Some WB suggestions

(skin directory etc)

Hi,


Not sure this is the right place to ask, can't hurt to try.Windowblinds does well what it's supposed to do, but there are a few (trivial, imho) features it lacks, such as being able to choose where to store the skins, and the ability to store them in zipped format. It's just messy and wrong to have a large amount of folders in the application directory, and it would be great to have a shared skin folder on a network where all Windowblinds clients could get their skins from.


What do you think?


 


 


 


 

4,278 views 9 replies
Reply #1 Top
Hi, but correct me if I'm wrong, someone will, but .wba is a zipped file, also, I have a folder on my hard drive Stardock Stuff/WindowblindsVer5 that I download in to, this keeps things tidy, I know where to find them and load into WB Config. I then back up to disc every so often, saves downloading again. I do this with all my Wincustomize downloads. Jim
Reply #2 Top
Works for me Jimkraz. .wba is a zipped file. And to my way of thinking: clicking the old 'download' button accesses a big old shared file repository where I and other clients can get skins from.

What is it your are looking for o 'requested user does not exist'?
Reply #3 Top
Putting skins on a network would not be a good thing.  There would be a huge performance hit.
Reply #4 Top
That was just an example of what would be possible.
I have a humble 10/100Mbit network of 3 pc's, one of them has a directory with about 40 .wsz's in them.
Browsing through these skins in Winamp on the other machines is just as fast as if I would store them locally.

WindowBlinds has the .wba file, but these need to be extracted (in the installation dir) before they can be used.

And it shouldn't take the developers more than a few minutes to implement this
Reply #5 Top

So is your 3 PC network 3 different people using them at the same time or just 3 PC hooked into network so you don't have to walk back to the other room to get back on the computer?  Does the network consist of 3 geographically separate locations?


And it shouldn't take the developers more than a few minutes to implement this


Just based on what it took to set up one shared folder on my work computer that only the members of my team can access:  just how long do you think it would take?  From what I know of shared folders, individual / group permissions have to be set - in WC's case, copyrights and skinner's rights also have to be considered.


I agree with Neil and I'm not even considering the performance issue.


If browing skins is your main concern, subscribe to WC & get the WC Browser, it works good.


 


 

Reply #6 Top
Again, the network thing is just an example of what would be possible, which isn't at the moment.
Yes, setting access rights and such would be necessary, but that's not Stardock's problem - it's the person's who would like to use it this way.

And what has copyrights and skinner's rights have to do with Windowblinds having a feature that would allow to specify a custom skin dir?

Browsing skins is not my interest - it's being able to choose myself where I would like to store them.
Reply #7 Top

And what has copyrights and skinner's rights have to do with Windowblinds having a feature that would allow to specify a custom skin dir?


that is different than a shared folder as you suggested:


it would be great to have a shared skin folder on a network where all Windowblinds clients could get their skins from.


maybe i'm just misunderstanding.


when you say Windowblinds clients, are you referring to eveyone worldwide or just those on the network?  It's the Windowblinds clients that makes me think you're talking about everybody that purchased WB.


if it just you network, can't you set one up, then move all downloaded skins there, then use the install from disk option in WB configure?


 

Reply #8 Top

maybe i'm just misunderstanding.


Yes, you are.


Somewhat ironic that although customization is Stardock's business, their apps aren't very customizable themselves.

Reply #9 Top
features it lacks, such as being able to choose where to store the skins,


If you mean being able to store skins somewhere other than the drive containing the OS, yet still be able to access them via WB config, that is a feature I'd also like to see. If, say, the skins were stored on E:/, and WB config had an option to enter the path, it would save alot of file transfers during reinstallations and rewrites of the OS. Also, with the files/folders stored elsewhere, they would, in effect, become your backup in the event of an OS crash, drive failure, etc.

Just a thought