Looks great, AvMan, nice to see someone trying it out!

Yall tryin to put a redneck outta business?

I use Rainmeter on and off. I love it. Highly customizable.

Speaking just as a user of the software and not a skinner I think it's nice that folks see different looks for a desktop theme using the different skinnable software.  Like having ObjectDock and Winstep themed skins.

It also makes pulling together the Theme Manager Suites a lot of fun and very interesting.

Not a thing could take the place of RND widgets my man!!!!

I totally agree -- as soon as I'm finished with my next Windowblind, I'm going to see if I can skin this to match, but for now, for my personal use, I've made a few accompanying accessories to match the Rainmeter default skin.

I can't get any themes to load. I shut down the default skin and tried to run several others to no avail. Now I have a blank desktop.

"I can't get any themes to load. I shut down the default skin and tried to run several others to no avail. Now I have a blank desktop."

How are you installing the skins RND? If you have not download a skin in the .rmskin format then you need to put the extraxted files into the rainmeter skins folder that was created in your documents at the time of installation. Then you just right click and choose config if your using the 1.3 version but if your using the 1.4 beta version then you right click+rainmeter menu then config. When you click on the skin you want there is usually a side menu or box that will open. Make sure to click on the last thing that opens.

Here is a shot I just done using the same rainmeter skin in the other shots. I made mods to mine by adding quad core to the system skin and changing some other things like disk and feed info.

I got to try this.

Did all that. Beta. Everything for ABP opens in the top left corner with no background, all jumbled together.

The other two I downloaded, the recommended skins, don't load at all. Maybe I should get the non beta version.

Thanks karmat !!!!

Your answer might lie there, Jim. Maybe the 1.3 stable edition might be a better place to start?

What if you just wanted just 1 item to be visable like the clock or weather is that possible?

The latest beta works perfectly, I'm on W7/64, it's totally stable. It's been awhile since I downloaded ABP, but it's a top suite, not sure why it's not working for you. All new apps will appear in the top left corner, you need to move them to where you want them.

Right click on the Rainmeter icon in your system tray, hover over Themes and choose Manage Themes. The 'RainThemes' utilitity will open and you'll see what skins/themes you have installed, just load the one you want.

You can also right click the icon, hover over Configs, scroll down and click on Manage Skins and the 'RainBrowser' utility will open where you can manage and edit your skins. When it first comes up, it willl show in the far left 'Active' column the skins that are open on your desktop, to see all the skins that you have, click on the 'Browse' tab.

Most Important Tip...

- when you download a new skin, remember to REFRESH ALL (or it won't show up)

- when you make changes to a skin, remember to REFRESH SKIN (two different commands)

Here are some excellent easy instructions:

Rainmeter 101 http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=Rainmeter101

Getting Started http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=Rainmeter101_GettingStarted

Using Rainmeter http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=Rainmeter101_Interacting

Adding Skins http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=Rainmeter101_AddingSkins

Anatomy of a Skin http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=Rainmeter101_AnatomyOfASkin

Skin Tutorials http://rainmeter.net/RainCMS/?q=SkinTutorials

Thanks karmat. I'm playing with it too. Takes some getting used to, but is functional!

I went ahead and made the skins that had been moderated public. One of the Journeyman skinners had submitted and because they don't go thru moderation it ended up available. So I released the others.

Vark would be a good one to try RND. It's set up for beginners to easily get what they need out of it.

There is a bit of a learning curve to it, but it's worth it! People just need to do abit of reading and tinkering to get the feel of it. But with all the changes to Rainmeter this year, users can now just download a skin without doing much modifying, but where's the fun in that!

Do you folks think that skinning Rainmeter will be the same as Rainlander and Winstep, meaning will skinners make themed skins for it to go with WindowBlind Themes? 

This is all good stuff, hoping to see a lot of skins from some of you clever skinners. though i seem to have already D/L a lot of rainmeter skins

Vark is great because it's so versatile. My last three screenshots in my gallery have it https://www.wincustomize.com/users/2687090/karmat.