Three weeks back I made a post asking the community to come up with a series of questions they always wanted to ask the Moderator Team.  Well, after over 70 replies, I was able to extract 20 excellent questions.  Over the next month, I will be asking the mods 5 questions a week and posting the results each Friday for you to read, enjoy and pick apart. 

This week, we heard from WOM, Koasati, starone, Zubaz, Quentin94, Fuzzy Logic, elvee, Jafo, Hankers, Erk, Snowman and even KarmaGirl.  Enjoy!

Introductions...

To start off, I asked each moderator to talk a little bit about how they became a mod, what their skinning background is, what they do professionally, and what they help cover here at WinCustomize.

Wizop WOM
	I became a mod 2 years ago, I think.  Time flies.  Took me 6 months to become a member and that was only after the wife told me I couldn't use her account anymore.  Met a lot of people here that I call friends and only wished that they lived closer.  I'am a non skinner but my ex-wife is a skinner so I know what it takes to skin.  I'am retired from the Army and the Post Office.   I mod Dreams, LogonVista, Rainlendar, Syametrix, ScreenShots, Wallpapers, WindowBlinds and CursorXP.
Super Wizop Koasati
	I started skinning in 1999. Actually started with wallpapers. Getting past Moderation at skinz.org was tough back then.  I moved on to small skinnable apps like BeatNik, QuickChanger, and several others (just can't remember the names at this time).   I started creating NextStart themes, and later HoverDesk.  I was a beta tester for HoverDesk, until development ceased.   I've make a few WindowBlinds, but nothing special.  I love making Dock Icons for ObjectDock. I've also made a few dock backgrounds. I honestly don't remember when I became a mod.  I was recruited by DavidK, shortly before he left us.
Wizop starone
	Well, as everyone knows, have just recently become a mod.  As far as skinning, have tried my hand at all of it from winamp (never again), wmp, sys, wb's, icons, cursors, etc.  As far as professional (hum, how far back do you want to go with this?), well anyway, most of the years as a legal secretary.  Have written and published a poem book.   Am retired now and raising my 5 year old granddaughter (very interesting to say the least). I have been assigned Logon Vista, icons, winamp, and WinMedia for moderation.
Sir Zubaz
	My name is Aaron and I'm not a skinner.  I've been a Stardock app user for years though, back to OS/2 days.  In the past year I've submitted a few things and I have more stuff for personal use that I can't bring myself to submit publicly. I've been a mod for one year, two weeks although it seems I've been here forever. I'm able to moderate all the galleries but stick to mostly ObjectBar, DesktopX, Soundpackager, and Dreams.  I don't consider myself a good enough artist to moderate anything else unless there's a backlog and I can help out.  I also moderate the forums.  The nice thing there is that we have a good community and it's rare that I have to do anything more than PM a user that we all need to act like part of the community.  I like helping out on technical easy issues so Stardock support can focus on the harder stuff and serve the users faster.
Wizop Quentin94
	I became a member on August 2006, subscribed on december 2006 and became a moderator on November 2007.  I like help around in forums and share my works and little contributions.  I found here so many friends and very nice peoples (Wishing meet them in future), it's a great place, like another home. I made/make WindowBlinds, Wallpapers, IconPackages, DX Objects, DX widgets, DX Themes, Suites, CursorXP/FX, Bootskins, LogonsXP, LogonsVista, ObjectDock backgrounds and Icons, Rainlendars, ObjectBar2, RightClick, Avatars, Misc. Icons, Xion and Sound Schemes. I'm a cashier and agent of reception for a cinema operator.  I draw, I've also written poems but never had the time.. Ok never had the courage to meet an editor I mod DX Themes, DX Widgets, DX Objects, Misc. Icons and ObjectDock.
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	I became a moderator on 7th June 2004. I 'found' skinning shortly after getting my first pc in May 1999. I started changing the colours almost immediately, then found I could change icons etc with Desktop Architect. I then discovered Neoplanet, a skinnable browser which still works today. By the summer I'd stumbled across WindowBlinds. Suddenly my pc had a new purpose! In 2001 I made my first WB skin, and the rest is history... Currently I'm working for a small accountancy practice. Mainly running a payroll bureau, but also doing clients' VAT returns etc. Up until last September I spent 15 years as a Payroll Manager for a large manufacturing company. I moderate whatever needs doing. I don't have Litestep, so that's the only one I don't moderate at all.
Moderator elvee
	I became a Mod almost a year ago and it really took me by surprise.  I don't call myself a Skinner though I have dabbled with Cursors, Single icons, DesktopX, Walls and Suites, but suites are not skinning I have been with Wincustomize since it's inception, coming over from Skinz.org. I indirectly work for Miss Utility locating underground cables, Telephone and Electricity. I moderate CursorXP, DesktopX, (themes, packs and widgets.) Misc. Icons and ObjectDock.
Admin Jafo
	I became a moderator [Wizop] a long time ago...before there was carbon-dating....ah, found it....July, 2001.  We'd all come from skinz.org...where I'd lasted a week as 'admin'.... [I still maintain there's no relation ].... I started skinning in '98 [Litestep and Winamp]...though had done those silly things like changing the shape/colour of your command cursor in DOS..... My professional background is in Architecture ... started in '72 ... still learning... I have since been promoted to 'Admin' so can/do access virtually all the galleries/forums/etc., keeping a quiet, gentle finger on the Wincustomize pulse.....
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	I have worked for Stardock since before there was a WinCustomize.  I actually remember the day that Brad went running through the office talking about the impending demise of Customize and how we needed to create a place for the community.  I don't skin, but I manage the Stardock Design team (at least I pretend to).
Wizop Erk.
	I was asked to become a moderator about a year ago, after hanging around the site, and on #stardock irc on a daily basis since about 2003. I used to help folks out as much as I could, and I think that was 'noticed' by the higher-ups.... My skinning background is mostly of a personal nature ..I do it for myself. I've been around the skinning scene for quite a long time though. I've uploaded a few wallpapers here, but none worthy of checking out - just trust me on this.   I make my own objectdock icons if I need one, though I never share them. I've also made several attempts at ObjectDock backgrounds [with tabs], and succeeded once. I never use it [the background]. I'm currently trying to throw together some xion skins for personal use, but work gets in the way often and I find myself putting things like skinning aside due to being tired. This annoys me sometimes, as I love using Photoshop, but never seem to find the time to fire it up these days.  My professional occupation is in tourism. I run a visitor information & booking office in Cairns, Australia. It's a job I love doing, because I get to meet some wonderful people from the world over. I have friendships that go back over 10 years with folks from overseas I've met through my job. I've been in Tourism/Hospitality pretty much all my life. In my position as Moderator here on Wincustomize, I look after ObjectDock, Windowblinds, Rainlendar and DX widgets, along with other mods who help with those galleries as well. I also keep an eye on the forums and skin comments sections when I can.
Moderator Hankers
	I became a Mod about 1½ years ago.  I don't consider myself a skinner and I'm happy to decorate my desktop with skins from several of the talented skinners here on Wincustomize. Retired now but in my other life I was in Training and Computer support. I moderate Winamp, Icon Packages, Xion and ObjectDock and a lot of my time is spent assisting users in the forums (any that Zu has not gotten to yet).
Super Wizop Snowman
	When did I become a mod?  I do believe it was waaaaay back in late 2003. I was 'headhunted' from Skinbase   Been a member here since just a few hours after Jafo signed up. We "originated" from the same skinsite - the mother of all skinsites, the good ol' Brown Site: skinz.org If it's skinnable, I probably know about/of it. I quit skinning back in February of 2006, and up untill that time I have created some 425 skins for various applications + I keep the largest (known) private skincollection - The Skinventory. I've been working at a storage facility/warehouse for the largest electronics renting company here in Denmark - L'easy, for the past two years. For moderation, I'm more or less an "allrounder".

