Creating a Skin

Can somebody please tell me how to make a skin? Like, I have GIMP and I can get the pics I want but is there a tutorial that will teach me how to make my pics into a skin?

Just add them to your forum, go to hitskin.com, login, press submit and fill in the details.

Lexi wrote:I really don't mean to be a pain or a total 'n00b'
but I still don't understand on how to make a skin...

I mean, it's the discription part I am unsure of...

How exactly do you go about it?
(I'm hopeless with computers & am trying my best to learn..)

just want to reminder, you're not allow to use text color

Really? LOL, JK

Hellboy999'sGirlfriend wrote:

Lexi wrote:I really don't mean to be a pain or a total 'n00b'
but I still don't understand on how to make a skin...

I mean, it's the discription part I am unsure of...

How exactly do you go about it?
(I'm hopeless with computers & am trying my best to learn..)

just want to reminder, you're not allow to use text color

I add this : This color is particularly painful to read, as I have bad vision.

And about making a skin : You must choose your colors first. Having a color sheme that fits the skin's theme (you wont use barbie pink for a heavy metal skin) if there is one, and match with your buttons. Then, your second step is the buttons. And finally, if needed, you can add some CSS in the Stylesheet management tab (Display > Colors > CSS Stylesheet).

Here are some mistakes to avoid :
- Creating HUGE buttons : Huge buttons are heavier to load, deforms your forum pages, and makes navigation uneasy for visitors because the buttons are too wide (so less place for texts) or too high (extends the index uselessly).
Folder buttons shouldn't exceed 60*60 for forums and 50*50 for topics. The whosonline pic shouldn't exceed 150*150 and should be higher than wide. The whole navbar shouldn't exceed 760px in width and 50px in height. The header shouldn't exceed 780px in width and 120px in height. For posting buttons, you shouldn't exceed 120*40, and for small buttons inside topics, they shouldn't exceed 70*30 for fixed-size buttons.
- Creating buttons who have different sizes : The buttons of a same kind MUST be of the same size and same style. We still see people putting a tiny button for new posts and a HUGE button for no new posts, and this gives an horrible result.
- Abuse of animated GIFs : Most of the times, forums with loads of animated GIFs as icons picked them on the net and so, they mostly aren't assorted to each other at all. Plus, they are heavier to load and distract people. You can add some animation on a "new posts" or on "Hot topics" icons, not more.
- Using random unexplicit pics for the navbar : Yes, I already have seen this kind of horror. Unless you don't deactivate plain texts for navlinks, you MUST include texts who indicate what the button is for. Plus, they must be of the same style and form a "whole".
- Not taking into account the Portal, Calendar and Gallery modules : Many skins don't even have the Portal button. You have to take into account that the forums who might want to use your skins might want to enable these modules.
- Using flashy colors, and low contrasts : Flashy colors are hard for your people's eyes. Plus, you MUST make sure the texts are easy to read : Light text on dark backgrounds, or dark texts on light backgrounds work best. Also avoid two different medium colors of the same intensity (ex : red on medium blue), because some people with color perception problems (daltonians for example) won't be able to read it, and it's not very easy for normal-sighted people either.
- Not much personalization : Yes, there are uploaded skins where most of the buttons are still default buttons, and where only the colors and banners are changed.
- Ripping off other skins' buttons : Most skins aren't free of rights and you MUST ask permission when a skin isn't "made by Hitskin" unless the author decides to place his skin under a CreativeCommons license. And you must not claim to be the author. Not respecting this point will lead you to see your skin deleted for plagiarism.

