Customizations

Does allowing users to customize their interfaces waste too much time? I know some customization is good, like allowing users to add bookmarks or move toolbars around in an app. However, what about changing skins and resizing every little thing?

Customization of an interface is very important for productivity in some applications. In graphics and drawing programs, you need the tools you use the most to be displayed right where you are working. You can't go through three menus to click on something if you are using it every few seconds. Graphics programs have so many options that they can't all be displayed, but usually you can add functions to toolbars so they are easily accessible. Things like this help efficiency and can save a lot of time.

However, while I was looking at the surface and saw the scalable forms that expand if you drag your fingers away from each other in that form. I can see a lot of developers enabling this option just so the app seems cool, even if this feature is totally unnecessary. It also got me thinking about skins and other customizations in programs. This can waste so much time, if a user keeps resizing all of the applications and changing skins every time they open it up.

So I think developers really need to think of the application when adding features. If they are developing a game, sure, why not add cool things. But if it is a utility, does it really need these bells and whistles that don't serve a purpose or help productivity?