Taskbar buttons wont line up with the taskbar

plus,if I set the taskbar image to tile at exactly the height of the taskbar,it shrinks by 1 pixel each time as you drag it up >

Have you done Quicklaunch and Tray yet? Both will affect the size the taskbar actually is.

yep...all the same

The taskbar height can also be affected by the caption height....that annoying error you get about the titlebar height not being the same as the caption height when you try to save.

There are two things that I would try.

1) Make the button graphic larger vertically so that it doesn't stretch.
By this I mean the size of the background without changing the size of the image. You can use magic pink for the background or transparency if png. But, I wouldn't make the button larger than the vertical size of the taskbar.

2) Set your margins so that only a acceptable area will stretch. For round buttons, I choose the one pixel in the center. For example if my image is 15 pixels high, I choose top and bottom sizing margins as 7. If your image doesn't line up properly, you can add magic pink across the bottom and then adjust your sizing margins accordingly.

I guess it can be tricky if you want your button to fill the bottom and top of the taskbar. Or, if you want a larger taskbar than the Luna Default. If not, I would use the default Luna button sizes. And, the default Luna Taskbar size. It's kind of tough to really understand the design you are trying to create.
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I will try #2...my graphic for the taskbar is textured so no stretching or tiling will work.The button has to incorporate the top and bottom of the taskbar because it has to appear to underneath the reflections.(depth plus drop shadow)

will check caption height too Ess...Does anyone else find this needlessly difficult? >I just want the two images to display exactly as they are,with the ability to align the text in the button.I can do without the damn stretching and shrinking based on content margins.A 30 minute job has turned into hours...I dont have time for this anymore.
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OK....after another couple of hours...cropping the top row of pixels and adding a bottom row of transparent pixels...it now lines up...so ....after 4 hours of work i have a button I've decided I dont like ...but it DOES fit.

do things really HAVE to be this hard to figure out? >I come home from a brutal day athome depot to 'relax' by skinning...this is not relaxing.
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I come home from a brutal day athome depot to 'relax' by skinning...this is not relaxing.

once you get back into the swing of it, the skinning will come easier Brutal days at HD though......I've been there 6-years....they're still brutal, I'm just numb to it

It's the margins it's the margins....

The taskbar height and taskbar button size never match, sigh...

/me says make all buttons png with vertical margins set at 0....

after 4 hours of work i have a button I've decided I dont like

Welcome to the club. You spend 4-6 hours on a design idea just to scrap it. The good part is that once you get it to look right, you eventually improve on the design and realize what you were really looking for.

Now, someone please solve my problem.

Sorry Chas...havnt delved into start menu anims yet(had one planned,but my proc wont handle it)(1 gig)

Ess...you work at HD too?

Fuzzy I couldnt figure out HOW to transluce this one. (the buttons are UNDER the surface reflections of the taskbar)
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