Happened upon Erin McCarthy’s website the other day. I’ve read several of her Bravas and am a fan of her voice. Noticed something cool on the website. Her designer has enabled “skinning.” That’s when the browser (as in person) has the ability to click a button to change website designs or “skins.” I thought that was very cool. Take a look and tell me what you think (McCarthy’s skinning options are under Mix it Up! below Contact Erin.) I’ve seen this done on blogs before, although usually not writer’s blogs. But I can’t remember seeing it on an author’s site before.
What are your thoughts? Should an author make up her mind and stick with one design? Do you like the option of changing the skin to suit your tastes? I’m asking because I design my own websites, and often I’m very torn between color combinations. Personally, I doubt I would go as far as to change designs completely—too much work on the design end for this puppy. Actually, I have no clue how to enable skinning, either. But on an aesthetic level, I thought it was pretty cool that Erin’s designer did this for her (that’s Liz Bemis of Bemis Promotions, by the way.)
I think that’s pretty cool — but not really necessary. The content is more important. Right now it’s something I couldn’t afford to do.
It’s still cool, though. 🙂
Yeah, I imagine it’s more costly to get a designer to create 3 designs so you can offer the skinning options to your readers.