I can certainly agree with with each of your arguments, SimplexDesigns. I and several long time members would love to see that happen.

Just having it come back would probably also help bring in more people to the customization scene again. I would be nice to have a taskbar like app to replace the windows one to have it set to the sides of the screen. Its a glaring issue with windows 11's "updated" taskbar. Even the toolbars feature is gone. I used toolbars exclusively on windows 10 and below for years. I had an app called trulaunchbar that worked wonders for years and now I cant use it like I did back on 10. Nexus dock is ok but feels dated and does not support acrylic or mica effects and objectdock is not stable at all on modern hardware. So the task launching scene is kinda stale atm. Having objectbar brought back from the grave would be lovely! It works fine on windows 11 though I cant use custom themes since its the trial version and there is no way to buy it. Its the one program I never had the chance to play with.

Objectbar.  I would love to see it again fully functioning.

Well, there is always WinStep.

Right Click OH YES.           

Windows own (not skinned) Right-click-pop-up-menues can ruin a whole WB-Theme (Almost)

Like I said in reply #2. https://forums.wincustomize.com/515888/get;3872118

Nexus dock is ok but feels dated and does not support acrylic or mica effects and does not skin with one program; Windowblinds. We need an actual taskbar like replacement app that functions similar to the taskbar. Displayfusion build their own taskbar back in the win7 era, so I dont see why we cant have objectbar make a comeback and fill that role.

Jorge is always working on updates. It might very well support Acrylic for 10, and Mica for 11.

I concur! After months of trying to use Windows 11 taskbar is forced collapsed taskbar buttons I was looking at Stardock to see if the old Objectbar was still maintained. Didn't find that, but I'm glad Start11 existed. However, seeing Objectbar revived would be nice to see.

"Nexus Dock feels dated." LOL Native GridStacks? Subdocks? 

c242's answer is how my answer should have been worded...although, Jorge is always working on updates for Winstep Extreme. Also, Rightclick and Objectbar cannot equal the power and customizability of Winstep. That said, I would like to see Acrylic and Mica integrated with Winstep. Also, Winstep and Object Desktop work together seamlessly. The only thing that's missing is skinners.

Yes skins for Nextstart look a bit dated and the only real active skinner is Webgizmos (no offense, great work with this tool!). But it is mighty as hell.

c242

reply 12

Yes skins for Nextstart look a bit dated and the only real active skinner is Webgizmos (no offense, great work with this tool!). But it is mighty as hell.

Reduced 70%

Original 946 x 757

Still only supports 1 monitor for the taskbar and if it did have multi taskbar support, it would need per screen taskbar buttons. Unfortunately the last version I have of it does not do so. I read up on the forums they have no interest in adding acrylic or mica blur effects to the application. An yes the program is dated, grid stack/subdocks has nothing to do with how the program feels/looks. It defiantly feels from the xp era.

WebGizmos stopped skinning years ago. I'm really sorry I didn't learn from him when I had the chance. Ah well, water under the bridge. Picco14, RnD and Halo296 (I hope all is well with him...and Vad_M) are the only active Winstep skinners.

I sent Jorge this thread's url, so we might hear back from him.

Having objectbar and right click tie into windowblinds would make a killer feature, its one thing nexstart lacks. I want an easy way for objectbar/rightclick to pull various elements from windowblinds rather than from the program itself.

Nextstart/dock does not have an intuitive way to make themes, its all text based. A program like skin studio for it would be needed if I were to use it. I dont want to have to mess with various text files and code just to get it working right.

Lol...tell that to Jorge. The skinning module (such as it was) existed in a past version.

Fortunately the latest beta adds per monitor taskbars and (also optional, of course) per-monitor task buttons, including on docks, etc. So problem solved.

What's next after v22.7

Saying a skinnable application - where even the UI has light and dark modes, unlike so many other applications out there - feels from the XP era is kind of an oxymoron, no?  

Also, Nexus Ultimate and the WorkShelf portion of Winstep Xtreme is fully compatible with skins for ObjectDock (including the tabbed docks). You have plenty to choose from - and in terms of sheer functionality, Winstep applications are unbeatable (assuming you actually care more about functionality than looks).

Well, so did RocketDock, ObjectDock, etc...

Skin setting used to be in the UI until they were removed some years ago to help unclutter the whole thing, since only a very small minority of users are skinners. The plan was to move them to a stand alone application (Winstep Theme Builder) which already exists but currently only allows you to create skins docks, and not much else.

Still, if there is renewed interest on it I could be convinced to finish the damn thing lol

Most defiantly needs a theme builder. Its to complicated to design themes for that program, I tried and failed. Would be nice to have a base windows theme template style option to work off of.

But my main question is what about support for a built in blurred bg option or windows acrylic/mica. I do miss having a blurred bg behind the docks. Retrobar (a taskbar replacement) implemented vista's blur effect under the bar. I remember reading up about you guys not having any plans on adding it to the program.

My sub expired for updates for the program, wont really renew atm due to tight funds.

Hey! What am I, chopped liver?       

And I thought I'd given up asking rhetorical questions: What's the point?

This is not an issue with the Winstep application per se, the option to blur the background of docks is still there, but it only works under Vista/Windows 7. This is because Microsoft decided to remove support for that option from Windows 8 forward, so blame them.

As for Retrobar, it's fine and dandy for them since a taskbar is pretty much a rectangular blob. Docks are not - and what Microsoft added in the recent version of Windows only allows RECTANGULAR shapes to be blurred, not irregular shapes as it was possible under Vista/7.