Question 1 -

Wizop WOM
	I really don't get excited by any skinner when I'am looking to see what needs to be modded.  I try hard not to be prejudiced by who the skinner is, that way I can be neutral and give everyone a fair shake.  As for whick skinners suprise me, I'd say SKoriginals and I.R. Brainiac.  They do some very different windowblinds.
Super Wizop Koasati
	I honestly try to ignore the uploaders name, and concentrate on the upload.  I can tell you, I've seen more than a few that excited more 'before'   I opened, than 'after' I got it open.
Wizop starone
	Actually I look at the media before the names.  Judge the content and not the names.
Sir Zubaz
	I try to avoid noticing who is submitting what.  I don't want to be biased.  That being said, there are some artists that have such a unique style that it's a thrill to see their work.  I love the ones that push the envelope.  IRB, RomanDA, sViz, vStyler, mikeB
Wizop Quentin94
	I try to don't read the name of the artistes just judge the upload, i always download the skin and install/open it before all (even see the screenshot, the name or the description)   I'm excited by upload with originality and quality.
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	I never bother looking at names, I just download and test.
Moderator elvee
	When it comes to Modding submissions, I have to put my personal likes and dislikes on the side. I don't wish to look at names and treat each one fairly.  The community spirit keeps surprising me:) Projects, Contests, You Guys Rock!
Admin Jafo
	I tend to only get excited by what I call 'reliable names'.... meaning uploads that can be 'trusted' to either work and/or have appropriate permissions .... and thus not be a potential 'drama'.  The process of approving/refusing/checking uploads can be quite tedious....perfect example is the 30 meg screensaver....that had to be downloaded and checked [and installed/uninstalled] THREE times before appropriate permissions were properly included.
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	No, I really don't look for the names,  just look at the submission.   There are a few that I see the same stuff from over and over again.  I always wonder if they try anything new or if they are stuck making fractals and cutting out clip art.
Wizop Erk.
	I also try NOT to look at the artists name on a submission, so I can be fair & unbiased in my application of it's initial rating, before I 'send it out to the masses' ...but there are plenty of folks here that make quality work that I love to be surprised with when opening a file downloaded for checking.
Moderator Hankers
	I don't check the names. I download, make sure it works,is in the proper file format and ensure that the permission has been included if required.
Super Wizop Snowman
	No artist in particular "excite" me more than any one else. In fact, who made the skin doesn't matter one bit to me. I judge the skin(s) by it's look/feel, not by who made it!   Having been in "the business" for nearly 10 years makes me very hard to surprise. You coulde say that "I've seen it all