To show better what I mean by all those mistakes, I'll show you some skins with the mentioned mistakes, so you will know how to avoid them :
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126955 (Huge whosonline pic, flashy colors, some texts are hard to read, incomplete navbar with plain text activated and buttons who are ripped-off from this skin, weird backgrounds, which makes the skin too charged.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126819 (Same as previous, plus the banner who's too charged)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126807 (this one is ever worse... background gif who's so blinky that I feel as if I'm about to have a seizure. Huge pics, huge banner who is almost as high as my screen, ripped-off navbar from default buttons and another skin, flashy colors.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=125499 (Its banner is a plain screenshot who hasn't been modified, and the colors are all transparents, so it's hard to see the texts over the page background.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=125357 (its banner is so high it takes my whole screen, and the whosonline pic who's just a plain photo taken from the Web is huge as well. The folder pics have aliased white edges. The navigation buttons are so wide they are displayed in two lines even for a 1024*768 resolution)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=124276 (Huge folder pics. The other icons don't match with the pokemon theme).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=123516 (Flashy colors are the main flaw of this skin, and the navbar buttons have plain texts beside them. In pics, backgrounds and texts have almost the same color intensity, so hard to read for daltonians.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/forum.htm?theme_id=122960 (Only the banner and a few pics are changed and that's all, it looks too much like subsilver).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=122191 (Not very personalized - reminds too much one of the default skins)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=117456 (Huge banner who's as high as my screen, repeated background who's too contrasted and makes text reading difficult because this loads the skin too much. The navbar buttons have plain texts beside them, and the folder icon size isn't set correctly.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=117404 (Some texts are hard to read, and the logo is too high)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=118450 (Not very personalized + random pics who don't match at all)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116698 (the colors are so flashy and aggressive, I think I will have a headache)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=116653 (Huge pics is the main flaw)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116580 (the main problem is the page background which makes the skin be overloaded and makes reading uneasy on transparent zones).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=108457 (Folders who aren't the same size and who are saved in a GIF format (instead of PNG) which makes horrible white background behind the shadow, huge minipost pics, flashy colors who (I'm sure) don't match with the theme, huge icons for topics).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=104792 (Huge banner who fills up my screen, and huge animated icons who are heavy to load)

And a last example to make the finale : http://fr.hitskin.com/utilisateurs/coccinelle-26062.htm
In all her (?) skins, the navbar pics aren't explicit at all ! And all pics are random pics taken from the net. Up to now, it's the worst skin maker I ever found !

Little Ms. Know it all!

But seriously folks, listen to her she knows what she is talking about! She can give Jalokim a run for his money if not beat him!

Cornelia wrote:

Hellboy999'sGirlfriend wrote:

Lexi wrote:I really don't mean to be a pain or a total 'n00b'
but I still don't understand on how to make a skin...

I mean, it's the discription part I am unsure of...

How exactly do you go about it?
(I'm hopeless with computers & am trying my best to learn..)

just want to reminder, you're not allow to use text color

I add this : This color is particularly painful to read, as I have bad vision.

And about making a skin : You must choose your colors first. Having a color sheme that fits the skin's theme (you wont use barbie pink for a heavy metal skin) if there is one, and match with your buttons. Then, your second step is the buttons. And finally, if needed, you can add some CSS in the Stylesheet management tab (Display > Colors > CSS Stylesheet).

Here are some mistakes to avoid :
- Creating HUGE buttons : Huge buttons are heavier to load, deforms your forum pages, and makes navigation uneasy for visitors because the buttons are too wide (so less place for texts) or too high (extends the index uselessly).
Folder buttons shouldn't exceed 60*60 for forums and 50*50 for topics. The whosonline pic shouldn't exceed 150*150 and should be higher than wide. The whole navbar shouldn't exceed 760px in width and 50px in height. The header shouldn't exceed 780px in width and 120px in height. For posting buttons, you shouldn't exceed 120*40, and for small buttons inside topics, they shouldn't exceed 70*30 for fixed-size buttons.
- Creating buttons who have different sizes : The buttons of a same kind MUST be of the same size and same style. We still see people putting a tiny button for new posts and a HUGE button for no new posts, and this gives an horrible result.
- Abuse of animated GIFs : Most of the times, forums with loads of animated GIFs as icons picked them on the net and so, they mostly aren't assorted to each other at all. Plus, they are heavier to load and distract people. You can add some animation on a "new posts" or on "Hot topics" icons, not more.
- Using random unexplicit pics for the navbar : Yes, I already have seen this kind of horror. Unless you don't deactivate plain texts for navlinks, you MUST include texts who indicate what the button is for. Plus, they must be of the same style and form a "whole".
- Not taking into account the Portal, Calendar and Gallery modules : Many skins don't even have the Portal button. You have to take into account that the forums who might want to use your skins might want to enable these modules.
- Using flashy colors, and low contrasts : Flashy colors are hard for your people's eyes. Plus, you MUST make sure the texts are easy to read : Light text on dark backgrounds, or dark texts on light backgrounds work best. Also avoid two different medium colors of the same intensity (ex : red on medium blue), because some people with color perception problems (daltonians for example) won't be able to read it, and it's not very easy for normal-sighted people either.
- Not much personalization : Yes, there are uploaded skins where most of the buttons are still default buttons, and where only the colors and banners are changed.
- Ripping off other skins' buttons : Most skins aren't free of rights and you MUST ask permission when a skin isn't "made by Hitskin" unless the author decides to place his skin under a CreativeCommons license. And you must not claim to be the author. Not respecting this point will lead you to see your skin deleted for plagiarism.

