Windows Skinning Apps

[wade moore]

Alright. I FINALLY got my new computer after dealing with my 5 year old steaming pile of crap for too long.

So, I'm of course trying to make it look all spiffy...

In the process I always run into programs such as WindowBlinds, etc... However, I've tried them in the past (ok, like 4 years ago) and they really did some not so friendly things to my system... I just mean, performance issues, system errors, etc. Obviously they've probably gotten better since then.

So. Any recommendations? I don't need to completely revolutionize my desktop, but I'd like something more than the standard windows themes since it seems that the only people that make themes for windows are 12 year olds.

[Joe]

I use windowblinds and desktop X, havent run into any problems so far.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by George W Bush

I use windowblinds and desktop X, havent run into any problems so far.

You use both together?

[Joe]

yep, both together.

[stevew]

One of these days I'm going to try this out.

[Joe]

oh yeah, I posted a screen shot of my current theme in one of the "show me your desktop" threads, I went for functionality over prettiness with that one

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by stevew

One of these days I'm going to try this out.

me too, once I get a new computer. I think it was GWB's desktop that was posted last time that impressed me a whole deal. Him or gstelmack.

GWB, could you post a screenie of your desktop again?

FM

[Joe]

yeah hang on I'll dig it up, should still be on my website

[FrogMan]

dola, bah GWB posted about his screenie while I was typing my request still stand, could you repost that screenie for us too lazy to search for it?

Thanks.

FM

[FrogMan]

aaarggg, stop doing that!!!!!



FM

[Joe]

http://www.joenitedstatesofamerica.com/desktop.png

[FrogMan]

yup, that's the one, I really, really like it. Does it slow down your pc or not?

FM

[Joe]

havent had any issues, but I just got this computer in February, so it might slow down older ones, I dont know.

[MJ4H]

You can allow windows to use themes (which is basically what windowsblinds does with a custom format) by patching a certain file in windows. This allows it to be done with no resource overhead at all. It is very simple to do (do a search for something like patch dll windows themes). There is a program that basically does this for you, too, called StyleXP, but it is not free. I think it also has a bit of system overhead (though I think it is lighter than window blinds). Those are your main options for skinning windows. My recommendation is patching the dll and using standard windows themes.

There is the further option of using entire GUI shell replacement. This not only skins the windows elements but replaces them with either more functional, more flexible, or just different/prettier elements. In other words, it runs a different executable on startup than the default explorer.exe, giving you a different program's taskbar, system tray, menu system, etc. My favorite one of these is blackbox for windows (specifically the bblean branch of the code). There are several options for alternate gui shells that are good, specifically:

LiteStep
Aston Shell (not free)
GeoShell
Talisman (not free)

I have used all of them and can help you with any specific questions you might have with them. I can also provide screenshots of what I use if you are interested (I am a big proponent of customizing my desktop, since I spend so much time looking at it and using it). I am glad to help anyone that wants to get into it, because I feel it is an area that is important and not commonly known about.

EDITED to add: I forgot to mention that bblean, in particular, is designed to be more functional than windows explorer shell while being very minimal in design and resource overhead (meaning your computer will actually do more and use less memory and be faster when using it).

[wade moore]

Matt - Trying to understand your point about the themes.

The PC I have has the plus! package, so I have the themes availabe right there. My concern is that there are just no themes out there that look any good. Am I misunderstanding and you're talking about something besides the stuff that Plus! allows you to do?

I think a part of me really wants one of the programs that really fully changes the way things look outside of theming - like LiteStep (which is one I used in the past)... I'm not really interested in manually customizing, I would use stuff that's out there for d/l.

[wade moore]

Do the Shell programs do something different than WindowBlinds?

[MJ4H]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Do the Shell programs do something different than WindowBlinds?

I'm honestly not familiar with the Plus! package, but it sounds like your system is theme-enabled. I'm pretty sure this does the same sort of thing as Windows Blinds, but blinds may have a few more features. I know wb has some resource usage and I don't personally like that overhead. I don't think it is excessive, and if you don't like squeezing every drop of power out of your computer, it won't probably matter to you. I frequently skirt the border of my RAM usage when making music, so I have to conserve on my overhead.

That being said, I would choose a gui shell replacement anyway. Yes the shell replacements do considerably more than windows blinds. Windows Blinds changes the appearance of your desktop elements. Shells replace your desktop elements completely. You are already running a shell. It is called explorer shell and it comes with windows. Programs like blackbox and litestep are replacements for explorer shell.

Now, what explorer shell does is it gives you a taskbar, system tray, and start menu (also, it gives you an interactive desktop that lets you drag and drop onto it). If you go into your task manager and kill explorer.exe, you would see exactly what it does. You would have no taskbar, no system tray, no start menu, and no desktop icons. At this point, you could run a new shell that gives you an alternate way to do all the familiar tasks you do on your computer. You can even install them so that they run on startup by default instead of explorer.

