Vista Skinning starts to reach its prime

By Frogboy
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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EnzoFX

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been using windowblinds for years and i cant say enough about how stable its been for me. and i do beleive its been proven to not really use any extra resources. furthermore, my experience with it, is that windows xp is just as snappy with it.

lastly, good skins are hard to find, there are a lot that look great at a glance, but few that pay attention to minute details. which is why my wb5 skin hasn't changed in almost a year now. lately, skinning windows hasn't seemed as important, maybe because i now hide the toolbar, use a dock program, and use Avedesk. I do think windows needs a gui overhaul. Nevertheless, i look forward to upgrading to vista on my next build.

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Ji@nBing

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Do you have some Windows Vista .msstyles that you would suggest?

NEXTLevel?is really nice (even if it's basic scheme looks like ass).

Really Vista skinning with .msstyles is in it's infancy though. Most don't stray too far away from Aero because it's harder to make an .msstyle for Vista than XP. Thare are some really nice Aero type skins out there though. Far nicer than anything on WB so far (IMO).

That's why I think WB has a lot of potential for Vista, because it allows themers to do a lot more than just Aero mods, if only they would make them more simple and well designed.

This really isn't just a Vista issue though. This all started with XP. Yes, there are as many crappy XP .msstyles out there as WB themes, but the top XP .msstyles such as the ones you see on Neowin are far, far better designed and better looking than the best WB themes.

WB themers need to stop thinking what they can do with the tech, and take a que from the top .msstyles and focus on elegance and usability.

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  • 3 weeks later...
Rising Star

olaf

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The "Windowblinds uses more memory" argument has been debunked several times and backed up with numbers, so that's a non-issue.

I think Windowblinds has more potential than msstyles; anything you can accomplish with msstyles, you can accomplish with Windowblinds, and Windowblinds can skin even more on top of that. I also think it's a fairly safe bet that there are about as many crappy visual styles as there are WB skins -- Sure, Neowin does a good job of weeding out the crap, but go take a look at themexp or Deviantart's visual styles section and try to tell me it's not overloaded with overbeveled, poorly thought-out themes.

The problem, however, is that Windowblinds requires a purchase, whereas msstyles do not. Therein lies the issue -- it's not that you have a necessarily better chance of finding a good visual style than you do finding a good WB skin, but it is true that you've lost nothing on an investment that costs nothing if you can't find any msstyles you like.

Ciela, or whatever Bant's WB theme was called, is probably my all-time favorite style. Since Vista, though, I've found nothing I like enough to be worth shelling out money for or switching away from Aero (I didn't like Luna, but Microsoft did a killer job with Aero, IMO).

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Frogboy Administrators

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I don't think I would agree with that statement. I think that the best designed on both are both about the same in quality. The difference is that the people who post about their themes on Neowin tend to be catering to the particular types of tastes that are on Neowin and are people who are usually very good designers in the first place.

To use an example, if one were to browse WinCustomize and say ThemeXP.org I think in both cases people would say "Blech" in general to what they find.

But you can cherry pick out really good themes in both places.

Moreover, the user bases tend to be self-selecting. WindowBlinds users tend to want more in their skins.

Let me give you an example of what I mean:

Here is a link to Kaleidoscope: This is an old free form Mac skinning program:

http://kaleidoscope.net/schemes/schemespotlight.shtml

This is their scheme spot-light, the themes they think are the very best for the program.

How do you think those skins would be received here on Neowin? Probably poorly. But THAT is what Kaleidoscope users expect/wanted from their skins.

Now, if I do the same on WinCustomize:

http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?lib...amp;sort=rating

Those happen to be the kinds of skins WindowBlinds users want.

And if I go to deviantART, here are the msstyles that people seem to like:

http://browse.deviantart.com/customization...ws/visualstyle/

Now, people who are really into any of these file types can cherry pick something out. But let's be serious, any casual viewer of these skins are going to not like most of what's there.

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Frogboy Administrators

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Here's the skin I'm running right now and I think it looks better than Aero (and if someone disagrees, more power to them but it doesn't change the reality that skins provide users with choices):

image.png

And even more, there's no Vista msstyles that comes remotely close to trying to change Aero to this degree. Even little things like having a different Explorer background are polish points that even Aero misses.

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Allan

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Why?

Do you stick with Windows Media Player for all your music needs? MS Paint for your graphics needs?

