Heroes of the skinning
Sunday, August 19, 2001 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Many of you reading this have been around since the beginning.
Which skinners, past or present, would you say were instrumental to making skinning evolve from being a technogeek hobby into something that is done by millions of people?
I'm going to name a few people from the really old days that I think were absolutely crucial. This is by no means a complete list, please add your own.
DAK. (Dimitry). He made the WBMania series of skins and they were amongst the first skins to really show why you might want to use a GUI changer.
Luche. He made the "Simple" series of skins. His "Simple" skin was the first UIS2 skin that I saw that made me go, "Wow, this is why we're spending all this time making this software!" (simple v.02 is here).
Decoder. He was the FIRST real skin author for WindowBlinds. He somehow managed to get the primitive original UIS1 language to do neat stuff. We don't even support UIS1 anymore. I really miss Decoder. I haven't seen him around in a long time and he really had a good eye for things.
John Folden. He was the OS master. And the thing I think that helped WindowBlinds beat out say Chroma and eFX is that WindowBlinds could do OS skins better and that's what many of the early adopters used it for (to make Windows look like a Mac or OS/2 or NeXT). John Folden, who went on to help launch NeXTStart, created much of the early OS ports.
Ed Deans. Ed Deans and I have known each other since 1995. He was the Stardock icon guy. He has done every major Stardock product's icon since 1996. Starting on OS/2 and continuing forward on Windows. He's an OS guru. He's made some of the best and most popular WindowBlinds skins (Liquid), some of the best icon collections, and has done Kaleidoscope themes. Lots of people talk about the "skin community", Ed Deans is arguably one of the founders of it.
Allen Bond. He created skins that were useful and just incredibly unique. Ampulla, which I noticed is queued to be highlighted soon, was one of many skins he created. I miss his presence online a great deal.
Mercury. He hasn't been really active recently but he started making skins in early 1999 and continued a steady release of increasingly impressive skins. No skin author yet has created more technologically advanced skins. Some of his skins have done things we weren't aware were possible. He was the first to have animated scrollbars for instance in his skins.
Dangeruss. No list woudl be complete without Dangeruss. Russ was particularly crucial because he helped put a mainstream face on skinning. The responsible adult with a regular job who also liked creating skins was highlighted in a Wired magazine article on the growing movement. Russ also created skins that were particularly..polished. SOmething many skinners of the time failed to do. And he also created the first quality Aqua based skin which really put the world on notice that skinnign wasn't just a bunch of hacker crap. The Aqua skin on WindowBlinds was authentic enough to scare the crap out of Apple and sent their lawyers on a frenzy to remove that skin from every site they could.
Now this is just a partial list. But these and many others are what have made it possible for us all to enjoy such complete customization of our systems.
It is with some irony that Microsoft shoudl be thankful to them as well. One has to wonder how many people might have been tempted to go to Linux for its customization if skinning on Windows hadn't exploded into popularity when it did.
Which skinners, past or present, would you say were instrumental to making skinning evolve from being a technogeek hobby into something that is done by millions of people?
I'm going to name a few people from the really old days that I think were absolutely crucial. This is by no means a complete list, please add your own.
DAK. (Dimitry). He made the WBMania series of skins and they were amongst the first skins to really show why you might want to use a GUI changer.
Luche. He made the "Simple" series of skins. His "Simple" skin was the first UIS2 skin that I saw that made me go, "Wow, this is why we're spending all this time making this software!" (simple v.02 is here).
Decoder. He was the FIRST real skin author for WindowBlinds. He somehow managed to get the primitive original UIS1 language to do neat stuff. We don't even support UIS1 anymore. I really miss Decoder. I haven't seen him around in a long time and he really had a good eye for things.
John Folden. He was the OS master. And the thing I think that helped WindowBlinds beat out say Chroma and eFX is that WindowBlinds could do OS skins better and that's what many of the early adopters used it for (to make Windows look like a Mac or OS/2 or NeXT). John Folden, who went on to help launch NeXTStart, created much of the early OS ports.
