Linked by Thom Holwerda on Mon 17th Dec 2012 22:59 UTC
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RE[3]: The more things change...
by kwan_e on Wed 19th Dec 2012 00:04
in reply to "RE[2]: The more things change..."
"It's the basic principle of humans-get-bored-of-things-very-easily.
For some reason, after Winamp, no one has bothered trying to write anything designed to be skinnable.
For some reason, after Winamp, no one has bothered trying to write anything designed to be skinnable.
Hm, but they did bother - remember WindowBlinds from Stardock? Also audio players, Sonique or Kjofol, both much more skinnable than Winamp; the entire shape & form of the UI could be changed in them...
...but, I guess, by then humans-got-bored (or maybe it meant that ugly skins are too easy to make?) "
As I understand it, Stardock is a major hack. In this case, it would be Windows not being designed for skinning which is the problem.
Yes, ugly and unusable skins are very easy to make, but I would like to think that if operating systems were designed to be skinnable (ie, including official tools to do it), that would give professional user interface designers to a stable and thus more economically viable platform to work on.
Winamp3 tried to start it off with their Wasabi framework which could allow you to define window shape, but also script the behaviour of winamp itself. It was more than just new pictures in the way that Winamp2 skins were.
RE[4]: The more things change...
by BluenoseJake on Wed 19th Dec 2012 14:17
in reply to "RE[3]: The more things change..."





Member since:
2005-07-06
For some reason, after Winamp, no one has bothered trying to write anything designed to be skinnable.
Hm, but they did bother - remember WindowBlinds from Stardock? Also audio players, Sonique or Kjofol, both much more skinnable than Winamp; the entire shape & form of the UI could be changed in them...
...but, I guess, by then humans-got-bored (or maybe it meant that ugly skins are too easy to make?)