[bluevertical]

Aloha!

Well since I live in Hawaii I appear to be the first that made it to the Unsanity site a few hours ago. It's now 11:45pm HST.

I was a bit disappointed by the turnout... but I'm curious to hear from the rest of you...

Let's hear it... the good, bad and the ugly!

[slava]

Originally posted by bluevertical:
Aloha!

Well since I live in Hawaii I appear to be the first that made it to the Unsanity site a few hours ago. It's now 11:45pm HST.

I was a bit disappointed by the turnout... but I'm curious to hear from the rest of you...

Let's hear it... the good, bad and the ugly!

You may be surprised, but I did expected less themes than there is. Making a theme is a lot of work, and to make a completely new one just for a little while the contest has been running is actually quite uneasy, in my opinion. Kudos to all the authors who stressed themselves and created these excellent themes -- and I am sure next time we run a contest there will be much more contestants (makes it harder for us to vote, heh).

As for me, I wish I could vote, but I can't (employee of the company). There are a few themes I really like in the list (and I must admit I abused my privilege of getting these before general public does and used a few on the daily basis .

Now, we'd like to hear your opinion on the contest, see your downloads and votes. If you haven't already done so, do it now. =)

[bluevertical]

I agree. I'm aware of the great work and give BIG props to the themers that represent at the contest and yes, I'm sure next year it will even be a stronger showing.

I will definitely vote after I give the ones I like a good test run.

Peace.

bv.

[Fonzie]

<begin sarcasm>
Wow, these themes are just off the hook.
<end sarcasm>

But that said I fully understand the hard work that is put into a theme.

[MacDog]

As I said in another post, I appreciate the efforts of the themers who entered, but the results are HIGHLY disappointing. I only see two themes there that WOULDN'T choke a goat if used.

[fakebanana]

I'm the author of the Temperance theme, and while it WAS a lot of work and I'm glad its over with, I'm looking forward to the next contest to try out some other ideas I have. Not that I'll wait until then to implement some of them.

That said, I have a half completed theme that bears a Remarkable Resemblance to another contest theme, Good Gray. The menubar and window titlebar are Identical. In face, the only major differences were that I used the flat metaphor for buttons as well. About a week ago, my wife decided that she liked the look I used in Temperance better so that's what I went with. It would have been vastly amusing to have competed with Flatitude (my name for this uncompleted theme) though.

I chose the name Temperance for my theme in reference to the classical virtue of restraint and subtlety.

There are a few rough edges on Temperance still. For example, for the segment tabs, I tried to emulate the behavior of the menubar as much as possible. Being unable to change text colors for the selected segment tab, I changed the behavior of the menubar so that text colors wouldn't change either. This wasn't exactly what I had in mind. I also wanted to provide a subtle separator for the segment tabs similar to the one I used for the Finder view buttons. But I wasn't able to get identical behavior out of the menubar by messing around with the caps in the way some others have. Ideas anyone?


I also wanted to provide a completely colorless variation for Graphite, but as there wasn't a Graphite alternate for window titlebars, ( to get rid of the yellow selection handle ), I decided it would work better as an alternate theme ( not compiled yet ). A definite future feature for Shapeshifter would be to provide Graphite alternates where they don't exist.

BTW, for those looking for the Toolbar button in Temperance, you can click to the left of the yellow window handle it is where it usually is( you'll see it depress ). I would have used the handle as the toolbar button, but it wouldn't have been shaped or placed the way I liked. Including another button in the style of the other window titlebar widgets looked unbalanced and messy, so I just decided to hide it.

In any case I'd be interested to hear any opinions or comments on how to improve my theme.

[email protected]

[NetworkShadow]

You might give a few more months warning next year to get a few more hi-quality themes.

[Slayer-X]

For all those folk bitching and whining about "lack of quality" of the theme entries in the contest, where are YOUR entries? O, you didn't bother to do one? Then quit whining. If you're too lazy, unskilled, or just otherwise can't be bothered to submit an entry then don't whine when the entries that ARE there are not what you want. So far all I see is a lot of complaining about the quality of the themes. I think that all of them are pretty decent. You can tell the authors worked hard on them and most of them are quite original designs.

[cybergoober]

Who is bitching or whining? People are just expressing their opinions. Most everyone who has said anything about the lack of quality themes has also said that they appreciate the work that went into them.

So as not to offend anyone, I won't say that any of the submissions lack quality. I will, however, say that of all the entries, there is only one that I am even remotely interested in using on a day-to-day basis�

[slimshady023]

I must say there were some interesting new approaches that haven't been seen since the days of Kaleidoscope!

