Actually, that worked with no loss of text size or quality. 

Yes, of course; it all helps...thank you!  I have my all programs background text set so that when I mouse over it, it doesn't move; but the ones that aren't 0 are both positive integers.  I even tried to change them to negative numbers just to see the result, but then the all programs highlight flew out over my graphics again.  May have to revisit this someday, but for now, it works.

My separators are very thin now.  The start menu doesn't look so gangly anymore.  Thanks again!

peace,

Mally

Resizing the arrows image, or rearranging their order, fixed this issue.

I did rearrange their order.  When I mouseover the arrow, it changes, the highlight bar appears, and the text changes color from pale yellow to white as it should.  The pressed image doesn't display, probably for the reasons both you and Vamps suggested.

It sure did.

That did work a lot better.  Believe it or not, the original arrow was considerably longer than the one you saw.

Cool; I hadn't thought about that.  WB will change the language by itself to the desired user language?

I see.  Well, can I use the universal symbols placed where I want them?  For instance, from their default position here:

to here:

Thanks again for your indulgence!

peace,

Mally

This thread is a tutorial all by itself. I've got it book marked for future reference. A step by step guide to plumbing a WB. Amazing!

I agree.  And framing, and wiring...thanks to everyone who has participated.    

where you put the log off buttons in post 152 is where i was going to suggest you put them actually,

and to move them, im assuming you already know that you use the bottom bar text to do so.

you can use other sized buttons, i just suggested the diamond template ones for beginners so they get a general idea of what is to be

done with a simple button that is not too complicated.

you can also not even use buttons and just use glyphs,  you can also use buttons and no glyphs.

my wulfin wb has just glyphs and no buttons, im sure there are wb's out there that have also used just buttons and no glyphs.

but thats getting rather techy, and you are just learning...so you do whatever is comfortable and not to hard for you to accomplish at this stage.

my main goal for you would be (concerning the log off buttons) would be to get the button and the log off font sitting in both of those squares,

if they wont sit in their perfectly, move them with the text, if you still cant get them sitting in there perfectly, you can always move those square graphics over to suite the buttons, (but it means reworking the bottom bar in photoshop, or what ever art program you made it in.)

again...hope this helps and answers your questions.

What a great response, Vampothica; thank you!  I need to figure out via the software what glyphs vs. buttons mean yet, but I hope that won't be too difficult.  I'll check out Wulfin to learn what I can from that.  I also started sculpting the buttons and borders I'll be using in my per pixel titlebar and frames.  I'm not switching over to that mode entirely, it's just where your tutorial led, I had some ideas, and I was anxious to begin working them out.

peace,

Mally

the button is obviously the bottom layer , like a blue square ect,

the glyph is like the "power" or "key" or "lock" logo that sits on top of the button.

make sense?

Absolutely.  I was thinking along those lines, but hadn't sorted it out so clearly as you just wrote it, though.  Thanks!

peace,

Mally

Questions about button creation.  I've been studying your buttons trying to figure out what makes them look the way they do, including the way they change states sometimes.  Xiandi, I'll start with you.

and

How did you make the areas immediately surrounding the buttons look like they were tailor made for the button rather than looking like the buttons were just pasted on top of it?  Also, many skinners use a technique to make the selection from a 3D image rather than a flat one, like this.  I haven't found where that image is called for in SKS?

To Vamps...In your Wulfin blind, I presume you've made your power buttons with glyphs?  In your paint program, are they treated any differently than any other sort of image...are they separate images?  Are these also glyphs?  You and RedNeckDude also use 3D images for your selections.  Any pointers on how that's done from either of you?

and

And to RedNeckDude; I'm sure you're still busy reading (and re-reading) all the accolades for your beautiful new skin, but if you happen to read this, in this image:

one sees a couple of pixels of wood when a button is pressed than one doesn't see when it's not.  Still, even when not pressed, the buttons look organic, like they fit into the wood rather than applied to it's surface.  How'd you do that, if you don't mind my asking?

peace,

Mally

A 3D looking button is basically made the same way, but the bevel is on the inside, and usually up instead of down. All the buttons I have ever made were done in Photoshop.

like wise, photoshop.

Have to leave for a wee bit, maybe clear my head and grab some coffee with a friend.  I feel like this should be easy, but I'm struggling.  Here's the image I uploaded to SKS on the Edit Start Menu Logoff Images page.  It's on the base and only layer.

The mess I ended up with looks like this.

Can't figure what I've done wrong.  Any ideas from anyone will be welcome!

peace,

Mally

It looks like you put the glyph images on your buttons. They should be separate images.

