Systems for creating and rendering skins are described. In one described embodiment, a system is configured to provide multiple skin elements that comprise part of a user interface that is executing under the influence of a software application. The system synchronizes a property of at least one of the skin elements with a state associated with the software application such that a change in the state of the software application causes a change in the property of the one skin element. In one embodiment, synchronization takes place using an XML data structure.