Use WindowBlinds for Titlebar Frame Only (No tweaking the Taskbar or Start Menu)

I think Curtains is a by far a better option for accomplishing that.

Absolutely, Curtains is perfect for that type of thing.

To answer the question though, no you can't just change the titlebar with WindowBlinds.

Actually you can, if you remove everything from the taskbar/start menu sections it will leave them unskinned.

If he's wanting to only skin the titlebar though, that would mean a lot more deleting.  I don't know how that might go.

I think he meant something more along the lines of a user option.

Curtains really is the obvious choice for this.

Thank you!! Do you know how I can delete the extra stuff though?

In SkinStudio, just remove everything from the code editor in the section you don't want to be skinned.

Be very careful where or what you delete. It could corrupt that skin and causing issue with WB when load.

Thank you,

Basj,
Stardock Community Assistant

Technically true, though from testing I haven't run into any issues yet.

I should add you do so at your own risk. Though I had no issues that won't always be true for others.

A tip:

To prevent WindowBlinds from loading at boot, hold down the [Ctrl] key while pressing [Enter] at the logon screen. 

That could be very useful if you end up stuck with a crashing skin attempting to load.  You can then apply a different skin within WindowBlinds and/or delete the problem skin.  I don't know that it will be a problem, but I don't know that it won't.  I'd apply a different skin before deleting the problem skin, it might go better.

open .uis/.sss file with notepad, you can delete a bunch of code much faster than using sks

Thanks for the help, everyone!! I think I'll go with the code editing option. I'll keep you all posted to see the results!!

Hello Marbs,

I was wondering if you ever edited the code so only the title bar was affected. If you did, how did it go? Do you notice any stability issues?

I ask, because I have exactly the same desire as you. I have never been able to find a skin that I like all aspects of… Some might get a couple elements right, but then other elements have funky colors/sizing, and almost all of them use thick borders, which I despise. So ultimately it is only the title bar that I'm interested in.

I cannot disagree more strongly with those who say "well then Curtains is the obvious choice".  With Curtains, you are dependent on finding a skin with a decent looking title bar, because editing that image in curtains is tedious as hell. The texture/color editing options in Window Blinds for the title bar on the other hand, are spectacular and easy to implement - there is simply no comparison. Not to mention that Windows Blinds has around 50 beautiful textures already built-in!

Unfortunately, virtually every Curtains skin I've seen, the window buttons look terrible, and only a small percentage of skins offer textured appearances, and that is my main desire.  I have found a grand total of exactly 1 Curtains skin that is marginally acceptable.  I have zero interest or time in finding my own texture and developing my own skin. I've have made skins for other programs (not Stardock related) and it is way too time-consuming.

So if the OP doesn't answer here, can somebody from Stardock confirm whether it is possible for Window Blinds to edit just the title bar and affect nothing else? Obviously, the best solution would be if Stardock offered checkboxes that allowed users to select only those elements of a skin they wished to incorporate in their customization.  Any chance something like that will get implemented?

Sorry for the long rant!  In general, I think Stardock's programs are awesome. Microsoft should be embarrassed by how beautiful the tools you provide are and how well they work, and they do so without being native to the OS.  Stardock simply blows away anything Microsoft has ever created.  So thank you for all your wonderful products.