What's the second-best way to make a skinnable user interface component?

Question

I've been asked to make one of the components, which mimics a real-world appliance, in our application have a custom appearance, which varies depending on the make of the appliance being mimicked, so I need to make it skinnable.

Now, I'm aware that the best way to do custom appearances in user interfaces, is not to do that at all; but I don't think I'll be able to get that past management, so...

What's the the second-best way to make a skinnable user interface component? Our app is winforms-based so I was wondering whether it makes sense to use a WebBrowser control, write the skins in HTML, and somehow hook the DOM elements up to our app's events. Should I do it that way, or is there a simpler (and free) way of doing it?

Answer 1

I would use WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation) or a skinnable component library like DevExpress (let's you design your own skins).

DevExpress Skin Creation Tutorial