Ed Deans. Ed Deans and I have known each other since 1995. He was the Stardock icon guy. He has done every major Stardock product's icon since 1996. Starting on OS/2 and continuing forward on Windows. He's an OS guru. He's made some of the best and most popular WindowBlinds skins (Liquid), some of the best icon collections, and has done Kaleidoscope themes. Lots of people talk about the "skin community", Ed Deans is arguably one of the founders of it.
Allen Bond. He created skins that were useful and just incredibly unique. Ampulla, which I noticed is queued to be highlighted soon, was one of many skins he created. I miss his presence online a great deal.
Mercury. He hasn't been really active recently but he started making skins in early 1999 and continued a steady release of increasingly impressive skins. No skin author yet has created more technologically advanced skins. Some of his skins have done things we weren't aware were possible. He was the first to have animated scrollbars for instance in his skins.
Dangeruss. No list woudl be complete without Dangeruss. Russ was particularly crucial because he helped put a mainstream face on skinning. The responsible adult with a regular job who also liked creating skins was highlighted in a Wired magazine article on the growing movement. Russ also created skins that were particularly..polished. SOmething many skinners of the time failed to do. And he also created the first quality Aqua based skin which really put the world on notice that skinnign wasn't just a bunch of hacker crap. The Aqua skin on WindowBlinds was authentic enough to scare the crap out of Apple and sent their lawyers on a frenzy to remove that skin from every site they could.
Now this is just a partial list. But these and many others are what have made it possible for us all to enjoy such complete customization of our systems.
It is with some irony that Microsoft shoudl be thankful to them as well. One has to wonder how many people might have been tempted to go to Linux for its customization if skinning on Windows hadn't exploded into popularity when it did.
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hoverboy
Reply #2 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:35 PM
Reply #2 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:35 PM
Naa, the title is great... Kind of like "System of a down" ... 
Frogboy
Reply #3 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:37 PM
Reply #3 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:37 PM
All your base are...
Okay okay, seriously. Anyone want to add to the list? There's a ton of others who definitely were critical. Would love to hear how different skin authors affected you guys.
Okay okay, seriously. Anyone want to add to the list? There's a ton of others who definitely were critical. Would love to hear how different skin authors affected you guys.
Jafo
Reply #4 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:42 PM
Reply #4 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:42 PM
Well, I got sort of side-tracked into LiteSTEP very early on, so most of my influences came from the whacky themers of the time...Thug Life was very influential...every man and his dog was doing LCD themes....and Shoggot got all hard and pointy with his Scathe stuff which went out of its way to NOT look like a typical Windows app.
Doodle came along and and created some difinitive works...in all sorts of categories....
Treetog redefined 'clean quality'...
I'll have to look through all those old 'STEP themes to find all of the names.....but there were many...
Doodle came along and and created some difinitive works...in all sorts of categories....
Treetog redefined 'clean quality'...
I'll have to look through all those old 'STEP themes to find all of the names.....but there were many...
MurkWorks
Reply #6 Sunday, August 19, 2001 11:21 PM
Reply #6 Sunday, August 19, 2001 11:21 PM
I would have to say the original auther of Aaron (the System 8.0 look alike extension, and predecessor of Kalidoscope) for the Macintosh. Anyone who had a Mac ran it.
indigoe
Reply #7 Monday, August 20, 2001 1:54 AM
Reply #7 Monday, August 20, 2001 1:54 AM
Chad Rumbut aka Crumbut. Creator of many quality skins in his own distinct style, but also founder of something great called CommunitySkin. A visionary project, aimed to bring people of old and young, beginner to veteran skinners together, from different sites into one giant skin suite. Both installments so far have been a huge success, and the future looks just as bright...
craeonics
Reply #8 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:17 AM
Reply #8 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:17 AM
craeonics, skin master extraordinaire. He revolutionised the business. craeonics get clubbed
Alright alright, the only Heroes to me are the people that skinned K-jöfol and made the best skins ever (yes, even now). And ofcourse, whoever made the first skin...
