Thanks, Wiz!  Off to download...

When formulated in a way that looks to discredit the designer. I've seen posts against your creations that is as clearly an attack on you the same way this is clearly an attack on the stardock team.

Even if you don't agree with me, and don't feel that you've been overly subjectively aggressive. I think we all (including me) need to start expressing ourself more objectively, could we agree to try it anyway? (Not just you and me, but the entire community. I think we can all benefit from it)

Make sure you're logged on correctly to Impulse, and that your MyColors is updated.

Click on the lightning orb....and select the "change Logon" thing and put in your email and password and click ok...that should get you into Impulse...then check to see if your MyColors is installed correctly and updated.

If everything is kosher, you should be able to update and Ankh should show up.

Nice skin, thanks!  Love the way you did the light reflections on the min/max/close buttons and the start button (love the start button period for that matter).  Love the bouncing deally-bop-thingie in the start menu (dazzle you with my technical terms? )

When I pass a skin sround for testing and such, this is the type of critique I want. Honest and to the point. 

There is only a couple of you out there that will tell it like it is. The rest don't want to hurt your feelings. Friends can be your worst critics in that they won't tell you the truth. A true friend will tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. They will skate around the point allowing room for confusion. It's a tough world, learn to handle the fat raw or get walked on your entire life. Accept that people can be rude. That doesn't make them wrong or less knowledgable.

Yes, I agree. It's a good thing to be honest and to the point. My problem is not the content of the post, it's that TSF has written posts on how wrong it is when people do posts similar to this one about his skins, specially if it's a moderator/stardock employee that has an opinion.

That's very true, with respect to technical issues. When it comes to color, and more subjective items, the issues tend to revolve around personal taste. In another thread, a comment was made and I responded, in retrospect (always 20/20) more emotionally than I thought at the time.

I think that in public threads this is problematic. "Honest" answers should be made in pm to avoid needless, often misunderstood, and poorly thought out exchanges. Often, quick responses are problematic, and we become victims of what we wrote and how it's taken vs. what we meant and didn't say or tried, but didn't succeed in saying correctly.

On the other hand, I believe that open honest criticism should be encouraged....really a very difficult thing to balance, especially when cultural and language difficulties are present (we are international, here).

Wish there was an easy answer to all this, but there really isn't.

I gave the artist (who i assumed was Pixel Pirate) some professional advice which he can take or leave. My choice of words may be a little harsh, i called them "design mistakes" because that what they are to me, but i was very clear that this was my opinion and one person's flaws is another person's uber idea. I probably should have said "design choices". I apologize to Lasse for not wording it better and more accurately.

We did that color scheme for an egyptian theme for Microsoft Game Studio 7 years ago and our wmp skin fits perfect with it which was the original reason i posted. To say "hey we have something that goes with this you can use forum people". As i was looking the art director in me starts nit picking. It's what i do for a living, so naturally i made some comments. The difference is its just me making them. It's not me, Billy, Kol, Roman, Tony all coming in and bashing it which happens to us here. Albeit much less lately. Just one person who does it for a living's personal opinion. I wasn't even bashing it. I just saw some things that could improve it imho.

I'm not calling you out. I don't give a damn even if you'd be Michelangelo reincarnated, and currently restore the paintings in the sistine chapel, you still wouldn't have the definitive answer to what's wrong or not in making a theme. A flaw would be something that is clearly broken, not a choice of a color (which actually (in my opinion) is a color that is very "egyptiesque", and as such (logically) is not out of place in a theme like this, regardless of being used elsewhere or not).

Your attempt to apply a "rulebook" on how to color a theme is nothing but elitist bulls**t.

You are ofcourse entitled to your own opinion. The above is mine.