To show better what I mean by all those mistakes, I'll show you some skins with the mentioned mistakes, so you will know how to avoid them :
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126955 (Huge whosonline pic, flashy colors, some texts are hard to read, incomplete navbar with plain text activated and buttons who are ripped-off from this skin, weird backgrounds, which makes the skin too charged.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126819 (Same as previous, plus the banner who's too charged)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=126807 (this one is ever worse... background gif who's so blinky that I feel as if I'm about to have a seizure. Huge pics, huge banner who is almost as high as my screen, ripped-off navbar from default buttons and another skin, flashy colors.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=125499 (Its banner is a plain screenshot who hasn't been modified, and the colors are all transparents, so it's hard to see the texts over the page background.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=125357 (its banner is so high it takes my whole screen, and the whosonline pic who's just a plain photo taken from the Web is huge as well. The folder pics have aliased white edges. The navigation buttons are so wide they are displayed in two lines even for a 1024*768 resolution)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=124276 (Huge folder pics. The other icons don't match with the pokemon theme).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=123516 (Flashy colors are the main flaw of this skin, and the navbar buttons have plain texts beside them. In pics, backgrounds and texts have almost the same color intensity, so hard to read for daltonians.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/forum.htm?theme_id=122960 (Only the banner and a few pics are changed and that's all, it looks too much like subsilver).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=122191 (Not very personalized - reminds too much one of the default skins)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=117456 (Huge banner who's as high as my screen, repeated background who's too contrasted and makes text reading difficult because this loads the skin too much. The navbar buttons have plain texts beside them, and the folder icon size isn't set correctly.)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=117404 (Some texts are hard to read, and the logo is too high)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=118450 (Not very personalized + random pics who don't match at all)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116698 (the colors are so flashy and aggressive, I think I will have a headache)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/1-forum-f1/?theme_id=116653 (Huge pics is the main flaw)
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116580 (the main problem is the page background which makes the skin be overloaded and makes reading uneasy on transparent zones).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=108457 (Folders who aren't the same size and who are saved in a GIF format (instead of PNG) which makes horrible white background behind the shadow, huge minipost pics, flashy colors who (I'm sure) don't match with the theme, huge icons for topics).
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=104792 (Huge banner who fills up my screen, and huge animated icons who are heavy to load)

And a last example to make the finale : http://fr.hitskin.com/utilisateurs/coccinelle-26062.htm
In all her (?) skins, the navbar pics aren't explicit at all ! And all pics are random pics taken from the net. Up to now, it's the worst skin maker I ever found !

And a last example to make the finale : http://fr.hitskin.com/utilisateurs/coccinelle-26062.htm
In all her (?) skins, the navbar pics aren't explicit at all ! And all pics are random pics taken from the net. Up to now, it's the worst skin maker I ever found !

especially this one ... in a duel me againt this user ... I'd lose with my tail inbetween my legs ...
but on a serious note ... how the f*** is something like that allowed on hitskin?? My word ... that sorta puts graphics and the all its regulations out the window ... looking at ... well lets be serious , looking at s*** with a capital S like that is really nausiating ...

how ? how in the world do you go about adding different images in different styles in 1 navbar??? why ...>> wtf? why ?
OMFG... oh lord please help this poor soul....

this one is my favorite:
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=117456
I wear these gigantic glasses whn sitting in front of my screen and I still can';t see anythhing on that theme... ararrarahg
http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116698
admin in training ??? wtf? more like admin idiot in training

I'm resigning ... i've had it up to here with crap like this...
Things like this bring the good name of graphics arts down... and I do not wish to be a part of it anymore...

I'm gone ... please tell caihlem and the rest ,that a truck hit me and that my arms are chopped off and I can't do graphics anymore...

after looking at these links how on earth do these get onto hitskin. shocking really i thought hitskin was for people who cant make there own forum theme & these themes wont help them at all.

> Jalokim : ROFLMAO, you beat me in deserving the "Angry Skin Nerd" title XD

Oh, that's easy, I was going to ask the same question.

The problem about HitSkin is it's supposed to be "for all to use".
We've even seen several Skins DO NOT USE!... I don't think the techies expected such... special members to join and add their skins.

http://demo.nicetheme.com/index.htm?theme_id=116698
admin in training ??? wtf? more like admin idiot in training

this theme you can use to make someone blind to much colour :pfff: