Thanks for the link.

Anyways, I like the idea of transparency... They are (to my opinion) the most useful widgets you can have as they blend in with any skin in Windowblinds. And seeing that I'm an ObjectBar freak!, they are very useful on my ObjectBar sidebar. The other important thing is to have them all the same width as that would streamline my sidebar. It looks a lot better when the widgets are all the same in width. Height can be different. I really would have liked for Stardock to design and implement the transparency pack and embed it into ObjectBar; and then, when I change my WindowBlind skin, I don't have to change all the widgets so everything can match. In most cases, widget packs for WindowBlinds themes are never "complete". And so, it gets difficult sometimes to complete the sidebar... but the "transparency" pack would solve this. Isn't Stardock in the game for solutions...?!

The hyalo collection provides only 3 that work with ObjectBar [calendar, media player, email checker]. The others are "gadgets" or exe files that will not import into ObjectBar. I think I read somewhere that there was a way to change a gadget to a widget and/or vice versa... is that correct? Other than that, the author for this collection has no time to make the changes... maybe somebody else can... that is really a beautiful collection. It looks like the job is almost done...! Can something be worked out from there...? I would even pay for this...

Yeah, i use it all the time. Fantastic app! If your brave enough, you can check out how i use it.  pjdark.deviantart.com

I use it primarily for a taskbar replacement. Much more powerful than people think! I HIGHLY recommend it. So yeah, go for it Philly. I think you will really enjoy using it.

Wow... very nice usage... 

I guess I'm not the only one who sees "value" in the transparency concept...

Currently, the Silica collection is embedded into ObjectBar.

It would be nice to replace that with the transparency pack.

Are there any ObjectBar users that would switch to Fences?

I won't... 

Objectbar is

How about if I am using both of those and Object Dock Plus?

I was doing the same thing till I realized it was better (for me) to focus on one application. I felt like my system was cluttered with too many similar applications running at the same time - how many "launcher" type programs do you need? After some thought, my decision went for ObjectBar. And so this is how I really learned how to use it - by phasing out the others and concentrating on one solution. It felt like I lost 50 pounds... for me, it seems like it's more efficient this way. I was relying too much on the other applications to do the job. And so I really began to discover just what ObjectBar can do. Ever since, I can't let go of it! Fences doesn't come close to ObjectBar's efficiency in any way at all. Here is a snapshot of my current sidebar:

Why won't some of the widgets/gadgets work in ObjectBar while others do...?

After some experiments, I find it's more useful to "group" widgets into a sidebar. I don't like them individually placed on the desktop - it sort of looks unorganized. I'm just not comfortable with it. The "sidebar" approach is far better. It's visually more efficient. Not only can you have a sidebar, but you can create drop-down bars with more widgets.

Definately, my primary concern on my computer is ORGANIZING and secondarily is THEMING. I need to organize my desktop first, and then theme it. So ObjedBar has a lot of importance for me. When my computer starts, ObjectBar is like a "portal" to my entire system - it's vital. It's the nerve "center" of all activity. Everything stems from ObjectBar and so, it's first on the list and then WindowBlinds... and so, if developments do not start for this application, I will leave Stardock altogether and simply move on to something else. I'm not interested in making the yearly payment for OBJECT DESKTOP ULTIMATE when my main application is continually ignored. I came very close to not making the payment this year and so next year - forget it... I'd rather say how I feel... because it's the truth. And so, that's where it's at for me. There are loads of freeware replacements for this. They are continually developed but at Stardock - you just keep paying for things that don't develop... I don't mind financially supporting developers - but when they don't support you... a decision needs to be taken...

It seems Stardock holds a firm position to not develop ObjectBar...

Maybe they could make it Open Source... and let others develop it...

this could provide opportunity for ObjectBar users to get fixes, updates, enhancements from a community of developers working together...

I understand...

I know, sometimes it's like that...

I noticed that just on Cnet downloads, OB has been downloaded more than a million times and that's just on one popular download site. So if you look at all the others sites combined plus Stardock's own webpage, certainly, you aroused the interests of many (millions of downloads...). I guess it needed to be developed a bit more to "keep" that interest alive... [bugginess, widget import, skinning and others]. With developments, you would have had a valuable user-base. You have to pique their interest...! Widgets could have been standardized with an equal width to streamline the sidebars. Anyways, for me, it's still the best thing I have ever seen for what it does. I've looked at Winstep and I kinda don't like it - I really prefer OB. If I was confronted with a choice to purchase an updated OB or a Winstep, OB would be my choice...

Here is another snapshot: the difference here is that instead of having an MFU list, I made a bar with all "most used" applications ready for quicklaunch with only icons showing. Actually, I made another where the icon bar was shrunk to 16 X 16 icons. It's a tiny bar... but is handy...

I really like how you can use the "WBSkinImport" option to use any WindowBlinds theme for any bar you create... really cool...! This is the case of the "Running Tasks Bar" all across my screen. The bar is used only for that purpose. This is so good and so useful... With a taskbar like that, I don't have to use the "grouping" option but just allocate an "equal space" for all items on the bar - there's plenty of room... the topmost bar is for all folders on my system. ObjectBar really helps you to get organized...

It's interesting - all the different variations you can make... I would have liked to be able to assign a wallpaper to each OB theme - that would have been useful... and ofcourse, I can't do without my "virtual desktops" plugin - what a useful tool to organize your desktop...! This theme also has the full screen width taskbar. I don't know if others have tried to use the full width taskbar. I haven't seen any in the downloadable themes or elsewhere. But for me, this is important. I can work so much better...

Virtual desktops: at home or at work, this is a valuable aid. Each desktop has a special category of applications running. For those who work at home, they could have 2 desktops; one for work and one for home - a nice way to keep things organized.

How do you use OB...

I was thinking about this. If development is dependent on the number of users then there must be a way to break the circle. If skinners start making cool skins for this app again, then that may attract more users and maybe that allows Jeff to update ObjectBar more often. Lobbying and keeping threads like this alive is all you can do.

That's true - but - there is also another point about skinning. If users have the WindowBlinds application installed, and they have for example, a hundred WB skins then those same 100 skins can be applied to OB. And so it's not only dependant upon skinners because the skins database for WB is huge. For those who have the standalone version of OB without WB installed, then they are very dependant on skinners... However, skinning OB in Vista with WB doesn't work well... If "skinning" was easier, then certainly, the Stardock community would have made more skins (many tried and abandoned it). As of now, and according to reports from many, skinning is just simply too complicated in OB. It seems OB was presented as an unfinished work (in terms of skinning). It seems we got the cart in front of the horse - as we say... Make it easier for users and you will see participation and not the other way around. And so, aside from that, I eventually downgraded to XP from Vista - or should I say that I upgraded from Vista to XP! and skinning with WB works great on XP! - I wasn't comfortable with Vista for many other reasons...

I think the only way to "break the circle" though is to make a healthy effort in development and skinning - iron out some of the bugs (vista too) and skinning procedures along with widget issues. Add a little bit of "promoting" to it and maybe then...

One more to go...

see how fantastic it is to work with transparent widgets...