Making Great Skins - what do you think makes a great skin?
Saturday, July 26, 2003 by GreenReaper | Discussion: Skinning
I've been skinning for a while, and using other skins, and I think I have a pretty good idea of what helps make a good, usable skin that people will like. So I've made this article: http://www.zen9361.zen.co.uk/mgs/
But I know I don't have all the answers, so I'd like to ask people here what they think. Do you have any advice that you'd like to pass on? What do you think makes a skin great? Am I totally wrong on something, and can you say why? Do you have any other resources that show good skinning practice?
If so, please email me or post here! I'll put in any advice or comments that I think is reasonable (yeah, this means it could be biased, but eh
). If used, I'll put your name by it along with a link to your WC page or homepage if specified in your WinCustomize settings. Or whatever you prefer. Flame away!
But I know I don't have all the answers, so I'd like to ask people here what they think. Do you have any advice that you'd like to pass on? What do you think makes a skin great? Am I totally wrong on something, and can you say why? Do you have any other resources that show good skinning practice?
If so, please email me or post here! I'll put in any advice or comments that I think is reasonable (yeah, this means it could be biased, but eh
). If used, I'll put your name by it along with a link to your WC page or homepage if specified in your WinCustomize settings. Or whatever you prefer. Flame away!
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c242
Reply #2 Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:58 PM
Reply #2 Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:58 PM
That was avery good read 
and I think it will be very helpful even for non-newbies
and I think it will be very helpful even for non-newbies
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #3 Saturday, July 26, 2003 1:12 PM
Reply #3 Saturday, July 26, 2003 1:12 PM
I've learned a lot in a short time about skinning and I still found your tutorial very educational and relevant.Thanks for the link.If more skinners took your advice to heart(including me)we would have less ho hum,unusable skins.
bordfryr
Reply #4 Saturday, July 26, 2003 10:04 PM
Reply #4 Saturday, July 26, 2003 10:04 PM
I DON'T like skins that have someone's name, logo or the name of the skin in a very noticeable place. I have bypassed using numerous skins for these reasons.
Styl-X Design
Reply #5 Sunday, July 27, 2003 5:24 AM
Reply #5 Sunday, July 27, 2003 5:24 AM
I got a question, I have been contacted by a dutch festival that asked me to do a wmp skin for them, this is what I came up with, is it good enough you think?
www.styl-x.com/artquake.jpg
www.styl-x.com/artquake.jpg
craeonics
Reply #6 Sunday, July 27, 2003 6:57 AM
Reply #6 Sunday, July 27, 2003 6:57 AM
Ask them whether or not it is good enough, Styl. They're the clients. I'd say it's too plain/bland though. Needs more detail.
As for the original topic: first of all Reaper, if you define a foreground colour on a site, define a background colour too. I'm currently staring at an article with black fonts on a dark gray background...
I had this feeling Jakob Nielsen had been looking over your shoulder when I read the usability chapter and judging from your sources, I was right. I vehemently disagree with some things he says, which you echo. Like the "stick with what people are accustomed to" adagium. God, if I wanted my apps to have their close and what not buttons on the top right, I wouldn't have bothered skinning them.
Furthermore, this article is on the "skin for the masses" path again, instead of the "skin for yourself" road I prefer. Trouble of that is that it wrongfully assumes that skinning is interface design. Wrong, skinning only scratches the surface of what true interface design is like. It's like giving your car a new paint job and putting on fancy sports wheels, whilst claiming you designed your own brand new car.
Other than that, it's a great piece of work.
You should talk to the admins here and have it linked to (like in the box on the left).
As for the original topic: first of all Reaper, if you define a foreground colour on a site, define a background colour too. I'm currently staring at an article with black fonts on a dark gray background...
I had this feeling Jakob Nielsen had been looking over your shoulder when I read the usability chapter and judging from your sources, I was right. I vehemently disagree with some things he says, which you echo. Like the "stick with what people are accustomed to" adagium. God, if I wanted my apps to have their close and what not buttons on the top right, I wouldn't have bothered skinning them.
Furthermore, this article is on the "skin for the masses" path again, instead of the "skin for yourself" road I prefer. Trouble of that is that it wrongfully assumes that skinning is interface design. Wrong, skinning only scratches the surface of what true interface design is like. It's like giving your car a new paint job and putting on fancy sports wheels, whilst claiming you designed your own brand new car.
Other than that, it's a great piece of work.
You should talk to the admins here and have it linked to (like in the box on the left).
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #7 Sunday, July 27, 2003 7:13 AM
Reply #7 Sunday, July 27, 2003 7:13 AM
I DO like seeing the name of a skin in the work somewhere.It's a unique identifier.However I dont want to se the name of the person anywhere.And I wont use a skin that has the buttons in weird configurations,To much of our normal computing is instinctive.I dont want to have to search for a button or be hitting the wrong one by mistake.
GreenReaper
Reply #8 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:02 AM
Reply #8 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:02 AM
My deepest apologies for the web colours - not setting *foreground* colours is one of the things I hate sites for myself, as I use white text. As I'm sure you can tell, I'm not a web expert! They should be fixed now.
As for the usability, you're right, do I take Nielson's views to heart. I don't go as far as Jef Raskin and think that skinning is evil, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But I do think skins would be easier to use and more popular if they built on the standard rather than inventing their own.
And yes, that matters to me - I'm very "skin for the masses". My view of a great skin is one that is great for others as well as for yourself. One that everyone will want to use, not just one that uses innovative layout methods or has a neat animation on the titlebar. These things are important, but if the skin itself isn't something that people are going to want to use, what's the point? At least offer options so that people who love your skin except for that can use it.
