Compact start menus and ratings...

yeah I saw that too. I wonder if that guy has ever tried making sub-styles. it is a major pain.

From what I saw, a 7 that he said he gave is higher than what its rated.

It's not just that skin I am wondering about. I'm wondering about what standards I should apply when I am evaluating a skin. If the absence or inclusion of a compact start menu sub-style is a consideration, then I have to change how I evaluate a skin. As it is, that sort of thing would be an added bonus (in my understanding), not something to subtract for.

GM, I guess that would be up to the individual. I look for completeness. If it didn't have a start menu, then I would take points off or if the blind had parts not skinned. Then I guess it comes down to eye appeal.If it still has that MS look, thats a no-no for me. If I wanted the MS or parts of the MS look (that sky Blue), I wouldn't be here.I'am sure you will get a ton of different answers.

hehe... without any start menu at all.... oh well. never mind, it was a silly wonder I guess.

/me needs to pick his examples a little better. >

WOM... hehe... I was just thinking. Its amazing how many days go by without my ever seeing my start menu.

I think about making skins, I have had a few goes. And it would be important to me, if i ever considered uploading one, to know if that sort of thing is going to bring down my ratings or not. For me, it wasn't a factor. It was more of a taste. But I know I am a little .. liberal or something maybe.

Well really, I am darn compulsive with stuff but when it comes to matters of taste or such, I try to compensate for that by knowing what the public standard is. I always try not to apply my personal standards on other people in a negative way...

its something that i am not that good at. communicating my wonders is another thing... hehe
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GM, if a blind doesn't appeal to me I won't download it. So that means that I won't rate it. If it appeals to me, I'll download it and if I don't like it then I will it. If I like it I'll keep it. Either way it will get a rating.

I shouldn't have used the start menu as an example. Bad choice.

Should have used the shut down menu. If they didn't skin it, I'd give it a lower rating. )

... but then if they invented compact shut down menus, I would have to wonder again...... hehe.

This is how I see it: compact starts are not a feature of wb per se. They are a possible configuration of the start menu made possible by some windowblinds features. To include a compact start menu substyle is to provide added value to a skin but it's not like you're missing out on a feature if you dont do a compact.

A skinner's duty is to skin the start menu, if he chooses to skin the start menu in 2 differing styles then thats a bonus. To mark a skin down for not providing a compact substyle is a bit like saying "because this skin is not green I could only give it a 7". Whilst in the eyes of the rater this may be true, they may not be able to abide anything other than green, to express the reason in such a way seems to indicate that green is an essential requirement of a skin, and the skinner is failing in their duty if it isn't so.

Maybe the problem isn't in the rating given, but in the way the comment was worded. Perhaps a better way of putting it would have been: "I would have liked to have seen a compact start menu...".

Just my 2 cents...

Yeah... wording is important. I wouldn't even have wondered if it was worded like that. The other way made it seem like compact substyles were a requirement and therefore something that should detract from a top rating. In other words, Fine skin = 9, Fine skin without the compact substyle still = 9... not an 8.

Thats why I wanted to check and see what other people were thinking.

Thanks
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Well, I think that any skin which doesn't have the word "Alien" or "dial" in the title should be marked right down so that I can have a higher rating

I agree that marking something down for something of an optional extra is rather harsh...it's not as if the start menu still looks MS style without being compact, so it isn't really an ommision.

Besides, I've not figured out how to do a compact menu yet and my skin didn't have one so of course that shouldn't mean it's marked down