WindowBlinds 3.2 Preview
Sunday, February 3, 2002 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize Talk
The current version of WindowBlinds on ObjectDesktop.net is 3.19.
Here are some of the things it does that are of interest:
1) Global bitmaps. Can actually thank Gerhard for this one. WindowBlinds 3.1 and earlier loaded all the bitmaps on a per process basis. That is, when you load up Internet Explorer, WB would have to go and load up all the bitmaps associated with that skin. This is what we believe causes some people to feel WB makes their system "feel" sluggish. If one has a slow hard drive (or is using NTFS with compression on it) this can be a significant issue. This eliminates that problem and also makes switching skins much faster. This also makes it use fewer resources on Win98/ME. Bottom line, WB now loads apps faster than if using Windows XP's visual styles.
2) Full version now skins IE completely.
3) Start menu logoff/turn off buttons now skinned.
4) Tasks panel in explorer windows keeps XP look (we don't skin it yet, have to decide how we want to do it but it doesn't look like classic).
5) Misc video acceleration support (automatic).
6) Bunches of othre tweaks made for skin authors and for increased compatibility reasons.
7) Uses the XP visual style engine even more so now than previously.
There are some other things we're working on that may make it into 3.2, will keep you up to date.
Overall though, 3.2 should be a big win for Win98Frogboy users because of less ram and resources used. And for XP users, the performance advantages of WB over using XP's bundled visual styles should start becoming pretty overwhelming. Only thing left will be to add a few additional XP specific controls to skin and at that point WB will be a true superset of XP's visual styles that integrate seamlessly into XP but also extend it to take advantage of new hardware acceleration features and use far less memory (due to WB's skin format).
Here are some of the things it does that are of interest:
1) Global bitmaps. Can actually thank Gerhard for this one. WindowBlinds 3.1 and earlier loaded all the bitmaps on a per process basis. That is, when you load up Internet Explorer, WB would have to go and load up all the bitmaps associated with that skin. This is what we believe causes some people to feel WB makes their system "feel" sluggish. If one has a slow hard drive (or is using NTFS with compression on it) this can be a significant issue. This eliminates that problem and also makes switching skins much faster. This also makes it use fewer resources on Win98/ME. Bottom line, WB now loads apps faster than if using Windows XP's visual styles.
2) Full version now skins IE completely.
3) Start menu logoff/turn off buttons now skinned.
4) Tasks panel in explorer windows keeps XP look (we don't skin it yet, have to decide how we want to do it but it doesn't look like classic).
5) Misc video acceleration support (automatic).
6) Bunches of othre tweaks made for skin authors and for increased compatibility reasons.
7) Uses the XP visual style engine even more so now than previously.
There are some other things we're working on that may make it into 3.2, will keep you up to date.
Overall though, 3.2 should be a big win for Win98Frogboy users because of less ram and resources used. And for XP users, the performance advantages of WB over using XP's bundled visual styles should start becoming pretty overwhelming. Only thing left will be to add a few additional XP specific controls to skin and at that point WB will be a true superset of XP's visual styles that integrate seamlessly into XP but also extend it to take advantage of new hardware acceleration features and use far less memory (due to WB's skin format).
Firestorm
Reply #2 Sunday, February 3, 2002 2:23 AM
Reply #2 Sunday, February 3, 2002 2:23 AM
I just installed it, so I have the answer to my question 
But aside from the IE issue (Curse you, Microsoft!), it's quite a bit faster
Loving it!
But aside from the IE issue (Curse you, Microsoft!), it's quite a bit faster
Loving it!
Frogboy
Reply #3 Sunday, February 3, 2002 11:04 AM
Reply #3 Sunday, February 3, 2002 11:04 AM
Yea, one thing we've learned with 3.2 is that Microsoft's visual styles are kind of hackish.
IE isn't skinned by XP. Instead IE6 has specifically been made to look at what visual style XP is using. Same for Media Player and the shell itself.
Ah the sausage factory that is OS code.
IE isn't skinned by XP. Instead IE6 has specifically been made to look at what visual style XP is using. Same for Media Player and the shell itself.
Ah the sausage factory that is OS code.
adni18
Reply #4 Thursday, February 7, 2002 12:23 PM
Reply #4 Thursday, February 7, 2002 12:23 PM
From the moment I have installed this version of WindowBlinds, I can't use any more the most of the tools of Photoshop!!! The windows inside Photoshop are as they are invisible and in another position, but they look like normal!!!!
The result is, that before to work with Photoshop, I have to change the appearance to one of the default Windows XP skins. Right now, I am with the "classic style", can you believe this... >
Is there any solution to this problem?
The result is, that before to work with Photoshop, I have to change the appearance to one of the default Windows XP skins. Right now, I am with the "classic style", can you believe this... >
Is there any solution to this problem?
DavidK
Reply #5 Thursday, February 7, 2002 12:30 PM
Reply #5 Thursday, February 7, 2002 12:30 PM
adni18 - just exclude photoshop in the per app settings.
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Reply #1 Sunday, February 3, 2002 2:03 AM