Wow...

You know, ..I thought I'd already responded to this thread when it was originally posted. ...{chalk it up to early senility)

Sorry 'bout that Giz, but you and I have discussed this on occasion over the last couple of years, and you already know I'm 100% behind the idea of an OD library of it's own.

Just posting this now to put it out here in text ..to give it substance rather than just agreement with you.

Stardock:

Please create a gallery JUST for OD backgrounds/docks/docklets.

As a user, it really IS a nuisance having to wade thru all those icons/png's to find docks...

[I'm kind of hoping that with all the excitement of building and getting the new site up, you just forgot....]

Thanks Gooberbean and Brokensquare. I've got some generic docks out there but I'll make some more. I'm glad to see there are some people that support the OD Background only library. Keep bumping the thread.

I'll put my vote in for a separate gallery too!

I'm sure they're well aware of it, but the new site is quite a chore at the moment and it'll take some time to go through the database and get things sorted.

FREE THE DOCKS!!

FREE THE DOCKS!!

or...free the icons...depends on which side you look at the problem from...

FREE THE ICONS!!

.ICOs should NOT be allowed in the ObjectDock gallery.

.PNGs SHOULD be allowed.

(if they have both, they should be allowed too).

But .ICOs should be in the Misc. Icons gallery where they belong.

 

Free the pngs?

Up with Segregation!    

.ICOs should NOT be allowed in the ObjectDock gallery. .PNGs SHOULD be allowed.

And this is the problem...anyone can convert they're icons to pngs (same thing in my book...just a different file type name) and now flood the ObjectDock library with them resulting in the dock backgrounds and docklets getting buried and never seen again. Like I keep saying....its Object"Dock"...as in dock backgrounds & docklets...not Object"PNG"...and yes...I know icons & pngs are used with ObjectDock...and using that argument then you should just allow icons in there as well...since like I said...its only a difference of file type names. But ObjectDock is about the dock backgrounds & docklets...not pngs.

But having said that...again...its not my site...and if this is going to be the way the ObjectDock library is going to be treated...then fine. Then I see no point in continuing to contribute to that library and I now surrender it to the png creators. I'm not going to continue taking the time to create these dock backgrounds for ObjectDock only to have them buried and never seen again.

I'm not going to continue taking the time to create these dock backgrounds for ObjectDock only to have them buried and never seen again.

Giz, you own the dock background market, hands down.  But you can still contribute them and they'll be added to your personal site, th enew de facto home of the OD backgrounds.

Everyone's a winner (but a sub gallery might be a better solution).

But having said that...again...its not my site...and if this is going to be the way the ObjectDock library is going to be treated...then fine. Then I see no point in continuing to contribute to that library and I now surrender it to the png creators. I'm not going to continue taking the time to create these dock backgrounds for ObjectDock only to have them buried and never seen again.

I think this is a legitimate issue that needs to be dealt with. 

But I think it goes way beyond just the ObjectDock gallery.

What WinCustomize needs and WILL implement if there's support for it, is for us, as a community, to be able to control what gets highlighted.

For instance, making a PNG of some program is easy compared to making a dock background.

As a result, the hard work that goes into making a dock background gets smothred underneath an avalanche of PNGs.

The solution isn't to dump the PNGs, the solution is to highlight the content we know people want.

Here is an idea I've been playing around with that I think we could implement into the new WC2K7:

We need to have a PER gallery way of letting users find the things they are really looking for. This can't be done generically or be database driven. It needs to be somethign that is based on the consensus of the community.

I totally agree with WebGizmos on the problem. It's the same kind of problem we have in the DesktopX galleries (the widget someone spends two weeks making gets buried by 10 more weather widgets).

So we reserve a very apparent area for highlighting specific things in a given gallery.

What do you think?

That looks to be a really nice way to do it. It would sure help finding things in a lot of galleries if it could be done.

So we reserve a very apparent area for highlighting specific things in a given gallery.

Lots of oppertunity for calls of abuse.  Sortign by type of skin/object/whatever and then sorting by rating or downloads should fix the problem.

Having said that, I'd be happy to act as part of a community (or skin or whatever) board that had it's own "site" and could promote users or skins or whatnot in a gallery.  Something like Island Dog's "This week in skinning" series for each gallery.

.ICOs should NOT be allowed in the ObjectDock gallery.

That's what the misc icons gallery is FOR, folks! I have no problem w/ the same image as a png & and icon...I use png exclusively, but judging from my download counts, more people seem to use the icon versions...so I make png for myself & others like me, and icons for the majority - that's called sharing! (what's the point of submitting them if they're not what people WANT...which brings us back around to...WE WANT AN OD DOCK GALLERY! So sorry...almost fell off my soapbox!  
I think "Free the Docks" sounds better!