WindowBlinds in XP
Sunday, September 23, 2001 by misterME | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
I've been a big fan of WindowBlinds since 1.7 (when I found it...). However, since upgrading to Windows XP, I've been more than content with the Olive flavour of the default Luna theme that ships with it.
I've installed the latest beta for WindowBlindsXP (which, as I understand it, will eventually be called WB3). What I've found is that even my favourite skins, and even some of the awesome new ones by essorant and the like, simply don't skin well in XP; there are too many holes in the skins, too many things that don't get skinned or skinned properly.
So time and time again I find myself just reverting back to the Olive subset of Luna.
My question is this: Will WB3 have *full* support for skinning in WinXP? In other words, will *all* the controls and elements that XP currently skins (like slider bars and all the new elements of the Start Panel and the TaskBar) be customizable with WB3?
And also, am I perhaps doing something wrong? I don't see anyone else asking these same questions, which leads me to believe that either very few people are currently running XP, or no one else is having the same problem with it and WBXP as I.
I've installed the latest beta for WindowBlindsXP (which, as I understand it, will eventually be called WB3). What I've found is that even my favourite skins, and even some of the awesome new ones by essorant and the like, simply don't skin well in XP; there are too many holes in the skins, too many things that don't get skinned or skinned properly.
So time and time again I find myself just reverting back to the Olive subset of Luna.
My question is this: Will WB3 have *full* support for skinning in WinXP? In other words, will *all* the controls and elements that XP currently skins (like slider bars and all the new elements of the Start Panel and the TaskBar) be customizable with WB3?
And also, am I perhaps doing something wrong? I don't see anyone else asking these same questions, which leads me to believe that either very few people are currently running XP, or no one else is having the same problem with it and WBXP as I.
Frogboy
Reply #2 Sunday, September 23, 2001 2:10 AM
Reply #2 Sunday, September 23, 2001 2:10 AM
I am not sure what to say, what parts of XP isn't WindowBlinds XP capable of skinning?
WB XP can skin every element of the GUI if the skin supports it (including the new start bar). Check out the Apartment skin that is included to see an example.
WB XP can skin every element of the GUI if the skin supports it (including the new start bar). Check out the Apartment skin that is included to see an example.
Frogboy
Reply #3 Sunday, September 23, 2001 2:39 AM
Reply #3 Sunday, September 23, 2001 2:39 AM
Check out this screenshot:
https://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb-oct01b.jpg
https://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb-oct01b.jpg
berzerka
Reply #4 Sunday, September 23, 2001 6:32 AM
Reply #4 Sunday, September 23, 2001 6:32 AM
it doesnt skin my xp properly either, in places such as desktop properties it isnt skinned at all
Frogboy
Reply #5 Sunday, September 23, 2001 12:06 PM
Reply #5 Sunday, September 23, 2001 12:06 PM
That dialog is excluded.
It should be noted, btw, that XP itself doesn't skin existing applications fully. On 99% of your apps, you get title bars and maybe scrollbars and that's it. WindowBlinds, by contrast will skin all of them fully.
It should be noted, btw, that XP itself doesn't skin existing applications fully. On 99% of your apps, you get title bars and maybe scrollbars and that's it. WindowBlinds, by contrast will skin all of them fully.
misterME
Reply #6 Monday, September 24, 2001 12:18 AM
Reply #6 Monday, September 24, 2001 12:18 AM
Maybe that's the problem. Some of the skins I've been trying might not have full support for *every* element, and I'm probably seeing that more obviously in contrast to the native Luna themes.
One thing I've noticed with every WB skin, however, is that it still seems to be unable to skin scrollbars on certain apps. This is most evident in IE 6, OE 6, and the left pane of Explorer windows (the task pane). XP's Luna skins all of these, but even new WB skins, like Apartment, don't. I know the IE scrollbars have always been an issue with WB, but if Luna can skin them now, why can't WB?
Also, a lot of skins that repeat images (or tile them) in the title bar seem to be displaying poorly, like the measurements for the repeated area are off by a pixel or two. "Steel" is the skin that shows this most clearly, but all of them that do it seem to be sharing this problem. And the tile bar area of Apartment is strange; there seems to be an overlap of the normal Windows titlebar behind the rounded titlebar for Apartment, making it look rather weird.
I'm also wondering if maybe it has anything to do with the fact that I'm running RC1 rather than the final build of WinXP. I got the final build from the XP Roadshow today, and I'll install it tomorrow to determine if it makes any difference.
One thing I've noticed with every WB skin, however, is that it still seems to be unable to skin scrollbars on certain apps. This is most evident in IE 6, OE 6, and the left pane of Explorer windows (the task pane). XP's Luna skins all of these, but even new WB skins, like Apartment, don't. I know the IE scrollbars have always been an issue with WB, but if Luna can skin them now, why can't WB?
Also, a lot of skins that repeat images (or tile them) in the title bar seem to be displaying poorly, like the measurements for the repeated area are off by a pixel or two. "Steel" is the skin that shows this most clearly, but all of them that do it seem to be sharing this problem. And the tile bar area of Apartment is strange; there seems to be an overlap of the normal Windows titlebar behind the rounded titlebar for Apartment, making it look rather weird.
I'm also wondering if maybe it has anything to do with the fact that I'm running RC1 rather than the final build of WinXP. I got the final build from the XP Roadshow today, and I'll install it tomorrow to determine if it makes any difference.
Frogboy
Reply #7 Monday, September 24, 2001 1:22 AM
Reply #7 Monday, September 24, 2001 1:22 AM
We were skinning scrollbars in one of the betas of XP but then they changed how they did it. We'll eventually get around to re-skinning the IE scrollbars in XP but it won't happen in 3.0.
Apartment is just a test skin.
Look at https://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb-oct01c.jpg
Apartment is just a test skin.
Look at https://www.stardock.com/products/windowblinds/wb-oct01c.jpg
Frogboy
Reply #8 Monday, September 24, 2001 1:23 AM
Reply #8 Monday, September 24, 2001 1:23 AM
BTW, don't forget that XP doesn't skin the controls on most apps. Most apps will have the standard Windows 95 style push buttons and radio buttons and the like. Whereas WindowBlinds 3 will skin everything (except the IE scrollbar controls which won't come until 3.1).
feline
Reply #9 Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:31 AM
Reply #9 Tuesday, September 25, 2001 11:31 AM
will the IE scroll bar control skinning work in W2K and 9x, or is that going to be XP only?
sounds lovely, just so long as it doesnt require XP.
feline finds self considering upgrading OS's just to get better windowblinds support
is this a good or a bad sign???
sounds lovely, just so long as it doesnt require XP.
feline finds self considering upgrading OS's just to get better windowblinds support
is this a good or a bad sign???
rotory
Reply #10 Wednesday, September 26, 2001 5:40 AM
Reply #10 Wednesday, September 26, 2001 5:40 AM
is this midnight xp skin only available on the
wb3 beta ?
wb3 beta ?
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Reply #1 Sunday, September 23, 2001 1:27 AM