SKINNING FOR MSN MESSENGER LIVE

[John Jay Smith]

Instead of forcing down our throats their terrible UI designs,
why don't they let people skin the messenger?

People are doing that by force, by changing the .exe anyway with resource
hackers.

MS is just a liiiiiitttttleeee stupid about this matter.

Since they are incompetent in design, let the real designers do what they
like.

What are they afraid of? Someone hidding the banner?
NEWSFLASH! There are patchers out there that already do that!

Consistant UI? They seriously want to be pathetic CONSTANTLY?

 

[John Jay Smith]

and another thing.... I would like a "no skin" mode....

meaning that it will have the classic windows theme and use whatever theme
windows is using. Why? because this will be faster and lighter for some
systems.

 

[Wayne]

Yes I think skinning is long overdue. They have done it in WMP and to a
certain extent within Windows itself, so why not in Messenger.
Its another great way to personalize IM along with the other great
features. The colors are a nice touch as they do make it a lot more
interesting to use than before at least.
Though I admit I have used Trillian which has skinning, and there are
not many skins out there that are made or that I like to use. I imagine
that would change if Messenger had skinning though as there would be a
wider user base creating them, as well as MS creating ones I would assume.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Hi,

Sure it's been done in WMP, but if you notice, in the past few versions, the skinning feature
has mysteriously been removed from the main toolbar and is only accessible via the menu
options.

Microsoft typically takes a backward approach to skinning, just allowing backgrounds or
digitally signing skins (aka XP) and requiring some degree of reverse engineering to allow
full skinning. This isn't just to be annoying, there's some accessibility concerns and
consistent UI standards they like to maintain (sometimes..).

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger/MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com
All posts unless otherwise specified are (c) 2006 Jonathan Kay.
You *must* contact me for redistribution rights.

 

[John Jay Smith]

They are stupid for wanting to force ugly consistency.

The ONLY reason MS used skins in WMP was because everyone else was doing
it....
This is a common way MS works. Something comes up on some program or
platform.. and only then do they add a feature in their programs.

A hilarious example of this is what happened after MACs and YAHOO
got into the gadget market with konfabulator and others...

But you can see it in almost EVERYTHING MS is doing...
Vista is scrambling to catch up. Innovation MY FOOT!

If Yahoo IM would to become fully skinable, you would see MSN
scramble to follow... HOW PATHETIC!
They followed yahoo IM in just about every other change!

Consistency is not an excuse... consumers want skinning and customizing.

And remember my words.. in the future if the want to keep up they will make
MSN messenger skinable. The thing is why wait and stare at such an ugly
program?

At least they should make a "no skin mode" ... I prefer classic than the
junk they have designed.

Cant I hack the damn thing and remove the skin?

 

[Bob Christian]

I just read through the thread. It is amazing how people get so upset about
a product that is "free".

I actually had a church secretary, of a large church, ask me about suing a
volunteer over the fact that the volunteer forgot to follow-up regarding a
free ($30 value) CD-RW upgrade on a DELL workstation. Granted, I discovered
that I knew the previous paid technician.

Bob

 

[John Jay Smith]

Your point? MS has a global product and millions of people will use it.
It is beta testing.. I think we have a say about how it looks.

Love is free... but I have seen many people getting very upset about it.

As for that stupid church secretary that wanted to sue about that reason,
tell her she should be working for lucifer.

Whatever happened about compassion, forgivness and love?

 

[Bob Christian]

That's a point that I can agree on....
Whether a product is in Beta or production there is always room for
improvement.

My point...it's free, so we can complain all we want...that doesn't mean
that the folks spec'ing the UI are stupid. Chances are they have psychology
and martketing degrees and tell the programmers what to do.

Love is the hardest free thing that I have ever worked for.

I had been told that my bill would not be paid, I set the church secretary
straight, noted why they could not keep paid or volunteer computer people,
cut my losses ($1600) and got the heck out of there. Suing a volunteer over
$30...*shaking head*

Bob

 

[John Jay Smith]

I dont think that they are going so much research as you think, having
psychology experts etc. Perhaps they are doing it for VISTA ( I am SURE they
are not), but not for msn since its a smaller project that vista.

I am reposting part of a post I sent on the VISTA developers newsgroup
a month ago:

________________________
I am just concerned.....

Oh and another thing... the dark colors may have a psychological impact on
all the users of computers. They should hire a team to research the colors
of vista...
its not about design alone. Colors have an impact on mood, and there are
many people who use the computer all day and night. As an artist, and as a
tech I know how important this is, and is not to be taken lightly.
I would not be amazed to see depression levels increase worldwide! At least
they should provide a choice with colors, like they do with the wallpaper in
the beginning.

XP's Luna theme at least was happy!