Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.

Skins == Bad?

Author:David Brown
Posted:4/10/2000; 10:45:54 AM
Topic:scriptingNews outline for 4/10/2000
Msg #:16062 (In response to 16056)
Prev/Next:16061 / 16063

I don't know, but it seems to me that this is one of those "doctor doctor, it hurts when I do that!" "So don't do that!" sorts of things.

Skins themselves aren't bad, just particular implementations. If you think a skin makes things worse, don't use it. Stick with what works.

We could extend the same argument to say that since people can write bad programs, we shouldn't allow anyone to code. Okay, so that wasn't strictly fair, but I don't think taking away the ability to do XUL programming will solve any particular useability problem.

Personally, I saw most of the "skins" on Linux and X as an excuse to avoid the problem of coming up with a really good UI. But at least Mozilla and XUL allows you to do things that really do enhance the user experience. Like Sullivan. Or Anthem. Or the ZopeStudio project.

Or did I miss the point? I do that a bit.

dave

There are responses to this message:

This page was archived on 6/13/2001; 4:54:43 PM.

© Copyright 1998-2001 UserLand Software, Inc.