Min- Max- Close-Buttons: Flyakite

from WinCustomize Forums
Hi there.

I just installed flayakites osx pack, which is really awesome. The only bad thing about it is.. the Buttons are on the right hand side, which aint osx like. I previously used danimators osx themes for some years now, so im used to the left position of those buttons. My question is, how can i make window blinds displaying the buttons on the left side, maybe as well as the mdi buttons. I dont need no images of the buttons, as they are included in the mod, just change the position.

I got skin studio as well but it seems to be a bit tricky so maybe u guys can provide some help on this. I tried to edit danimators theme but i screwed this one up, so maybe some of you skinning masters could pass me over some WB element that only changes the buttons position, (possibly with rollup included, as this is a cool feature) or tell me about the steps how i can get there with skin studio. I also tried the WB included "button left" skin but for some odd reason it just didnt work. Or is there a way to extract the buttons position of danimators theme and make a single "element" of it which i can load into WB. Sorry but i am just a noob at skinning.

Any ideas? Thx in advance...
windowblinds
4,711 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I think this covers what you'd need to do (in SkinStudio):

1) Move the buttons to the left side by modifying the Alignment attributes for each button: setting the position relative to the upper left corner rather than the upper right, and using offset values that place the button in the position on the TitleBar that you want. You can actually click-drag the buttons in the Preview image to the rough position you want, then use the attribute settings to fine tune the position of each. Be aware that there will often be more than one button assigned to a particular position and the same button may be assigned to multiple positions - which buttons actually get displayed in a given window depends on the Button Visibility rules set and the state of the window. There may also be asymmetrical graphic elements incorporated into the button images to make them properly blend into the TitleBar, in which case you may have to use an image editor to flip each tile of the button image horizontally or vertically or both, save it as a "new" button image (I'd give it an alternate name to preserve the original image) and assign the "new" button image in place of the original. Other than that, it's a piece of cake.

2) You would then need to reposition the TitleBar Text by changing the Content Margins in the TitleBar Text section so that the text doesn't overlap the buttons.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
But the default preview window shows me some default xp design, with its buttons. when i save the stuff, will the images of the default xp be saved? That would be not so good as flyakites mod already contains the images. I guess there is no way to export only! the allignment and position data outta lots of osx themes like dans? If not how do i tell skin studio not to use any other image than the ones of the mod, i dont think it recognized that the design has ben modded, so it will add the old xp styled images.
I could look up danimators allignment data then copy it over mine one by one, but how do i tell skin studio not to use any images? Sheesh SS its more tricky than i thought, though a very powerful app.
The Political Machine 2024
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Maybe I'm not understanding you, certainly not the part about exporting only the alignment data, which I don't think you can do. SKS is a tool for creating new & modifying existing WB (and other) skins. Is "flyakites mod" a WindowBlinds Skin? If it is, then you can "open" it in SkinStudio and the Preview should display the graphic elements correctly. If a WB skin is actually missing graphics, SkinStudio will substitute the default XP images from the Template file & display those in the Preview. If it is not a WindowBlinds Skin, then it depends - some other formats can be converted to WB format using SkinStudio (though usually not perfectly, requiring some manual touchup I understand) but that's something I have no experience with so I can't give you reliable advice there.

Again, I may not be understanding what you are trying to achieve, so forgive me if that's the case.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
No no.. its no windowblinds skin. Its a mod, some perfect emulation of the OSX Gui, except the buttons position, with modded system files and other stuff which comes with an installer and uninstaller Pretty good stuff. Check out http://osx.portraitofakite.com/ its awesome. What i want to do is tweak it with windowblinds, so i wanna put the buttons to the left side. Only the position. I just thought when i load up WB with that information containing it would tweak it. But i guess thats just not possible huh? If not what tool could i use to change it?
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Unless it is a skin in a format readable &/or convertible by SkinStudio, no, I'm guessing it's not possible. You say it's a "mod" - a mod of "what" exactly? What "tool" (if any) you might be able to use to "mod" the "mod" depends entirely on the answer to that question.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Actually its a mod of windows xp But i guess ill just have to wait for an update of flyakites pack. As you can see from his Website, he put a lot of work into this, modded system files, cursors, icons, sounds. However, is there a tool which tells xp where to put the buttons virtually or not? I just peeked at ShellWM but i dont know how to work with it.
Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Looks like it's a UXTheme hack. Nicely done from the looks of it, but I'm no help to you there. I'd be communicating with flyakite if I were you. Good luck.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Gotta add that i picked windowblinds to do the dirty work cause i read this topic: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread.php?t=25305
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It says right in your topic link that you can D/L a WB version - looks like you should uninstall the UXTheme hack/Visual Styles version, D/L the WB skin and then go back to the instructions in my first post. There's a free/shareware version of WB, which you'll need to load & apply the skin, although be aware that the free version is limited in significant ways (won't skin certain elements such as scrollbars) so to get the "full" GUI skinned you'll need the enhanced/purchased version. Since you appear to be into this sort of thing, don't bother trying a hack to "activate" the free version of WB - it can't be activated and is not the same program as the purchased version. In fact, the free version must be uninstalled before installing the purchased version.

Again, good luck.

Cheers,
Daiwa
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Uhm well in this case i wouldnt wanna go back to WB as i already got my favorite theme, and it seems WB aint capable to manage this . I hopefully gonna find out how to swap the buttons, with a tool or whatever. If anyone knows any bout this stuff please tell me about it. I guess im not the only one who has a problem with this issue, after all that perfectionism provided in the mod AND the website...
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Am I missing something here? Doesn't that pack also come with Xero's WB skin with the buttons the other side?
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Its KoLs and Steve Greniers Tiger skins. But how do i make WB ONLY to skin the whole Bar where the Buttons are (Change of plans cause nothing seems to work and there is the program icon to the left which will overlay with the buttons )
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I don't believe you can "mix & match" that way, using WB to modify just the TitleBar of a non-WB theme. You need to work with one skinning app or another and work with the entire theme.

Cheers,
Daiwa