I've only done 2 WB skins so far and I love the comments, and any chance to improve is welcomed, speaking for myself of course. A bad rating doesn't tell me anything that is going to make me improve. It is also impossible to find every problem with a skin berfore it is submitted, especially right now with all the different versions of windowblinds out there and the bugs that go along with each different version. I plead with poeple to critique my work and let me know of any problems. We have know way of knowing for sure exactly how it's going to look on another system. I am building mine on WB 4 and haven't a clue how it looks on 3.5. If there is a border that is off or a button that doesn't look right somewhere, let me know cause I'd love to fix it. But if you are thrying to bash someones work that is just wrong. If you don't like the style of the skin, or the coloring... well that is the way it was made so just don't download it. There is a huge difference between constructve criticism and negative comments. And I also agree that there are skins here which probably should have been rejected, not for bad artwork but because they are incomplete. But it's not too hard to remove a skin from your system if you don't like it.

Is the desktop i made in my profile really HORRIBLE?

yuck that first one really has some alignment issues (insert vomit icon here)
Aaron on the second link the menus actually look pretty good

A stoooopid question here...
The rating system here... Who rates the skins?

Anyone who has a user level of 3 or 4 or have the 'honorific' title of Apprentice or higher can rate any skin on WC. If you subsribe to WC your level is a 4 so you can rate skins

Anyone that is eligible can rate. That would be an apprentice and above or a level 4 person. But most do not rate.

is the wallpaper in my profile bad??????

...looks like Bryce made it

MrGupps - is the wallpaper in my profile bad??????

I wouldn't say it is. I haven't seen any bad wallpapers on this site though (except for that XP wall I did a year or so ago... I swear it was the one that convinced the WC people they need to enforce some stricter guidelines )

looks like a n00b at bryce made it (myself)

anyway is it good or bad??? or in between?

oh nvm post 33 my ? was answered

it was still rejected from WC in any case

practice make's master huh

Aaron
If you're looking for constructive comments here, you pretty much not going to find them. As you stated, most comments are how great the skin is and seem to be based primarily on popularity. Technical details or skill usually rates way down on the scale. You can post on the message board for help on specific issues and usually get a response but if you're looking for help on "How do I inprove my skin,wallpaper, etc. it ain't gonna happen. My advice, not that you asked for it, is to make stuff you like, upload it if you like, but don't expect any real criticism. good or bad.

If these items were here for profit, then sure, critique makes a lot of sense. But when people are freely sharing their hard work for others, people need to keep that in mind when they comment.

Hmm. I recently got some very useful and kind constructive help/criticism from LeCrayon on my FlowerPower cursor and I'm still working on the update (some minor tweaks and adjustments etc.) but should have it finished soon. I also had an older wallpaper up for a while (Sliver) that was suggested I change the eye color to match the wallpaper better and I thought, "Hey! That's a dang good idea!" and so I did and this person was not a skinner either but suggested it in a way that was curteous and polite. And I liked the final results much better and thanked the person!

I certainly do appreciate and respect criticism from someone especially if they know how to do the work themselves but that's not to say someone that can't do it doesn't have a valuable input or say that counts (just look at the many movie critics who make fairly good assessments even though many have probably never made a good HOME movie to save their lives)!

You can certainly tell the difference in tone from someone who truly wants you to better your work and someone who just wants to nit-pick you apart and move on to their next target but I haven't seen much of that here. I try to make time to go through people's stuff and rate and make comments in between my other life duties but I do generally try to stay on the positive side not because I'm afraid to say something critical but because I'm mostly a cursorXP, Iconpackager and wallpaper user which doesn't make any major changes like WB and some other progs that change a lot more of the OS interface.

I imagine there are people very new to making windowblinds who really might not realize there is a problem with their skin or a critical flaw. I've never attempted to make a windowblind...no way...I'll leave that to the pros! But I respect people who try in earnest to do something and struggle through the first attempts. I never expect to start out perfect...I always want to believe/hope/PRAY (lol) that my stuff will improve more and more because I KNOW my stuff doesn't come out perfect no matter how hard I work at it as I'm still new to many things and I just have to try and do my best.

I do agree that something with serious operative flaws that can really screw up your system are not good and definitely should be brought to the attention of the skinner! Silent acceptance can be worse...because people might start actually avoiding your work altogether and then you'll be left to wonder why.

As far as thinking it is a new trend that some people only submit their work for praise... I haven't seen that here (but I don't use a lot of the progs in my object desktop suite of goodies so I don't look at everything available here nor would I have the time to scour everything on this site). But why would someone praise something that was no good anyway? If someone set out to make something haphazardly expecting praise I imagine they'd be sorely disappointed since I think as a general rule of thumb...most people won't praise something that messes up their computer or is really horrible to work with or look at. I never ask for people to comment but I always appreciate feedback and helpful suggestions to improve my skills or just a word of encouragement. It CAN be a healthy, calorie-free creative outlet. [He-he] Well, it sure beats eating junk food in front of the TV anyway! (Okay, so maybe on occasion I eat junk food in front of the puter too...shhhh)! I do need to get back to real-live sculpting though... They say if ya don't use it ya lose it!

Anyway, I like making stuff because it's challenging and fun and inspires me to learn something new that I probably would have thought I never could have done a year ago. What better reason? And I appreciate the free work people submit here for me to play with and enjoy! I still don't know how adni18 and so many skinners/artists do it!

Gee, I wrote too much. Angel_Wings has to take another dose of Theraflu and needs to get back in bed!

P.S. Smile

Aaron...I personally really have an issue with your singling out examples of what YOU cosider to be poor 'quality' skins and therefore publicly degrading anothers' work.
I don't think either link or person deserves public degradation by example.

Your taste may be quite at odds with general public opinion and totally baseless.
I wouldn't accuse you of being 'hypocritical', rather more like 'hyper-critical'.

I still think of the phrase...
Those that can, do.
Those that cannot, criticize.

@ what Jafo said.

I know I'd be really hurt if somebody had pointed out something of mine as an example of substandard workmanship...especially if it wasn't truly warranted.

By Jafo: "I still think of the phrase...
Those that can, do.
Those that cannot, criticize. "

Indeed.

I believe Angela phrased it quite well

I went away and thought about it some more....came back, and basically Shmoopy made up my mind for me.
Blame her, but I have removed the links.

If you 'must' find a poor example of skinning then go ahead and make one of mine an example.....it won't 'bother' me, but I'm afraid the same cannot be said [by me] for the person[s] whose works WERE used as examples.

If anyone has a 'problem' with a skin or their perception of a skin, leave a suitable [polite] comment on its upload, NOT on a public forum such as this board. It is not fair on the skinner/s concerned.




Yes, a 'user' may have a valid 'opinion', but that MUST be weighed against the fact that a skinner himself has both the understanding of the 'craft' AS WELL AS the reality of necessity to be a user of the skin even just in its creation. In other words, a skinner is still a user, and being both it can be argued his opinion carries more weight...