Best of the best skinners too

Not dead here.

hmmm, I've seen a ton of really great skins come out so far this year. I will always be a loyal customer of Stardock though, not just some Saturday morning fanboi.Through the good and the bad. Always good products.

Amen to that.

I have been a fan for many years, but I have seen the decline of skins being released as time has gone by, there are only a select few that release consistently. I do feel that although Stardocks time is taken up by other resources, If loyal members were given more of a chance and incentive to produce high quality skins people would be more so inclined to consistently release more. I feel that peoples efforts go by unnoticed, although I know that this isn't the only reason, peoples lives have gone on. People have families and things in life which affect whether they can release new content etc... I personally haven't done anything for a long time because I felt that aside the select few that encouraged me with kind words, I felt that my work wasn't worthy. There is a ranking system in place to encourage people to progress and better themselves and despite my efforts this wasn't acknowledged. This wasn't the only reason, I too have grown older and now have a home to run, work to do, life to live and cannot devote much time to skinning anymore which is sad. I only wish that Stardock/WinCustomize realise this and take action. Encourage people to create more skins, employ a rewards system. This will surely help build a bigger skin base and active community for people that love UI. Sorry for the long write up but I just wanted to express my opinion. 

This has been through no fault of Stardock.  They've done a remarkable job at overcoming the obstacles MS keeps throwing in front of them and keeping alive the ability to modify the GUI to suit the user.

That said, the degree of difficulty and amount of time necessary to create quality skins have both risen dramatically with Win8 & Win10, not to mention the need to maintain compatibility with Win7.  I was an avid skinner for a long time, spending many enjoyable hours doing so, mostly for my own use (I've published a couple), but since the release of Win7, the time demands have been such that skinning has dropped off my list of hobbies.  I suspect that is the case for any number of other devotees.  I am content to use published skins now, but I'd be interested in a tool that can update old skins with little fuss, if that's indeed possible.

Actually if I remember correctly you made your last skin in 2007. You want to start the hobby again just PM me and I will be there to help. 

As far as a program to update old skins. From what I know that can't be done. Really comes to knowing SKS and where an image is required and not required. Of course finding all the text settings are another story. lol. 

Most old skinners can't even be found. If a old skin is going to only be buffed up as you say that is to what? Another OS it works on or just a few added images. To do that one needs to know SKS in and out. I say buff one up for yourself and see how you like it. My opinion is say it doesn't work well on win7. Buffing isn't what is needed. Reconstruction is required. Hence knowing SKS very well. You're though process isn't bad but SD can't get those permissions. You try and send a PM to an non active Skinner stating what you would like to do and see what happens. 

More skinners are needed and welcome, so lets get started. 

Well, I appreciate your consideration, for sure.

I will get off this soapbox with one last possibility... could you just upgrade the pictures that show the older blinds to the current resolutions? That shouldn't take somebody more than a couple of days. It looks to me like we need more users WAY more than we need more skinners and maybe this little tweak would help.

I think we are seeing yet another revolution in user demand for a WOW experience. Neil and the crew are now competing with VR/Hi Def/Real Time/Surround Everything.....you get the idea.

I think the fact is, that the UI market moved to touchscreen Boxland because that was what was being offered by the Biggies. I think that market is now moving back to more highly rendered sub-environments because the horsepower for such graphical embellishments is now getting cheaper and smaller.

If you guys can keep a customer base interested in SOME kind of graphical sparkle that changes easily there may still be hope that a swing in the User Interface Canvas will regenerate a growing market for a Windowblinds/Start approach.

Boy, would that be nice!

Oh, really? ... ...

What pictures?

Yep! What LightStar said! I would like things on the site to look a little more like what we see on our screens at home. Take LightStar's stuff for instance........ just kidding! EVERYBODY has lots of creativity in their work.

If it is a matter of resources, I have a 3 screen 2560x1440 setup and I have over 1200 Windowblinds all installed, tuned up, graded, ID'd to author, etc. in an Excel spreadsheet. I could supply some and see how you like them. Just give the me the parameters!