Misc

Re: Anime Modern Skins

After having delved into both Classic and Modern Winamp skin creation, I wanted to comment on the question, "why aren't there many anime-themed Winamp Modern skins?" What I'm saying here may not be universal for all skinners, but it's my personal take on the issue. :)

Modern skins are more complex and time-consuming to make than Classic skins.

This is not to say that skinners are lazy or stupid people who just can't take a challenge; but, granted, Modern skins take more time, planning and attention than Classics. If you're a recreational skinner whose primary goal in skinning is to enjoy yourself, you're probably not going to want to be bound up in the complication of Modern skins.

Modern skins require an additional skill set.

Modern skins involve a lot of XML and textual editing that may be foreign, uncomfortable or undesirable for those of us who tend to be graphically inclined. Classic skins, on the other hand, are almost purely image-editing. Again, this is not to say that skinners can't have both skills, but usually it seems like people lean more to one or the other.

Modern skins tend to be bloatware.

Even if a particular Modern skin isn't loaded up with useless features and extras, it still seems to me like they take twice the time of a Classic skin to load. Which is why I prefer Classic skins, and I am more likely to make what I prefer to use.

Anime images (or any images) are not highly compatible with the Modern skin design aesthetic.

This is something that I don't think the average user realizes when they plead for more anime Modern skins... Think of it this way... Someone gives you a box and says, "decorate it!" The box itself is pre-made for you, and you can't change anything about the box other than its outer appearance. You can slap pictures on it, give it pretty colors and shiny decorations, but it's still the same box underneath; you haven't done anything to the structure of it.

Now imagine someone tells you, "make me a container - it could be a box, but it doesn't have to be - and make it efficient and well-tapered to fit my desktop." Well, now you may have more control than you bargained for. You'd like to put a picture on it, but the picture's just extra baggage; unless you throw a bunch of functional elements on top of it (obscuring the image in the process), it's just taking up unnecessary space.

This is why most of the [good] Modern skins you'll see do not have pictures, but are designed like a cool container for their elements. The move from Classic to Modern eliminated the "fringe" space you had to fill as a requirement, that could be nicely plastered with pretty pictures. You can still have that fringe in Modern skins, but it may come at the price of good design.