retiredmaster

retiredmaster

Joined Last seen Member # 444
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Essorant.com - open at last. in WinCustomize News WinCustomize Forums

I finally have my skin site open after a couple of busy months. You should find all my WindowBinds, NextStart, Winamp and wallpapers in one convenient place. To celebrate the opening, I have a $5 mini-suite available called Tranche9b (you may remember a previous skin - Tranche8) which I

14 Replies 11,846 Views
Reply to essorant.com - coming soon... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Thanks people. It'll be a couple of weeks before I have it ready. The 'look' will be almost identical to my last 'ipfox' site, but with php controlling the skin list, and a proper database back-end, and there will be no ads any more (hurrah!). The content will be the same as WinCusto to start off with apart from one little surprise...

15 Replies 4,657 Views
essorant.com - coming soon... in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

I have a domain! But no website yet. And, coincidently, it looks like IPFox is having problems - I can't get to my 'essorant.ipfox.com' URL, or any other IPFox URL, or IPFox itself. So - my new URL is now www.essorant.com ..but there's nothing there yet!

15 Replies 4,657 Views
Reply to Virus emails blasting my inbox in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

This isn't a solution to the problem, but it might help. Get hold of a 'lite' email checker (I use 'Poptray') which just lists the message headers on the mail server. You can then set rules to automatically delete the appropriate ones (which all seem to have one of about ten different headers) or delete them by hand. You can then launch your email client afterwards. That way the spam messages never get to your PC.

114 Replies 38,169 Views
Reply to Donationware - should you pay the author for their skins? (discuss) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Interesting point about the amount. I have a similar problem when people ask what my 'rates' are for design work. I'm not a professional, nor do I have any qualifications in the design area, so I don't feel comfortable about charging 'professional' rates. Having said that, I try to be clear about the limitations of what I'm able to produce and charge accordingly. To my mind, the idea of a donation is that it is up to the donor to decide on an amount which they relate to the worth of the

34 Replies 11,037 Views
Reply to Donationware - should you pay the author for their skins? (discuss) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Hi Russ - nice to hear from you (hope you are well etc.) I agree with your points. I think that if you are asking for donations then you have to be pragmatic about it and keep your expectations low. It might be better to consider anything you receive as a 'gift'. As for self esteem, I think it's down to the individual. I would probably rely more on what people said about my work in comments and emails than base my feelings on the few donations I might receive. It seems unlikely

34 Replies 11,037 Views
Reply to What genre of music do you like? in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Classical most of the time (Shostakovitch, Prokofiev, Vaughan Williams, Bach). But I'm biased - I play the piano and organ and conduct at the local Operatic Society. (yawn zzzz - sorry to be boring) Other than classical I'm currently listening to Royksopp, Robbie Williams, and a few dance bits and pieces (house, garage etc.) But who cares? Respect is everthing. Listen to what you enjoy!

114 Replies 25,530 Views
Reply to Donationware - should you pay the author for their skins? (discuss) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

That last idea (doing a 'lite' version) is an good option that many probably consider. In the case of whether or not to _expect_ a donation, I'm neither surprised nor disappointed that that most people don't donate. It's me putting the ball in their court - I've been doing free skins for so long that I don't want to alienate existing users by suddenly forcing them to pay. Sadly, icons and cursors are something that I don't have much of a talent for. (If anyone has any suggestio

34 Replies 11,037 Views
Donationware - should you pay the author for their skins? (discuss) in WinCustomize Talk WinCustomize Forums

Like a few other designers, I've added a 'donate' link on my latest skin. To be honest, I don't expect anyone to donate for downloading a skin I've designed - I do them because I enjoy doing them, and people can download them for free. However, there comes a time when you have to consider just how long you end up working on these things. I daren't add the hours up! And the more WindowBlinds is developed, the bigger the job of completing a skin becomes. I look on a donation as a

34 Replies 11,037 Views