Well in the spirit of experimentation I decided to test out this article making facility. As I am currrently engaged, amongst other things, in creating GT3 I thought I would offer some previews of the skin suite which will (approximately) mark my 1 year skinning anniversary.
So, without further ado, being a skinner not a writer, here are some samples of what is to come in the not too distant future...

the start menu - trying to stay reasonably close to the layout of GT2, but with extra sex appeal...

shellstyle images - these are perhaps the most significant departure from GT2 in some ways


the downloading progress animation - shown in context with the normal and light substyles ('light' here is a relative term)

a shot showing toolbar icons, custom throbber, and general windowiness - warning, it's quite a dark skin


well now, what's this?

I haven't really started into the peripheral skins yet, but here is a sample of a prospective rainy candidate

a weeny preview of a GT3 logon
Well, that's more or less the state of play atm. The windowblind is 99% complete, just undergoing final testing and addition of a special feature that should be quite fun

I hope to do a few other skins and dx objects to accompany the suite, although I'm not sure it will be as comprehensive as GT2 in that regard. Time, as ever, will tell.