My first skin,

Very red and plastic, critizise away...

from WinCustomize Forums
picture here

Hi, finally got around to try to build a skin of my own, I have had parts mocked up in photoshop for quite sometime but never gotten around to it, but I got this new skinstudio 6 which helped a lot.

It is not at all done, and I havent decided on text or fonts yet.

Also I am a bit unsure wheter I want to color the toolbars as I have now, it tends to look bad in a lot of apps, I have noticed that that is the problem with a lot of the dark skins.

I am also a bit hesitant about the startbutton, the idea is that it was supposed to be a container filled with liquid that would sort of bubble and animate when mouseovered. It will be redrawn anyway, for now I just wanted to try it out in order to make it work with the transparency etc, but it wont work as a top taskbar, but I might just skip it there, or I might just skip the idea and make a more ordinary startbutton.

The scrollbars came out very nice, it is not really visible in the screenshot, but the idea is that the bars are liquids and the dragger is a bubble inside, sort of like a spiritlevel, however I still have some work to do with the arrowparts in order to make it work, I thought those where a bit more customizable.

Well, looking forward to any suggestions critique and comments, I am very new at this.

skinning
2,655 views 16 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
looks good! Toolbars yeah might look bad.. but i think your toolbar backgrounds are quite nice done :) one newb to another ;)
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nice first effort.   Clean and useful.  :CONGRAT:

Handling the start button when located anywhere but the bottom of the screen seems to be a pain for everyone.  I wonder if WB will ever be able to detect where a taskbar is and use a different image.  Probably not.

Don't forget that you can always upload your works in progress to the Screenshot gallery.  :)
Offworld Trading Company
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
From what I see right now,it looks good,still needs some work but nice.Hang in there. :) 
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Coming from someone who hasn't even tried to do a skin, this looks pretty darn good for your first try. I agree with Zubaz, post a pic of your desktop in the SreenShot Gallery. You will get helpfull pointers. Then make some changes, if needed, and enter this in the community skinning project. Never know just what the outcome might be. Won't hurt to try and see how it compares against some of the other skinners here. ;) 
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You will get helpfull pointers. Then make some changes, if needed
No changes are needed if the skin does what it does for you.  Input from others can be taken or rejected.  A skin doesn't havce to be beautiful or functional or anything.  Look at "art-cars"  :)  Those folks are crazy.

There are different reasons to skin:
  1. Because you want *your* desktop to have a certain look
  2. Because you want to get rich
  3. Because you want groupies to adore you and rip off your clothes
  4. Just because  :)
Have fun and ask questions.  Someone will be around.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Okay Skinmonkey23 now you have two ways to look at it.  ;) 

Whatever you choose to do, show us more.  :) 
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I want rich groupies that have a certain look and rip their clothes off! just because!

Uhmm did i get that right? ;p

So yeah i agree with Zubaz

and a thread hijacking! ZOMG!! how long does it take for a skin to get published in general?

Sorry for the OT ;)
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
and a thread hijacking! ZOMG!! how long does it take for a skin to get published in general?
Depends on the skill of the skinner.  I have a skin that I've been workin on for almost two years and it'll never get finished.  BoXXi knocks out a few a month it seems.  :)
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
ahh.. i see but not quite what i was shooting for :)
I meant from turn in here on WC to gallery for all to see :D
Please try it out later on, Blackbird is its name.
And forgot to mention in its summary Cleartype is a must else it will look really bad, i know i checked and almost puked and cryed for 3 days... not really but still :)
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I meant from turn in here on WC to gallery for all to see
Usually within a few days.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Ok that long?... owell thx for the reply :) and sorry monkey23 for the OT.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Because you want groupies to adore you and rip off your clothes


That's why I started. Hmmm...hasn't happened yet :SNIFF!:


Jeg er veldig glad for å se en scandinavisk skinner vise seg her!

Det du har vist oss ser bra ut så langt :D Hvis du trenger noen å teste din WB eller gi deg råd, kan du bare maile meg gjennom min side 2of3's wincustomize side

Hilsen fra Norge


Translation for the curious:

I am very happy to see a scandinavian skinner show up here!

What you have shown us looks good so far :D If you need someone to test your WB or give you any advice, you can mail me through my page

Greetings from Norway
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
PS

I have both Vista and XP so I can test on both systems
Reply #14 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yey my skin is up ^^

2of3 greetings from swe :)
And mabye i will abuse and use u later on ;)
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I have recently reinstalled my system and just realised that cleartype wasn't turned on, so now things look a bit crisper, just have to decide on a nice font to use.

Thanks for the feeback everyone.

I think I will take a break during the weekend and get back to it with a fresh mind. if anyone wants to take try it out live I can send you an alpha release, it is probably easier to comment and notice glitches and stuff when trying it out in action.

WWW Link
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Quite well done for a first skin.And they only get better with each one,you learn more and more. :)