I LOVE skinning and still do. Originally joined up in 2002 as joetheblow and as far as I was concerned then, the hype was big. There must have been 6 major skinning sites. It was at a point when if a program DIDN'T skin I didn't use it lol
I came in at a time where I just KNEW Desktop X was a game changer, WindowBlinds was a necessity (with roll up windows and always on top features), and Object Bar (not ObjectDock that's different lol) was just so awesome to me! I was into coding and couldn't wait to try a few things (but I never really did boooooo on me).
Just saw so much potential... with the right scripts WindowBlinds can key into websites and other date and show it. ToDo alerts, links to a site, links to a program... heck whatever you was into. Personally I liked having the plugin where you could see what music was playing.
Things come and go. Sure enough many people don't see a use for it. WindowBlinds might not be as wanted now that Microsoft made their default look decent enough. I'm rather sure more people don't even know about WindowBlinds. It is quite useful on laptops especially combined with WindowFX. Roll up and always on top is a life saver and now Groupy helps me as well (but Groupy isn't exactly a "skin" and neither is WindowFX)
When I look at YouTube creators monitors I wonder sometimes, why don't they use this stuff they obviously need it but they don't have it. 40+ icons on their desk, using multiple monitors with multiple programs open but unorganized... and WindowBlinds to me just welcomes you to the desktop. Dreamscape should be a Youtubers dream but they not even thinking about it...
I think this stuff is a content creator's dream! Interact better with subscribers and use this stuff personally for your own workflow (which is just as important).
all I can do is my part to reintroduce this stuff to a new generation as I grow my YouTube channels... help other creators (as they call them) to set up their desktops... Still want to do a online magazine on skinning. Came up with the idea a decade ago but never moved forward on it. Maybe I should put it on my calendar again...
For those of you on this thread who see skinning in its decline, for those of you who are retired, or skin in your spare time, have people in your life who you know would benefit from these systems, show it to them. I'm focusing of Desktop X, CursorFX, and Rainlender in particular, with a touch of WindowBlinds, Fences, Groupy, and ObectDock, and RainMeter. Still trying to see about what to write for the article on the skinning magazine idea but that will take about a year to finish the way my schedule is going but I think it would be cool if I could finish that as a thank you at least to all of the skinners, app and program makers, and so forth.
Anyway, if you made it this far in reading my novel on this post thread that's 2 years old, just want to thank you for reading lol
