Proper XP Themes

Now if those "proper" XP skins weren't a combination of re-coloured Luna skins, and rips (ie: PreLuna), then you may have a point. Until then I'm not really interested.

Don't get me wrong, bezerka, I have no issues with you at all. I just don't like the mentality thats surrounding these .msstyles and those who are making them, (note: not all of them, just the rippers). PS: I also class all these recoloured Luna skins as rips.. Really, enough is enough.

Blahg...

yup, i prefer this method to windowblids too, much less messing about all round really..

im currently running a windows.NET theme. just wait a while, XP isnt that old. it wont be long till some proper skins are made

wow..you chose the wrong site to post this one on..

Style XP themes are just recoloured Luna themes so far, and even the good ones are rips of Alexandries work among others.

I tried XPStyles and I think it sucks, I know I know, it is still in beta. I agree with zathrus and thecat2000. I prefer Windowblinds 3 it is much more customizable. And the skinners are making great skins for WB 3. I tried WB 3 beta and purchased the product last week. The best money I spent in a long time. Since Win XP I don't use any shell enhancements any more ie. Litestep, Nexstart etc. Don't get me wrong, those are awesome products, I just love the look of Win XP. Windowblinds 3 only BABY Viva La Skinners!

Here we go again........

Windowblinds is the best and it's faster than msstyles

Indeed. The only "Proper" XP themes are WindowBlinds ones.

/me looks at the MS certified for Windows XP logo.

Hacking DLLs so that you can recolor title bars and buttons isn't what I think most people want. Might as well stick to classic and just chnage the title bar color. quicker and faster.

yes well to be fair a lot of these Style XP fans are new to Skinning, and really don't understand the rules throughout the community on issues such as ripping, and the like. But it in no way condones the act of ignorance towards other skinners in the Skinning community..

I just read a few comments by others who have been around for a while, and admit themselfs it is like banging their head against a brick wall trying to reason with them.

Let them be .. if all they want is a recoloured Luna skin then all I can say is 'That isn't real skinning.' nor is it really creative.

ive seen a lot of what look like original work.

to be honest, i just bought this OS i dont want to spend more money on it just to make it look nice styles does what i need it to, make the tool bar and stuff look different. i found window blinds to be bloated, and more fuss than it was worth.. it was an early beta though so thats probably why.

i always thought skinning was a way to make your old stuff look better, and for free.

oh, and you CAN use custom shells, you need to edit the registry though

forgot the link again, go take a look at this site.
http://www.getskinned.org/index.shtml

I really don't understand what people that doesn't like windowblinds come to win customize...
Maybe just to find some "inspiration"

good one treetog...i think you're right

not only inspiration, but actually steal work of others. Check out your skins will be in the party too I'm sure.

Style XP Gumph...

As soon as see a decent theme from a Style XP Skinner..Then I wont accuse them of Ripping, and lack of imagination by just creating different coloured Luna themes.

Yes I bought the OS too, but I like the idea of using themes that are 'unique' different.. I.E NOT SHIPPED with the Operating System ! Honestly, when I looked at Alexandries work the Platinum and Ocean themes etc, it was a nice change of face for Windows XP already !

Sometimes, like an iceberg, what we can actually see is only a small part of the whole.

The number of out of the blue users who have come onto our news groups (the Stardock ones) as well as onto message boards preaching how great Style XP is and how terrible WB is has been astounding. I don't think most of those people are ringers, but swap things around, can anyone imagine "Stardock advocates" going onto TGTSoft websites and message boards and news groups telling those uesrs how terrible their program is and how they need to use various Stardock programs?

That's been one of our frustrations. I and other Stardock people are out there taking our lumps. It would be so much easier just to create a horde of aliases who aren't constrained as a "real user". That certainly isn't to imply that TGTSoft is doing that. But there does seem to be a fundamental difference in the type of users who use skinnable software. It's not been enough for Style XP advocates to be happy with their program. They also want to get in everyone's faces telling them how awful WB is and how terrible WB skins are (while ripping them).

If people are satisfied with what msstyles can do, that's great. Welcome to the skinning community. But we don't go around trashing other people's software. You don't see Hoverdesk users trashing Litestep or vice versa. You never saw Chroma users bashing WindowBlinds or vice versa. Hence why this whole thing seems fundamentally different.

Maybe the solution is to join them, rather than try beating them....sign up on their sites, and just spend every effort to re-iterate how some of the themes are stolen art and some are not, and educate these new 'skinners' into the realities of the trade.

Or maybe ignore them....
Or maybe lobby Microsoft to pull their plug....
Or maybe just dust off and nuke them from space...it's the only way to be sure...

You are right Alexandrie!!!
The site www.themexp.org must be renamed to "THE RIPPERS SITE".
Except from the rips of Styles XP, they have ripped many of my wallpapers !!!
What kind of people are those people?
Someone must help me to stop them; I am not very good in this kind of action.

my point of all this is that u can have a new look on XP without having another program runnign in the background, i dont want more functionality on explorer, i just want a new look

and as for treetogs comment about why people come to this site if they dont use windowblinds, the reason for me is that i create wallpapers and this is the place where i showcase them

berzerka....as long as the 'new look' is not a stolen glance' [bit of a pun, that]...

There is nothing wrong with finding other ways to make Windows look different. The problem is only that one or two of these new ways are riddled with 'artists' who steal works from others, and claiming them as their own.

This is an abhorrent practice, and will never be tolerated on reputable sites, which of course tarnishes these new sites....it is either pig-ignorance, or blind stupidity, but either way.....they stink.

And of course, one of these two ways has "advocates" (not you berzerka) that insist on trying to bash the other way.

If someone wants a new look, they can also use classic and change the color of their title bar.

Even eFX can do more than msstyles. BTW bezerka, running msstyles you like uses more memory than running WindowBlinds.

does it?! hehe, well what do u know

but, my choice still stands

berzerka - you've ignored the question of ripping through this entire thread. It's not a minor issue to the artists that produce work for any skinnable app or for wallpaper artists. What are your feelings? Would you download and use a ripped skin? Would you support the right of the original artist to get the rip removed from the site that is offering it?

Actually, berzerka, if you use/are using msstyles and are signed up on one of these sites already, maybe you are in a box-seat position to make them aware of the errors of their ways.
The problem that some of us have is that we may be seen as having ulterior motives....admins/wizops of Wincustomize are not going to be treated as holders of valid, unbiased argument, and I, for one am not about to log on in disguise to try to sway them.

This issue is really the responsibility of each and every skinner/artist who has their work on public view, and therefore vulnerable to theft....

Why is it that every time Styles XP is bought on, people automatically speak of ripping? Sure rips are bad, but it's not the product's fault that some of its users do rips. When IconPackager started, most of the icons sets made available were rips from other icons artists. Does that make IconPackager a bad program? Of course not.

Some people prefer msstles, and some people prefer Windowblinds; please respect that.