Question 2 -

As a moderator, what do you see as your daily challenge?  (Philly0381)

Wizop WOM
	I guess trying to maintain my kool and not get upset when people either rag on you or the other mods.  All you can do is your best and learn to do it better.
Super Wizop Koasati
	No answer provided...
Wizop starone
	Daily challenge is getting it right.
Sir Zubaz
	The biggest challenge for me is walking the line between being "one of the guys" and being Big Brother.  I don't ever want to lose being a part of the community and I think I'd retire if I thought I was losing that.  (OK, now the truth . . . spelling/typing is my biggest challenge . . but you all knew that already, right?)
Wizop Quentin94
	Challenge? My best Daily moderator's challenge is to write a correct english and to be understandable
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	Finding the time to do everything which needs to be done. There's this thing called real life which keeps getting in the way. Today is typical of late: Got home from work, cooked the dinner, went shopping, cleaned the cooker, then sat down here to type this and have a coffee. Once I've done this quiz I'll be into the shower then off to bed. No time for moderating today!
Moderator elvee
	To be fair and nonjudgmental.
Admin Jafo
	Seeing that everyone is enjoying the site [Wincustomize] and skinning .... as much as they 'should' be, and with minimum 'agro' from what we would call the 'silly people'.
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	Looking at everything with a fresh eye and trying to see things as others would see them.
Wizop Erk.
	Getting it 'right' ...to my standards and/or satisfaction. I sometimes walk away for a few minutes if I've been inundated with some particularly "questionable" work and have had to rate low as a result. This way I come back with fresh eyes & a fresh attitude for the next submissions. On the forum side, I rarely have to do much other than clean up the odd spam post, as most of our great community are a fantastic bunch, and are old enough/smart enough to take care of themselves.
Moderator Hankers
	There's no 'challenge' being part of this great community.
Super Wizop Snowman
	Picking out the "rotten apples"! With tens of thousands of skins available, it can be hard telling the rips from the real deal.

Question 3 -

Coffee or tea?  (ALMonty)

Wizop WOM
	Coffee, coffee, cofee.  An avid coffee drinker but only in the am.
Super Wizop Koasati
	Coffee!! I love coffee, don't like tea.
Wizop starone
	Coffeeeeeee by all means.
Sir Zubaz
	Mostly coffee.  My wife makes it for me if I clean the press.  Otherwise I may have tea to avoid making it myself.  It just tastes better when she does it.
Wizop Quentin94
	Coffee, Tea, Coca... but mostly Coffee. All the day.
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	Coffee of course. Tea is for grannies...
Moderator elvee
	Tea is way much better:)
Admin Jafo
	I'm ambivalent...easy-going.... as long as it's a drug I'm FOR it ... [did I say that out loud?]
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	Coffee....Coffee...Coffee!
Wizop Erk.
	Coffee, ...home brewed [Dripfilter] ..none of that freeze-dried 'instant' crap they call coffee.
Moderator Hankers
	Coffee - made with freshly ground coffee beans. No instant!
Super Wizop Snowman
	COFFEE!!!! Tea is the worst way of getting people to consume hot water... yuk.

Question 4 -

Do you ever get temped to "accidentally" press the exile button when someone is being silly?  (Fuzzy Logic)

[Note: "Exile" bans an account from using the site in the future.  Only Super Wizops and above have this ability]

