Yeah, I don't really understand why so many people insist on installing 64 bit right now. For me, the question is why I would I use 32-bit when I can buy 8GB of ram for $400? Vista x64 is simply the best prosumer 64-bit OS out. The extra memory is great for VMWare. I practically do all my real work, including photoshop and visual studio development inside of XP Pro VMWare sessions. XP Pro is still the best 32-bit OS imho a
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!
The different levels of products is confusing---Home, Home Premium, Ultimate, Business, and Enterprise. Why not just one or two OS? Who wants to buy a Home crippled version when Ultimate is perceived to be much better but expensive. Let's not even talk about the licensing. They're scaring the honest consumers not the pirates who will undoubtedly find a way around their protection schemes. Does anyone think different? I have Vista because I'm a .NET developer and I have to test against
Stardock Forums
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
Perhaps you dont work with many documents like others do? You're definitely wrong about TaskswitchXP. And yes I use lots of windows. I'm a software architect and probably use as many windows as a power user like yourself. From real word experience what is important is the title bar containing the file
what's the big deal with Flip 3D? It's worthless in my opinion. It doesn't make you any more productive. You get a skewed picture of 2D app. TaskSwitchXP is the best Alt-Tab manager and it's FREE.
i submitted a skin. after submission, it said awaiting moderation. then no trace of it, just disappears, notthing in my list. i tried it once more and same thing.
Well that sucks about not being posted previously to another website. What's the big deal, it's still a WB skin. No wonder the skins posted so far are mediocre.
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 could be completely wrong here. The part of the skins you are seeing as transparent aren't repainted quite as often as a window border. So, these can be rendered using Windows' built in graphical functions. I'm guessing to have decent performance on regular window borders WindowBlinds uses hardware functions found in your video card. This is also why Vista will require a decent 3D video card to run its aero interface. I create WB5 skins so this is not intended as a flame agai
I have a WB5 skin I will be releasing soon. It doesn't have much bling and really makes Windows beautiful. Look at how nice the 'dirty' screenshot is. The screenshot contains a link to the the release candidate of the skin you may download. It's not exactly what you asked for, but it's much different than the eye candy stuff you see. http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/39985070 <font col
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.
WinCustomize Forums