Solving Problems With UIS1 WB Skins

from WinCustomize Forums
Brad and a few other folks were good enough to tolerate my incessant ramblings about skinning issues I had with WB skins (and some apps), but wasn't seeing with MSStyles. I'll cut to the chase here. UIS1 skins make a world of difference! I can't say it'll cure every compatiblity issue, but if you (like me) just want to apply a skin globally without having to worry about exclusions, UIS1 skins may be the way to go for you too. SkinStudio allows for a quick conversion of skins, and offers the ability to save the resulting converted skin separately, or as a "compound skin" within the original skin folder. I think I'm going to do a lot of skin conversion tonight. Now, yes, you do give up some of the cool more feature rich skinning bells and whistles, but for me, this is a great solution. In fact, I would also like to encourage skinners to include the UIS1 format with the skins they create and distribute. Hopefully, this info will be of some use to others out there that just want to . . set it . and forget it!
2,358 views 5 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
You can also apply a UIS1 skin as a per-app setting. It makes it really nice to have a sub-design in the UIS1 format so only the apps that need it are missing the extended features and everything matches.
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm so happy, I could just . . . well, you know, be happy! Thanks!
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Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Yeah, I just noticed that conversion utility in SkinStudio earlier today myself, though I haven't tried it yet. I agree that it would be nice if more skin authors offered a UIS1 version of their skin, especially since it's now so easy.

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Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Although there is a way to "convert" a UIS2 skin to UIS1 with Skinstudio, it is not so easy as just hitting "convert". In my experience with the converter, it still leaves a lot of work left to be done. Haven't tried it in a while though. Perhaps it produces a more accurate conversion in newer versions??
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Check out the "Visual Styles-> WindowBlinds" thread in stardock.windowblinds on news.stardock.com. What started out as a MSStyles to WB conversion thread, ended up with some good discussion, resolution, and ideas about UIS1 and UIS2 skins.
So far, the UIS2 skins that I have converted via the virtually one-click method using SkinStudio seem fine. I may be missing some finer points, but they look good in general. Certainly this (using UIS1 skins for problematic apps) is a good alternative to excluding skinning all together. Anyway, I don't have much to add, as I'm no expert skinner, but you folks are, and I'll bet you can contribute a lot of good ideas to the thread there on the news server.