Wizop WOM
	Hehe, no but I don't have the exile button capability.
Super Wizop Koasati
	Never accidentally.
Wizop starone
	Aw Fuzzy, silly is part of life.  Have to have humor these days.  I believe it is known as survival.
Sir Zubaz
	I've never wanted to exile someone for being silly.  I have thought that some folks were pushing the line of hospitality and deserved the boot.  Thankfully, we mods have a forum where we can discuss "problem children" and issues.  Usually, as a team, we find a way to address the problem without resorting to drastic measures.  I never take a exile lightly.  I see it as partly my failure for not finding a way to resolve the situation without losing a member
Wizop Quentin94
	I don't have the exile capability. But admitting i've it, no i don't think i exile someone accidentally for being silly.  Exile is the "end option", i believe we can sometimes and hopefully many time find a solution by dialog (Pms or Emails).
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	Hmmm, you still can't tell when I'm being flip... That was a humourous response to people asking silly questions [Zoomba - I decided to use a few of the silly questions for fun] As for exiling in general, some one would have to do something really serious for it to get that far. There's an established route to follow when someone misbehaves, starting with a friendly pm. Exiling someone would be a very drastic step, and would be discussed on the admin board before any decision was taken. Spammers etc are gone immediately, they aren't part of the site or the community. So are warez users - zero tollerance.
Moderator elvee
	What exile button? We get an Exile Button?
Admin Jafo
	Yes.... used to be almost daily ...now it's probably more 'monthly'. [either means people are getting less silly...or I'm more tolerant, and yes, I have the button.... it's big, red and shiny [well, it isn't....but it would be if I had my way]]
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	Never by accident..but the temptation does exists sometimes.
Wizop Erk.
	I think I was holding the door when these were given out ...I missed getting mine. ...umm Zoomba??
Moderator Hankers
	There is no 'Exile Button' on this rock.
Super Wizop Snowman
	No never.

Question 5 -

Wizop WOM
	No, never have, but I have had to bite my tongue a few times and not lay into someone like I would if we were face to face.  Have to remember that I represent Wincustome, so I have to watch what I say.  To bad, so sad.  Hehe.
Super Wizop Koasati
	Yep.
Wizop starone
	Hum, throw your hands up and walk away?  Shucks no.  Gotta have challenges.  Sort of like doing a blind I'd say - very challenging.
Sir Zubaz
	There have been times when real-life (tm) has weighed heavily upon me and crap happened here that made me want to walk away.  But in the end . . . this place is home and it improves my life.
Wizop Quentin94
	Not really, i love challenges. But we are humans (at least some of us), and someday that could happen.  Happened only once, when someone didn't understand me (not a language problem but don't want listen), but in this case i passed it to another mod, and looked at it later
Overseer Fuzzy Logic
	Not for a while... though if I don't get any free chocolate soon I may just go walkies...
Moderator elvee
	No way. It becomes 'stop and regroup time'.
Admin Jafo
	Once or twice.... but I'm a sucker for punishment.  Actually...it's a great community [WC] ... great Proprietors [Stardock] ... great bunch of people to get to know and be involved with.  I wouldn't be seen dead anywhere else [silly saying...implies you'll see me dead here - which I'd hope won't be the case...at least not before I finish typing this]...
Big Cheese KarmaGirl
	Nope.  Too many cool things happening all the time to ever get discouraged by any minor conflict.
Wizop Erk.
	No, never ...I really think they'll have to surgically remove me if it ever came to that point.
Moderator Hankers
	There have been times and probably will be more. We are only human (except for Fuzzy - he has pointy ears).
Super Wizop Snowman
	Oh yeah, many a time!! But in this business you don't quit - you die

After weeks of voting, at last we present to you the full list of winners.  These skins and skinners were nominated and voted on by the community.

2007 Skinner of the Year:

It was a tight race, with the lead swapping between several skinners throughout the week, but after all was said and done, one skinner came out ahead and can be crowed the WinCustomize Skinner of 2007:

Night Train

2nd Place: Quentin94

3rd Place: I.R. Brainiac

CursorXP Theme:

1st Place Destkop Warbird Drill'n Boss	2nd Place Curvy Richard Mohler	3rd Place (Tie) Protozoa Chuckeye	3rd Place (Tie) Vienna J. Aroche

DesktopX Widget:

1st Place CitriumXP v3 Fairyy~	2nd Place SD Desktop 4.01 Vad_M	3rd Place RC Radio buzzh58

Rainlendar:

1st Place Eon Richard Mohler	2nd Place Glass Fairyy~	3rd Place Talc Rainlendar Xiandi

Xion Skin:

1st Place Alexis zeolyte	2nd Place Arileen Quentin94	3rd Place Valiant zeolyte

Sysmetrix Skin:

1st Place Earth II don5318	2nd Place Snowflake pinchecl	3rd Place OM System 1024 Pan Yeti

Wallpapers:

1st Place Season's Reflections buzzh58	2nd Place Sands of Time tippytoenail	3rd Place Harmony Leaf PixelZ01

ObjectDock Skin:

1st Place Turbo Tabbed & Side Docks WebGizmos	2nd Place Vienna 2 Spectrum messiah 1	3rd Place Sexy Docks messiah1

DesktopX Theme:

1st Place Eon Richard Mohler	2nd Place ScreenX buzzh58	3rd Place Vista Bug buzzh58

WindowBlinds Skin:

1st Place Citrium Night Train	2nd Place Azkaban WB 5.1 HeirOfSlytherin	3rd Place October Night Train

One of the best and most underused features of WindowBlinds 6 is the colorizing feature.

