Windows XP Hacks [Electronic resources] نسخه متنی

Hack 15 Give XP a Makeover with WindowBlinds

Control freaks, rejoice. With the powerful
WindowBlinds utility, you no longer need to suffer with plain, common
GUI elements such as the standard toolbars and scrollbars. You can
modify and skin Windows to your heart's
content.

In the years immediately following World
War II, Bill Levitt realized that GIs needed homes. He planned and
built a community outside New York City that he called Levittown.
There were two models of home in Levittown and there was very little
distinction between them. Levittown was the first
"cookie cutter" community and
remains the epitome of that term.

The Windows XP user interface is a "cookie
cutter" experience. Frequently, users
don't bother to replace the
Bliss (green field and blue sky) background, and
it's even more rare for someone to change the
Windows XP standard menu or colors. Fortunately, you
don't have to settle for the same desktop as the guy
in the next office. One way you can customize your Windows XP
experience is to use themes [Hack #14]. An even better
way is to use a software package called WindowBlinds to
"skin" (customize many aspects
together) the user interface.

WindowBlinds is created by a company called
Stardock and can be downloaded from
their web site at http://www.stardock.com. It is sold by itself
(for $19.95) or as part of a larger package called
Object Desktop (for $49.95). There is
also a free trial available from their web site.

If you use a P2P client to download software, be warned that there is a common virus that spreads itself by pretending to be an installer for WindowBlinds. Make sure you've got the real thing. The virus is passed around only through Kazaa and other P2P apps. The smartest thing to do and the best way to avoid the virus is to pay for this software!

After you install WindowBlinds, you will not notice any immediate
changes. Activate the software via Control Panel Display
Properties Appearance tab.

WindowBlinds makes several changes to the Appearance settings, as
shown in Figure 2-11. The Add button allows you to
search for and add skins to the "Windows and
buttons" popup and the Delete button removes skins
from the popup. The small icon button to the right of the
"Windows and buttons" drop-down box
leads you the Skin Studio web site (discussed a little later in this
hack).

Figure 2-11. Display settings with WindowBlinds installed

Choose a skin from the "Windows and
buttons" drop-down list. If a skin has more than one
"subdesign," you can choose those
from this dialog as well. A subdesign of a skin might be the same
thing in different colors; a skin might look good in brown, green,
and blue, so the author could include all three subdesigns in the
package.

WindowBlinds includes a number of skins when the software is
installed. One of the more interesting skins is called Colony. The
Colony skin shows some of the abilities of WindowBlinds. Choose
Colony from the popup and press the Apply button. Notice the textured
areas around the window borders, the customized menu bars, and the
smooth buttons on the taskbar. These are things that make
WindowBlinds more useful than Windows XP themes and manually changing
each aspect of the interface yourself.

Press the button labeled WindowBlinds when you have a skin selected
for the WindowBlinds Advanced Configuration screen (shown in Figure 2-12). From this screen, you can modify almost any
part of the user interface that WindowBlinds modifies.

Figure 2-12. WindowBlinds Advanced Configuration screen

By clicking on "Basic Settings,"
you can allow the skin to change the standard window buttons, the
taskbar and toolbar buttons, as well as menu borders, progress bar
controls, and the status baror any subset of these options
(perhaps you want your own window buttons, for example). You can also
allow the skin to change the background and have custom sounds. If,
for some reason, you don't want to allow the skin to
override any part of the user interface, you can change it from this
screen. When you are satisfied with the changes you have made, click
"Apply changes" on the left of the
screen.

Some skins look nice on the desktop but might not look so hot when
viewed in another program. For example, some skins do not handle
fonts correctly, which might interfere with word processing.
WindowBlinds includes the ability to change its behavior for
individual programs by clicking on the "Per
Application" item on the left side of the screen.
From this screen, you can add programs to the list and modify their
behavior individually.

2.9.1 Downloading Skins from the Internet

The most popular programs today allow
users to customize Windows. Around this notion, users have created
independent web sites to share their ideas and their creations. One
such web site is WinCustomize, at http://www.wincustomize.com.