Alright alright, the only Heroes to me are the people that skinned K-jöfol and made the best skins ever (yes, even now). And ofcourse, whoever made the first skin...
Dangeruss
Reply #9 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:27 AM
Reply #9 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:27 AM
In a fit of blatant ass kissing, I'd be pleased to add Brad Wardell (frogboy) to the list. Brad probably has more downloads to his credit than any other skinner around. Brad did many of the first generation WB "classics" and still fires off the occasional pixel blast from time-to-time.
Also I think ALL the developers are the true heroes of the skinning scene. Skinning, while challenging in a unique way, is likened to "filling in the blanks". Those blanks created by the talented coders are what make all this eye candy possible.
Also I think ALL the developers are the true heroes of the skinning scene. Skinning, while challenging in a unique way, is likened to "filling in the blanks". Those blanks created by the talented coders are what make all this eye candy possible.
Doreen
Reply #10 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:31 AM
Reply #10 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:31 AM
does anyone know who made the first skin???
I miss Allen Bond, and his jelly blinds...
I miss Allen Bond, and his jelly blinds...
paxx
Reply #11 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:35 AM
Reply #11 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:35 AM
Yes, I have to agree with Russ on this one.
Windowblinds is by far the best skinning application available, and without it, well skinning just would'nt be, or be still very marginal. Brad and Stardock do merit the success and recognition they are getting in the skinning world.
Windowblinds is by far the best skinning application available, and without it, well skinning just would'nt be, or be still very marginal. Brad and Stardock do merit the success and recognition they are getting in the skinning world.
paxx
Reply #12 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:37 AM
Reply #12 Monday, August 20, 2001 9:37 AM
Other than that, Treetog is the one who's extraordinary artwork has gotten me here in the first place. So blame him if you have to daily put up with me. 
! He's my artist-hero!
! He's my artist-hero!
Tananda
Reply #13 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:29 AM
Reply #13 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:29 AM
Shoggot and his scathe series was one of the first things I seen when I came to skinz.org. His icq skin of that series was what taught me how to make a real skin. Treetog and Mercury inspired and helped me. Dangeruss set the standard for technical skill. Those four are at the top of my list of skinning heros.
Tarkus
Reply #14 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:44 AM
Reply #14 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:44 AM
There are a lot of skinning hereos, but Dangeruss tops my list. His Aqua skin is the one that first got me interested in WB, and then ODNT in general. I wonder how many sales he brought to Stardock with that one skin?
treetog
Reply #16 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:50 AM
Reply #16 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:50 AM
Let me add some few names to this list....
Bat, with his "metaloid" series.
Lufia, actualy Alexandrie, with her QNX skins.
David K, with his unique designs.
Ink man, unfortunatly with no skins uploaded in the skins sites.
Of course with my allready mentionned heroes, D.A.K., Aleen Boden, Dangeruss, Merc and CRUMBUT.
Please notice that this is just my WIndowblinds list, I have many others that skins for other apps, like Steve Moss, Bakerstreet, $teven, etc...
Bat, with his "metaloid" series.
Lufia, actualy Alexandrie, with her QNX skins.
David K, with his unique designs.
Ink man, unfortunatly with no skins uploaded in the skins sites.
Of course with my allready mentionned heroes, D.A.K., Aleen Boden, Dangeruss, Merc and CRUMBUT.
Please notice that this is just my WIndowblinds list, I have many others that skins for other apps, like Steve Moss, Bakerstreet, $teven, etc...
MadIce
Reply #18 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:54 AM
Reply #18 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:54 AM
MadIce is fairly new here, but one of the guys that made an impression on me is Morphh (Jeffrey Gentes). He was always pushing the limits of WB. Toxic is an example and even these days it is a good skin. If it wasn't for him there were no WBAmp (he came up with the idea) and DXPlayer plugins. I really miss that guy.
