I think that customization is modding things to how you like, aka fitting it to your own style. effort is a big part of customization to myself. making a theme that is merely applying stuff is crap in my eyes. you don't do anything in your "customization", you merely are matching colors and applying themes. when you actually make your own stuff or mod stuff to your liking, that is when I think you actually customized. I break down stuff into effort, overall looks, and color schemes.
senex flip flop on the downlow, time pants.
09:58 pm, Wednesday, April 09, 2003 (10 years ago)
i think customization is changing your desktop to make it look/feel/function how you want it to. this could include something as complicated and time-consuming as making your own skins and hacking dll's or as simple as applying a few skins and matching your colours.
customize. The first thing i think about is SKINS. I understand customize to make your applications looking custom. you know. different. not average. standart. But since i am here it turned to much more. I think it depends where you ask this question. Here people will say .. changeing your dll´s, change your explorer, hack something. i don´t know. If you go to themexp they will say. CUSTO??? VS of course! a new wallpaper and icons. that´s it. maybe a winamp skin.
Good question mojomonkee. I would also like to hear what they think about custo
PS: Mojo: Im pretty sure this post is in response to shocks' comments saying "wheres the custo?".... just ignore him. He only says that to boost his own internet ego. He is a god in his own eyes.
Shocks isn´t always saying the same. He... isn´t a god, too. IF he is you´re, too. I am, too. But don´t think bad about him. He´s one of the nice members here, for me. I don´t know what custo is for him. But for me he is doing it in HIS way. You in your way and me in my way. I don´t think there is a defintion of custo for all here. Because then it would be boring to see everytime the same because everybody would like to have the best.
customizing a desktop or your computer is creating an enviroment that is suited to yourself both aestheticaly and functionally. it can be a simple change of icons, or an entire desktop shell overhaul. it all depends on the USER (I emphasize user, not anyone else) of the mod. ultimately you will be the one using it for yourself, so as long as you feel its good, then its alright. but if you plan to showcase your work and maybe let others use your desktop, then you would have to satisfy the general public.
what this site does is let us show off our enviroment, maybe inspire other enviroments and trade information on how to further our customization.
I know this is probably the worst reason there is, but customizing is getting as far away from the norms as possible. That's why I got into it, and that's the reason for the vast majority of the things on (and even around) my computer. To make anyone that ever looks at it go "what the heck is that?" I think the reason that people do screenshots is because not enough people walk by their computers, and not enough of them take a close look and comment. What's the point in collecting novelties like LiteStep and perfectly coordinated .3dc files if you can't get a reaction from somebody? So the more obscure stuff you show in a screenshot, the better customized it is. Of course, there are always those weirdos who go for things like extra convenient usability, but society will always have its fringes....
And if there is nobody near by who cares about your desktop. If he just says ööööh mine looks the same.. only the taskbar is in green and on the button down their you can read "start"?
customization: To make or alter to individual or personal specifications KSG-"there are always those weirdos who go for things like extra convenient usability" I'm so proud to be a weirdo "confusing pixels everywhere"
i gotta agree with KSG. I think customizing is about making your stuff just the way you want it. but, a large part of the fun is to watch my friends faces when i turn on my computer. I like to see my friends go "HOW THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT???" but i also enjoy using a computer that looks and feels just the way i want it to
To make or alter to individual or personal specifications
mojo i saw nothing wrong with you last screenshot.. i dont think shocks was correct in his review.. but thats just my opinion... 99% of what is here is just theming... i have yet to see anyone (myself included) come out with a killer customization of any OS... to me this would mean a complete rebuild of how everthing works.. with windows, that would be near impossible... its possible but not feasible to do this with linux...
realistcly, litestep or someother shell replacement is a good start, but there's always the look of the 'window' itself, this could be alterd with window blinds, but, you can only go so far with that too.. so in the end, the definition of 'customization' still lies within the creator of the theme.... after all that is about all you can really do... unless someone wants to take the time to build an OS or a GUI from the ground up... i know that i dont have that kind of talent... do you (comment is directed at no one in particular yet everyone that reads this)
i updated my review, so you ppl can understand. i'm not hating on anyone nore wanting to be god nore try to boost my ego. i right the same reviews to boost other ppls ego's... the way i think of customize is hacking, themeing or skinning is a totally different category in my perspective... when i rate i give points for looks and custo..if i like the looks i give 80 right away and if there is no custo i leave it at 80.. thats how i mark. and i think it was fare what i rated and reviewed mojo's screen,hehad lovely looks, and quoted i would give him 100 if he released the theme. and i gave him 0 for custo.. which left the score at 80.. cuz when you submit a screen like that .. your not showing off your desk.. your showing off your themes.. and teasing other ppl :) so then they could ask for the theme.. yah i've done that too before on my siv suite theme.. and i wasn't expecting a high rating.. everone thinks of custo differently... i just think of it as hacking.. i will show you ppl what i mean by hacking in my next screen.. for now love to all
there are many different ways to go about customizing your desktop. themeing and useability are the two main ones it seems. it's all up to personal preference. some people may not have the need to go all out and hack .dlls and stuff, whereas some people feel that in order to properly customize, that's a must for them to do. like i said, it's all up to personal preference. if it works for you and you wanna show it off, whether it's fugly or georgeous, in my eyes it's a welcome addition to the customization community.
