Shoutbox

Seeing as though the contest has been announced I thought I'd post up a preview of my next skin.

So last contest even though I didn't enter I still showed people what I would have entered just to give people an idea of what they would have been up against and the sort of things that are possible given some time. That skin was Phunk'n.

So this new skin is something I have been wanting to do for ages but I really couldn't figure out the technicalities behind its design. The main problem I've had with skins in the past was that in order to create a lot of color variations I had to add a whole bunch more images and the amount of color variations were limited to the amount I could fit into the options panel.

So since in 2011 colorization is technically hidden by default, instead of re-enabling it I decided to go down a different path and create my own form of colorization that allows much better results.

In this new skin when users click the colorize button it launches a browser window to a website I have made that specifically allows people to create, save, edit and download color themes for this skin.

Themes are downloaded in form of a .reg file which then updates the skins code to apply the new color values. This goes above and beyond normal colorization because people are picking 5 colors to style their skin with as opposed to just 1. It really allows for some pretty awesome color variations.

At launch there will be over 100 color themes available for people to try and also the ability for people to create their own. If I want to add more themes for people to download it's as simple as me editing the website instead of the skin. I'm hoping to apply this system to the other skin updates I do so yeah.

Anyway this skin will be launching soon so keep an eye open. Oh yeah and as a bonus this will work on Messenger 2009 and 2011 so everyone can enjoy it. You just have to have Plus! 5 to use it.




Example of a theme.

Why should I bother skinning?


It's actually amazing beyond amazing.

It might not be for everyone though, although the skin is pretty advanced the graphic style is pretty minimalistic.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention that I've ported over the old emoticons to 2011 and created new ones in the style of the old ones so things look in place.

quote:

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Originally posted by Nagamasa
Why should I bother skinning?

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You [actually, "we all"] should bother skinning to keep it alive and diverse. No matter how good Willz gets [which seems to have no limits, btw. Looks like swtch will be great!], he has his style. You have yours, coolzee has his, I have mine. Even if we removed our names from our skins, we would still recognize who did what.

And that's great. It's wonderful to have options. [And then I prefer iOS. The irony.] Willz skins are wonderfully polished, but, as he himself said,

quote:

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Originally posted by Willz
It might not be for everyone

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No skin is for everyone. And no person can do skins for all people. Let there be sims skins!

quote:

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Originally posted by blessedguy
No skin is for everyone. And no person can do skins for all people. Let there be sims skins!

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Exactly! I like the look of this skin, as with most of Willz's skins, but I probably won't keep it enabled. I prefer a simple window which is why I use agaeti, I just like my little tweaks rather than it looking like a whole new messenger. Other people like to hide the fact it's msn and make it look like something else. Each to their own

looks alright, not for me though.

its impossible to make everyone happy.

The skin has been added to the database but you haven't updated the thread

I noticed that in the display picture window in 2011 dynamic pictures it will show up like this
compared to a normal display picture.

Notice the display picture still being shown under the frame.

Other then this little thing the skin is fantastic keep up the good work Willz

When I have the profile images placed to the right, the ad is out of place.

Is this to do with this skin, as I haven't noticed this anywhere else...



Also, the search box is on it's own line, under the buttons in the contact list but on the other side, so it seems out of place below the header.



Edit: also, group chats are kinda dodgy...  the scene bit doesn't disappear, so the conversation just goes on top.

...but otherwise a great skin.