Yes, those were interesting discussions...
In those posts, ObjectBar is well appreciated by power-users - and that just tells of it's importance. It fits in nicely in the Object Desktop package bringing variety in the deal. It has it's place... but it needs an uplifting...
Working with sidebars adds so much usefulness. It's the customizations in ObjectBar that makes it unique. After that, you can create multiple themes for various jobs or purposes. With ObjectBar, you are so well organized. I like the fact that my desktop is personalized according to my needs. I can have a theme for "work" and another one for "home", and so on...
Maybe a section can be created for scripts - I guess I have many ideas... but, if we had access to scripts, (published on a page), we could "try" to make some of those widgets ourselves. Those who know little about scripting, like myself, can enjoy access to these scripting templates so we can eventually contribute in the development of the site and it's content. Maybe there is a place for this...?
Anyways, for roughly a dozen standard widgets, scripting templates would possibly come in handy. The rest we could figure out on our own... with the aid of tutorials and help pages.
Stardock plays the vital role in the development trend for all applications in the desktop package. After that, user contributions are add-ons to the main line of work. Feedback is good - but more from both ends...
On the ObjectBar public page this is written:
Such specialized programs tended to do what they did very well. ObjectBar, by contrast, has been a generalist -- you could create a Sidebar with it. A fully skinnable sidebar at that. And since ObjectBar 2 supports embedding DesktopX widgets, you could create some pretty spectacular sidebars. But here's the problem with that -- the widgets and skins would have to be made with that particular sidebar theme in mind.
So what Stardock has done is re-imagine how ObjectBar is likely to be used. First off, it made it so that the people who spend the time to create the bars can export them as programs. Secondly, it has begun to try to separate the skinning from the bar creation part
This wouldn't be the case if you made them transparent. It's like... one-size-fits-all... the transparency works with all themes [universal]. Now if you do this and change the public page advertizing to show widgets that can go with any theme, there would be no setback to download/purchase. But you are presenting a stumbling block to the public would-be users instead of having a transparent approach that incites them to purchase and use ObjectBar. Most people do not want to make their own things... they would rather buy it with no hassles. And so, why send them somewhere else when you can do the job here at Stardock? Fix it! Get more clients... make more competition... instead of presenting a problem, show them a solution... so for what concerns widgets, transparency is the solution - I think... And so if I change my windowblind skin, all my transparent widgets would automatically adjust to the new theme... I've tried it with one "transparent" like widget and it looks good for any theme.
And so when people take loads of time to surf the net for the "ultimate" desktop solution, they see that they more or less have to contribute towards the development community. Off they go...! Move on to something else... "we've seen that kind of stuff before" and "I have no time for that"...
but if up front you show them a workable environment that adapts to their theme selections with a solid variety pack of most wanted widgets, then they'll most likely consider... the user contributions can work in the background. It shouldn't be announced like that. You tend to scare people away. Most people see that as a big problem. I wonder what the percentage might be of users contributing to the website... and so I'm saying: the way you present ObjectBar can make a difference...
