Minimal styles & reshacking everything becoming too complacent?

1st comment X)
while it's becoming a big trend - imagine windows with all default icons? it just doesnt fit when you're trying to create a complete theme for your desktop, unless you're trying to theme around default icons.

« http://www.di.fm - Digitally Imported Internet Radio »

Reshacking will never go out of style. Minimal styles are always classy and look really good, there's just too much of it. Alot like the mac and longhorn trends.

I'm reading the question as, "Is minimalism getting stale" either in and of itself, or as the dominant style, and I'm going to answer as such. Just in case I'm misunderstanding. ;)

I think customizing and skinning in general are going to hit a lull for a while. New trends tend to get going around the time of major OS releases when we get a new 'toy'. Win98 saw the rise of Litestep, XP gave us alpha transparency, maybe Vista will get things going again. A true vector-based desktop is going to be the revolution, but nobody has the vision to pull it off yet.

Another factor is, you don't really see as much "Experimental" skinning going on. You don't have people like 883, Raydream, (and not to brag, but) me taking a hacker mentality to skinning. There's nobody saying "let's see if we can chop this interface in half" or "can we use the entire surface of the skin as a visualization". A lot of what we're doing today is influenced by people who were only trying to push the limits of the software - fuck making it pretty. The people who are dominating the scene right now are very heavily aesthetically oriented; they're making stuff that's oh-so-trendy and nice to look at, but they're doing that work in established, carefully documented confines.

At the end of the day, the question is this: Is having an overabundance of trim, functional, aesthetically pleasing themes a BAD thing? I can't picture a move back towards the golden age of goth, metal, tech and organic skins, so where would it go?

: I paid $14 for a T-shirt and all I got was this stupid T-shirt :

Its easier to make your desktop match and stuff if you use minamilism. Until the community decides that they want to put in more work and do something different, it seems this is how its gonna be for a while.

Reshacking = good

________________
FrostedFlames [FF]
Customize.org Staff

i got no clear opinion about this, coz it depends on my mood.

_________
Kristhian || '05

It's not minimal styles or ResHacking that I'm sick of, it's the fact that nearly all the screenshots look the same now- some pastel-colored wallpaper with a VS that has black titlebars, and Arial caps or Swis 721 caps.

Yes, the shots look good. Yes, they're all the same damn thing.

its the only thing that is out right now.

all old visual styles are bulky and everyone likes simple.

Damn Matt0- im gonna sit here for 10 mins
Damn Matt0- then go watch nip tuck

reshacking will never go uot of style, why would it?

as for minimalism:

i think it's okay as long as you've put a lot of effort into the work, wether it be a vs, wall, or screenie. if effort is put into, let's say: modding a minimal vs, and it's quite different from the originaland it looks good, then i'd say i'm perfectly fine with it. if you use the same old Untitled vs or a very similar mod, then that's just crap.

i don't mean to brag or show off, but take a look at my latest screenie: http://www.customize.org/details/42069

it is minimalistic, that's what i wanted. but i put a lot of effort into experimenting and modding the visual style and wallpaper, and i'm still working on improving it.

dive

nothing against minimalism and reshacking. no comment :\
______________..
R1P
visionleague™

I really don't care!
I have an attracive wallpaper and the widgets I want. I have no desire to have a unified theme. It would be a waste of my time when I'm more than busy with other projects.

Oh and my life!

Too Poor To Be Eccentric
http://www.adamdorman.com

I'm with Giraffe.

However, for me minimalism is a lifestyle choice, my setup reflects that.

colossus72 [c72]
Customize.org Staff
member relations, submissions.

Well, I've left modding Windows and now moved onto Linux. So I can't say much ... minimalism has been done, and when done well it's great, I don't need to say more on that. I'm employed in a P.o.S. (Point of Sale, could be the normal POS *smirk*) environment and have already begun to change the way my desktop operates to accomodate for these new technique. I'm now functionality and control over aethetics and minimalism.

i wish more polls had a no opinion option.

its best when polling.


i don't do that stuff, so i actually am not knowledgable enough to formulate an opinion.

hey colossus, have you seen that ad for becks beer or something where is a really modern kitchen and its completly non-functional and the woman is struggeling to open the cabinets...i guess that is the opposite of minimalistic, or is that industrial, or maybe utilitarian. Im too poor to have style, or a place that i can make my own.



http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~lindstro/

i would like to add that i would perfer an almost completly black and white os with meaningful use of color. I feel like color is over used.

http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~lindstro/

As long as minimalism keeps on looking good, I'll take it.

minimalism is a way of life, as colossus said. i just am that way.

and why would reshacking ever go out of "style"?
that means default menus/icons/visual appearances would all be the same/default.. that won't ever happen.

vista
______________..
R1P
visionleague™

I submit that there is a direct correlation between a certain style being often featured, the number of screenshots using that individual skin/wall and its associated style, and the number of people pointing out that the style has been played out.