Are there plans for skin/theme support?

I like the new design concepts, but I'd rather make my own skin and customize it.

When I first saw the proposed new design of FDM I could not believe my eyes, I was terrified. I use FDM with its 'Old Style Reloaded' skin, which is perfect to me. I hate enormous icons, 'Metro Style' and 'Ribbons', which apart from being ugly are a waste of space. If this new design will be implemented with no option to revert to the old skins I will have to dump FDM no matter how keen on it I have been since the day I discovered it. Seeing the users' vote I suppose the terrible thing will happen, so now I am prepared for the disaster- I have already purchased licenses for two commercial downloaders (Mass Downloader and Internet Download Accelerator PRO), which are quite inferior to FDM but do not show any signs of implementing Metro/Modern GUI crap. I have tested a download manager with a similar 'modern' interface- EagleGet (http://www.eagleget.com/) and I was disgusted. Unfortunately with the emergence of Google Chrome a horrible trend of software design has become prevalent- simplification to the extent of nonsense, the developers try to please the masses, those that never use anything than a browser to connect to Facebook, Skype and Picasa. A typical example is Firefox which once was the best browser but now is by far the worst one, totally losing its way and identity blindly mimicking the awful Chrome. I never expected something like that to happen to FDM but it seems I was very naive. Nowadays the geeks are no longer respected, all that matters is that average Joe is happy with the these modern, uncustomizable, feeble and dull products. FDM was a great companion for many years but if I see the Metro-style GUI implemented in it without any option to remove/disable it I will have to abandon it. I am rather inclined to use a stone-age downloader (like Kapere, or LeechGet, for example) than a Metro-infected nuisance.

You know, if you guys are going to do a poll on the looks, you should probably update the pics on page 1 to show the new concept.... I voted based on what I saw on the first post and as I read through found the updated UI on page 2. I have to say I seriously do not like the design on page 1, but think the design on page 2 looks a lot nicer.

As for the ribbon that some people have mentioned... I'd prefer not. I think just having a few quick access buttons and everything else in menus looks better. To me, the ribbon system is too "messy" looking.

One thing that would definitely be good to keep, though, even if just a visual indicator, is the Traffic mode that FDM is currently running in.

:?: WHEN WILL THE NEW DESIGN COME :?:

WHERE TO DOWNLOAD THIS BETA VERSION :?:

The New Designs as From the pictures, Looks really Nice :D
You guys should implement it soon :D

There is nothing wrong with the GUI the way it is, I actually believe that all resources should be directed towards functionality and more importantly compatibilty, which is the biggest single issue plaguing FDM currently.

[quote="Joseph A"][i][u]In addition, you could make ribbon-interface[/u][/i]

Please, please, do not do this. The ribbon interface is what I would call "user-enemy".[/quote]
There speaks someone who has encountered some crummy Ribbons, or who hasn't worked out how to use them.

The advantage of the ribbon is that you can easily dismiss it. You can also set it up as you like.

Unfortunately, it was badly sold from day one and has built up an undeserved reputation for being rubbish.

What would be nice would be the associated development of a "Quick Access Toolbar", a small toolbar that includes only the functions you want. The "QAT" and Ribbon go hand in hand.

I like the screen shots of the original proposal. Nice bright and friendly colors. That's one thing I like about the current design, though I'll admit some changes would be nice. But PLEASE don't go dark.

It took me a long time to master the current interface so I'm not exactly overjoyed to hear you're planning to change it. But I understand change can be a good thing. Just don't make FDM more complicated to use.

I wouldn't mind a ribbon. I was a little intimidated by the MS Office ribbon when it first came out, but now that I'm used it I like it a lot. :)

Please if you must makes this new interface make it optional to revert to the old interface too, because personally I can't stand the new look! I love the current look, because it is very efficient and clean, and can display is good size list of que-ed up downloads very effectively. My entire use of FDM is to que my downloads and this new look does not look like it will make that better for me at all since it makes each item take way more vertical space than the old look.

that's how mine looks ...
[url]http://postimage.org/image/n3c0ysbk5/[/url]

I'm waiting for the new style ... when it will release ?

[b]THE CLIENT HAS TO REMAIN FUNCTIONAL ABOVE HAVING GREAT AESTHETICS![/b]

Feedback on the new design:

The designs put fourth in the "full" named screenshot looks great, but it lacks a very important functionality: Sorting.

Where do I sort them by date, size, filename?

Each download as you show is grouped in a "bubble" which crams the important information in smaller font underneath the title. It's much harder to distinguish the information clearly. The current column based layout is more functional and easier to interpret and also takes much less space. This new GUI design reminds me of uTorrent's simplified list view that I find to be near useless and dysfunctional. This design for the download list also takes up much more space.

The information displayed needs to be clear and sortable.

The left hand sidebar is better than currently, yet the ability to choose to show the download count next to each category must remain if the user wants it to be displayed.

A bit of colour-coding on the button icons would be nice.

Also, if an automatic shutdown sequence has been chosen to occur after all downloads have been completed, an icon or countdown should be displayed on the GUI to signify the auto-shutdown is set to ON.

Please remember to not sacrifice functionality just to have a sleek looking GUI (tucking things away that are used often into context menus is bad).

As long as I'm not forced to use the new simplified "bubble" layout and you include a similar download list layout as FDM 3.9.1 then I'll be happy.

[color=#FF0000]Thank you.[/color]

When a new look?

[quote="etr"]Even though the current GUI works for me right now, I wouldn't mind something much cleaner.
Something I do find awful though (sorry devs) is the preferences window, which to me is the download manager preferences counterpart to that of foobar2000 (an audio player)[/quote]"I don't like this and I prefer that" is not a helpful opinion. Download manager is NOT a media player, so noone can imagine how exactly do you want to reorganize options in FDM. Could you give us some more details, please?
For example: Which options and why should be merged in a single dialog window/tab, and which options and why should be moved to separate dialog windows/tabs?

MHO:

Even though the current GUI works for me right now, I wouldn't mind something much cleaner.
Something I do find awful though (sorry devs) is the preferences window, which to me is the download manager preferences counterpart to that of foobar2000 (an audio player); weird and unique layouts all over the place, and you still need to launch 200 more windows from that preferences main window in order to access all preferences.
The direct opposite in the media player world is AIMP3. I know it has alot less settings than foobar2000, but the point is that the AIMP3 team knows how to present those settings, and not create a maze for enthusiasts to master.

lol, forgive me for my opinions :)