Right now you get just the blur effect. What other types of effects would you want?

Yes, I use WMP for all my music needs. I use Paint for 80% of Pain.net for 20% of my graphical needs.

Make a Shift - Green theme for Windows (XP and Vista) and I'll be happy :D (or Shift Red skin *droolage*)

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Frogboy Administrators

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Make a Shift - Green theme for Windows (XP and Vista) and I'll be happy:DD (or Shift Red skin *droolage*)

Ooh! I like your style!:))

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Sam Symons Veteran

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Yes, I use WMP for all mymusic> needs. I use Paint for 80% of Pain.net for 20% of my graphical needs.

Make a Shift - Green theme for Windows (XP and Vista) and I'll be happy:DD (or Shift Red skin *droolage*)

I quite like that idea, Allan. A Shift theme for WindowBlinds. I'd totally use that.

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Allan

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Alright Mr. Wardell. I expect to see a Shift Red up by the end of the week :p for WB

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Wannes

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A shift theme would be really nice, that's true. It'd be like the Neowin WindowBlinds skin thing.

Maybe organise another GUI Olympics for Vista skins? You'll immediately have an idea which skins are liked and which aren't. You can then use the contest as a base for other styles.

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Island Dog

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Maybe organise another GUI Olympics for Vista skins? You'll immediately have an idea which skins are liked and which aren't. You can then use the contest as a base for other styles.

The next GUI Champs are already being planned. :)

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Wannes

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The next GUI Champs are already being planned. :)

Great to hear that. I hope Ross competes again, he had some great award winning submissions.

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SMELTN

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I am interested in seeing how this progresses. I have just recently (as in the past year) gotten into skinning things, ie; VS, supertango icons, styler, etc. and Windowblinds has always been a turn off, due to all the people fussing about how much of a resource hog it is, and personally I have not found 1 skin I like with Windowblinds. Even looking at Frogs theme in post #8 I do not like it.

So I guess once I see some good themes, I may consider Windowblinds since the truth is that it isnt a resource hog.

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EL1TE

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Do you stick with Windows Media Player for all your music needs?

Yes, why? It can play DVDs, all the kind of music and video formats (yes, it just need the codecs installed, like the other applications), has a library, skins, visualizations, all free.

MS Paint for your graphics needs?

Never heard of Paint.NET or GIMP? Are both free and can be used by both experts and novices in the design world.

:)

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SMELTN

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Never heard of Paint.NET or GIMP? Are both free and can be used by both experts and novices in the design world.

:)

Why yes they are. I just recently started using Paint.net and have to say its an excellent alternative to Paintshop/photoshop for me.

http://www.getpaint.net/redirect/wp/index.html = Paint.net

http://www.gimp.org/ = Gimp

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  • 2 weeks later...
Grand Master

Allan

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Ok... I've got my full version of StarDock + windows blinds installed... and I'm spending hours upon hours looking and *big let down :( * there's nothing that I like :'(

Yes, I know, there are SOME (like VXP for Vista) that I like but ...

Brad, I want to try that one you showed at the beginning ... with the curvyness ... please show me where!!!

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Island Dog

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http://www.draginol.com/images/MoreWhiteCh...13E96/image.png

Is that the one you are talking about? That is the Winter Wonderland suite, I believe it's now available via MyColors.

There's also been two Vista skins released recently:

http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?ski...383&libid=1

http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?ski...382&libid=1

:)

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Frogboy Administrators

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Never heard of Paint.NET or GIMP? Are both free and can be used by both experts and novices in the design world.

:)

Oh they must be crap though. They aren't "native" (where native amongst uxtheme advocates means comes bundled with the OS).

The main gripe I see about WindowBlinds is the argument that it somehow isn't "native" simply because wblind.dll doesn't come bundled with the OS like uxtheme.dll.

So I agree with you. Gimp and Paint.net are good programs. So is WindowBlinds. Better than anything that comes with the OS.

Ok... I've got my full version of StarDock + windows blinds installed... and I'm spending hours upon hours looking and *big let down:(( * there's nothing that I like :'(

Yes, I know, there are SOME (like VXP for Vista) that I like but ...

Brad, I want to try that one you showed at the beginning ... with the curvyness ... please show me where!!!

There's a sticky thread in the WindowBlinds forum here called "WindowBlinds skins for Neowiners" which lists skins I think Neowin users would like.

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