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The Audio Wonder from Downunder!
Published on July 25, 2007 By Zoomba In WinCustomize News

Today we're kicking off a new feature on WinCustomize; The Developer Interview Series.  We spend a lot of time talking to and about skinners, but not so much about the folks that really make the hobby (or profession for some) actually possible.

To kick things off, our first interview is with the lead developer behind the Xion skinnable media player application, Cliff Cawley.  Xion is our most recent gallery addition here at WinCustomize, and one of our most quickly growing!  Xion is a relative newcomer to the skinnable application area, having just been released to the public a year ago, but it's already developed a strong following due to how easy it is to skin the application.  Instead of building the art in one application and piecing together the skin in another, artists can visually layout and build their skin entirely in Photoshop using layers.

Click the link below to read the full interview with Cliff for a peek behind the scenes of one of the more popular skinnable apps on the net today.

Also, please digg this story by hitting the "Digg This" button below.


Comments (Page 1)
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on Jul 25, 2007
The only drawback to the "ease" of skinning Xion, is that I don't use Photoshop.... so for me it's not easy.
on Jul 25, 2007
I love this media player. It's SO easy to skin (if you have Photoshop that is) and I'm glad to see that the Xion gallery has taken off. BoXXi is a machine when it comes to putting up Xion skins. I've got a few in the works and will upload when they are done. To Cliff, good on ya mate!
on Jul 25, 2007
The only drawback to the "ease" of skinning Xion, is that I don't use Photoshop.... so for me it's not easy.


Actually you have a couple of different choices when it comes to creating PSD files:

* Adobe Photoshop
* Paint.Net (PSD Plugin available here)
* GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program)
* Paint Shop Pro

Hope that helps!

Cliff
on Jul 25, 2007
COOOOL....!!!! Very interesting! and you showed some of my skins too!!.



If you use Xion, send Cliff some money. I sent some a while back, but I need to send more to pay for all the fun I'm having with this player!.



Thanks for a great program Cliff, keep up the good work
on Jul 25, 2007
Cliff Cawley...Super Code Monkey.  In a world short on heroes comes SCM!Fearlessly defending code illiterate javatards everywhere.  

All supaheroes need a sidekick...I could come out of retirement as Captain Blammo.  


Glad you came along with Xion Cliff and its great to see you here at Winc.  
on Jul 25, 2007
Thanks for breathing some life into the world of skinnable media players. Hope your around for a long long time Cliff!   
on Jul 25, 2007
javatards


haha, that's my word now brainiac. I'm taking it. MINE! You got a problem with that, I'll send a couple of my gorillas yer way to un-problem you.
on Jul 25, 2007
Great article! I, too, believe Winamp has caught the bloat bug. Xion is the second coming in skinnable media players! Onward and upward, Cliff!   
on Jul 25, 2007
Congratulation Cliff, glad and proud, I was a little apart of it.. thanks mate
on Jul 27, 2007
What about if I use CorelDraw? I'd love to start skinning this thing, but I don't know where to start.
on Jul 30, 2007
What about if I use CorelDraw? I'd love to start skinning this thing, but I don't know where to start.


Sure, as long as it can save as PSD then no worries

I don't know as I don't have a copy of CorelDraw, but if that's what you use, I'm sure you can check if you can save to PSD

Cliff
on Jul 30, 2007
I really enjoyed this interview and would love to see more journalistic/magazine style content like this on WinCustomize.  
Will there be more?  
on Jul 30, 2007

That's the idea.  I've got a few more interviews sitting in the queue, and want to do more articles like my Windows Vista series from earlier in the year.  The only problem is I'm just one guy, and this sort of content takes a lot of time.

My dream is to reach a point where there are other people writing magazine-like content for the site too.  But it's hard getting people to write quality content for free.

on Jul 30, 2007
Nice one Zoomba,and thanks for your efforts,I really look forward to reading more in the future.
Cheers.  
on Jul 30, 2007
Sure, as long as it can save as PSD then no worries


Well, it doesn't "save" as PSD's but I can export as a PSD. Do I need to maintain the layers when I export it?
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