Can I get a few people to critique this WB?
Saturday, January 10, 2009 by k10w3 | Discussion: Sneak Previews
I think I might be finished with my Mardi Gras WB. My noob eyes can't see anything else that needs to be done. It's just for XP presently. It can be downloaded here: http://www.mediafire.com/?td2zomtouch
I've re-tooled a lot of parts from the last time I posted.
Reply #2 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:01 PM
Start Menu looking a bit out on my PC XP 3 should the icons be over to the right more off green border.

Reply #3 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:05 PM
I'm working on one after this one that I'm putting a Vista substyle, that's more for everyday. I just don't think I could get a Vista substyle in on this one early enough to make it out by February 15, which is when the Carnival/Mardi Gras season starts to crank up in full non-stop party mode.
Reply #5 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:16 PM
Content \ Text margins, you need to line them up just inside the inner panel.
Might also want to adjust the logoff panel text margins upwards too as your buttons are not centered in the panel there either.
Reply #8 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:30 PM
Ooooohhh. O.K. Thanks vStyler. I had not idea fonts could be such a pain.
AWESOME...I set them to your specs and it's all lovely and aligned.
vStyler...you're the man!
Reply #9 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:39 PM
You have to set sizing margins for every element in a WB, in many you have to set Content margins.
SIzing margins determine whaich parts of the image are stretched or tiled.
Text \ 'Content' margins typically determine usually how far over, and up or down the fonts are displayed. This will sometimes result in the button used for that section actually moving under the text. ( this is the case with logoff buttons)
A good example of where you need to adjust your sizing margins are your pushbuttons. a good rule of thumb for sizing margins is set them all at 4 and adjust as needed from there.
Lastly, and this is a preference, I understand you want a fancy font used but the current font is too thick and dark to really use effectively as a WB font. Finding good fonts is usually time consuming but always worth it in the end.
I typically stay with what 'works' thesedays as most 3rd party, non-microsoft fonts usually end up causing issues somewhere in WB.
Reply #10 Saturday, January 10, 2009 4:57 PM
Lastly, and this is a preference, I understand you want a fancy font used but the current font is too thick and dark to really use effectively as a WB font.
Maybe I should just keep the fancy font for the task bar buttons? Do you think that would work?
Reply #12 Saturday, January 10, 2009 6:00 PM
Can't give you technical help, Karen...but can sy I like it...especially the colors...novel start button too. ![]()
Reply #13 Saturday, January 10, 2009 6:08 PM
WHAT IS THIS?!?!?! How can this be happeinging without a WIP area?!!!?
LOL
Great job everyone! ![]()
Reply #14 Saturday, January 10, 2009 6:09 PM
I wouldn't want to have it installed every day all the time, but the whole point to Mardi Gras is to lob on the excess, to get it out of a person's system, so they're ready for giving things up for lent. Not that I'm into the religious aspect of Mardi Gras, but I learned to appreciate the way party-hardy balances into the withdrawal phase afterwards when I lived on the Mississippi Gulf coast. In my household, it's kind of like Christmas without the presents but falls at a time of the year we can afford to acquire the acoutrements. And I learned how to make King cake with my bread machine, so....a yearly baked treat is something we've all come to look forward to.
Reply #16 Saturday, January 10, 2009 7:14 PM
Hi K,
I took a look at yr wb, i found a few things to be changed,
I think the all progs button should be a different green when you mouse over it, try to make it the same green as your proglist menu...that would make it heaps better...
i found the more programs menu to be stretched and very pixelated. when it comes to those kinds of menus, its not easy to get a background happening, play with your margins a little, but id be going for a plain colour (just my opinion only)
i would move the taskbarbuttons up 2 pixels, for me they sit too low on the taskbar.
I found the toolbar buttons to be rather a distraction rather then an asset, due to them being the same colour as the rebar, plus having the gold edging...(yet again only my opinion)
I also found the windows background colour to be too distractive....most people prefer white or offwhite.....the tan yellow is too much for my eyes.
on the special shell,and normal shell folders, i found the mouse over button to be a bit rough around the edges when its pressed, not as smooth as the normal button
and i found the font on the special and normal shell folders to be hard to read, purple font on purple just isnt very user friendly. (yet again, only my opinion...)
your font for push buttons is too big, if you right click my computer and choose properties, and choose the advanced tab, you will see that the 'environment variables' has been cut off due to the large font and isnt readable.
I also found the group box top font hard to read also...probably the conflict between green and purple, as they are both secondary colours.
you didnt skin your extra images. its still white dots.
I agree with vstyler about the font..... but its your skin, so its your perrogative (cant spell)
disabled font on drop down menus is impossible to read.....that means you have to work on your *system defined colours* this one is hard to explain, but basically you have to make sure that your disabled font is readable, so its userfriendly to everyone who uses it.
(still talking about disabled font here) I always forget, but im pretty sure its button shadow, buttondkshadow,buttonlight, and or button highlight that controls that section of the colour. if you are not sure, change it to a crazy colour like fluro orange, then apply and see where that colour affects your skin andyour font.....and you can go from there....its pretty easy once you get the hang of it. but also remember that your menu background colour, and rebar colour and possibly the button face colour all co inside with how the disabled font reacts......so its mindful to remember that.
I also encourage you to do your own toolbaricons for explorer, extra and internet rather than just recolour them, and also animations for downloading ect.........
cant seem to think of anything else for now.........
luve kitty
Reply #17 Saturday, January 10, 2009 7:28 PM
Thanks Kitty. I appreciate the feedback. I'll work on all these things next day off I get.
Reply #18 Saturday, January 10, 2009 7:31 PM
Wow! great feedback!
Kitty, vStyler, 2of3, can you critique these skins while you are here?
Reply #20 Saturday, January 10, 2009 7:53 PM
Dat you Zu?
shouldn't there be something 'Zebra' related in there![]()
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Reply #1 Saturday, January 10, 2009 3:41 PM
I would if i had XP....