I agree. Ergonomic criteria are not the be-all and end-all, and perhaps tend in the direction of boring. The existing style has real character. If necessary I'm sure it could be tweaked a little without losing that. And yes, of course the user can change these things, but if you're not good at visual design it may be better to go with a good default. The only competition for Salix's looks in my book was OpenSuse 11.2 (Gnome), which also had real character; 11.3 looks like Cinderella to the KDE.
I suppose there is an inherent tension between character and unobtrusiveness - but my own feeling is there should be room for a balance, and as it stands it's really not that cluttered. The slight visual quirkiness of Salix, while still making up a pleasing, harmonious whole, is attractive and expresses the character of the distro.
It is human nature to be attracted to presents with pleasing wrappings and SalixOS's design certainly raises a smile,the gift inside is pretty impressive too
Just for fun .... i have been searching 'stock images' with a Salix/Slackware concept