I miss useful skins

you mean xp times ?=

June 2000 ....

wasn't necessarily 'pretty'...but included buttons for locking ontop [z-order], rollup....Winamp controls....Winmenu popup...clock.....

[original ver of this was the second [ever] WB to include Winamp 'transport' buttons]...;)

Question is, can it still be done? I miss them too, and sounds. I like sounds on buttons in WB skins.

Probably...am running one of the old ones now...sounds function...z-order and rollup buttons function. [win7 64] ...but I have a feeling I'll need to do a bit of text editing for some of the other stuff...;)

I'm glad the Titlebar double-click and right-click options are still in WB Config.  I'm completely hooked on the window roll-up and would be (even more) lost without it.  Here's hoping that never goes away

The original ZubazSkin that 2of3 and I did for Windows Vista had an extra button that launched Impulse.

WB still allows it:

They were a great addition/feature - back in the 'old days'.
I personally do not find/have a need for them any longer. With multi configurable mousebuttons I have all the various 'controls' in my hand, and doesn't have to move the mouse. I hardly ever use the caption buttons.

Others might have this kind of help too, which is why the extra buttons went out of fashion.

But they do add a certain 'extra' thing about a skin. Makes you feel that the skinner took that extra time just to make his/her skin stand out.
Heck, I once made a WB with a shitload of extra buttons - just because I could.  

Wuuuuw.......

Wassup....you didn't know I was/am a skinner?  [that was in the days of text-editing the UIS file...and dates to 2000]....;)

BlindJAFO - my original inspiration to skin and the basis (BlindJAFO Trans 3) for my first published skin (with permission, of course).

Thank you, Paul.

Maybe some/most of those tricks can still be done with nonPPx frames?

I agree completely with Frogboy on this. I'd also like to see more variety in the button graphics than most skins are using today. Underscore, square, X gets old. I think anyone who is using WB should know at this point the order of the titlebar buttons and their functions; making the need for the graphics unnecessary. I always enjoyed those WB skins that had no marking on the buttons, but gave a text description of its function on the titlebar when you hovered over them. Like Polymer for instance *Cough* Yeah, I'm biased *Cough* 

Also in this age of everything being widescreen, it would be nice to have the titlebar running vertically down one side of the window frame or the other. We now have far more screen space available horizontally than in the old days. It just makes sense that controls should be on the side and maximize the vertical space available for the window. Not sure if this is still possible, but I know it was back in the day. I remember the old Titanium skin that had a whole column of configurable buttons on the side of it.  

I so remember that WB skin, and even moreso: JafoStep. I always like those lil grey "JafoButtons" that were on your skins. 

You know...they all came from a simple 'sphere' graphic on the net....reworked at per-pixel level ....trying to get a smooth, plasticky grey with a dull sheen.... sad thing was....once I had it/them I kinda used them on everything....like punching up the brightness and contrast and making them 'metallic' rather than plastic....

The problem with relocating the buttons....[I always had them top-left....just cos I could [in WB]] ... putting them in non-default places simply SCARES people..... particularly those skinners who are pre-occupied with popularity rather than individuality.

It's simply 'safer' to stick them where people 'expect' them...;)

Top-left ....wow....changed my buttons...;)

One Titanium preview coming up.
Sure has got a lot of buttons..... plus a clock displaying, in the caption area, too, just not in Windows Exploder.

Hear hear!!

Yes, Snow....it's a point worth STRESSING.

Skinning is about altering your GUI.  Sure, changing the wallpaper and the tint of a window is 'altering your GUI' but proggies such as Windowblinds can do so much more.   You are now freed from the prerequisites of the MS Explorer GUI and can do 'stuff'.

Being adventurous is fun.  Creativity is fun.  Adding bits that are MORE functional than the default MS is what Frogboy's on about.

Perhaps a configurable button on each Window that accesses 'something' that would otherwise be 2 or 3 clicks away .... useful.

Individually configurable to personal taste.... useful.

