PocketBlinds 1.0 released!
Tuesday, September 24, 2002 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
After a long development gestation, PocketBlinds 1.0 has been released. PocketBlinds is a program that completely skins Windows CE (title bar, push buttons, menus, radio buttons, etc.).Over the course of the last few months PocketBlinds has been rewritten to make use of new extension features in the latest version of Windows CE. The result is that it is able to skin any recent PocketPC with no visible performance hit.
If you have a PocketPC, grab it now.
Doreen
Reply #2 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 3:22 AM
Reply #2 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 3:22 AM
Outstanding job on this last build! I can no longer feel a lag on my device while running several apps at once! It draws fast and clean when changing skins too... nice work!
(now finally I can keep pb always running)
Still would like to see scrolls skinned?
(now finally I can keep pb always running)
Still would like to see scrolls skinned?
MikeB314
Reply #3 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 6:37 AM
Reply #3 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 6:37 AM
Juni, here is a rather outdated tutorial, but it will get you started. http://www.pocketpcminds.com/reviews/howto04_page1.php
It doesn't mention any of the new features in PocketBlinds 1.0, but you can pick apart any of my 3 newest PocketBlinds skins (Logika, Woody, or Interceptor) to see how those work. They include the PB 1.0 features.
It doesn't mention any of the new features in PocketBlinds 1.0, but you can pick apart any of my 3 newest PocketBlinds skins (Logika, Woody, or Interceptor) to see how those work. They include the PB 1.0 features.
juni
Reply #4 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 8:10 AM
Reply #4 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 8:10 AM
I did pick them apart already 
, it seems a little flaky..when I want to switch skins it just gives me the swirling wait icon and nothing happens. Also - sometimes it skins buttons in apps and other times not (although I didn't change anything in the skin). I think I'll wait a while until it is more stable.
, it seems a little flaky..when I want to switch skins it just gives me the swirling wait icon and nothing happens. Also - sometimes it skins buttons in apps and other times not (although I didn't change anything in the skin). I think I'll wait a while until it is more stable.
Ian Hanschen
Reply #5 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 9:40 AM
Reply #5 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 9:40 AM
Juni,
What apps have buttons that are not being skinned? Buttons are not always buttons. What device are you running on, and do you have any special hardware hooked up(pcmcia video card/etc)?
What apps have buttons that are not being skinned? Buttons are not always buttons. What device are you running on, and do you have any special hardware hooked up(pcmcia video card/etc)?
Doreen
Reply #6 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 9:57 AM
Reply #6 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 9:57 AM
Juni this last pb build is much better did you upgrade? I could not use the prior build it lagged my device and mine is a 3955 w/ a 406 and it could not handle that build, but this build I can't feel any pull and it draws the skins completely & instantaneously (whereas before it would not draw on the first try, I usually had to reset the skin twice to get it to draw right)
Doreen
Reply #7 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:05 AM
Reply #7 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:05 AM
I have a question though? the volumn menu does skin but my pop up notification/alarms are not being skinned, is this normal?
Thanks
Thanks
Ian Hanschen
Reply #8 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:16 AM
Reply #8 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:16 AM
Hi Doreen,
Yes, it's normal. The volume menu is PB's own creation, whereas the popup notification is the normal one. I'm cooking up some shell integration stuff(for catching custom navbar text and notification icons in the nav bar area), and there's some stuff I can hook to skin the bubble notification windows. It will not be until everything with this build is happy, and I have the task manager nicer, _and_ I've got the other shell stuff in though
-Ian
Yes, it's normal. The volume menu is PB's own creation, whereas the popup notification is the normal one. I'm cooking up some shell integration stuff(for catching custom navbar text and notification icons in the nav bar area), and there's some stuff I can hook to skin the bubble notification windows. It will not be until everything with this build is happy, and I have the task manager nicer, _and_ I've got the other shell stuff in though
-Ian
Doreen
Reply #9 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:29 AM
Reply #9 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:29 AM
OMG I can't wait! did you say custom icons! (I have a ppc icon program I make all my own icons right on my device now) all my apps are pretty much skinnable and I was so frustrated that I could not use pb before (cuz it killed my unit) but this last build is outstanding! (and trust me I run heavy stuff) I feel no slow down now at all...
