I.R. Brainiac I.R. Brainiac

Vista skinning questions.

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Vista skinning questions.

Help me,help you...God help us all.

from WinCustomize Forums

Vista,WB and me got off to a rocky start but after some super tweaking help and finally getting WB installed correctly...my hatred of Vista has cooled to merely annoyance with some of the gui decisions microsoft made.With the right tweaks it runs fine even on my mediocre system.(turn off LOTS of stuff,all animations,popup thumbnails,superfetch and on and on...)

WB now does some pretty neat stuff on Vista and thats what finally won me over...well,at least I dont leave Vista at the earliest opportunity. ;) 

SKS6 still cant touch 5 for ease of use(and never will in its current layout),but to skin Vista you have to get over it and dig in.You may click yourself silly but it DOES have some nifty features.It supports all the latest tricks now and the subframe builder is pretty cool.Vertically stacked images are back!YAY Neil. :) 

So I'm gonna use this screeny to ask some questions while I test different areas to see what they do.If you KNOW the answer please chime in.If you have a question,please fell free to ask.

My first tip for the counterintuitive section is...User pane icon would not move DOWN on the pane til I used NEGATIVE top content margins in the text tab.

 

skinning
38,822 views 86 replies
Reply #51 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Tim.. Screeming sounds naughty  :LOL: 
Reply #52 from WinCustomize Forums Top
yeah.....it's much worse than screaming ;)


Note to self:
It's ok to hang out with ZubaZ, but I don't have to emulate his speeling habits :p
Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #53 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Jump up and down screaming I can do...pulling out hair is becoming more difficult. ;p  :LOL: 
Reply #54 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Huh.  I didn't notice any spellin errors. 
Reply #55 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Big tip...if you edit the code view window your change probably WONT show up in your blind on apply...you need to change one of the spin button settings somewhere(anywhere)and change it back...so SKS realises you have made a change in need of saving.

The additional buttons section has no setting for vertically stacked images or trans and perpixel...you will have to copy them from a standard button and use the trick above. ;p 
Reply #56 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Restored window...with some fudging,you can get the button to line up in the address bar...but once the windoww is maxxed they are misaligned and cutoff on the bottom...plus the icon shifts over. X-( 

Reply #57 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Left most IE tab sits low when not selected...all others are fine...how do you change the text colors ad fonts there?

Reply #58 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Can't say I've noticed either of those last 2 IR (and I just checked them on my current skin) so I'm not sure how its happening or how to fix it. The text and its color on the IE tabs can not be changed that I know of, maybe one day.

**Edit**
Correction, on the 'windows explorer' windows I do see that one thing happening on the maxed windows... still not sure there is a correction for it yet.
Reply #59 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Whenever I open the preview pane in Layout...my translucent window parts all go opaque. :NOTSURE: 
Reply #60 from WinCustomize Forums Top
This buttonface color showing in places it shouldnt needs to be fixed.

Reply #61 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I did solve my issue with the minimized caption buttons displaying a button inside a button.On Vista at least...if you set something to true-size...you may need to set your sizing margins to all zero's.

With sizing margins at all 4's,it was putting a true size version inside a stretched version(that had just the button face color showing inside the margins)
Reply #62 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Heres a question about backgrounds(window)...the glass ones are fine in a restored window but maximized they grow very dark and even with non glass backgrounds assigned,WB dosnt use them on the maxxed windows.(like it does with other window parts)
Most elements so far have an alternate state or image for maxxed windows.Do the list view header bars have one?I made it translucent but on maxxed windows it goes dark too.(there is the normal one that would be fine there but it only shows when you first apply a skin and the window was already open)

Little help? :SNIFF!:  ;) 
Reply #63 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Something I missed the first time around...you can assign text colors for glass window back grounds,that I knew...but I missed the drop down box for the text,normal and maximized. ;)
Wondered why my maxxed window text was black...thats default for glass maxxed. ;) Changed it and its mucho bettererer. 

There seem to be no text settings for window backgrounds non-glass. :p (be great if they did and they would show when a glass window is maximized) ;) 
Reply #64 from WinCustomize Forums Top
All those dark grey areas are supposed to be translucent...and are until I turn the preview pane on in Layout.

