WinCustomize is a

website A website (also written as a web site) is any web page whose content is identified by a common domain name and is published on at least one web server. Websites are typically dedicated to a particular topic or purpose, such as news, educatio ...

that provides content for users to customize

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. The site hosts thousands of skins, themes,

icons An icon () is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, in the cultures of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, and Lutheran churches. The most common subjects include Jesus, Mary, saints, and angels. Although especially ...

, wallpapers, and other graphical content to modify the Windows

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

. There is some premium or paid content, however, the vast majority of the content is free for users to download.

Site history

WinCustomize was launched in March 2001 by

Brad Wardell Bradley R. Wardell (born June 24, 1971) is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI engineer. He is the founder, president, and CEO of Stardock, a software development and computer games company. Education Wardell graduated from Wes ...

and Pat Ford, both of whom work at

Stardock Stardock Corporation is an American software development Company (law), company founded in 1991 and incorporation (business), incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch t ...

. After the dot-com recession had taken down many popular

skin Skin is the layer of usually soft, flexible outer tissue covering the body of a vertebrate animal, with three main functions: protection, regulation, and sensation. Other animal coverings, such as the arthropod exoskeleton, have different ...

sites, WinCustomize quickly grew in popularity due to a combination of wide variety of content, uptime reliability, and being the preferred content destination by Stardock customers. The site has grown at a far greater pace than its founders had anticipated. It has managed to avoid having to put many limitations on users or having to resort to pop-up advertising because of its corporate patron Stardock subsidizing its costs. This growth has prompted several site redesigns to offer improved functionality and reliability to users. Since launch, WinCustomize has undergone several iterations: WinCustomize 2k5 — Launched at the end of 2004, WinCustomize was redesigned for improved stability, and added functionality, such as personal pages for subscribers, an articles' system, tutorials etc. WinCustomize 2k7 — Launched January 15, 2007, WC2k7 was a fundamental rewrite using

ASP.NET ASP.NET is a server-side web-application framework designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. It was developed by Microsoft to allow programmers to build dynamic web sites, applications and services. The name stands for Ac ...

. The focus was to build a foundation that was easier to maintain and, in the future, expand. WinCustomize v6 — Planned for Late 2008/Early 2009, the WC v6 project aims to be a major revision to how users navigate and interact with the site and the community as a whole. Where 2k7 was focused on the core codebase, v6 is focused on the user interface and experience. In July 2007 the WinCustomize Wiki was launched. WinCustomize 2010 — WinCustomize 2010 was launched on April 20, 2010. This major revision represents a major change in the sites look and navigation for users. A guided tour of the new site was published for users.

Popular skinning programs

Programs heavily associated with Windows customization include: *'' WindowBlinds'' – enables users to customize the look and feel of the Windows GUI. *''

Winamp Winamp is a media player (software), media player for Microsoft Windows originally developed by Justin Frankel and Dmitry Boldyrev by their company Nullsoft, which they later sold to AOL in 1999 for $80 million. It was then acquired by Rad ...

'' – A skinnable media player from Nullsoft. *''

IconPackager Object Desktop (OD; previously the Object Desktop Network or ODNT) is an online software subscription service created by Stardock for OS/2 and relaunched for Windows in 1997. Object Desktop includes most graphical user interface customization and ...

'' – A program that enables users to change their Windows icons. *'' Rainlendar'' — A skinnable calendar and small desktop application (widgets & monitoring) program. *''

DesktopX DesktopX was a shareware desktop enhancement program that allowed users to build their own custom desktops. Amongst its features was a complete widget engine for Microsoft Windows, Windows as well as a desktop object system. User creations coul ...

'' — A program that enables users to build their own desktop with objects and widgets. *''

Windows Media Player Windows Media Player (WMP, officially referred to as Windows Media Player Legacy to retronym, distinguish it from Windows Media Player (2022), the new Windows Media Player introduced with Windows 11) is the first media player (application soft ...

'' — Microsoft's skinnable media player. *'' LiteStep'' – A noted desktop shell replacement for

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

. *'' ObjectDock'' — provides a dock that adds functionality to the Windows interface, similar but not an emulation of the dock in Mac OS X. *'' LogonStudio'' — alters the

Windows XP Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct successor to Windows 2000 for high-end and business users a ...

and

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

welcome screen A splash screen is a graphical control element consisting of a Window (computing), window containing an image, a logo, and the current version of the software. A splash screen can appear while a game or program is launching. A splash page is an in ...

. *''

BootSkin BootSkin is a computer program for Microsoft Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista that allows users to change the screen displayed while the operating system is booting. It is made by Stardock, and distributed for free under the WinCustomiz ...

'' — alters the

Windows 2000 Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft, targeting the server and business markets. It is the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RT ...

and Windows XP boot screen.

References

External links

*{{official website, https://www.wincustomize.com
WinCustomize forumsWinCustomize Wiki
Digital art Art websites Online databases Computing websites Stardock software