In the 'Button Icons' section, there is an image already in the Image tab, leave it there. It's a blank png and should only be changed if you want a separate background for your glyphs on top of the button.

Note: Check the Help tab in the Button Icons section to see what you need to do for the frame count on the glyph.

To reply 160.....I have a question. Since I suck at making buttons I'd like to know what size you start out with. Also the glow effect. I tried duplicating it and messed it up really bad. Any pointers?

The key to making a good button is to take your time, try different things, and if you don't think it's perfect for what you need....make a new one.

Glad you mentioned this.  It was missing from mine.  I probably replaced it at some point with my buttons or something.  I was able to grab another copy of it from another blind and put it back.

I confess that I don't frequently use the help sections of many pieces of software, and I hadn't at this stage on this one.  If I'd done so, I would have found the exact order the buttons were to appear on the buttons image.  But if I had wanted to know any more information, and I do, I'm met with a frustrating "There is currently no text in this page. You can search for this page title in other pages, or search the related logs". 

Wiki's can be wonderful things, but when the developer relies entirely on forum volunteers to handle newbie questions, failing to include more than the very most rudimentary data, they have the tendency to be counter productive.  This forum is also disappointing in that I can't subscribe to threads I want to read.  I have to keep a tab open in my browser for each.  Rant over.   

In this image are 2 attempts at making my buttons fit the text / glyphs.  A third attempted in different results, but I can't replicate them for the sake of illustration, and will do my best to describe them.

In top image, you can see the 3 ordered sets of all 3 buttons that comprise the total of 9 buttons.  The results are directly under that, and nothing I've found yet can set those in place correctly.

The only difference between the top two images and the bottom two is that I added 6px addition width to each button.  This is because in the examples I can't show you, I actually came close, except the outside ends of the 2 buttons were cut straight.

peace,

Dave

There always seem to be certain points that come so easily to some people, they hardly seem noticeable, much less a potential stumbling block for someone else's learning.  We'll keep asking questions back and forth, and I bet there's be an Aha Moment just around the corner.

peace,

Dave

try this:

Make one 3 state button, normal, pressed, mouseover. Put that in the button image tab.

You seem to have 3 buttons with 3 states on that image, that is not gonna work. compare your button image to mine in reply #163.

Your glyph looks right.

Now that that's done, I wonder how I could have missed it.  It didn't occur to me that I the buttons would stretch (at least to a degree) to fit the required spaces.  I thought I needed 2 or 3 different sized buttons.  This was made using 3 states of the smallest button.

Here's what the start menu looks like right now.  I'd sure love to hear any constructive criticism and other thoughts.

Have also been working on my Start Button.  I'd like for it to be slightly taller than the rest of the task bar so that it extends over the start menu in the bottom left corner.  Is this possible, or am I just better off resizing or re-designing the start button?

Thanks so much, all, wor working through this difficult part for me.  I really do appreciate your patience.

peace,

Dave

Edited to replace an image "no longer on Photobucket".

Its okay to have the start button hang over the task bar Mally. There are a couple of blinds that do just that. BTW-that is one very busy start menu.

Thanks, Uvah; kind of thought I could.  Seem to remember a tutorial that even explains it from the standpoint of an older version of SKS...just can't lay my hands on it at the moment.  Thanks for your compositional comment, too.  You may well be right, it may be too busy.  The background in that image isn't the one I'll be using.  But boy, that opens a whole other can of worms design wise, doesn't it?  One of the reasons I wanted to bring these leaves into the start menu composition is that I want to use them later in the file transfer animations.  I've noticed the Monarch as kind of iconic to many steampunkish still life images.  The leaves aren't, not so far as I know anyway.

peace,

Dave

Hello, all;

Is there a quick way to copy a SKS image from SKS directly into my paint program?  The "edit image" button which seems by default to open MS Paint would be the perfect place if it's configurable.

peace,

Dave

Meh; found it.  It can be set under Tools --> Preferences --> Advanced Tab --> Editing Images --> Custom.   Very handy.

It has been very daunting.  This weekend, it has become a lot less so.  My horizontal taskbar is almost finished except for two questions about things I don't like yet.  First, in this image

the upper row shows the button I used in SKS (minus the 5px red margins, used here for illustration), while the bottom row shows that there is a joggle of a couple of pixels while changing states.  What is causing that?

Also, I'd like to use Xiani's trick for making text invisible in the power buttons, but I can't find a text tab to allow me to do that.  Is that unchangeable, or am I just missing something?

peace,

Dave

The spaces between the buttons and the borders top and bottom must be equal.