Honestly though, I was a little disappointed by the showing... "Digital Device" came out nice, and so did "Latium." But, I think that all of us have been a bit spoiled by the craftsmanship of Swiz and Max in creating 'everday-themes'.

[saranwarp]

Slayer>>

Most people don't want to put "pretty decent" themes on their comput. No one's saying that the entrants didn't put in a lot of work, but most of them just aren't up to par. IMO, of course...

[NetworkShadow]

Originally posted by saranwarp:
Slayer>>

Most people don't want to put "pretty decent" themes on their comput. No one's saying that the entrants didn't put in a lot of work, but most of them just aren't up to par. IMO, of course...

I agree. I didn't mean to put any of the themes down, but it would have been nice to see 2 or 3 almost Max/swiz/NEOS quality themes entered.

I would have entered if school hadn't been keeping me busy... I've got a few mockups that sure would have been interesting.

[DigitalEl]

Anyone have a wallpaper/icon set that looks great with Digital Device?

BTW, nice job, Joe! Great effort. There are some truly unique elements in that theme that make it more than worth a try. I look forward to the next revision and your future work.

[MacDog]

Originally posted by Slayer-X:
For all those folk bitching and whining about "lack of quality" of the theme entries in the contest, where are YOUR entries? O, you didn't bother to do one? Then quit whining. If you're too lazy, unskilled, or just otherwise can't be bothered to submit an entry then don't whine when the entries that ARE there are not what you want. So far all I see is a lot of complaining about the quality of the themes. I think that all of them are pretty decent. You can tell the authors worked hard on them and most of them are quite original designs.

These are publicly available themes - which are by their very nature meant to be admired (or hated). Critique of them is not only acceptable, but should be expected by the themers. Are we to assume that just because someone put some time into something that it somehow puts it beyond criticism? Hell, lets all stop complaining about OSX, OS9, Windows, Hardware, Software... for that matter, just close the forums, there's nothing left to discuss.

[Hi I'm Mike]

yea if we are going to be told not to give our honest opinion at times what is the sense of even talking? people are getting way too fake lately, who cares if someone has something negative to say about something. i would rather get negative feedback than positive, so that i may approve on my next attempt. I was a diver in high school and college and my coaches were 99% hard on me and 1% my friend. You arn't going to win if you are always told that you are doing something right when you arnt.

[chezpaul]

Since when can we not give our opinion on themes ?? I don't make themes and I don't plan to. But I do plan on giving my opinion.. This is a contest after all right ? So I voted. Voting means "to give ones opinion".. well at least last time I checked.

I thought they sucked. As in. "I didn't like any of them". I felt like I was browsing the Kaleidoscope archives. I guess we got really spoiled with Max/IZA/Swiz and others.

One thing I would say to the usanity people is that next time they should present the themes all showing the same things.. I couldn't even see the dark grey one cause it was a tiny picture. Some had an animated gif and some U couldn't see all the buttons and clicks and all.. not very consistent.

And no, I didnt take the time to download all of them. Non of them actually. because of what I saw.

Only Digital device and Imagination looked somewhat cool.

And yes, that's my opinion...

[chezpaul]

I see I'm not the only one thinking this way...
I think it's the american way to never critic but always say U did a good job.. ahah... ;-)
Oh no a boob... Let's sue everyone... ;-)

[Slayer-X]

I didn't say don't give criticism. Criticism is one thiing. To just flat out say how much everything sucks, blows, and blah blah without giving any form of critique is what irks me. Constructive criticism is expected by all themers, but how helpful is it to say "UGH! Everything in the contests sucked!" Well ok, you think they sucked, but WHY? Give some details feedback and not just some slams and whines. How can someone fix or improve a theme with "It sucks"?

[Hi I'm Mike]

but good job everyone, wish i would of entered on of my 4 themes im working on
ill post some mock ups...

[chezpaul]

I don't have time to give a constructive description of every theme entered. And quite frankly it wouldn't interest me. If U think these themes are cool and deserve as much then that's your opinion.
I agree with U that most times it's not cool to say this or that sucks but here... I was just expecting more... As I said.. this was kaleidoscope style.. I just got used to really nice themes. I thought Max or Swiz or IZA would have entered something. But no... I guess there was conflict of interest maybe.. being that they are kinda part of Shapeshifter.... anyway... off to work...

