That's a good question.
Lots of freemem, very little "bling", the basics. NXE is [in my opinion] a cluttered mess by design, and to style XBMC after it seems an odd choice. I like to be able to see and read what I can do when I launch my Xbox. NXE makes it really hard to even focus on where the hell the selected items are. Its one of the worst designs I've used for just about anything. Talk about a bad place to start for making me happy!
As a past reader to A List Apart, I have been convinced there's a "right" and "wrong" way to design interfaces. NXE, while innovative, ignores the tenets of good design.
Sorry buddy, I've never peeked into skin codes for XBMC. One day I plan to, and will certainly try leading by example at that point in time.
I just wanted to toss it out there, that even if this was 100% feature packed and functional, it'd still be plagued by "bad design."Keep up the good work, and please don't let my comments deter you from skinning - if you like NXE, by all means keep at it! Maybe I'd feel differently if I used it for anything other than "Settings" on my RGH'd 360.