Hey just something that i've been looking for but cant find the answer
Wednesday, June 14, 2006 by brettthegreat | Discussion: Beginners
what is the difference between a shell and a skin....in some easy terms that i can understand heh
and also do you really need both of them together or can you have just a skin or just a shell and which programs do both if any? Thanks for the help i appreciate it
Reply #2 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 6:58 PM
Reply #3 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 7:26 PM
Reply #4 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 7:45 PM
Reply #5 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 7:58 PM
A shell is a program [or group of programs] that allows interface by the user with the Operating System Kernel.
Normally [in Windows] that is a process called 'explorer.exe' which also includes the file manager [also called 'explorer.exe']. In Win 3x the equivalent was handled by 2 processes with different names...'progman.exe' and 'fileman.exe'.
What the shell can then be made to do [through add-ons such as Windowblinds] is change its appearance and even with functionality enhancements.
Or, one can simply ignore the default shell and install and run an alternative [eg Litestep] which gives you the potential to do 'stranger' things that Mister Gates may not have anticipated.
Either way, both 'need' and definitely benefit from the adoption of Windowblinds which, even with no Explorer shell still skins the actual windows themselves.
In comparison, a skin is simply the graphics and/or configuration applied to a program or shell to change its appearance...but in the case of 'skinning' a shell the result is called a 'theme'...
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Reply #1 Wednesday, June 14, 2006 6:45 PM
They do different things.
A shell is sort of the "file management" part of the operating system. Windows Explorer is the default shell used by Windows. Shell replacement programs like LiteStep replace the normal shell with something that works similarly but has some differences in context menus & a bunch of other things that shell-replacement officionados could better explain, that make certain tasks more easily or intuitively accomplished than in Explorer and/or add some functionality missing in Explorer.
The GUI of the OS can be skinned by things like WindowBlinds & StyleXP. And shell-replacement programs can be skinned - there are skinning sites devoted to each of the alternative shells, I believe.