Event #3: Fastest skin

from Stardock Forums
The third event is "Fastest skin". So what does that mean? As most people know, different GUI's perform at different speeds.

Here are things that slow the GUI down:

1) Transparencies. Computers are designed to draw rectangles. So any skin that isn't completely rectangle is not going to be one of the fastest skins.

2) Stretching. Did the skin author use stretching in their bitmaps? If you have SkinStudio, you can find this out quickly by clicking on the edit skin button in display properties and loading up Skinstudio. If the borders have an S in them instead of T or Tile you know that it's stretching the frame images. If it's doing that then it is NOT going to be the fastest skin. Tiling is fast, stretching is slow.

3) How does it feel? When you use the skin, does it feel fast? Or does it seem like it's slowing down your system?

4) Did they make a UIS1 version? A UIS1 skin is faster than a UIS2 skin usually and you can tell whether it's a UIS1 skin if there are THREE preview windows displayed.

When you have narrowed it down, head over to the voting booth. We will be looking at 20 finalists this time to determine which is the fastest skin.
846 views 2 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When it comes down to the final 20, how will the judges determine the fastest one? Will they use the WB benchmark prog?
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
We're not going to instruct them too much. Be purposely kept it a bit vague. But we will make a benchmark program available. For instance, some might argue that fastest also should take into account whether the skin lets them quickly use their system.
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