[Poll] Theme? Style? Skin?

[Kim]

What do you think they should be called?

I started out in forums on vB 2. something and got used to them being called styles... then moved to IPB and have gotten used to them being called Skins... But I also have always liked themes... hmmm

I know I read somewhere that the Devs have started out by calling them styles and it is a bit of a pain to change it now, but I just wondered what everyone thought.. would it be nice to have the common name for them be a bit different to other similar software?

 

[Gunblaza]

I'm going to be different and say "Design". But style is pretty good too.

 

[erich37]

What do you think they should be called?

I started out in forums on vB 2. something and got used to them being called styles... then moved to IPB and have gotten used to them being called Skins... But I also have always liked themes... hmmm

I know I read somewhere that the Devs have started out by calling them styles and it is a bit of a pain to change it now, but I just wondered what everyone thought.. would it be nice to have the common name for them be a bit different to other similar software?

who cares how this is called ?
This name-game does not add any value to the quality of the software.

 

[Trekkan]

who cares how this is called ?
This name-game does not add any value to the quality of the software.

It matters a lot. Without consistent naming, people will have the questions they are posting in this thread. Less confusion = better quality of software and the use of that software.

 

[Forsaken]

It matters a lot. Without consistent naming, people will have the questions they are posting in this thread. Less confusion = better quality of software and the use of that software.

People will always call it what they're most familiar with.

And from the style picker, style seems to be the chosen phrase for the styling system. 

 

[Ryan]

It matters a lot. Without consistent naming, people will have the questions they are posting in this thread. Less confusion = better quality of software and the use of that software.

Agreeing on what to call a skin/style/theme makes the software itself better?

Wow...

 

[Forsaken]

Agreeing on what to call a skin/style/theme makes the software itself better?

Wow...

Having a common phrase for features would be much better then having many terms for the same thing; it just causes confusion.

That is what he meant I'm assuming. 

 

[Ryan]

Right, and of course it will be uniform across the XF software. The point is - whether it's called theme, skin, or style, who really cares?

 

[erich37]

as long as everybody understands it, it does not matter how you call it.
it might be an issue if you call it Mickey Mouse

 

[Forsaken]

Right, and of course it will be uniform across the XF software. The point is - whether it's called theme, skin, or style, who really cares?

The people who are choosing to discuss it.

Discussing it really causes no issues, and its actually something that is interesting because so many people call it something different. Learning why they call it that could possibly be a clue into see how they react to different terminology usage. 

 

[Ryan]

Well, I run a commercial "skin" company myself, and even I don't care what you call them. I'm surprised so many forum owners do.

 

[Forsaken]

Well, I run a commercial "skin" company myself, and even I don't care what you call them. I'm surprised so many forum owners do.

It doesn't really matter what they're called, but if people are choosing to discuss it you shouldn't borderline-attack them.

 

[Ryan]

I'm not "attacking" the people discussing, I'm "attacking" the comment made here that said agreeing on a name improves the quality of the software.

 

[Forsaken]

I'm not "attacking" the people discussing, I'm "attacking" the comment made here that said agreeing on a name improves the quality of the software.

If you read the last bit of his statement, he's pointing out that choosing a term and sticking with it will cause less confusion, which will make things easier on newer administrators (I am assuming).

He could have defined it differently, but jumping at him for the statement is rather pointless. 

 

[Ryan]

To each his own

 

[Floris]

The style is made with a style sheet, and probably called styles, so I will go with styles.

 

[Brandon_R]

CSS = Cascading Style Sheet

 

[Trekkan]

I simply meant that when people are on the same page, it makes things better. If everyone is on the same page, then there is less confusion when discussing things, ultimately making conversations and explanations less cumbersome. This gives the software authors more time to code than answer the same question, simply because it was asked in a different way. Disagree if you want, it's your choice.

If you happen to run a site making "skins", I'd think you'd be very interested in what people call them. I for one, would never search for "skin" because it's not what I think of. Driving more customers to your site would be something I think you'd try to achieve. Knowing that people DO consider this topic differently would of been a good learning example for you, you seem to of missed that and would rather attack.

Good luck with your business.

 

[wizzard]

Just be completely different and call it "a packet of crisps"