i posted about this sometime back but apparently stardock thinks it's so cool they ignore the paying user base. why even allow the default to be skinned if window blinds is going to add its own unwanted effect to it? it's annoying!
using ZA's latest + WB's latest, no problems at all. so it's probably not a conflict with each other. i do not exclude any of ZA's apps in wbconfig neither.
actually, i used to do a lot of microcontroller programming back when serial mice were the only thing around. i need both COM ports to debug our stuff. this meant no mouse in windows. it's fairly easy to control windows. Alt + Space N (minimize) Alt + Space X (maximize) Alt + F4 (close) and of course Alt + Tab to get to your window much faster than using the mouse but you have to be a keyboard guy if you want something minimal, start with my "pico tea"
I've been using Window Blinds for a while now and even made a few skins. One issue that I have seen many times is that after a while (i leave my computer on 24x7) Windows runs out of window handles (HWND). Common dialogs won't open unless I close other windows, apps refuse to start unless I close other windows. I suspect Window Blinds is the culprit since the symptoms don't occur when I use plain styles. I've been using a plain visual style over the past week, unloading Window Blinds and have no
the tasbar appears as if this algorithm was used: load the taskbar load the current wallpaper crop the wallpaper based on dimensions of taskbar overlay the taskbar over the cropped wallpaper creating an opaque taskbar use the opaque taskbar there is no alpha blending occurring at run-time. it could be a problem on my end as i know this used to blend at run-time with builds before the 5.1 release.
The window is clipped. If the taskbar was transparent, you would expect to see the bottom part of the window *through* it like you can see things through a glass table top.
that sidebar is a utility, actually a hack, outside of WB
Is there a setting somewhere that allows windows to be seen through a transparent taskbar? I know this used to work in a build before the 5.1 release. Transparent taskbars look odd now. Windows get clipped. A fully transparent taskbar doesn't behave invisible. screenie: http://www.aww-kittah-aww.com/up/files/311/taskbar.jpg
ok, i saw the screen shot. yes, that's what i want but on per pixel borders. if this is possible on per pixel borders then can someone explain how to do it? i don't like the skins in the pack, way too techy for my taste.
close, but no cigar. at the bottom. i don't think that's a per pixel border. per pixel borders don't have the same customization possibilities as the normal border which is a little disappointing. (no free form buttons)
It seems to me most controls in the real world are at the bottom. Look at LCDs, IPods, almost anything really. Yet in GUIs the control buttons at the top. Would really love to have this flexibility to make some genuinely new skins. Would make WindowBlinds unique too.
I was disappointed about USF as well. One of the reasons I purchased Object Desktop 2007 was for the purpose of creating WindowBlinds skins and plain Windows skins. USF universe is the stardock universe not the Windows universe. You can't create a USF file and export it as a plain visual style.
I would think there should be some kind of way to use the directx utility, dxdiag, to determine if a system supports per pixel. Can a WindowBlinds tech support or developer confirm this?
works like a charm. thanks a million.
Thanks for replying. That was the first thing I tried but SkinStudio complains about the new properties when I click on analyze. And yes I have an image in both the logoff image and logoff background per pixel. I have the latest build of everything according to Stardock Central utility.
I can't seem to create an alpha blended shutdown/logoff for WB5. I've looked at aerial which seems to be an older skin and it contains properties trans=1 and perpixel=1 which are rejected by latest SkinStudio for my pico tea skin (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39521812/). How do you do this with latest SkinStudio? Is there a proper WB5 skin that has alpha blended shutdown/logoff dialogs that I may inspect?
thanks razr. unfortunately, that has the same effect as displacing the sysicon -100 on the X axis. it leaves a gap on the left side of the title bar text. i tried moving the title bar text to the left over the gap but this doesn't work for dialogs without a sysicon. the title text will appear outside of the dialog. i could center the title but it doesn't look right. i might reduce the transparency enough so the sys icon isn't so bold against white. thanks for igniting an idea.
Shellstyles do not work consistently. I've been working on a skin and I thought my editing of the UIFile were the cause of my shellstyle woes. As a sanity check, I imported one that works flawlessly as a normal visual style, Smooth Alternative's. The shellstyle shows common tasks at the bottom. After a few clicks, the common tasks moves to the left unstyled or sometimes just disappears. Another issue, MDI buttons do not seem to skin on translucent windows. If I turn off per pixel, it wo
Thanks for the clarification Mike. I'm using monochromatic colors. If I don't catch the morph at the right time I have to stare at at a button for a second or two. At least it seems that long. I don't think it enhances usability if that's what was intended. Please make this feature configurable.
I'm not sure if it's WB. My default button cycles between default style and normal style. It's really annoying. Is this an XP setting?
There are two categories on DeviantArt, WindowBlinds and WindowBlinds XP. That's what is confusing. Most people post alpha blended skins in the WindowBlinds XP category which are for WB 5.0+. Hope that helps.
I have 9.01 and I could not reproduce the problem. I have different issue. The first time I click on the menu, the window renders like Window Classic. Deactivating, then activating the window makes it translucent.
First my video capture doesn't work, now my zoom utility. Even SkinStudio doesn't zoom in on WB borders, go figure. Does anyone know of a utility? I end up doing a screen capture and zooming in with my graphics program. What a wastre of time. Even screen capture is limited. You can only do region or full screen capture which I rarely use. Most of the time I do Window captures which is painless with regular styles; no cropping, cleaning up required. Each WB border is a window separate f
From Help About Version: 5.0.1, Build 1112
This app used to work fine. I haven't opened up SkinStudio until after the last update of WindowBlinds a couple of days ago.