(but I'm using an ipaq 3955 which has a 406 most others have a 206 so I'm curious what kind of performance they are getting improvement wise)
It would be great if our pop up bubble/notifications & alarms could have customizable graphics and icons!
anyways nice to talk to you Ian and thank you!
(but I'm using an ipaq 3955 which has a 406 most others have a 206 so I'm curious what kind of performance they are getting improvement wise)
It would be great if our pop up bubble/notifications & alarms could have customizable graphics and icons!
anyways nice to talk to you Ian and thank you!
Doreen
Reply #10 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:30 AM
Reply #10 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:30 AM
oh and don't forget the skinnable scrolls! hehe
Doreen runs now before you kick me
Doreen runs now before you kick me
Ian Hanschen
Reply #11 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:51 AM
Reply #11 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 10:51 AM
Boy, if I only had an infinite amount of time to work on PB, I'd do a lot
Custom shell icons & skinnable notification icons may be a possibility(depends how much of the functionality I can hack out, it may just be that PB will just show what the shell would normally show. I have 90% working scrollbars(they work like the old WB scrollbars, so not on combobox lists or other parentless windows), maybe they will go in someday
-Ian
Custom shell icons & skinnable notification icons may be a possibility(depends how much of the functionality I can hack out, it may just be that PB will just show what the shell would normally show. I have 90% working scrollbars(they work like the old WB scrollbars, so not on combobox lists or other parentless windows), maybe they will go in someday
-Ian
Doreen
Reply #12 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 12:02 PM
Reply #12 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 12:02 PM
hmmm can you say pocket iconpackager??? hehe
having skinnable notification menus & icons would be exciting I think most ppl are already bored w/ the standard text notification pop ups...
I cannot make icons on my desktop for nothing, but making icons on my device is a breeze for me cuz you can paint your pixels w/ the tap of your stylus on your screen pixel by pixel (so it's extremely precise which makes it fun and less frustrating)
Ian you've already made hugh strides for us ppc users keep going!
having skinnable notification menus & icons would be exciting I think most ppl are already bored w/ the standard text notification pop ups...
I cannot make icons on my desktop for nothing, but making icons on my device is a breeze for me cuz you can paint your pixels w/ the tap of your stylus on your screen pixel by pixel (so it's extremely precise which makes it fun and less frustrating)
Ian you've already made hugh strides for us ppc users keep going!
SuperheroCanadian
Reply #13 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 11:05 PM
Reply #13 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 11:05 PM
my old philips nino is getting a little outdated for these sort of things.... 
juni
Reply #14 Wednesday, September 25, 2002 12:52 AM
Reply #14 Wednesday, September 25, 2002 12:52 AM
I opened up inbox (only other thing running was dashboard) and it skinned the buttons fine. I do a reset, start pocketblinds and open up inbox - no buttons skinned. I have a Pocket LOOX with a 32Meg MM card in the sd slot and a 1 gig IBM microdrive hooked up to the CF II slot.
Ian Hanschen
Reply #15 Wednesday, September 25, 2002 7:38 AM
Reply #15 Wednesday, September 25, 2002 7:38 AM
Had you switched PocketBlinds to nav bar skinning only?
Was the nav bar skinned?
Was the new button on the today screen skinned?
Was the nav bar skinned?
Was the new button on the today screen skinned?
juni
Reply #16 Thursday, September 26, 2002 1:33 AM
Reply #16 Thursday, September 26, 2002 1:33 AM
Yes, everything was skinned, but the buttons in apps like inbox gets skinned sometimes and sometimes not. But especially annoying is the not being able to switch skins.
Ian Hanschen
Reply #18 Thursday, September 26, 2002 11:05 AM
Reply #18 Thursday, September 26, 2002 11:05 AM
Nevermind, I see. Will look into it. New build will be out Sunday, with notification icon support & several bug fixes.
Thanks,
Ian
Thanks,
Ian
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Reply #1 Tuesday, September 24, 2002 2:15 AM