MadIce
Reply #19 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:55 AM
Reply #19 Monday, August 20, 2001 10:55 AM
Oops. Didn't want that coloring thing to happen...
Buzz_Hog
Reply #20 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:07 AM
Reply #20 Monday, August 20, 2001 11:07 AM
I'll add Jafo....
For the longest time I wondered what the hell that little icon of a dude was. His trans skins were always finding their way onto my desktop and it's been a great pleasure finally meeting and becoming friends with Jafo (Paul Martin).
Allen Bond will get another vote from me. He as well is a good friend. Allen has dropped out of the skinning realm as he had resolved some personal domestic issues which now require more of his time. Allen, I surely miss you, but am happy to take the loss, knowing things are going well for you.
Crumbut, father of the community skin. It was a great pleasure to work with Chad and to me, that project is the first sign of "community" in this skinning world. Thanks for letting us in on something special with Heavy E.
Treetog, has got to be one of the most generous skin authors I've gotten to know. His skins kick ass, but the person behind them is even more impressive.
Dangeruss... a lot of people give Russ crap, but hey... when your as good as Russ, everyone is gunning for ya. I don't think too many other people would have held up as well as Russ does. He takes everyones crap and still is willing to help anyone who asks for it.
MadIce... The silent warrior in the skinning realm. His contributions to the community may not be as visible as the others as the plugins he codes give us the extra little goodies we take for granted.
Alexandrie, the skin princess... Alex is always willing to lend a hand and do whatever she can to help others. Her skins are first class and her broad range of talents definately assures her a spot on my list.
Essorant, (Tim Dagger)... just take a look at his skins and you'll know why.
MobiusCo... Tim has been my mentor for quite some time. As I started doing wallpapers and print art, Tim was always there to answer any questions or give advice. He shares a common vision (as distorted as ours may be) which let's me know, I'm not alone out there...
Grimspoon... Jerry working on a venture of extrordinary magnitude. His devotion to artists and art is second to none and his commitment to the skinning community is driving him to help keep it alive.
For the longest time I wondered what the hell that little icon of a dude was. His trans skins were always finding their way onto my desktop and it's been a great pleasure finally meeting and becoming friends with Jafo (Paul Martin).
Allen Bond will get another vote from me. He as well is a good friend. Allen has dropped out of the skinning realm as he had resolved some personal domestic issues which now require more of his time. Allen, I surely miss you, but am happy to take the loss, knowing things are going well for you.
Crumbut, father of the community skin. It was a great pleasure to work with Chad and to me, that project is the first sign of "community" in this skinning world. Thanks for letting us in on something special with Heavy E.
Treetog, has got to be one of the most generous skin authors I've gotten to know. His skins kick ass, but the person behind them is even more impressive.
Dangeruss... a lot of people give Russ crap, but hey... when your as good as Russ, everyone is gunning for ya. I don't think too many other people would have held up as well as Russ does. He takes everyones crap and still is willing to help anyone who asks for it.
MadIce... The silent warrior in the skinning realm. His contributions to the community may not be as visible as the others as the plugins he codes give us the extra little goodies we take for granted.
Alexandrie, the skin princess...
Alex is always willing to lend a hand and do whatever she can to help others. Her skins are first class and her broad range of talents definately assures her a spot on my list.Essorant, (Tim Dagger)... just take a look at his skins and you'll know why.
MobiusCo... Tim has been my mentor for quite some time. As I started doing wallpapers and print art, Tim was always there to answer any questions or give advice. He shares a common vision (as distorted as ours may be) which let's me know, I'm not alone out there...
Grimspoon... Jerry working on a venture of extrordinary magnitude. His devotion to artists and art is second to none and his commitment to the skinning community is driving him to help keep it alive.
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Reply #1 Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:31 PM