It is quite simple to do this (for instance, with blackbox, you can just unzip blackbox into a folder, kill explorer as mentioned above, then run blackbox.exe to see what it is like NOTE-you can run programs through your task manager, which is always accessible with ctrl-alt-del even with no explorer shell running). Then if you want to set blackbox to run automatically instead of explorer, you run blackbox.exe -install, and blackbox.exe -uninstall to revert back to explorer running automatically. No problem.

Here is a link to a screenshot (admittedly a busy looking one) that is of me using bblean. I turned off auto-hide on all the elements you see. They are only visible one at a time as I need them, so it is quite organized and efficient, despite the looks.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y25.../deskshot1.jpg

Lots of incredible things are possible with blackbox. If you want to see what very capable people can do with it, check out www.boxshots.org

Anyway, feel free to ask specific questions.

Oh, and bblean uses less than 2 megs of memory (when properly optimized) compared to explorer shell's average of 16-20 megs of memory.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Lots of incredible things are possible with blackbox. If you want to see what very capable people can do with it, check out www.boxshots.org

Anyway, feel free to ask specific questions.

Oh, and bblean uses less than 2 megs of memory (when properly optimized) compared to explorer shell's average of 16-20 megs of memory.

very impressive Matt. One stupid question, is bblean free?

FM

[wade moore]

Ok, you've pretty much sold me on using blackbox or litestep... Both of those seem to have stuff on DeviantArt, etc. already built that I could use...

Here's my only other question - If I have Blackbox (or LS or whatever) installed on my profile, and the g/f switches over to her profile, can it revert automatically back to explorer.exe if she doesn't want to use all of the junk i'm using?

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by wade moore

Here's my only other question - If I have Blackbox (or LS or whatever) installed on my profile, and the g/f switches over to her profile, can it revert automatically back to explorer.exe if she doesn't want to use all of the junk i'm using?

that's a very good question because my wife would probably freak out too if I implemented any of these swift new shells on our home PC

FM

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by FrogMan

that's a very good question because my wife would probably freak out too if I implemented any of these swift new shells on our home PC

FM

Yeah, I'd be murdered ... But as long as she can look at her nice normal setup, we're fine...

[MJ4H]

Yes bblean is free. When installing blackbox, you get a simple option of whether to install for current user only, or all users.

[wade moore]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Yes bblean is free. When installing blackbox, you get a simple option of whether to install for current user only, or all users.

Fantastic.. will probably install today...

I'll let you know if I have more questions ...

[MJ4H]

Sure, I'll be glad to help.

[daedalus]

By the way, here is an old thread about desktop improvement that MJ4H started. I thought it rocked and had oodles of information (which is why I managed to remember its existence).

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by daedalus

By the way, here is an old thread about desktop improvement that MJ4H started. I thought it rocked and had oodles of information (which is why I managed to remember its existence).

daed, I remember reading that thread and thinking I could probably dabble in these at some point. Thinking now might be the time finally

Thanks for bringing it back to life.

Funny thing in there though, the link to konfabulator now goes to widgets.yahoo.com. Looks like they got bought out...

FM

[MJ4H]

Yes yahoo purchased konfabulator. I don't really like it that much. The little TV widget I had was cool, but it kind of went downhill with the next version, and the widgets were sort of bulky resource-wise. None of the other widgets were cool to me. You might like some of them, though.

[FrogMan]

Originally Posted by MattJones4Heisman

Yes yahoo purchased konfabulator. I don't really like it that much. The little TV widget I had was cool, but it kind of went downhill with the next version, and the widgets were sort of bulky resource-wise. None of the other widgets were cool to me. You might like some of them, though.

that's the kind of thing I was expecting when I saw the yahoo name in there. Don't have any facts to base myself on, simply an impression...

FM

[MJ4H]

It was that way before yahoo bought it. I doubt it has been changed much by yahoo, but I admittedly don't keep up with it anymore.

[Cydney]

So, using BBLean, I'm actually having some trouble. Specifically, I've installed a style, but the background is just reverting to my windows desktop image. I've changed the style .txt file to refer to the jpg's location. The tutorial at deviantart on implementing styles says to download a couple of applications, bsetroot and bsetbg, but the link doesn't actually have them.....any ideas?

[Cydney]

I should add, too, that enable backgrounds is set in the configuration settings.

[Cydney]

Nevermind, found it myself, just needed to read further

[Fonzie]

GWB, a question for you (or anyone else that uses Desktop X) - I've installed the "Office System 1024" desktop (the one you use) and love it. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to customize the Menu widget. Can you give me a pointer on how to get my game shortcuts into the "Games" heading?

Gracias.

[Joe]

Originally Posted by Fonzie

GWB, a question for you (or anyone else that uses Desktop X) - I've installed the "Office System 1024" desktop (the one you use) and love it. However, I cannot for the life of me figure out how to customize the Menu widget. Can you give me a pointer on how to get my game shortcuts into the "Games" heading?

Gracias.

you right click and select properties, then on the different tabs you customize. I'm not sure what is in there originally or how many objects, so you may have to do some cloning and then move the new objects to where you want them. You can also open up the object navigator and just change the text codes if you want, I do it that way just because its faster for me when changing a whole theme around.

[Fonzie]

Thanks GWB!