One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part IV
Putting It Together : Start Menu
Friday, February 3, 2012 by PoSmedley | Discussion: WindowBlinds Tutorials
We're going to take a break from One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part III for just a moment and get into the assembling of the windowblind in SKS. There are a few reasons for this that you may have picked up on if you have been following along.
- We've been making sections of the blind without putting them into SkinStudio as we go along. A majority of skinners will go back and forth between their graphics program (Photoshop, Paint, etc.) and SKS as they go along. That method hasn't worked for me in the past and I wanted to go through the actual design of several areas without the added confusion of SKS.
- There comes a point, once you get past the Start Menu and Window Frames and start getting into the Edit Controls, buttons, etc., that you need to see what they are going to look like and if they will work they way they should. I tried to just keep making the graphics without going into SKS but it's just too much detail and in this particular case, with a lot of the areas we'll be getting into, 'size does matter'.
One of the main reasons that I may have not mentioned for doing the Start Menu and Task Bar areas first is also to assist visually in determining how the overall windowblind will look (per Tim's suggestion). This will actually help a great deal when you get into the buttons, header bars, and other details and you're trying to determine the best colors and other design details.
The way in which I am approaching this is something I came up with some help from 2of3(aka Tim). As I said, not all skinners do it this way and the opinions I offer are just that (my opinions) and by no means written in stone (or sand, Lucite, chalk, crayola, etc.) It if it helps anyone, let me know.
We'll be going back and forth between this thread and Part III. There will also, more than likely, be another thread where we can go over testing the skin and putting on the finishing touches. In this thread we'll be going over the assembling of the Start Menu.
IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS as to why something is done this way and not that or anything pertaining to the Start Menu ask them here. We will try to explain as we go along and may miss some things that you consider important or problematic.
If you're looking for Part I, II, III you can find them here:
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part I
Design : Start Menu and Taskbar
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part II
Design: Title Bars & Window Frames
One Piece At A Time : Windowblind Tutorial Part II
Design: Edit Controls
PLEASE :
- I am open to suggestions but may not use any of them. Please, don't be offended if I don't use yours.
- Keep the image posting to the skin(s)
- If you want to make a skin to go with this, PM me for the files. My PSD's tend to be a mess, but I save everything and will be happy to share. I am uploading the actual files to the Graphics Gallery here on Wincustomize.
- We'll be skinning for Windows7, maybe Vista. If someone wants to do XP, PM me and I will get you what you need.
- Any files you request will come as I complete them. I won't be jumping ahead. Please be patient.
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The PSD files for the previous threads are in the Graphics Gallery.
Roan WB Title Bars and Window Frames
Roan WB Taskbar Buttons
ROAN WB Start Panel UPDATED
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Reply #82 Friday, February 3, 2012 3:35 PM
I just tested the skin with a recent document expansion value of 70 just to see. That will also work just as well as 40, so if you feel that you want more....go for it.
Reply #84 Friday, February 3, 2012 3:39 PM
I'm good with ti at 40.
Not worried about the font yet.
Looks like you added the highlights to yours? (Mine is darker)
Reply #87 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:02 PM
I need to mention one more thing.
This is about the top text settings on the right hand side. There is an unusable area at the top of the panel which is reserved for the user pic. Even in the case where you have hidden it like we did here, you cannot utilize the area where it would sit.
As far as I can tell the area is 39 or 40 pixels. But here's the tricky part: the area occupies both the top part and the very top of the right hand side.
If your top part is 20px high, then you need to set you top text margin on the right side to 20 pixels or your item mouseover will get chopped off on the top.
To illustrate, go to the right hand side text margin tab and change the top value to say..6. See how the mouseover image is chopped off on the top?
Reply #88 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:08 PM
In fact, looking closer, the top value of 12 which I talked about in reply 71 seems wrong. It should be 13.
top part of the panel: 27px
+ the text margins of the right side: 13px
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40 px
Reply #90 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:24 PM
top part of the panel: 27px
+ the text margins of the right side: 13px
--------------------------------------------------
40 px
got it
Reply #91 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:34 PM
Next step will be adding the stitching layers.
I will need some time to work on it, so expect us to pick up again tomorrow if that works for you.
Reply #92 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:36 PM
No problem. I'll PM you when I am up.
I have to redo the mouseovers and log-off anyway. I will update those in the gallery and send you copies.
Thanks again for your time and help on this.
Reply #93 Friday, February 3, 2012 4:43 PM
Make sure that the version you upload has the outer glow and dropshadow on the SP, right?
My pleasure 
It only gets harder from here! 
Reply #94 Friday, February 3, 2012 5:06 PM
No it doesn't Po with the expert help you have. It's when Tim is out on the boat and then you are without a paddle. By the time you get your 2nd and 3rd done it will be a piece of cake.
Also you said a few post back you were glad to see me. Believe me i'm looking all day long and learning also.
Reply #95 Friday, February 3, 2012 5:10 PM
Right.
Great. Jump in once in a while so we know you're there (that goes for any other lurkers as well).
Reply #96 Friday, February 3, 2012 5:30 PM
I will say you are doing a great job. Hope Greg is taking all the important parts and saving them.
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Reply #81 Friday, February 3, 2012 3:33 PM