So August is here and people can't help to ask: "hey man where are the new skins? What gives?". Yeah its been a slow 2 months I'll admit, but its not as if I haven't been doing anything. I have been juggling a lot of jobs these past few months and while you think I would be tired its actually quite the opposite of that, I feel pretty awesome actually.

Anyway last month I showed a preview into a new skin I was working on called Phunk'n. This skin was falling under a new set of skins I was labeling as the designer series. This would be a set of high quality skins which would truly push what is possible in the skin system.

After showing this screenshot I have received numerous emails as to when this skin would actually hit the streets. While I was confident that the skin would be released late July, the more I got into the skin the less that was going to be likely to happen.

When I look at the skin now I know that I made the right choice in not rushing it and keeping the development time on it as long as possible. The skin is not finished yet, but it is certainly getting there and features a lot of things that have never been seen before.

One of the things I am more proud of is the use of animation in this skin. I know you are asking now what I mean by animation so I will explain a bit. Normally in skins when you move the mouse over a button it straight away jumps to the image where the button has a background behind it, or when you scroll a toolbar it just jumps to the next section.

Phunk'n has been restructured so that buttons, toolbars, detail pages all use transition animations. So when you use Phunk'n it has more of a dynamic feel to it since things are smoothly transitioning when you interact with things.

Phunk'n has also been written to be compatible with both StuffPlug and Messenger Discovery Live so you will no longer have issues with having buttons that are out of place (both in look and position )

There are a few new things I have put into this skin which have also never been done before but for that you will have to wait a bit to see what I mean.

Another feature of Phunk'n is that it will be on of the first skins to skin Messenger Plus! Live itself properly. What do I mean by that? Well I think this picture should just about sum it up:



No this isn't a new version of Plus. When using the Phunk'n skin this is what Messenger Plus! Live will look like. So you will have a consistent design going across Messenger.

Well that's about all I have to show for now.

Stay tuned for news and coverage of the Messenger Plus! skin contest.

Willz.

In the news of Messenger Plus! Live, it has been confirmed that a new version is coming fairly soon. While details are pretty slim at the moment our good friends over at msgstuff.com have a bit of coverage as to what is in this new version.

* The ability to copy large amounts of text and images into conversations
* Emoticon sounds are now in stereo, which helps to fix a variety of related bugs
* Skins and scripts can now be updated using the /checkupdates command in messages
* There is a bigger panel for displaying the quick icons display in conversations
* There are various bug fixes and performance optimising features specifically for skinning and scripting

While this isn't a major milestone there are certainly some impressive things going on at the world of Messenger Plus! Live. Stay tuned for more news on Messenger Plus! Live.

August is upon us and its time to reveal this months skin of the month winner. Like last month, there was no voting and instead the winner will be picked by myself. What I normally do is go through the database and check out skins which I think are of good quality and need that extra bit of attention.

Anyway this month I have gone with Apple Live Messenger by mynetx and bumba. This skin is one of the first skins to be released on the Messenger Plus! skin system and has been nominated several times. It is a skin that will transform your messenger into the clean design that the Max OS series uses.

This is one of the more complete skins around and has a lot of options that you can play with. The only thing I would have to say is a downside to the skin is just that it still retains most of the original layout of Messenger (no not graphics) but I am really just nit-picking here.

Anyway if you haven't checked it out yet I recommend you do.

Well boys and girls its preview time.

Its been a quiet month or so, but that is only because I have been behind the scenes working on a set of skins which I am calling the Designer Series. This will be a set of 3 skins which I will created from scratch and feature high quality graphics.

So today I am going to show a small sneak peek at the first skin of the series. This skin is known as Phunk'n and is a skin for all those that like stuff to be sleek, compact and sexy. Phunk'n will come in both black and white and will also be able to be colorized so that the pink bits become whatever other color you want it to be.

Anyway here a first look at Phunk'n:



This is all I'm going to show on the skin, but just know that the image does not show everything that is going on so expect some other surprises when using the skin.

Stay tuned for more skin news.

Willz.

What? How can there be a winner without any voting? Well June was a quiet month with not much going on so people didn't really bother to nominate so there weren't enough skins to get a good contest going. Anyway what I have decided to do is to pick out a skin out of the database which I think is a gem in the rough.

The choice I made is based on the fact that the skin deserves a lot more attention than what it is getting at the moment and compared to some of the other skins that are more downloaded it is certainly nicer (at least in my opinion).

Anyway this months skin of the month goes to:

RoyaLive! by ryxdp



The reason I think this skin deserves the skin of the month award is simply because of its clean design and how its suits the Windows XP setting very well. This skin really deserves more attention than what it is getting and it is certainly a very good option for those looking for something simple, clean and effective.

