Welcome back to another edition of This Week in Skinning!  Lots of talk this week going on about Windows 8, and if you have downloaded the consumer preview, then be sure to check out our newest app, Start8.

Now for this weeks picks!

A big annoyance for me with Windows 8 is that it takes multiple steps to simply shutdown or restart.  In Metro you have to sign out, then slide the lock screen, and then finally have the shutdown button.  That’s quite a few steps just to shut off your PC!

Start8 brings the start button back to Windows 8, and in doing so it also simplifies the shutdown process.

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Just right-click the start button and you can shutdown from there.  Simple.

The lack of a start button and start menu in Windows 8 has made using Microsoft’s new OS a non-starter for me and a lot of other people. 

I like Metro, I really do – for tablets. But as a desktop user, I need a consistent work flow that lets me have my windows together on my desktop and don’t want to be jerked out of that environment every time I want to start some new program.

So here’s a free utility we put together that brings the Metro start menu onto the Windows 8 desktop:

http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

We got a start button / start menu up and running this afternoon.

http://frogboy.joeuser.com/article/418946/Windows_8_Start_button_returns

I’ve already seen a lot of Microsoft fanboys complaining about how “Stardock always makes Windows look old” which is pretty ironic since it was Stardock that first introduced Windows users to the concept of ZIP files as folders, widgets, gadgets, docks (which we were doing before OS X), side bars, shadows, GUI skinning, composited desktops, open file dialog short-cuts, file version revisioning, etc. etc. 

What we do at Stardock is take Windows to try to make it better. Normally, it means adding new features to the OS. Having to bring back the Start button and Start menu is something, ideally, Microsoft will do before Windows 8 ships.

While Microsoft is at it, here’s a few other things that would be nice:

• Option to show Metro apps on the Windows desktop inside of window (there’s no reason they need to be full screen).
• High DPI mode
• Better multi monitor support
• Option to have the charm hot spots activate on mouse over rather than mousing over and clicking
• Being able to use the mouse to click drag around Metro (i.e. pretend the mouse is the finger)
• Some sort of…design understanding that 99% of Windows users will be using this as a desktop computer, not a tablet. I love tablets. I have several. I’ll happily use Windows 8 as a tablet. But when I’m at a desk, I have a keyboard and a mouse. PLEASE design the user experience with that in mind.

Here’s what we’ve put together in 24 hours:

So if Microsoft doesn’t restore the Windows 8 desktop to being able to work without jumping back and forth between it and Metro, we’ll do it.

Obviously we can improve on this but we’ll see how much Microsoft fixes things up before we invest too much time on this. Comment here if you think you’d be interested in something like this.  As the Windows 8 beta evolves, we can start to look at what sorts of usability things need to be addressed and put together something more comprehensive.

Update: GO HERE to get it: http://www.stardock.com/products/start8/

Any local Michigan folks looking for a Web Designer job should check this out.

http://www.stardock.com/about/jobs.asp#jr_web_designer

In this role you will work alongside other interactive designers and developers to produce work on usability and user centered projects. Projects include web pages, interactive kiosks, html emails, facebook pages, online banners and some print materials.

Responsibilities:

• Execute designs based on established look and feel and brand guidelines
• Work with lead designer
• Consistently bring new ideas to your designs
• Proactively participate in brainstorming sessions

Qualifications:

• 1-2 years design experience
• Proficiency with the Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver & Flash
• Professional experience with HTML and CSS is a must
• Ability to multi-task and balance multiple projects
• Graduate with BA or BFA
• Great attitude a must, as well as flexibility

A plus if you have the following:

• Experience in a creative or agency environment
• JavaScript, XML, and/or PHP
• Knowledge of Offset Printing processes

Interested and qualified candidates apply now!

If you're enthusiastic about the position and would like to tell us about it, please send Resume, pdf samples of work/or website address and salary requirements to klane@stardock.com, with "Jr. Web Designer" in the subject line.

This is one of my favorite features of WindowFX 5, although there are many cool features which are equally as cool.  Many people think WindowFX 5 is only about animating windows and the start menu on your Windows PC desktop.  Sure, that’s a big part of it but there’s other things that are very useful as well.  Lets look at what you can do using your middle mouse button.

You can set WFX5 to enable a flip feature where when you press the middle mouse button the window will “flip” and show you process information, allow you to open the containing folder, etc..

This quick demo video will show you it in action.

Get WindowFX - http://www.stardock.com/products/windowfx/windowfx5.asp

Tiles is one of the newest apps from Stardock that lets you take control of windows and running applications on your Windows desktop.  Tiles places a customizable sidebar on the edge of your screen where you can view and interact with applications running.  There are a bunch of options and configurations for Tiles that lets it work the way you want it to, making organization easy to do.

One of the ways I personally use Tiles is to use it a “virtual” desktop.  I have several pages configured for common applications I use daily.  For instance, I have a page for Office documents, one for web browsers, and another for e-mail clients.  Usually with several applications running at the same time for each page, this can easily create a very crowded desktop.  With Tiles though, I configure it to minimize and restore windows when pages are switched.  When I switch to my Office page, all the windows in the Office page restore to the desktop.  Switch to another page and those minimize and bring up the windows on the other page. 

Here’s a quick video to show an example.

Another favorite use is just using it to switch applications.  The Windows task bar isn’t bad, but unless you hover your mouse over an icon, you are limited to just seeing the icon representing an open window.  Tiles gives you a live preview of the open window which is especially good when you have multiple windows open from the same application.  Of course you can customize Tiles to show icons, captions, etc. to give as much (or as little) information as you want.

These are just a couple of examples of how you can use Tiles to help manage your desktop.  Tiles has a bunch of configuration options that lets you adjust Tiles to your workflow.

Get Tiles - http://www.stardock.com/products/tiles/

Happy Friday everyone!  This was a great week as we saw the first beta release of the very cool WindowFX 5, which you can get more info about here. I have been having a great time with it on my PC’s and I really like the start menu animations.  Otherwise we had another good week of skins including a new Master skin from Xiandi.

Now for this weeks picks!

The other day I wrote a guide on how to purchase using the in-app functionality, and today I wanted to follow-up with another quick guide on how to activate purchases made.  If you purchased an additional feature for Stardock Tiles, or have Tiles as part of the Object Desktop suite, you might need to activate your existing purchase/features.

Open the Tiles configuration window and navigate down to the ‘Add features” area.  Then click Activate existing purchases button.

Now just enter your Stardock account e-mail and password.

Tiles should recognize it and activate the features available for Tiles.