We make programs that we want the user to feel like their own, to that end we expect them to be able to change the look and feel to meet their expectations.
Unfortunately, a few folks don't think this to be the case and would like You, the User not taint their precious Apps with anything that would make it a Personal Computer.
However, we disagree.
Bold Choices Programs should have user configurable theming with semantic tokens that make sense.
Pluggable Icons Users should be able to rock out with the icons that fit their needs. Colors build muscle memory. Give the user the ability to change size, use High Contrast, help with Colorblindness, and personalize things to their logical conclusion.
Program Icons Icons should blend in when they need to and stand out when they don't. We shouldn't decide that for You, the User. Imagine letting someone control branding on your Personal Computer. Absolutely wild.
Font Freedom Typography is personal. Users should be able to choose fonts that work for them, whether for accessibility, preference, or style.
Distribution Cohesion If you are a distribution that customizes system stylesheets and icons, we support you. Providing cohesive visual experiences across the system is valuable to your users. App developers who design with flexibility and proper theming APIs in mind understand that personalization ~ whether by the user or their chosen distribution ~ is a feature, not a bug.
Note: These examples 100% are in response to existing dogma on the manner. 🖕
There are also less direct, second-order opportunities that come about, including:
Free Advertising
Users are empowered to share how they've customized their programs with themes and tweaks with other users.
We don't have any blog posts, nor a letter because that seems like a waste of time and energy. We just want to customize the programs on Our computers.
Signed,
NEIAM et al
...
Are you making a program?
Empower your users to do great things and customize it to their liking
Do you want to show to your users that this app can be customized at a deep level? Include this stylish badge in your project's git README
To add the badge to your Gitlab project’s header, go to Settings → General → Badges and set the link and image URLs like so:
Link URL: https://theme-this-shit.neiam.org
Badge Image URL: https://neiam.org/images/themethisshit.svg
To add the badge to your README, use this snippet:
[](https://theme-this-shit.neiam.org)