Thanks for this interesting read.

26 pages??? My goodness....

Quite a good read...all that happened? [I must have been asleep]...

Well we all write from the perspective we know.

As we discussed on Neowin, I suspect if one of them wrote it it would have been all about msstyles even though there was zero new software for dealing with them and only a few hundred skins.

Hovernews, Hoverdesk, Hoverweather, Aston shell, Talisman, Winamp 3, etc. all got a lot of coverage too. But since I wrote it, I focusd on what I know about.

Like the Skin Primer, I would have loved if someone else would write an indepth article of that nature but sadly, no one ever does.

Typing speed is the key. But really, there are plenty of people who can type fast, it's just that they don't want to put in the time to contribute this sort of stuff.

The number of views such an article gets is way WAY too low to justify the time it took though for it to qualify as "marketing". If the overall article has a Stardock bent I'd say that's due to 2 factors - 1) I'm obviously most aware of what Stardock did last year and 2) I think it would be hard to argue that any single entity did as much in skinning last year.

I have updated it though because I feel Aston needs more coverage than it received. Aston was one of the bigger stories of last year I'd say.

not to mention you really need to get out more If you did, you would know that MMD3 by barti bartman was by far the biggest success story and most popular skin for winamp 3. And besides considering who are clients were in 2002, i think we deserved more then a casual reference in an article about Windows Media Player for Skinning in 2002.

Well i'll add an update to "The Year in Skinning" for 2002.

Windows Media Player 9 Series (Corona):

Microsoft does it again with their release of Windows Meda Player 9 Series. 9 Series is an across the board release unlike its predecessor Windows Media Player for XP. This means any user with an Windows Operating System of 98 (Service Pack 2) or higher can download this feature-rich media player. With over 120 new features in Windows Media Player 9 Series, there’s a lot to explore and something exciting for everyone. New features include: Fast Streaming (Instant-on), Mini-player and full screen audio modes, new audio effects including Crossfading and Volume leveling, Sound effects for button events (dependant on the skin authors to include this in)and many others. You can download the latest version of Windows Media Player 9 Series here http://windowsmedia.com/9series/Download/download.asp

To sample a skin utilizing sound events and crossfading you can download it here http://www.theskinsfactory.com/fullview.asp?alt=CustomSkins&item=61


Honorable Mention:

MMD3 by barti bartman for Winamp 3 hit the skin sites like a shotgun blast winning over skin users and showing off the versatility of the Nullsoft's Winamp 3 skinning engine. While MMD3 is not entirely innovative in shape it makes up for that in style and features. Now with over 70 preset color themes, 2 winshade modes (horizontal and vertical)and many other features this is by far the most exciting skin created for Winamp 3. You can view and download here http://www.deskmod.com/?show=showskin&skin_id=17332

Jesh, I have to ask, when did you read this article? I had updated this at noon today and it included MMD3 in there with screenshot. That's an hour before your post.

or early morning. days and nights blend a bit too much these days.

Oh and another honorable mention would definitely be Mikkel Madsen of MMX. Simply a beautiful and huge photorealistic icon set based on William Bart's Mercury theme for Mac. Probably one of the best icon sets out there and embraced by community spawning a ton of screenshots of people's desktop sporting his icons. You can See the MMX icon sets here http://www.mmicons.com/

i noticed the image you used to represent the skinning for this article is a knife set. Did you just see Silence of the Lambs? hehe

Froggy was thinking of skinning in the general sense of the word. Those knives are his tools when he practices his hobby on the unsuspecting critics.

Since the MMD3 skin was mentioned, it’s important to mention that one of the things that makes it so successful is the fact that it is, first and foremost, a superb media player UI. Too often, skinners shoot for novelty and neglect the fact that a skin is a functional interface that helps a human interact with software.

There must be a balance between design and usability. In fact, I recommend that every serious skinner make an effort to learn about usability, especially about Fitz’s Law (Winamp skinners are notorious for neglecting this factor by making buttons too small or rivets that are mistaken for buttons).

Skins should delight users on many levels. But a user who struggles with basic functionality will soon abandon the skin, regardless of the initial “coolness” or novelty, will quickly seek out something a replacement.

This is an important factor to consider when a client plops down money for a skin as marketing vehicle with the hopes of a great return on investment.

The MMD3 skin is, in my opinion, quite usable and continues to delight the user over and over again. It’s a shining example of “raising the bar” in media player skin design; a solid balance between design and usability.