In the past [origins of WB] virtually all of the skinners' works were recognisable [eg mine were all equally 'odd'/'crap'] as each tried to do new things to/with it.... but not too long after XP came along people seemed to think all you ever needed to do was be as uncreative as those msstyles people [yet they actually had no scope for real deviation from the norm so could be excused]...;)

I can only speak for myself, non-default buttons don't scare me, but they slow me down.  There's this thing called muscle memory; my hands know where those buttons are suppose to be, and when I move them (or somebody else moves them) it slows me down and at least in my business, slowing down means a pay cut.

There are a few of us newer WB skinners here, who DO try to push the envelope (I try -- neone6 does more than try).  I'm not sure where it gets us, other than the satisfaction of knowing we pushed it, and since we skin for ourselves, I guess that's enough, however for every inch we push, there's going to be some conformist who will point out we did it at a cost of functionality.

Hmmm . . . Either there were 2 versions of Titanium, or I'm thinking of a different skin; but it had the extra buttons running down the side. I know it was a grey/metal looking one. 

k10w3, you are one of those skinners I always wait for new WBs from. Your new rapture skin is a perfect example of what I am talking about on the titlebar buttons. They are there and fully functional (with the function text on mouseover), yet they are actually integrated into the titlebar design graphically rather than just 3 square buttons sitting on top of the titlebar with the standard graphic on them. Beautifully done. 

Ah...but as long as you're not all sedentary in your ways you can actually learn NEW 'muscle memory'.  EG, I'm betting if I turned my keyboard upside down I'd probably type just as fast in no time....

....then again I type bloody slow as it is...;)

I'm reading all this about changing the GUI on WB's. I remember when smx's were more or less the same, one of the reasons I chose to go the way I did. Changing button positions, different visual effects, all of that. Some of the recent WB's are far different than what they once were, pushing the envelope as it were. Button graphics are changing, almost anything can be a button. Frame graphics, inserts ... the whole nine. How much additional functionality can be put into a WB? I don't know but I think its there.  

Hmmmm I've done all those things with WB skins in the past..... Animation, buttons on the side, Hover text, my BlackBoXX Ultra skin even has the titlebar on the bottom of the window!! But you know what? people don't really want them!! They might say "oh, that is different" but ultimately not many download them..... I don't mind that, I make 'em cos I like them, and because I like my stuff to be different, but I guess if you use download numbers as a guide then people do want familiarity with just a little bit of pizazz. It's a fine line......... B[]

Also, years ago, I was constantly berated for what people called "huge" titlebars, but these days people can upload a skin with a massive titlebar, and downloaders don't even mention it, rather, they call the author a genius!!

So, I reckon that, unless you walk that fine line that I mentioned, you won't please most people. Personally, I will just carry on doing what I've always done. Sometimes people like them, sometimes they don't........

Well stated, Bry.

Some people on here create very niche works, and it pays off. Others do the same, and it doesn't pay off as well. Then there are those that keep things more middle-of-the-road, and that works too. Ultimately, there's no knowing what people are going to like until you put it out there, 'cause we can be a fickle species.

Like you said, first and foremost you've got to create something how you want to.

That proves just one thing, Bryan. You were way ahead of your time, and the rest are just trailing biatches!

haha..... I don't think so Morten! It's just that times change I guess. Back then it was all about screen real estate and if you made a titlebar taller than 25 pixels high people screamed. Maybe they had a point, I was running 800x600 back then on a 14" monitor, but my artistic visions didn't fit into 25 pixels so I just went ahead and made them anyway.... These days I run 1920x1080 on a 27" screen so those few extra pixels don't matter so much and we get great skins like Vamps and Klowe and Xiandi make.

But like you, I don't think we need too much functionality built into the window frame, but I do think everyone should still include a roll-up button, it's a good feature! Anything else is just kind of gimmicky. (like the buttons on my soon to be released skin....:) )

Oh the humanity! Won't somebody think of the pixels!