Skinning indeed only scratches the surface of interface design. But it does scratch it, and as I'm sure you're aware, one bad scrach can ruin a perfectly good piece of equipment. My goal with this article is to encourage people to only make good scratches that complement the underlying levels that they cannot change, and to give them the gist of usability research that directly applies to skinning, like Fitts' Law. There's all this research out there on what helps, but skinners just aren't going to hear about it unless it's presented to them.
Incidentally, you're not the only person to single out that section as debatable. We obviously need more articles from the "skin for yourself" perspective. So go write one! For the meanwhile, I've added you as a dissenting comment, so that people can see both sides of the story ( http://www.zen9361.zen.co.uk/mgs/usability.html - I put your email because the site in your profile seemed to be down; it is character encoded to decrease spammage).
As for the usability, you're right, do I take Nielson's views to heart. I don't go as far as Jef Raskin and think that skinning is evil, otherwise I wouldn't do it. But I do think skins would be easier to use and more popular if they built on the standard rather than inventing their own.
And yes, that matters to me - I'm very "skin for the masses". My view of a great skin is one that is great for others as well as for yourself. One that everyone will want to use, not just one that uses innovative layout methods or has a neat animation on the titlebar. These things are important, but if the skin itself isn't something that people are going to want to use, what's the point? At least offer options so that people who love your skin except for that can use it.
Skinning indeed only scratches the surface of interface design. But it does scratch it, and as I'm sure you're aware, one bad scrach can ruin a perfectly good piece of equipment. My goal with this article is to encourage people to only make good scratches that complement the underlying levels that they cannot change, and to give them the gist of usability research that directly applies to skinning, like Fitts' Law. There's all this research out there on what helps, but skinners just aren't going to hear about it unless it's presented to them.
Incidentally, you're not the only person to single out that section as debatable. We obviously need more articles from the "skin for yourself" perspective. So go write one! For the meanwhile, I've added you as a dissenting comment, so that people can see both sides of the story ( http://www.zen9361.zen.co.uk/mgs/usability.html - I put your email because the site in your profile seemed to be down; it is character encoded to decrease spammage).
GreenReaper
Reply #9 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:31 AM
Reply #9 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:31 AM
Oh, and to over-extend the car metaphor, if you're moving the buttons from one side to another that's like moving from left-seat steering to right-seat steering. You end up grabbing for the gearstick on the wrong side all the time, and weaving all over the road as you do.
craeonics
Reply #10 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:37 AM
Reply #10 Sunday, July 27, 2003 8:37 AM
Ooh, I'm getting quoted! I'm cool with the email link, server has a spam block anyhow.
I think that particular segment will be the only one where people will have different opinions on it. It seems to me that everyone will agree with the rest of it.
The reason for it is probably how "underground" or "mainstream" (to use those catch phrases) one consideres oneself to be. This whole skinning thing used to be all about showing off what you could do with apps, but over the years actual usability started to play a role as well. A lot of the big names nowadays lean towards that direction.
Hmm, perhaps I should write a Tek article about it one of these days. "The Struggles of Going Mainstream", "The Clash of Civilisations" or "Power to the People".
By the way, what's also essential to a good skin, if you ask me, is the packaging. A good skin should come with a readme detailing what it is, how to use it, where to get the apps required and what not.
I think that particular segment will be the only one where people will have different opinions on it. It seems to me that everyone will agree with the rest of it.
The reason for it is probably how "underground" or "mainstream" (to use those catch phrases) one consideres oneself to be. This whole skinning thing used to be all about showing off what you could do with apps, but over the years actual usability started to play a role as well. A lot of the big names nowadays lean towards that direction.
Hmm, perhaps I should write a Tek article about it one of these days. "The Struggles of Going Mainstream", "The Clash of Civilisations" or "Power to the People".
By the way, what's also essential to a good skin, if you ask me, is the packaging. A good skin should come with a readme detailing what it is, how to use it, where to get the apps required and what not.
GreenReaper
Reply #11 Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:10 AM
Reply #11 Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:10 AM
bordfryr123 and I.R. Brainiac, thank you for your comments, which have been added to the artwork page ( http://www.zen9361.zen.co.uk/mgs/artwork.html ).
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #12 Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:59 AM
Reply #12 Sunday, July 27, 2003 10:59 AM
I've been linked!That's a first for me.If I had known i would have said it better. 
Thanks TGR.
Thanks TGR.
I.R. Brainiac
Reply #13 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:01 AM
Reply #13 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:01 AM
I just recently learned about Fitts law.More designers should read up on that.(microsoft)
Styl-X Design
Reply #14 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:16 AM
Reply #14 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:16 AM
craeonics, you got the right to remain silence, evrything that you say can and will be quoted against you
Koasati
Reply #15 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:53 AM
Reply #15 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:53 AM
| By the way, what's also essential to a good skin, if you ask me, is the packaging. A good skin should come with a readme detailing what it is, how to use it, where to get the apps required and what not. |
That's a bit Catch 22-ish......... if you don't know what the skin does, or how to make it work, you probably don't know how, or where, to look for a readme file.
GreenReaper
Reply #16 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:57 AM
Reply #16 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:57 AM
It's quoted for him, not against him. The whole point is to make people's views heard, Styl.
Koasati
Reply #17 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:58 AM
Reply #17 Sunday, July 27, 2003 11:58 AM
GR..... haven't read the whole thing yet, but looking good.
jcg
Reply #20 Monday, July 28, 2003 5:54 AM
Reply #20 Monday, July 28, 2003 5:54 AM
Great article, added to my favorites. It doesn't just contain good advice, it contains some pretty good warnings as well.
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Reply #1 Saturday, July 26, 2003 12:47 PM