With WindowBlinds, you can color certain parts of the skin but not others in order to create multiple new styles that you can save for later.

Here are two screenshots to show what I mean:

Above is Elegance but with a more golden hue to it. Note that the close button is still red. It's not just a brute force hue shift.

Here is Aero Executive changed to be grassy.

Once upon a time there was a collection of programs called Object Desktop. The most popular of these programs were WindowBlinds, IconPackager and DesktopX.

Millions of people around the world tried these programs and for the most part liked them. But users also often found it difficult to get a consistent look across their desktop since the different programs worked on different parts of the computer.

In time, a number of skinners helped popularize the concept of "Suites". A suite is a collection of skins, themes, and icons that when applied together create a single unified desktop experience.  However, as cool as suites were, it still required users to go out and find the various programs necessary to apply the suite.

Over the past few years, Stardock has worked hard to find ways to simplify the process of applying suites.  This past year, it devised a new product called MyColors.  The theme and the underlying technology would be one in the same. The suite would evolve into being called a MyColors theme. Users would search for MyColors themes instead of the software. MyColors would seamlessly include all the software needed.

Stardock Design

To sell themes to the mass market, Stardock would need to create a lot of themes. In the past, a handful of art houses like Pixtudio, Skins Factory, and SkinPlant had created a handful of themes.  To make the MyColors concept work, hundreds of high quality themes would need to be made. And so Stardock Design was created.

Stardock Design brought in, full-time most of the top talent from the major art shops that were devoted to skinning.  Alexandrie and Treetog now work full time at Stardock Design. So do both MikeB and Hippy. Stardock also brought in ChaNinja as a full time designer (ChaNinja was one of the top msstyles skinners).  Pixel Pirate, Danilo0c, and Essorant also joined up.  And Voo, well known for his icon creations in contract work with the art houses is now full time as well.

Stardock then licensed a number of properties from movie studios, sports teams, car companies, universities, etc.  Already the NBA, NHL, and NCAA teams are made with more coming on-line.

MyColors 2008

This month, Stardock will make available MyColors 2008.

This second-generation version is designed for the mass audience. MyColors 2008 is self-healing -- it automatically repairs itself if one of the components out of date or a problem in a theme is found or a bug in the underlying technology is found.

A number of major OEMs have already signed on to pre-load MyColors in the next year. In the future, users will be able to choose how they want their computers to look like.

Object Desktop 2008

MyColors will be made part of Object Desktop 2008. In this way, Stardock can provide those users premium themes during the course of the year and offer discounts on many others.

Moreover, MyColors allows users two very straight forward choices now:

The user can:

1. Pay $19.95 and have a branded theme with all the software they need for that particular theme. (i.e. they pay for the theme and the software is largely incidental)
   or
2. Get Object Desktop for $49.95 which provides the underlying software and can use the thousands of skins, themes, icons, etc. out there. (they pay for the software and the themes are largely incidental).

Below are some screen shots of what to expect and how it will work.

MyColors Theme Manager in action.

 
Quest MyColors Theme

Boston Celtics MyColors theme

 
Users can see Featured Themes right from MyColors Theme Manager

You've seen Brad's article on what Stardock needs to do in 2008, and a few of the items touched on WinCustomize and the community specifically.  Now that we're into 2008, I wanted to add my own thoughts on what we accomplished on WinCustomize in 2007, what some of my goals are for '08 and what that means for the community in terms of content, events and opportunities.

Looking Back at 2007:

Vista, Dreams & New Opportunities

2007 was a year of change for Windows customization, there's no doubt about that.  Vista brought with it a completely new set of challenges and opportunities for people looking to tweak their PC to get the most visually and performance-wise.  Stardock brought a lot of new goodies to the table in 2007 specifically for Vista.  WindowBlinds was updated for Vista features, and even brought several Vista visual enhancements to Windows XP.  IconPackager handles Live Folders and the increased image size requirements.  We also updated Skin Studio to take care of all the new WB6 and Vista features.

On top of updating our stable of customization tools, we've added a plethora of new applications that let you further customize and tweak your Windows experience: DeskScapes, SoundPackager, CursorFX.

DeskScapes is without a doubt the biggest new customization tool of 2007.  With Windows Vista Ultimate, animated desktops became much more reasonable and less resource intensive.  On top of the regular DreamScene feature of playing video files, DeskScapes built on that with a new file format to allow authors to retain credit and protect their work, as well as allow for the ability to run dynamic wallpapers.  Animated desktops that weren't pre-rendered video, but dynamically rendered scenes utilizing the graphics card instead of your CPU.

