Anatomy of a skin

What is a skin?

from WinCustomize Forums

There is a general natural progression for someone becoming a WinCustomizer. It usually follows this pattern:

Step 1: User changes their wallpaper and is pleased.

Step 2: User decides to change some of their windows icons but finds that they can't easily change that many.

Step 3: User does a google search and eventually finds a customization website.

From there they hear the term "Skin". So what is a skin?

A skin, generally speaking, is a collection of images put together with some sort of script or text file that changes the user interface of a given program or environment. The images are usually in either .BMP format, .TGA format, or .PNG format. Regarldess, they're images. The text file is usually organized using XML or INI to create its own unique format to describe what those images are and where the skinning software should put those images.

There are lots of different programs for skinning and they skin different things. A Winamp skins will change the look and feel of the program Winamp. A SysMetrix skin will change the look and feel of the program SysMetrix.  Other types of skins will change the entire Windows user interface -- all the title bars, push buttons, Start bar, radio buttons, scrollbars, etc. of Windows that aren't skinned by something already.  One such program is WindowBlinds.  Its skins come as .WBA files which are just ZIP files renamed and inside of them is a host of images along with some text files that tell WindowBlinds what should be done with those images.

So there's nothing that complicated or scary about skins. They're just a cool name to describe what is really just a bunch of graphic files put together with a text file to explain what the heck should be done with them. Have fun!

skinning
8,264 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you, Frogboy. The script or text file has been what prevents me from attempting a winowblind (plus I'm still sharpening my image ability) because I am clueless as to what it is or what to do with it. Are you saying that I don't need to write code or script to create a blind, that the program does it all?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Skin Studio is the development program for putting together blinds. You supply the images. You could, theoretically, edit a full, complete Windowblind skin and replace all the graphic images one at a time with your images. This is actually a great way to learn how to do a blind. When you're all done, use 'save as...' and give it a different name. Skinstudio does all the text/scripting stuff for you.
There are other things like animated titlebars, animated start-menu top bars and jazz like that which might require a bit more work.
Galactic Civilizations IV
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm down. Thanks werewolf. Starting next week, I'm on it.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sleeping Dragon -

The skin text file is to a skin what an html file is to a web page. You can create a web page using nothing but Notepad and a set of images if you have a reasonable understanding of html tags & parameters & what they control & do. Similarly, you can create a skin with nothing but Notepad and a set of images, provided you understand the parameters, syntax & graphic constraints.

Just as creating a web page with Notepad is more tedious & sometimes confusing than using a GUI-based web-page creation program such as FrontPage, creating a skin using just Notepad is more tedious & confusing than using a GUI-based tool. And just such a tool is available for skinning - SkinStudio. Freely downloadable from Stardock.

There is a learning curve to skinning that can seem very steep at first but SkinStudio provides templates (sample graphics & attribute settings) that are correctly sized for the various graphical elements (there are more than you can begin to imagine for a fully XP-compatible skin, but a manageable number) and good real-time context-based help setup which constitutes basic instructions. You can modify the sample graphics in an image editor (I use MSPaint almost exclusively) and gradually build a skin based on a relatively small number of source graphics. SkinStudio takes care of doing the text file part automatically as you make changes so you don't have to mess with code, though you can if & when you want to. There's a bunch of interrelated attributes to each graphical element (e.g., text font, size & color) that can be individually modified & adjusted.

I'd suggest you get SkinStudio & take it for a spin, load up an existing skin & study the various graphics & attribute settings that they use to get a feel for whether it is something you want to tackle. That's how I started skinning, making tons of mistakes at first for lack of understanding, but gradually figuring things out. Although there are a ton of really great skins already published & freely available, there is inevitably something that I'd like to change or tweak a bit to suit my taste with almost all of them.

It's a painfully pleasant hobby and it really gets fun once you get a good handle on the details and can create your own original skins. Be careful if you are married or have a job, however - skinning has the potential to be rather addicting.

Cheers,
Daiwa

(No affiliation with Stardock except as a customer)
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Also many skinners will be more than happy to test-run your skin and check it for bugs before you upload it. There's even a skinners' site that has a workshop for that very reason
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thank you, Daiwa (Nihon jin or fisherman?)

Thank you Essencay. This is going to be fun.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Here is my 12 Step Program

Step 1. Download WinAmp, WindowBlinds, DesktopX, ObjectBar
Step 2. Realize the Programs can change Their Look, and is this is called Skinning
Step 3. Search for SkinZ
Step 4. Find Wincustomize, StarDock, DeviantArt, Customize.org, Skinz.org, Skinbase, SkinPlant, SkinArtistry Workshop, and a lot more sites than can be counted.
Step 5. Learn who Kosati, Treetog, Aleksyandr, essencay, Danggerus, z71, Hippy, Jafo, Bakerstreet, essorant, adni18, Tiggz, PixStudio, TheSkinsFactory (TSF), SnowMan, mormegil, Boxxi, APB, starone, and many more talented folks are, and why they are revered amonst mere Mortals.
Step 6. Get Stardock subscription, WC Subscription, get CRAZY MAD with downloading Amounts of Skinz
Step 7. Venture to Wincustomize Forums
Step 8. Meet very friendly people and discuss Skinning like an adult, with people who do not think you are talking about hunting or cannabalism. Make people happy, Make people Mad, Make friends, and keep posting, find out you are amongst alot of people that are the best in the WORLD.
Step 9. Decide you like skin XXXXXX,but want it in a diff, style, feel, shape or form
Step 10. Fire up Pantshop Pro, PhotoShop, Corel, MSPaint, Gimp and edit Downloaded Skinz, to fit personal Tatse
Step 11. Go whole hog, and finally create skin from scratch, with copious amounts of help and encouragement from community.
Step 12. Admit you have SkinZ addiction and join countless, millions of others in good clean fun and enjoyment in Customizing YOUR PC, and making it more than a box, that connects to the Internet and Plays Games or Performs Work.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Don't forget about CursorXP. This is one of the greatest programs. Changing your cursor is one of the ways I got really interested in "skinning".
Reply #9 from JoeUser Forums Top
Good call Island Dog, but don't forget icons. Some crazy icon-replacement program I can't even remember now (wait... Icon Do-It! Yeah, that was it) was one of the first programs that got me really interested in personalizing the Win95 GUI.

It was CursorXP (then CursorEX, before it was acquired by Stardock) that was the real hook for me, though, and got me seriously looking around for more. Hated the standard Windows cursors (especially the animated ones) and Googled or searched for "cursors" one day... been toast since.

Sleeping Dragon -

Neither, I'm afraid. I got tagged with Daiwa for the old Exceller M200 driver I've had in my bag for nearly 20 years (only recently moved into second position in favor of a no-longer-made Orlimar boomer I found on eBay).

Cheers,
Daiwa