15 must-have sections
Friday, May 3, 2002 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
Once upon a time WinCustomize's stated policy was that it would only contain the most popular apps as sections. Sections that weren't popular would be removed.
Over time, common sense grew and we realized that you can't really do that -- have a section and then remove it. What about the hard work of skin authors and such who took the time to submit something?
So we took a different route - we only would DISPLAY the most popular sections and the others would be dsiplayed by clicking on the header bar ("library") so that you can get to the other sections.
So, if you were in our shoes and had to pick say 15 sections to have on a skin site - ANY 15 sections (whether we have them here or not) what would they be with the criteria based on POPULARITY (i.e. no breaks for a "unique" freeware app please).
Where popularity is determined by a combination (pick your own way of weighting the factors in this combo):
1) Users using the program
2) Activity of skin authors
3) Legitimacy (i.e. app needs to be actively developed and developer of app must publicly approve skins being made with its format).
4) Uniqueness (should matter some, i.e. how many skinnable MP3 players should a site have?)
Here's what I'd pick to get things started:
1) Wallpapers
2) Windows Media Player
3) WinAmp
4) WindowBlinds
5) ICQ Plus
6) NeXTStart
7) Coolplayer*
8) Dashboard*
9) DesktopX
10) WinStyles
11) IconPackager
12) ObjectBar
13) Litestep
14) LogonStudio
15) CursorXP
Others that are right up there:
a) Trillian
Talisman
c) Hoverdesk
d) Screenshots
* WinCustomize is the official skin site for Dashboard and Skinplayer so they will always be part of any top 15 list.
Stardock apps that aren't listed:
1) PocketBlinds. Just isn't getting enough skinning support, has been a release candidate for a long time.
2) WebBlinds.
3) SkinStudio widgets
Other possibilities:
Beatnik (we have a section for this but lack of activity took it from the default home page choices)
SkinMem
Quick Notes
Yahoo Messenger
BTW, you can select which sections to display from your settings. So you can have as many or few that you want.
Over time, common sense grew and we realized that you can't really do that -- have a section and then remove it. What about the hard work of skin authors and such who took the time to submit something?
So we took a different route - we only would DISPLAY the most popular sections and the others would be dsiplayed by clicking on the header bar ("library") so that you can get to the other sections.
So, if you were in our shoes and had to pick say 15 sections to have on a skin site - ANY 15 sections (whether we have them here or not) what would they be with the criteria based on POPULARITY (i.e. no breaks for a "unique" freeware app please).
Where popularity is determined by a combination (pick your own way of weighting the factors in this combo):
1) Users using the program
2) Activity of skin authors
3) Legitimacy (i.e. app needs to be actively developed and developer of app must publicly approve skins being made with its format).
4) Uniqueness (should matter some, i.e. how many skinnable MP3 players should a site have?)
Here's what I'd pick to get things started:
1) Wallpapers
2) Windows Media Player
3) WinAmp
4) WindowBlinds
5) ICQ Plus
6) NeXTStart
7) Coolplayer*
8) Dashboard*
9) DesktopX
10) WinStyles
11) IconPackager
12) ObjectBar
13) Litestep
14) LogonStudio
15) CursorXP
Others that are right up there:
a) Trillian
Talismanc) Hoverdesk
d) Screenshots
* WinCustomize is the official skin site for Dashboard and Skinplayer so they will always be part of any top 15 list.
Stardock apps that aren't listed:
1) PocketBlinds. Just isn't getting enough skinning support, has been a release candidate for a long time.
2) WebBlinds.
3) SkinStudio widgets
Other possibilities:
Beatnik (we have a section for this but lack of activity took it from the default home page choices)
SkinMem
Quick Notes
Yahoo Messenger
BTW, you can select which sections to display from your settings. So you can have as many or few that you want.
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Woodbridge
Reply #42 Thursday, May 9, 2002 4:48 AM
Reply #42 Thursday, May 9, 2002 4:48 AM
Just a thought - why don't you include sections (hidden or not) for all the skinnable apps that WinStyle covers.
Bandwidth problems I guess
But still, it would be nice.
Bandwidth problems I guess
But still, it would be nice.
Frogboy
Reply #43 Thursday, May 9, 2002 12:29 PM
Reply #43 Thursday, May 9, 2002 12:29 PM
I don't think the site should be limited to 15 sections, just 15 DISPLAYED sections by DEFAULT.
Even now you can go to your personal preferences and choose which sections show up on the left.
WinCustomize is very popular in terms of # of unique daily visitors. I think a big reason for that is because the site doesn't have a gazillion sections to confuse new users. Hence the hard limit. Personally I wish we could limit it to 10 sections but that would be too tough.
Hmm, 10 sections..
What would that be.
1) WindowBlinds
2) WinAmp
3) Wallpapers
4) DesktopX
5) IconPackager
6) Media Player
7) PocketPC ->which would have multiple categories
8) ObjectBar
9) WinStyles
10) CursorXP
But that's still too limiting.
You have to have a Litestep section really and a NeXTStart one and a Logons one and since we're the official Coolplayer site need to have that too.
Even now you can go to your personal preferences and choose which sections show up on the left.
WinCustomize is very popular in terms of # of unique daily visitors. I think a big reason for that is because the site doesn't have a gazillion sections to confuse new users. Hence the hard limit. Personally I wish we could limit it to 10 sections but that would be too tough.
Hmm, 10 sections..
What would that be.
1) WindowBlinds
2) WinAmp
3) Wallpapers
4) DesktopX
5) IconPackager
6) Media Player
7) PocketPC ->which would have multiple categories
8) ObjectBar
9) WinStyles
10) CursorXP
But that's still too limiting.
You have to have a Litestep section really and a NeXTStart one and a Logons one and since we're the official Coolplayer site need to have that too.
paxx
Reply #44 Thursday, May 9, 2002 1:11 PM
Reply #44 Thursday, May 9, 2002 1:11 PM
Well, OK then. If we're talking about apps displayed by default, then the 15 most popular is perfectly fine with me.
jcg
Reply #45 Thursday, May 9, 2002 2:32 PM
Reply #45 Thursday, May 9, 2002 2:32 PM
I like the idea. What about the "Highlited" apps thingie. Will it still be the test bed for new apps?
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Reply #41 Monday, May 6, 2002 10:21 AM