h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

That sounds like a pretty good idea.
Not sure how practical it'd be, but perhaps something like the 'themes' available on Gmail or Firefox? (not that I ever bothered to use these 'themes' - like I said, I'm a creature of habit, and end up preferring what I've been using so far - but I still like the idea)

During the last days I learned about CSS. It's amazing.

Look at this page: http://www.mezzoblue.com/zengarden/alldesigns/
All the different designs have the same htlm code but a different design. It obviously is quite easy to change it.
Basically it works like this: all the text is broken up in paragraphs or segments which have a html code and then the CSS tells the site where this paragraph should be, which color it has etc.

Wow, that's quite impressive!

I don't really understand all the technical aspects of it, but it could be pretty great - you could start off with the skins people are already used to (perhaps even including a Barlesque-esque version), and then let people submit their own designs, to be incorporated into the system, or something.

I'm also not completely sure how this works.

Putting in the skins people are used to won't work, I think, at least not exactly like that. At the moment skins even use different names for the same things, links and other things are there in different orders...

If you want to use CSS the names and everything have to be the same in all skins, just the look is different. So if you would want to use the old skins you would still have to redo them from start, I think and then end up with something that looks quite like the old kins but not exactly.

Well, yes, I see what you mean - and really, I think for me (and probably 99.9% of users in general), 'almost, but not exactly, entirely like the old skins' (if you will excuse the paraphrase ) is going to be fine.
In the site you linked to, there is such variety - it's not just the same text on different backgrounds, but a lot of basic things seem different from one design to the other. At least, to the layman-eye, like mine. So, even without really knowing the basics of what's what, I'm sure that versions that are very similar to the existing alabaster/brunel/goo skins could be done within something like that.

I'm just kinda thinking out loud, though.
You guys are doing an incredible job as it is; don't over-tax yourselves...

Oh, I think the same, yes. We should keep things easy so everyone finds everything. And most important: it has to be readable.
But it's good to know what is possible.

thanks
Oh well, we are here and try to do the job as best as we can.

I just made a new version of goo. I never thought it would work out but it's kind of funny.

Oh jeez, has it been that long? I've been ghosting, and kept meaning to get back and post, but didn't... well, at least it's just a few days, and not months this time.

I've seen the skins you and Mala have been designing, there's some cool stuff. The sneaky one is such an awesome idea! And I also like the idea of seasonal skins (personally I will probably end up just using the Alabasterish version, because I'm boring that way, but that kind of skin will definitely be a kind I will consider). I think maybe that same design can be used for other sorts of 'views', like jungle, desert, mountains, etc.?
Also, not sure how feasible that is, but how about a 'scribbled' design? Like a rough outline that someone drew on a bar napkin or a piece of notebook paper? Not saying it's very original, but I think that might be something people like. Especially if you add a glass of on the side...

Thanks.
Paul wanted a tropical island skin, I'll give that a try when my parents bring photos from their holidays.
I was also thinking about something that looks handwritten, but the fonts I use must be ones that everyone has on their computer or else they will just see normal letters like Arial and Times New Roman or something, which would rather spoil the design.
So far I didn't find a good font.

The is definitely a good idea.

Well, personally i think I won't mind if the font was something like Arial and it was just the surrounding that had the 'scribble' look; it's still cute. On the other hand, I seem to remember a bunch of similar 'notebook paper' design using... err, what's it called, that font that looks like old typing-machine letters? Is that Courier? You know what I'm talking about anyway, right? Anyway, I think people have seen enough designs like this before that it'll look natural and not too clashing.

But hey, what do I know. You guys just do your things.

Aaah, yes, I know what you mean. I'll put that down on my list of possible skins.
I'm jsut working on something futuristic, but I really have to do stuff for uni so I won't be so fast with new stuff now.

Something futuristic sounds cool. Personally, I really love all the old-timey futuristic stuff - you know, all the tall white elegant stuff they loved to draw in the 30s or so. Like all the illustrations from the 1933 and 1939 World Fairs, and I guess in a way also later things like Seattle's Space Needle. There's something really gorgeous and optimistic about it...
I guess that's not really what you had in mind, though - and I can't even imagine how it'd work out in a skin.
Still, if you have some time to fool around between all the important stuff, maybe an art-deco sort of design could be something people'd be interested in.

A good idea. I'm usually not bad in doing art deco stuff. Put it on my list.

Hooray, I'm being useful!

Yes, you are very useful. I just have to find time to really draw all those ideas on my list.