New Windowblinds Skin
Yellow I am working on...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 by rachelm920 | Discussion: Skinning
Hello fellow WinCustomize skinners... I am working on a new Windowblinds skin appropriately named "yellow". Anyhow, I would like to come up with something really original and not another "xp clone". This is what I have done so far with the task bar and start menu. Do you have any suggestions? Should I do something different? Any advise will be greatly appreciated.

Reply #2 Tuesday, September 8, 2009 4:20 PM
Good luck on your skin.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the name Yellow is already taken. LINK
Reply #4 Tuesday, September 8, 2009 5:52 PM
Yellowest 
or take a page from MrPaul's book... Yellow Ultimate! ![]()
Reply #5 Tuesday, September 8, 2009 6:05 PM
I think you should spend some time taking apart other people's skins in Skin Studio to get an idea of what's possible, and brush up on a few tutorials, so you can break out of the XP clone thing you've been doing lately. There's a really awesome site for Photoshop tutorials for creating interface designs here: http://fxzone.eyeball-design.com/frames01.htm
Also, as I posted in the comments section of your School Days blind, get these free layer style presets for Photoshop:
1. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&loc=en_us&extid=1044442
2. http://www.adobe.com/cfusion/exchange/index.cfm?event=extensionDetail&extid=1041614
They will help you create much more realistic-feeling images and when you play with them enough, you'll get an idea on how to create your own layer styles to give your images a third dimension.
Keep up the good work! ![]()
Reply #6 Tuesday, September 8, 2009 6:42 PM
i would lower the bevel to at least 2, it looks too thick. (on yr buttons)
Reply #7 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 1:59 PM
Maybe I'll name it yellow submarine since that HUGE Beatles collection comes out today LOL not to mention Rockband... how I wish I had a newer gaming system now...we still have the PS2
TY k10w3 I downloaded the 2 layer styles, and I've been saving the styles I've created for my last blinds... but I guess they weren't original enough LOL... I like the "eyeball" site... I will be playing with the tutorials in there for a few days... I took a photoshop class back in 07, but they didn't teach stuff like that... just the basics I am so loving all the free tutorials on the web. I made my 2yo into a mermaid the other day LOL she loved that!
Do you mean the buttons on the start menu? I believe those are the only ones I've made so far for this skin...
Reply #8 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 2:14 PM
Did you want to have a lot MORE fun with tutorials? This series is amusing just for the comedy factor, alone! ("You Suck At Photoshop" series at MyDamnChannel.com)
http://www.mydamnchannel.com/You_Suck_at_Photoshop/Season_2/16DefineBrushPreset_1403.aspx
Reply #9 Wednesday, September 9, 2009 2:15 PM
Yellow Submarine would be cool, I'm from Liverpool, a huge Beatles junkie.. of course.. u would need to add some cardboard cutout looking features![]()
Reply #11 Thursday, September 10, 2009 9:18 AM
Did you want to have a lot MORE fun with tutorials? This series is amusing just for the comedy factor, alone! ("You Suck At Photoshop" series at MyDamnChannel.com)
http://www.mydamnchannel.com/You_Suck_at_Photoshop/Season_2/16DefineBrushPreset_1403.aspx
Darn
| Access Denied Your request was denied because of its content categorization: "Entertainment;Audio/Video Clips" |
I'll have to check it out from home
I totally love the Beatles too don't think I could make a "true" yellow submarine blind... just not that experienced yet. I want to go to the UK so I can walk on Abbey road
Reply #12 Thursday, September 10, 2009 1:32 PM
OK so I made this really neat png for the UIS2 top frame. How can I change the shape from the standard rectangle? There's no glow option like on the start button...
Reply #13 Thursday, September 10, 2009 2:24 PM
The way I usually do it is to create the entire window in photoshop and than slice it up, so I don't have to pay so much attention to sizes and making them match. If they match from the start, they'll match when re-assembled after being sliced.
**An example of how I do the window frames, is how the start menu is illustrated in this tutorial: https://www.stardock.com/products/skinstudio/help/make_start_menu.htm
Also, the UIS2 top frame should be a bitmap in order for it to show up as the preview in the Windowblinds configuration interface.
Reply #14 Friday, September 11, 2009 8:55 AM
Thanks... that's how I made my start menu... didn't even think of that!!
Reply #15 Friday, September 11, 2009 9:40 AM
Just to illustrate what Karen is talking about, this is the .psd that I did for my lastest WIP

Then it's just a matter of slicing up the bits and putting them in a blind.
Reply #16 Friday, September 11, 2009 10:30 AM
i like watching that guy on my damn tutorial...he's funny as hell
Reply #18 Friday, September 11, 2009 2:23 PM
OK so I screen printed a window than I made a neat looking image above it, sliced it up and applied it using skinstudio than my windows explorer crashed wouldn't come back up. I had to reboot my pc. Still no luck... than I went into task manager and started Windowblinds through the "run" option changed the blind to the default windows one than manually started explorer.exe and now my PC is running fine. What the heck did I do to the blind I made? Is it the transparency? I'm running on XP Pro... never encountered a problem like this before!
Reply #19 Friday, September 11, 2009 4:04 PM
Did you save it as a .png or a .bmp? Because I'm pretty sure that the UIS2 windows have to be .bmp, and if the transparency your trying to give it is with alpha, that won't work, you'll have to use magic pink.
Reply #20 Monday, September 14, 2009 8:43 AM
It was a tga in the per pixel frames instead of the top border for UIS2 I'm gonna move it over and save it as a bitmap and see if that helps... it just really scared me on Friday, thought I broke it or something LOL...
Please login to comment and/or vote for this skin.
Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums and downloading skins.
- Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
- Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
- It's simple, and FREE!








Reply #1 Tuesday, September 8, 2009 11:45 AM
I like new Ideas but I will say watch the texture as they can be tricky to get to tile correctly!Keep at it!