OVERVIEW:
We understand that you have put quite a bit of time and effort into creating your artwork/skins/themes and wish to show it off to the world.  It has been our mission to only show the best of the best so we do not accept every submission.  However, we do want to show off your talents so our moderators have written this guide to help you understand what qualities it takes for your submission to get accepted into the WinCustomize Library.  Please review these guidelines and if you follow them you should not have any problems in getting your work accepted.  If you have any questions please feel free to email us and we will be glad to try and answer your question.  Thanks and have fun!

FUNCTIONALITY:
First of all, your submission must be complete and functional. Please test it before you submit it. We regularly receive empty or incomplete zips. Also, please include a FULL SIZE screenshot. Please do not scale it down in the screenshot, and don't worry about the thumbnail. Our server will automatically generate the smaller image for quick preview. There is little more aggravating than pressing the "zoom" link and to only have the same tiny preview.

RIPPING:
Also to be referred to as copyright theft. No uploads containing in part or in totality another artist's work will be accepted without a written authorization from the original author.

COPYRIGHT AND TRADEMARK:
Images taken from other sources cannot be accepted without permission, including but not limited to pictures taken from movies, television shows, games, web sites, magazines, celebrity pictures. However, although they are theoretically also copyrighted, we will be lenient concerning corporate logos and OS ports, unless we are approached by the companies and asked to remove them. An exception: sports logos. Sport organization make money selling the right to use their logos and explicitly forbid the distribution of art containing their logo unless a license is purchased.

ADVERTISEMENT:
Our skins, themes and wallpaper sections are no place for advertisement. There is no problem if your name and web site URL is subtly inserted in your artwork (for example in small at the bottom right of your wallpaper), but if your logo or web site address is occupying the main part of the artwork, it will be rejected.

NUDITY AND PORNOGRAPHY:
This is a slightly difficult topic, but as a general rules artwork containing male or female frontal nudity will be not accepted. We can occasionally bend this rule if the artwork is truly exceptional and if the nudity it contains is only an element of the artwork, not the subject in itself. VIOLENCE: No artwork making the promotion of violence or explicitly representing images of death, blood or physical harm will be accepted. Will also be rejected any artwork promoting discrimination, prejudice or any form of disrespect to any ethnic, religious or gender group.

WALLPAPER MODERATION:
Typically, only the wallpaper section is moderated for quality, but it is difficult to be specific about the moderation process. Lets just say that a lot of submissions don't make it in. The wallpaper section at WinCustomize has grown faster than we expected and we are trying to hold it to a reasonable number of offerings. To accomplish this we are being very selective about the artwork that remains in the database.

The last thing any of us would want to do is discourage an artist from uploading their work. All of us are involved in making digital art and we are all committed to seeing the popularity and availability grow.

Our guidelines for judging wallpapers on aesthetic grounds are difficult to be specific about. The prime directive for wallpapers is that they must WORK as a wallpaper, in other words the design should be an effective desktop background, which includes: The background is not too busy and icons are easy to see against it, Colors are not too bright to be distracting, and colors work well together. There are many subjective design related preferences we all have and some objective qualifications as well, such as the quality of the rendering and the resolution size offered. And then there is the composition, the subject matter, the overall balance of the design, etc.

Probably the best way to decide what we like to see in a wallpaper would be to browse through the section and look at what has been accepted. We recommend to everyone submitting wallpapers to try to only send a piece after living with it on their own desktop for a while first. Put as much work and critical evaluation into the piece as you can before sending it to us.

A few examples of what will never get through moderation:
- Britney Spears or other celebrity wallpapers (see note about copyright above)
- Bryce art, unless the result is so astonishing that one could never tell it was done in Bryce.
- Dolphins, palm trees, metal spheres or other over-used elements
- XP-related walls, unless really innovative/original.
- Copyrighted photos/images
- Confused composition...e.g....3D artwork with conflicting light-sources belying the form.
- A ground-swell of negativity from a significant number of admins.