Dreams are our fastest growing content category here at WinCustomize.  In the 11 months since the launch of Windows Vista and DeskScapes, we have received over 400 Dreams from our community.  Every month we've had dozens of outstanding quality dreams, and every month since March, Island Dog has been featuring the best work:

• December 2007
• November 2007
• October 2007
• September 2007
• August 2007
• July 2007
• June 2007
• May 2007
• April 2007
• March 2007

And in February of 2008, DeskScapes 2.0 comes out, making animated wallpapers available to virtually all Vista users.

Sound Packager also finally saw the light of day, giving users the ability to customize even how their PC sounds.  No more manually changing out system sounds one by one, now you can create packages or theme sets of sounds for your system and share them with your friends or the community at large.  It's one thing to customize the look, now you can customize the sound of your PC just as easily.

2007 was all about new choices in Windows customization, and we kept ahead of the curve here at WinCustomize.com.

WinCustomize 2007

In preparation for what we wanted to do for Windows Vista, our web dev team spent months preparing a completely new version of WinCustomize.com.  After years holding together the old code with chewing gum and twine, they went back to the drawing board and rewrote the site for .NET 2.0.  This time, with the knowledge of running and coding the site for 5 years, they built things with an eye towards expandability and stability.  The single biggest improvement you've probably seen from this rewrite is the fact that the site is actually available and loads quickly 99.9% of the time now.  For those of you around in 2006 or earlier, you'll know how much of an achievement that is.

On top of the functional improvements, stability and speed, we also added the ability for community veterans to sell their skinning work through the Master Skins program.  For years these skinners have helped support WinCustomize with their free work, making us the premier site on the web to get skins and customization content, so it was time to give them something back.  Now, Master Skinners can sell their work to an audience of over 2 million folks every month.

On the news and article front, 2006 was the year we revived the news page with updated Monday through Friday.  Tech news, skinning news, random funny stories etc.  We wanted to make WinCustomize an active site again that gave users a reason to come back every single day.  2007 went like this for most of the year, but starting in late summer, the focus shifted from more generic and wide-reaching technology news to news specific to WinCustomize and the skinning community.  Daily and weekly skin features, moderator and skinner picks.  Interviews with master skinners, developers and more.

This summer we also launched the WinCustomize Wiki, a user-driven documentation project that many of you have taken on as your own.  Huge thanks to sViz, Bebi, CerebroJD, Doctor Nick and others for their tireless efforts to make that project a success!

We've also upped the number of contests.  Maxthon, Dreams, periodic give-aways and more.  Outside of the GUI Champs, 2007 was one of the best years to get your hands on free goodies for your skins.

But perhaps the biggest event of 2007 was the Charity/Subscription Drive we held in November/December.  Thanks to your support, and the generosity of several Master Skinners, we raised over $4,200 for Childs Play, a charity dedicated to donating toys, games and movies to children's hospitals around the globe.  The money we raised went directly to the Children's Hospital of Michigan in Detroit and will go to purchase much needed toys and games to lighten up what is otherwise a very dark place.  I'm incredibly proud of what we accomplished and count myself very lucky to be able to work every day with such an outstanding group of people.

On top of all that, we crossed a major milestone in December.  We crossed the 3,000,000 (yes, that's 3 MILLION) user line.  It was in 2005 that we crossed 2 million, and we've just been gaining momentum since.  I can't wait for us to hit 4 million!

Looking Forward to 2008

After everything that happened in 2007, it's hard to imagine how we'll top ourselves in 2008.  Plans however are already in motion to make 2008 a year to remember.  We've got events, projects, contests, and big announcements to make.  New efforts to expand the community in new ways, make what we're already doing even better, and overall helping to bring customization back to the forefront.  You've seen how Stardock plans to advance skinning to a wider audience, well, we're going to be playing a key role in that here.

The 2008 GUI Championships

In 2006, we gave away $12,000 in cash, software and prizes.  JJ Ying walked away with a great Alienware laptop, others got XBoxes, and many others got nice fat checks.  And we did all of that on a website originally written in 2004, and with very little advanced planning.  With all that has happened since then, we've got a list of ideas for the 2008 event as long as my arm.  This year the event will be bigger, with more events, more prizes, and a lot more exposure.  Island Dog and I have discussed the event at length and we're confident the 2008 GUIC will be the single biggest event in the customization world period.

Community Skin Projects

Yesterday I talked briefly about the first new Community Skin project in years.  The effort, being organized by Jafo, aims to do a project on the scale and quality of the original Heavy Equipment.  The community hasn't had many events or projects to rally around in recent years.  As time has gone on, skinners have become more insular, and small groups have started to split off to do their own thing.  Community Skins were a great way to bring everyone together, to pool the great talent of the community and make something really great.  It's for this reason, that the WinCustomize staff decided that the Community Skin project needed to make a comeback.  If this first effort takes hold, expect more in the future. 