The WinCustomize web site is free. If you find a skin that you like,
you need only click on the Download link to download it to your
computer. However, if you want to access some of the advanced
features, you must register with the web site. There is no cost to
register, but there are different levels of access, depending on your
level of participation or willingness to pay. There is an advantage
to registering with the web site; you are given better search tools,
which is useful, considering that there are over 2,000 custom skins
available for download!

WinCustomize is associated with Stardock, the makers of WindowBlinds
and Object Desktop, and therefore it has the most skins for their
software. If you aren't finding what you want, you
might look at some of these other web sites:

http://www.lotsofskins.com

http://www.skinbase.org

http://www.velocityart.com

http://www.deskmod.com

http://www.deviantart.com

Each of these sites sports different features, but they all provide
skins for various programs. The DeviantArt web site is unique in that
it is more interested in digital art as an art form rather than
simply pushing skins out the door. Some of the artwork on the site
may not be suitable for everyone, but if you are interested in the
digital medium, then this would be a good site to investigate.

2.9.2 Creating Your Own WindowBlinds Skins

If you can't find a skin that
suits your tastes, you can create your own skin for WindowBlinds. Not
only can you create a skin from scratch, you can also modify existing
skins as you wish using SkinStudio. SkinStudio can be downloaded
from the Stardock web site for free, but you are reminded that you
should register the software.

Creating a skin from scratch is not a simple project. As with most
facets of our life, practice in the art of making skins makes
perfect. There are many elements of the Windows user interface that
can be modified, and you will need good tools and advanced skills to
make your own skin look correct. Instead of jumping into this at the
deep end, let's learn from those who have perfected
the art, by modifying an existing skin.

One of my favorite WindowBlinds skins is called Liquid2, which
emulates the Macintosh OS X user interface (I'm a
closet Mac user). One of the aspects of Liquid that I do not like is
that the start button has the word
"Liquid" on it. I would prefer
something a little more familiar, like the word
"Start."

I used Photoshop to create the image in Figure 2-13.
The Start button template consists of five separate subimages in the
same file, each subimage being 57x23 pixels. The first
subimage is the normal image, the next is when the button is pressed,
followed by the disabled image, the focused image, and the default
image. Once I am happy with the button, I need to save it somewhere I
can access it. Since it is going to be part of the Liquid skin, I
save the file as C:\Program Files\Stardock\Object
Desktop\WindowBlinds\Liquid2\StartButtonNew.bmp.

Figure 2-13. The replacement Start button with five subimages

Now that we have a suitable image, it's time to use
SkinStudio to modify the skin. Bring up the skin browser (File
Edit). The skin browser looks different than the standard
file browser. Click on the box next to WindowBlinds Skins, locate the
skin named Liquid2, and press the Edit button.

Figure 2-14 shows the edit window for the Liquid2
skin. The box in the top left is for exploring the many different
elements in the user interface. The box in the top middle is for
previewing the skin. The box in the top right is for modifying
individual attributes of the user interface. The box in the lower
left gives you help and allows you to zoom in on portions of the
screen. In the lower right is another editor for individual
attributes.

Figure 2-14. The SkinStudio editor

To replace the Start button, click on the box next to Desktop in the
Explorer box, then click on Taskbar and finally Start Button, as
shown in Figure 2-14. In the lower right, click on
the popup next to the words Adjusted Image. Inside the list should be
our new Start button named StartButtonNew.bmp.
After you choose the new button, click the XP Taskbar button in the
Preview area.

Once you are happy with the modified skin, press the Save button on
the toolbar (the third button from the left). Saving a skin does not
make it active. To make the skin active, press the Apply button on
the toolbar (the seventh button from the left). The new Start button
should now show up on the taskbar. If you press the button, the
darker colored image should appear as long as the mouse button is
pressed.

SkinStudio is a very complicated program with many settings that you
can modify. The official documentation is rather limited, but there
is an excellent tutorial that covers SkinStudio at http://www.aleksyandr.com/tutorial.

Eric Cloninger