VLC Skin Editor

A properly good media player may not have the best looking user interface, which can be a bit frustrating, especially when a second rate player, with limited functionality, comes with a modern and sleek interface. VLC Media Player is considered one of the best players on the market, but it leaves a bit to be desired when it comes to appearance. Fortunately, this can be changed with VLC Skin Editor. You can use it to design your own skins for VLC, without any limitations. The application allows you to make your skins look however you want, thanks to its flexible functionality.

Just like VLC Media Player, VLC Skin Editor is absolutely free. Its files can be extracted directly from a ZIP archive, which means that you don't have to go through an installation process. The application provides full support for all popular Windows versions and it can be used even on older machines, without installing any prerequisite tools.

When launched, the application will greet you with options for starting a new skin and for opening an existing one. If you wish to edit existing skins, created by other users, you can find a good selection here. Skin resources, items and components are displayed in tree structures, in separate windows, within the application's main user interface. A preview of selected components is made available in a similar fashion. By default, the contained windows are laid out like in many other editors, but you can rearrange them however you want.

Resources consist of bitmaps and fonts. Bitmaps are used for anything, from large frames to small buttons, in its pressed or released state. New bitmaps and fonts can be imported from local folders, but it is also possible to add new bitmaps to the list, by making a series of specifications, like height, width and so on. The same can be done when adding new windows. You can specify a window's dimensions, enable drag and drop support and more. VLC Skin Editor makes every single piece of your user interface customizable. Besides changing the dimensions, orientation and colors of a button, you can also choose what actions it should execute when clicked.

Although it may take some time to gather the necessary resources for a new skin and to actually build it, it has to be mentioned that VLC Skin Editor gives you complete freedom to customize your skins however you want. Furthermore, you can test your new skins directly on the VLC, without exporting anything. Thus, you can make sure your skin is fully functional.