WinCustomize v6 (or 2k8)

WinCustomize v5 (2k7) was all about making the site stable, fast, and be able to handle a growing community.  We feel we accomplished that and now it's time to focus on making the site more usable, more inviting and easier to navigate.  We've begun (very) early design work on the site and are excited about the changes coming up.  A big focus across all things Stardock the last year has been on improving the user experience when using our tools.  WinCustomize is one of our largest tools, and its time to bring it fully up to date.  Expect more news, previews, screenshots and more as we get nearer completion.  There will probably be a subscriber-only beta test of the site as well, like there was for v5 early this year.

JoeUser 2

JoeUser is being rewritten completely.  Originally coded in 2003 and largely left alone since, this revamp is significant.  We're taking everything we've learned from both JoeUser and WinCustomize to make a community discussion/blogging site that's very special and unique.  For the WinCustomize community, this is important because JoeUser 2 is a test-bed for many changes and improvements we want to bring over to WinCustomize.  JU2 will have features you'll benefit from here, plus it will grow the community and bring more and more people to WinCustomize, which will in turn expose them to skinning.

JoeUser 2 is getting very close to a testing stage now.  You'll be hearing more about that very very soon.

More Galleries, More Content, More Everything!

We're looking to keep expanding what applications we cover here at WinCustomize.  Over the course of 2008, we'll be adding galleries, and reaching out to more in the skinning application community, and to those in the wider customization community.  WinCustomize is the leader in this area, but there are gaps that others have stepped in to fill.  Working more closely with the rest of the community, forming partnerships with developers and other sites is going to be an important aspect of our work this year.  When one of us is prosperous, all of us benefit.

This means more content of all sorts.  Island Dog, myself, Brad, ZubaZ, Jafo and others have been turning out articles, helping with projects, contests, doing interviews and much more to make sure that you never run out of new things to see or read here on WinCustomize.  And we have even more planned.

2007 was a great year... and 2008 is looking to be even better!  I hope everyone sticks around for the fun and helps make 2008 our best year yet!

Dreams are one of the newest galleries on WinCustomize, having launched at the end of January along side the announcement of DreamScene by Microsoft at CES 2007.  They are the prime example of the possibilities Vista presents in terms of customization and skinning.  Since the launch, it has been one of our most popular galleries, attracting countless new skinners and users looking to get the most out of their Vista Ultimate purchase.

What's impressive is that the success wasn't hindered by the limitation of requiring Vista Ultimate edition.  And with the impending release of DeskScapes 2.0, opening up animated wallpapers to virtually all Vista users, we expect the gallery to explode in popularity in 2008.

The first year for any skinning tool is always rough as artists struggle to learn the new medium and figure out what does and doesn't work, but despite that learning curve, we saw some outstanding Dreams this year.  And they just keep getting better and better.

Below are my picks for the best Dreams of 2007.

What are your picks for 2007 Dreams?

Ok, after just a day and a half of nominations, we have 115 total unique skins, and 13 skinners.  The requirement for a gallery to be voted on was that it have at least 5 skins nominated.  Before we get into the master list, here are the nominated skins that won't make it to a vote:

* The IconPackager list actually received 7 nominations, unfortunately 3 of them were sets from the 2006 GUI Champs, since they weren't 2007 items, they don't qualify.

Now... time for the bigger list... the list of nominated skins that will be appearing in polls over the next 2 weeks to determine which is truly the favorite for 2007!

And now, for the list of skinners nominated for Skinner of the Year 2007:

Voting will start on Monday, December 17th.

Over time, the list of applications supported here on WinCustomize grows and grows.  Gone are the days where you only had a small handful of applications that met all of your skinning needs.  While choice is great, the consequence can be that some tools don't get quite the attention that others do.  There's no question that WindowBlinds is successful, we have thousands of skins from the last 8 or 9 years, and the gallery expands nearly every day.

One of those apps that people forget about, but is absolutely fantastic is ObjectBar, a toolbar utility that comes as part of Object Desktop.  It lets you create start bars, finders, pop-up menus, launchers, docks and so on, and it can all be skinned to match your chosen theme!  It's a stellar utility for any power user who has to keep track of a lot of different applications and tasks. 

Development has kept going, with version 2.1 having been released just yesterday.  So I'm hoping that this article can entice skinners to take another look at the program and start skinning for it again.

Now, why should you care about ObjectBar?  Well, like I said, it's a great tool for anyone who finds themselves managing a lot of different applications, files, folders and misc content on their PC.  I personally have about half a dozen applications open at any given time (not counting IM, IRC, e-mail or web browsers) that I need to do my job.  I have files on my desktop, on external drives, and various locations across the network that I regularly have to update and reference.  Having a bunch of shortcuts on my desktop just wouldn't cut it.