[dws]

Originally posted by chezpaul:
... So I voted. ... And no, I didnt take the time to download all of them. None of them actually. because of what I saw.

So you voted based on preview pics?

Ouch!!!

I sincerely hope that people will take the time to download all of the entries to this contest, try them out for a couple days, and then vote for their favorites.

[slimshady023]

Originally posted by chezpaul:
Oh no a boob... Let's sue everyone... ;-)

I have to agree with Chezpaul about the themes - but you're wrong, ugly fake breasts should be saved for MTV or the internet. Peroid. What a sad state it is when even P.Diddy, Nelly, and Kid Rock know what is and isn't appropriate for prime-time television!

Remember that CBS denied airing the moveon.org commercial about our President and national deficit (which is frontpage news every day). And somehow Janet's silicone and Mike Ditka's hard-on were center stage for the Super Bowl... 'oh well, I guess we're not the only ones making CBS (and Mike Ditka) number 1'! hah hah.

- Slim

[cloudaj]

none of those links worked for me mike.

[wibs]

those theme previews don't do them justice. looking at them, I was overly impressed by some and waaay underimpressed by others. Good Grey in particular kicks ass once you get it running on your computer. I can handle a little more contrast, but... damn. I've never quite been happy with milk as a minimalist theme, and this fits the bill for when I want everything to get really white .

[WICKEDfour]

Originally posted by Slayer-X:
I didn't say don't give criticism. Criticism is one thiing. To just flat out say how much everything sucks, blows, and blah blah without giving any form of critique is what irks me. Constructive criticism is expected by all themers, but how helpful is it to say "UGH! Everything in the contests sucked!" Well ok, you think they sucked, but WHY? Give some details feedback and not just some slams and whines. How can someone fix or improve a theme with "It sucks"?

Thank you Slayer-X, it's good to see that someone can understand the concept of rational feedback.

Well, how about it? What sucked so much about the themes that were entered? There are 3 that I thought were quite impressive, being Kromium, Latium, and Temperance. Aside from my own selfish wish to win some prize in the contest for Digital Device, I think that these themes are very inspired and have a good chance of winning a prize.

Max and Swiz have already established themselves as master themers; we've already seen that they know what they're doing like nobody's business and they could probably slaughter a bunch of other themes in a contest such as this any day.

That wasn't the point of the contest. The point of the contest was to generate some fresh themes from some new and unheard of designers and try to liven up the community a little, so why not be helpful and give these new themes a try and offer some constructive criticism to the developers? That way we'll have even more quality themes floating around. I don't see a down side to that...

[bluevertical]

Damn 'Hi I'm Mike'...
When will those themes be completed? those would have one, hands down!
Keep us posted.
Cheers.
bv.

[NetworkShadow]

Great work wibs, I really like Latium. I really love it, I hope you win. Anyway I need the icons you've got on your preview screen. Just downloaded your safari skin too.

[mrtew]

I thought the entries were very impressive especially considering that they only had 6 weeks to be built! I'm blown away by what was accomplished in so short of time. And Digital Device and Latium are easily the match of a Swiz or Max theme and are both way better than their latest offerings IMHO. You people are doing yourselves and the theming world a disservice by just scrolling down the page real fast and saying they suck. You have to try a theme out for a day or two to see what it's like. I'm still checking them out and don't plan on voting until near the end of the week. Yes you all have the 'right' to your opinions but you also have the privilege of downloading all this hard work for free and trying it out on your computer and to just form spout your premature opinion so cavalierly is really an abuse of your 'right'.

[wreks]

Originally posted by dws:
So you voted based on preview pics?

Ouch!!!

I sincerely hope that people will take the time to download all of the entries to this contest, try them out for a couple days, and then vote for their favorites.

It would be nice if there were full screen previews. I don't have time to download and try them all, but I want every theme to have a fair chance and see what they look like... resexcellence recently has done a good job with their theme displays, wish the contest page looked more like that.

[bluevertical]

yeah i agree. i wasn't too impressed with the way the contest was run with the deadline and all moving etc and the previews are definitely half ass. i personally think maybe macthemes.net might do a good job at it, but it was the first comp unsanity has done. i would like to see a competition for themes as polished as iconfactory's comps.

anyway, for the most part it was rather anti-climactic... but with that said I want to give a big hand of applause to the themers that contributed.

keep up the good work. i look forward to future refinements.

cheers.

bv.

[cube3]

digital device is so good it made me cry.

[phillryu]

Hey guys, here's another look at the contest.



http://www.macthemes.net