i need examples for a skinning system

from WinCustomize Forums
hi everyone,

i've been writing a skinning system for a while now which i'd like to post on to a programming site (www.codeproject.com) as a free resource to help programmers (and their users) to skin their applications.

however i am not a graphic artist (most of the stuff here would put me to shame ) and am therefore asking if there are any of you who would be open to me using their skin(s) purely as examples (with specific copyright mention etc).

in addition to screenshots where the code is posted, the skin(s) would also be packaged with the code to allow programmers to hack the code and see how it all works.

i know i'm asking alot but having spent so much time on the system i'd really like to get it out there with some great looking sample skins.

i suspect that before we get to that position you'll want to ask some questions, so go ahead, make my day
2,883 views 17 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Sounds interesting....are you mainly looking at WindowBlinds skins?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
not specifically, but early on in the development of the system i did use a couple of windowblind skins to get started.

some history
------------

having seen the skins on trillian and winamp, it occurred to me that the app was probably designed around the skinning system and that the skinning system was very specific to the application.

as an alternative i tried to conceive of a skinning system which required _virtually_ no code changes on the part of the application - a simple initialization and then code to browse to a skin file is all.

and thats what i've done.

essentially the skin system replaces all the non-client areas of a window (title, border, menu) together with some other elements (toolbars, status bar, sliders etc).

so the bit where the user is doing most of their work remains as-is, but all around it becomes skinned.

i'm more than happy to work up a mini app to display a skin so that people can play with it.

i'll even bodge up a skin for it too


The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I would like to play with it. Get to work!
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ps. i'll do a _really_ simple port of internet explorer just so that there is some content to look at.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
If it's not huge, you can send it to [email protected]
What size file are we talking about?....I'm on dialup.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
tell you what.

when i've got it working, i'll package it up and let you know how big, but i'm anticipating about 200k zipped.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
200k isn't so bad. Let me know when you're ready.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
wow that sounds good. does this program skin everythng or just a specific program?
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
a free resource to help programmers (and their users) to skin their applications.

some history
------------

having seen the skins on trillian and winamp, it occurred to me that the app was probably designed around the skinning system and that the skinning system was very specific to the application.

as an alternative i tried to conceive of a skinning system which required _virtually_ no code changes on the part of the application - a simple initialization and then code to browse to a skin file is all.

and thats what i've done.

essentially the skin system replaces all the non-client areas of a window (title, border, menu) together with some other elements (toolbars, status bar, sliders etc).

so the bit where the user is doing most of their work remains as-is, but all around it becomes skinned


joe..what did you not understand?
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
OMG! I just realized this is aafuss's dream come true. EEK!
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm surprised no one else seems interested in this.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
i don't know.

i've been watching this forum for a while seeing how 'things' work to work out how i might get people interested.

but in the end, i just thought 'go for it'.

and so long as one or two people are interested enough to give it a go (thanks) then it'll either build from there if it's good enough or it'll die because it wasn't.
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Daniel, you may get a better response here.. http://skinnables.org/
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ooh - I'm interested

Skinnables.org is in no way hardcore - we aim to help budding developers in any small way we can, please feel free to drop by.
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ok

but first let me work with koasati a bit and then when i/we think its a go-er i'll get in touch and we can talk about it.

as i'm sure you'll all understand, posting code that is not ready can get you really hammered in the forums so i'm just treading carefully