Whilst there are a few quirks to the skin, these can be overlooked by the overall package itself. Customization and options aren't to the same level of more advanced skins, but that isn't really a worry.

Anyway I recommend you check out this skin to see what its all about.

Stay tuned for some skin news within the next few days.

Willz.

Well it has been a quiet month, I have been busy at work with a lot so this month was a month with no skin releases (well except the fantasia one anyway). Anyway this is just something to let you guys know that no I haven't disappeared into the shadows, but rather that I am working on something behind the scenes which will be great.

For starters I have been working on a resource wiki for the Messenger Plus! Live skinning contest (which should begin soon by the way). This site has taken a bit of time but it will soon be open to the public as well as a new version of the Open Live skin.

But best news for this post is on the upcoming skins which I have planned. I have got several emails asking about when I would make the next Ev0 or Zero-G type skin and I haven't had any plans to do an original design just yet.

This is why I am now going to announce a set of skins which I am labeling the Designer Series. At the moment this will be a set of 3 skins that will be released one after the other that are high in quality and feature original designs.

For now I have 2 of the 3 designs ready to go so I just need to plan out the 3rd one a bit more. If you are a fan of Zero-G and Ev0 then you will absolutely love these new skins.

Anyway that's about all I will say now, so keep an eye open in July. There will be a lot of things happening.

Willz.

Well I have received a few emails on the topic of a mysterious white box appearing randomly whilst using some of my skins and I thought I'd speak out on it just to let people know whats up with it.

Firstly, no its not a bug related to my skins (or Messenger Plus! for that matter), this seems to be a problem on Microsoft's end of things (because it appears even when you have no skins applied). What is happening at the moment is that people will randomly get a white box appear under their display picture container.



So what's up with it ? For those of you that have yahoo contacts this will make a bit more sense. When you talk with a contact that is on the yahoo network you will notice a small yahoo symbol appear under the display picture. By the looks of things Microsoft is making updates to this part of Windows Live Messenger by having an image appear there for another purpose.

There is a lot of theory going around as to what this could be, but at the moment nothing is certain. The box has seemed to disappear now (at least for me), but if people do start getting it again then you don't have to worry about it. Just ignore it and it should hopefully go away within the next few days.

If it doesn't go away well that just means I'll have to release an update to my skins that does make it go away (well depending on what exactly it is of course)

Willz

Well May has now come and gone and we have now hit the midway point of 2008. May went pretty well considering the 3 skins that were released (well if you count Open Live as a skin). But now we are onto June and you might be asking what I have planned. Well this month I am preparing a companion for Open Live (and no its not a skin) which will really come in handy if you plan to enter the Messenger Plus! skinning contest which is set to happen soon.

This is going to be eating a bit of time for the next couple of weeks so it might be quiet, but don't worry that just means big things are in motion. So what skin releases can you look forward to this month?

Well this month I plan to get at least two skins out the door, but who knows I might release a few more if time is on my side. Last month I got a couple of emails asking me if I have totally given up my own home grown designs (e.g Ev0 and Zero-G). While it has been a while since I released a skin that wasn't related to movies, I can tell you that no I haven't given up my own designs and don't plan to.

While working on the skins that I have been releasing I have also been working on some new home grown skins which will certainly be sure to create some buzz. I have created a few designs, but I don't plan to make them just yet (well I might make one soon, but I don't plan to release it just yet)

So what I will say is that these new skins will fall under what I am calling "The Designer Series". This will be a set of skins that I will be releasing all at once. The reason for the name is simply because their design will be well thought out and will definitely stand out from the skins that are around today. I can't say when the project will officially start, but don't expect anything anytime soon as there are still a few things that I need from the skin system in Messenger Plus! in order to make these skins a reality.

Anyway thats all I'll say for now, so now I'm going back to work.

Willz.

Just a quick news post to announce that nominations for skin of the month for June are now open. Just reply to this thread and put up a screen shot and link to the skin that you want to be able to vote on. Remember that previous winners can't be nominated and neither can any skins created by myself. If you need a list of previous winners just check out the awards section in the forums. Nominations will close as soon as there are 3 to 4 nominations so get in fast.

Anyway get nominating!

Well the results are in and this month's competition was really close. But as always there can only be one winner. So this month's skin of the month as voted by the community is:

Wii Messenger by Nagamasa




For those unfamiliar with the skin, it is based around the Nintendo Wii interface design and features a nice clean color scheme which fits the Wii like a glove (no not like the power glove).

Anyway for those of you that haven't given it a try yet I recommend you do as it is pretty easy on the eyes and that isn't really common these days.

Willz.