customisation is too subjective. it is like ice skating ( well sort of just no one is wearing little tutu's ... well I am but that is another story for another forum post ) there are too many unquantifiable things in a screenshot post.
I mean to someone a completely white screen with a 3dc theme in white and barely usable font and everyhting changed or hacked might be the epitomy of customisation. To someone who likes that it is a "100" screen. To others ( me i spose ) it is just not usable and is overplayed.
That being said a litestep/wa3/wall/stylexp combo made by the person submitting the screenshot gets my respect. Anyone can make a white screenshot with hacked this and that there are hundreds of tuts on the net on how to do that.
But to have taken the time to set up your desktop for functioning as a desktop ( and lets be real you arent staring at the dtop all day you are doing things with the 'puter arent you? ) and still pull off a style ( and it doesnt need to be matching i mean no one wears 501's and a denim jacket together do they? ) that kills all that has come before it then it is customising in my opinion.
Mojo you and the rest of the skinners and themers are the true customisers not the screenshot submitters ( expecting flames now )
But i understand what you mean. theming is a nice definition. and philipptr. i´ll do that. i´ll do as many skins as possible for my four pro suite. look up custo this weekend ...
On this site, in my opinion it is about the skinning as well. Look down the side menu, it does not say "download hack tutorials for Reshacker" it says "skins".
Places like VP, Modzine, and WinT are for Hacking things into shape. I would love to see Shocks start posting and submitting there, simply because it seems to be where his interests lie?
Plus it would be nice to see more people getting into and contributing to hacking (or "custo") things, rather than critisising people for their lack of it.
Don't get me wrong, I often look here for inspiration for current goings on, check out other people's stuff as far as hacking goes, and skinning since I also run Windowblinds and other Skinnable Aps. But if I am looking for things related to Reshacker I go to VP and WinT.
Plus, I do not want to generalise and say "this site is for this, that site is for that". Just my opinion...
Customization is purely changing any aspect away from the status-quo of things. e.g. as soon as you apply a theme to your XP box, you're customizing, albeit someone else's theme or one you made. There's a fine line between customization and re-creating (as syko said up a bunch of posts i believe) and 95% of us here just "customize". Mojo (im assuming he actually made his litestep theme, and I wont see it anywhere else) actually recreated his desktop, which kicks ass, and he kept it way functional too. But then again, I don't think there's any problem with people applying matching color themes, and throwing a samurize on there, it's all about looks and functionality, and if I LIKE putting on a theme and a wallpaper/winamp skin to match, then in my eyes, I've customized my desktop.
I don't mess with litestep or anything else. My process consists of finding a badass wallpaper on here or another site, and building a setup around that. Visual Style , Icons for Icon Workshop, maybe a logon screen or boot screen here or there, and a winamp skin to match. That's "my" customization, because I'm happy enough with that, not to say everyone else is, but knocking people for what they accomplish isn't good. I take pride in finding a visual style that matches my wallpaper perfectly, especially when sometimes I can spend up to an hour finding one to match.
Just my 2 cents..
: Nothing's better than takin a dump and checkin out some uber hardware...well...hacking into microsoft while dropping off the Cosby's might be better :
i still don't think that adding a theme is customizing... cuz if it's like that then how would someone get noticed on custo..cuz everyone can add a theme..and thats what all you xp fans do.. add a theme, submit... i just think that customizing is something thats changes the way windows is displayed. example.. custom right click menu, different placement of the start ... just something that don't look like the window setup..
umm last i checked ls was had a totaly custom right click menu, and a very differnt task bar... who cares if you edit / hack (or what ever you want to call it) the hell out of some dll's if nothing matches, its not really gonna get rated well your definition of "customization" (which by the way i have yet to see in your submits) goes hand in hand with "theming"... like it or not thats the way it goes...
case in point here this is great active desktop work but the over all intergration and themeability leave me (and this is only my opinion) wanting more... whats your comments on this submission...
in the end, and again this is only my opinion, customization has many different meanings to all of us... who are we to judge what that term means to others.... (note use of words 'judge, terms, and others) if you want me to put in other words... here it is...
your car.. some people are happy leaving it stock as a rock.. others are compelled to sink tens of thousands of dollars buying addons, sounds, ground effect kits and turbo's... and others still go back to the old school hot rod ideas... and yet others are compelled to go the route of the lead sled.... or even a totaly custom build (ie buying a frame and working sheet metal to form never before seen body panels) yet whats inside of the latter stated is still an engine (most likey a v8 unless youre like me and prefer to squeeze power out of a v6) one of 2 basic transmission types, so on and so forth... now prefer the last 3 hot rods, lead sleds and 'custom builds', when i look at the import schene i see just a bunch of bolt on parts with a nice paint job (and i would imagine thats how you see alot of the work that is submited here)... do i judge these people for calling their rides 'custom' when in my eyes they are not NO i see that this person has put some time and effort into making their ride their own...
again this is just my opinion...
there have been alot of good points made here on what customization means to us all... now i think the real challenge would be to become less critical of what we (as individuals) think of other peoples submissions and think about why the submitor was trying to accomplish with it... (it would help if there were some good designer notes in the sub again see the afore mentiond link in this post) mojo's notes seem to be lacking to me.. but then again i would think its hard to talk about ls mod's in a trunkated form... i also think that he used the resources here at custo very well...
anyways before someone gets rich on me throwing my 2 cents in all the time im gonna stop now ...
i wouldn't really call litestep's custom right click custo cuz you never made litestep.. again just applying themes.. anyway i'm workin on my desk.. and lets let this thread die..
shocks i would love to have what ever it is you're smoking.. ive done ls 'theming' before.. and yes ive built in all kinds of crazy functions into the right click menu... so please dont try to put words into my mouth... so you go work on your theme'd out desktop.. till you get some of your 'custo' work out on top and not 'under where i cant see it' thats all you are is a glorified and bitter themer...
______________ if you get a penny for you thoughts... but you throw your 2 cents in.. who makes the extra penny???
till you get some of your 'custo' work out on top and not 'under where i cant see it' thats all you are is a glorified and bitter themer...
it should read
till you get some of your 'custo' work out on top and not 'under where i cant see it' you will concidered a glorified and bitter themer... and i will concider you this untill you have produced something fresh and new.. not found just some tutorial that you found somewhere on vp or someother site....
______________ if you get a penny for you thoughts... but you throw your 2 cents in.. who makes the extra penny???
hey guys, let it go. It's just a petty argument over what you guys feel is customization. leave it be. If you guys wanna fight, do it with your screenshots or something instead of being dogmatic about one another's views in a public forum.
What is customization? Hacking. Theming. Getting the "feel". What is Hacking? What is a Theme? At what point do you have a feeling?
This could go on forever. I think customization (in the real world) is what you make your computer look like. My 48 Year old mom customizes her computer when she put the freecell icon on the desktop. Thats right... The windows default icon, for freecell... on her clouds background. My dad likes the "Azure" background. Once he puts it on there.. he's customizing. Thats all it takes. No hacking/theming/worrying about the feel. Just customizing the screen to your liking, functionally, and aesthetically.
customizing on custo.org (not the real world) is different. If I were to have come up with a similar type litestep scheme as mojo did, about a week later.. and a similar wallpaper... i would have been shunned like an amish shunning the children for playin with the lightswitch. It would have been hacked down/flamed/slashed/"ripped"/all the bad things.. because.. someone else did it first. Custo.org is all about originality. You have to razzle dazzle your audience (the custo community) with either trendwhore shit(shard wp/.dll hacking), or break into a new revolutionary style, that no one has thought of yet, (hermikesque wp/who knows what). Thats what custo on here is all about. Unless the people on here see something that impresses, or confuses... they dont really like it. But the fact is, it doesnt matter if THEY like it.
Its customized, to you.
_____________________________ My Phone number is 72, I got one of the early ones.
WHAT IS CUSTOMIZATION? Well, what do you think it is??? Skinning your GUI and apps. This site is called "customize.org" . . . it's all right in front of you. If you want a philosophical debate about the "nature of customization", then fine . . . I suppose. Sorry, mojo, I don't mean to be an asshole, it's just that your question seems redundant. I suppose TOular covered it, but then again most of what he says is obvious.
