs recently it seems (well there's ObjectBar and CursorEX) but generally speaking, things like Chroma and KJFoL and other things that were really innovative at the time have gone by the wayside.

Where do you think things will go to next? One thing I can tell you, and I hope jorge from Winstep is reading this as he knows what i"m talking about intimately, it is going to be MUCH harder for future progrmas to get as widespread as the current generation. That's because the main download sites are now owned by a single source and they're trying to find ways to generate revenue to cover their expenses (the .com boom is over for sure) and one way they're looking at doing it is charging for listings (much like Yahoo does now) as well as for highlighting and such. So it would be much harder for a new Stardock or new Winstep to get its start.

But where do you think things should go from here? What would you like to see next?
12,083 views 34 replies
Reply #26 from WinCustomize Forums Top
hmm one thing id like to have is animated design on desktop... dermels were very nice but dont work with xp very well.

for example would be a ( for example ) a very nice view of island with water animating and crashing upon island and etc. even sometimes storms. ( it could connect to weather site to get data on current weather )
Reply #27 from WinCustomize Forums Top
In the end, I want full control over everything. With the current software, I can't even control the look of things, so there is a long long way to go.

And weaponzero has a point about alpha.
DeskScapes - Bring your desktop background to life.
Reply #28 from WinCustomize Forums Top
About alpha support in WB (read: antialiased edges), I asked about it to Brad some little time ago, since XP now supports alpha. His answer was that although it would be cool, it's not about to happen until more people use XP, and that computers get more powerful. Apparently it would suck a lot of juice.
Reply #29 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You could take it further than just antialiasing edges and just use .pngs for total opacity control. Ah, that would be cool
Reply #30 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Well...I want money for nothing and my chicks for free...
Reply #31 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hehe, Jafo.

But seriously, the former is far more likely than the latter...
Reply #32 from WinCustomize Forums Top
paxx: I remember some Dutch initialive for a 3D add-on to Windows, much like Win3D but based upon Open/GL. Can't remember its name. Some company that makes professional audio studio equipment is financing the project, just because they love to do it.
Reply #33 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A lot of people like it when their user interface has an universal look. Although fun, suites like those of the Skindicate, take a lot of effort to make. End users still have to worry about what skin is supported by what skinnable app. Convergence is a good thing for them, because it makes all those different systems easier to manage. Still we end up with lots of identical graphics not being shared by such apps. Skinnable apps are here because there was no such thing like system wide skinning for Windows at the time. Skinnable apps will probably disappear to make way for system wide skinning and Convergence may be a step to make people realize that.

At the moment WB rules the system wide skinning market, but I wouldn't be surprised if MS is planning something similar to X-Windows. An API (an interface used by software developers) in this direction is slowly beginning to emerge. WXP has its new theming system. I think MS protected its theming system to look what the general public thinks about it. If the public likes it, MS will expand it and either open it up or jump on the band wagon themselves (more likely). Let's hope that this doesn't end up like Kaleidoscope not running on OS/X. That could be another alternative if the public doesn't like this level of customizing.

Projects like LS, DX, NS and HD will move towards ease of use. We are already seeing the results of that. They will be more popular than WB, because WB has less impact on the way we work. These days programmers of customization software are dreaming up what the user interface should look like. The big companies already have started to use user interface and ergonomic specialists. Stardock and other companies working in their field can do this in another way because they have an active user community that gives them feedback and they are listining to it. Freeware and open source projects are starting to listen to their users too. Today's skinners have the difficult task to find the balance between pure art and providing a good interface.

I think applications will move more and more towards sharing data and share the functionality to access and edit that data. Standards like COM and OpenDoc will be more important in the future. Those standards are already being used for some time now and more developers are beginning to realize its power. This will give customization software and users a lot of new options. Eye candy will be combined with functionality for day to day live.

Hardware will have a big influence too. Today we worry about that stretching a bitmap is too slow. In a few years nobody will notice the difference. Hardware accelerated alpha-blending will be common soon. 3D will arrive at the desktop sooner or later. Extremely fast processors and huge amounts of fast memory may make all the overhead unimportant.

Skinning in the future will be a lot of fun for us. It will become a day to day reality for the general public. Maybe some us can even make a living doing skinning with initialives like PiXtudio.