And of course, not only do I need a utility to help me manage all of these items, I need it to look good too!  Now, ObjectBar does come with some outstanding skins, and it has the ability to try and match your current WindowBlinds skin, but sometimes that just doesn't do it for me.  Even the skin matching isn't always enough since it does match parts of the skin, but sometimes it will match less interesting parts (like the skin I'm using now uses gray bars with spashes of color at the edges and for buttons, the ObjectBar matches to a gray bar.  No splashes of color.  Kind of boring).  In those cases, you'll want to download a skin designed for the tool.  And skins can go beyond just visual enhancements, they can add actual utility.

Currently, we have one gallery for ObjectBar 1 and another one for ObjectBar 2.  ObjectBar 2 will actually run all v1 skins, so we'll be consolidating them in the near future, but for now you have two galleries to browse through when looking for skins.

• ObjectBar
• ObjectBar 2

Here are a few of my favorite skins for ObjectBar.

WindowBlinds 6 has been a big deal for us the last few months with all the new capabilities it brings to skinning Windows Vista and Windows XP.  Combined with the new version of SkinStudio, we're expecting a renewed interest in skinning and a jump in great content to pick from on the site.  Though, for a lot of people, they look at screenshots and recent skins and go "Meh, so what?  What's so new about this?" 

Sometimes I guess it's hard to see what's changed when you've followed every incremental update to the software.  So, I thought it'd be fun to step through the WindowBlinds Gallery and get a look at what skins have looked like over the history of WindowBlinds.  To do this, I went through to the first skins on the site and started moving forward in time, so I could see what all has changed.  Personally, it amazes me how different skins are now versus then.

So lets step into the wayback machine and see what we find...

1998
While WinCustomize itself wasn't around back then, we did manage to pull in a bunch of skins from the years BWC (Before WinCustomize) so our gallery had that historical perspective.

• ObjectDesktop 2001

The very first skin in our WinCustomize gallery is from December 30th, 1998, the Object Desktop 2001 skin from none other than Frogboy himself.  If the date on the skin is to be trusted, this even predates the 1.0 version of WindowBlinds, which according to the Wiki, wasn't released until September of 1999[1].

While this doesn't hold the honor of being SkinID 1 (that was removed by the original author), it is likely the oldest WindowBlinds skin you'll ever come across.

• PDA

Yet another skin by Frogboy, who you'll find frequently mentioned in the archives, back in the day when he had more free time to skin.

(we hear he's busy "running a company" now... psssh whatever!)

• Holiday

This is the first skin in the gallery that isn't attributed to Frogboy, and the first (of what will be many) holiday themed skin.  Built and uploaded by Masashi Ickikawa, a user so old I can't even find them in the database, it shows off how skins don't just have to be techy inspired and can be more fun and light.

Oh, and it's technically the lowest Skin ID on the site, clocking in at SkinID 5

1999

At first, you'll notice that most skin previews were of a skinned notepad window and a bit of text with the skin name and author information.  Things changed though in early 1999, skinners moved away from notepad previews to shots that showed off more of the skin elements themselves (windows, boxes, buttons etc.)

• Destruction

Originally posted in June of 1999, Destruction by Decoder is a great example of the new preview method people began using.  The skin itself is a nice example of how skins began to evolve away from emulations of other operating systems, and move more into being original creations and designs.

Imagine how much more popular Windows 98 would have been with a default interface like this.

• LCARS V

Oh, it's an LCARS skin!  By "Death" in June of 1999, this skin shows off the ability to use more complex image elements in window borders.  It's a great example of how folks really started to get creative with their skins, and didn't necessarily care about keeping it small if it meant a cooler look.

• Total Annihilation

Video game inspired skins can be some of the coolest and most visually interesting out there when done right.  This is, from what I can tell, the second such skin in the gallery (the first being Zerg Viscid by BaT).

GGame skins have been in short supply in recent years, I'd love to see them make a comeback.\

• 100_Camels

The fourth skin by DavidK really shows off how people start to take incredibly creative directions with their WindowBlinds skins.  It's a great example of artists transforming the user interface into something that no one really imagined before.

This is also a great skin to peek at since it's an early entry from one of the community's most veteran skinners.  Nice to see where they started.

 

• StardockOJ

I wanted to toss this one onto the list before closing 1999 out because it shows a skin preview generated by BuilderBlinds, the predecessor to SkinStudio.  Just another glimpse at how much things have changed over the years.

StardockOJ is a pretty interesting skin by CRUMBUT.

So that brings us from the first skins, the ones before even WindowBlinds 1.0 was out, up to some of the first skins using WindowBlinds 2 (beta) features and the first glimpses of BuilderBlinds previews. 

In Part 2, we'll cover 2000 - 2003 to show the evolution from WindowBlinds 2.0 to 4.0, the version that really started catching people's attention.  Expect that later this week.