What Keeps You Coming Back to WinCustomize Every Day?
Help make WinCustomize better in 2007/2008!
Friday, March 30, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Every day, WinCustomize serves up well over 1 million pages to users all across the globe. Our forums hum with activity and dozens of user submissions come in every day. There's no question that WinCustomize is a very popular site with a thriving community surrounding it that grows every day. We've been working a lot behind the scenes to improve the daily experience here through things like the new website, contests such as the GUI Champs and the St. Patrick's Day Icon Contest, and Island Dog's stream of community and product walkthrough articles. We're not simply content to sit on our laurels and just let things coast along though, we want to keep growing, expand our user community, turn the forums, articles and skin libraries into something really special. WinCustomize 2007 was just the first step.
One of my primary jobs here at Stardock is to grow our communities, find ways to make the sites better, easier to use, more inviting and more interesting. Now, I can sit here at my desk and dream up contests, exclusive content (like the Vista Tour series in January) and work with Island Dog as he writes up his fantastic skinning articles, but that just doesn't have the same community feel. So now I turn to you all and ask what you would like to see more of. What is it that keeps you coming back day after day to WinCustomize? What sort of content would you be interested in reading on this site? What types of community activities could we run that would get you more involved in the day-to-day happenings of the community?
We're already working on the WinCustomize Wiki, which will allow expert users a better method to share their expertise and knowledge with newer skinners. For our expert users, there seems to be little, simple, opportunity to share what they know. But what about our intermediate users? Or new users?
This is an open question to everyone who surfs this site. Even if you're not an active member at the moment and just scan the page every few days, I'd love to hear your thoughts on what could make the site better, and invite more people to stick around and participate.
As has been said in the past, often people look at us and think "Those Stardock folks will come up with something cool" and we often do, but to help the community grow and get better with time, we need you to step up yourselves and take a more active role in how everything is run. The hope has always been that WinCustomize would be largely run by the community, with Stardock playing more or less a high-level administrative role. We want to encourage user articles, news, projects more this year. We want WinCustomize to turn into a site you come to several times a day, every day. A site and community you want to bring your friends to.
What sort of content could the site provide to make the experience even better? How would you like to help grow the site and the community?
This is your chance to toss in your two cents, to be heard and help influence the direction of the community in 2007!
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Reply #2 Friday, March 30, 2007 2:06 PM
Skinner of the Month fell by the wayside as other projects requiring my time have come up. It's being revived in a different form very soon (i.e. it won't be monthly, that was a bit much).
Reply #3 Friday, March 30, 2007 3:10 PM
Maybe more interesting news like you, ID and Mr Frogboy made at this time.
I love the idea of mini contest, and yes "Skinner of the month" it's also a good idea i think.
Community projects are great too!
I think a rebuilt of article section could be help, i explain: maybe make sub sections more clear like in forums and sub sub sections for tutorials for each applications.
i agree again RomanDA
too slow
Reply #4 Friday, March 30, 2007 3:15 PM
Reply #5 Friday, March 30, 2007 3:21 PM
Reply #6 Friday, March 30, 2007 4:39 PM
I think an area would be great for folks like myself that are terrible skinners (or just new).
A "work in progrees" gallery would be cool also. Maybe one that "cleans itself out" after activity has stopped.
I think it'd be interesting to see a skin that was passed around and modded as it went. Like playing telephone as a kid. What happens to a skin/dock/widget as it passes through the minds and pixels of many skinners.
Reply #10 Friday, March 30, 2007 8:22 PM
Something that just came to mind...how about a "Life in the Day..." type feature from some of the Stardock employees? A way for us users to see the goings-on of things at Stardock HQ. Also maybe some interviews with prominent skinners and members of the community (unless that's already been done?).
Reply #11 Friday, March 30, 2007 9:04 PM
If I suggest a WIP section one more time I think my head will explode.
Reply #12 Friday, March 30, 2007 9:30 PM
I also think that the "Today's Favorites", "Top Master Skins", "Featured Articles" and "Today's Hot Pages" should be put on the left side, while the featured skin, poll and the premium suit on the right. We tend to view pages from left to right, and by putting those 4 sections on the right you're making them secondary, even though these are the more important sections - that's where the community is, isn't it?
Finally I would like to see some sort of a customizable "top 5/10" list. By customizable I mean the ability to filter out the results as it were. I.e. I want to see only the top 5 rainy skins, or I want to see the top 5 skins among windowblinds, sysmatrix and rainy skins.
Reply #15 Friday, March 30, 2007 10:54 PM
Reply #16 Friday, March 30, 2007 11:35 PM
fine...howsabout free beer on friday nights?
Reply #17 Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:35 AM
Reply #18 Saturday, March 31, 2007 12:50 AM
Come on, guys...how about actually replying to the posed question.
Zoomba's intent was/is to obtain valid, viable input into ways for improving the site...
Reply #19 Saturday, March 31, 2007 1:10 AM
In truth, I think it's partly about the battle between adding the new layers & yet maintaining the sense of the core of Wincustomize.
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Reply #1 Friday, March 30, 2007 1:48 PM
I think we have had a few fun DX Community projects (Easy Button for one), and the idea of a WB Skinned widget, but those things are really great to get people involved.
Hopefully there will be a better organized Tutorial section for each product, and lots more Tutorials too!!
I think adding you & ID and Zubaz has been a great benefit to WC...