Thats also what my maxxed windows look like even tho I have normal backgrounds assigned also. :NOTSURE: 

Reply #65 from WinCustomize Forums Top
It would be very nice to have the maximized glass and the minimized glass to each have seperate images. When transparent and maximized a layer of darkness is added and i HATE IT! ;)
Reply #66 from WinCustomize Forums Top
you mean maxxed and restored?...thats what normal nonglass background should do...but it dosnt use them...maxxed windows get real flaky too. ;p 

Maxxed windows should not be that different from restored. X-( 
Reply #68 from WinCustomize Forums Top
if your info pane is glass AND normal...inactive maxxed windows have this crappy mouseover color blocks. X-( 

Reply #69 from WinCustomize Forums Top
When transparent and maximized a layer of darkness is added and i HATE IT!


me too
Reply #70 from WinCustomize Forums Top
if your info pane is glass AND normal...inactive maxxed windows have this crappy mouseover color blocks.

All 'glass' images should use the solid images for maxed windows. Also for all glass elements I've noticed its better to have the option "Copy alpha channel directly' enabled.

Most elements so far have an alternate state or image for maxxed windows.Do the list view header bars have one?

Where are you turning this on at? Never seen it (still finding stuff in Vista after all this time lol)

All those dark grey areas are supposed to be translucent...and are until I turn the preview pane on in Layout.

Yeah it does but only when you mouseover items... thats something I think Niel will have to address over time, nothing we can do about it and maybe nothing wb can do about it.. time will tell.

Just got to remember.. its going to take some time to get Vista and WB to play well togeather... it took XP and WB how long to get to where its at? And even that still has its own set of quarks (we've just gotten used to them over the years).

Maybe we all should start a new thread on things we would like to see addressed in upcoming SKS and WB updates ;)
Reply #71 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Tip...the toolbar-like button section seems to have the states out of order...it is using disabled for pressed. ;p 
Reply #72 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Still some things that need skinning.(for a complete restored window anyways) ;p 

Reply #73 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Maybe we all should start a new thread on things we would like to see addressed in upcoming SKS and WB updates


Thats sorta what we have here...but if it will get us noticed,I'm all for it.
I've never understood why Stardock tends to ignore its skinners.Who's better than skinners at breaking something or exposing flaws?

Neils job is a tough one...I couldnt do it...but he dosnt communicate with us much.

Some simple answers would be nice...this we know,its being worked on,this we didnt know,we'll look into it,this is impossible,quit whining,this is fixed,do it this way...etc...

I see stuff like premultiplied alpha and wonder what it does...why do some images seem to need it...how do you know when to use it...and the help tab is useless.

Ovelays that slide to the left?WTH is that?Copy alpha channel directly?Why? :NOTSURE: 


Reply #74 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've never understood why Stardock tends to ignore its skinners.


Still some things that need skinning.


some of the questions/requests here were already adressed a long time ago, like this one from January 2 (half a year ago!!!!!)
WWW Link
(there were some more like that...)

at that time there were not so many skinners here into Vista so there wasn´t as much reply as it is now, but there WAS some trying to help from the few skinners that already worked with vista.

But what´s more notable is there was NO reply/explanation/statement for future plans or whatever from stardock itself, which could have at least clarified some things and stopped that ´guessing´ and ´trial and error´ about certain things - and that´s lame, I think.

It´s a pity because this way WB/SkS will never really adapt to our needs...

Reply #75 from WinCustomize Forums Top
some of the questions/requests here were already adressed a long time ago, like this one from January 2 (half a year ago!!!!!)

yes but there have been many updates since then and one never knows (without asking/testing) sometimes if that has changed. Skinning Vista is still relatively new comparatively. Some things have been added to skinning Vista and I know for a fact more features will be coming (like being able to skin the 'Large' IE7 and Explorer Navigation buttons). It never hurts to see or ask again.

Thats sorta what we have here...but if it will get us noticed,I'm all for it.
I've never understood why Stardock tends to ignore its skinners.Who's better than skinners at breaking something or exposing flaws?

Yeah I was thinking maybe something that could be restricted exclusively for SKS/WB request. Maybe even restricted to Masters and Developers only. Nothing against anyone else but at least this way the developers will know this group of skinners knows what they are talking about and why.