Having trouble skinning the menu bars & menu bar options

(Graphics heavy!)

from Stardock Forums

(Posted this yesterday in the WindowBlinds forum, but I just realized that that was the wrong place...Oops! ^^;; )

OK, so I'm nearing the end of my free Windowblinds & SkinStudio trials, & I'm almost done customizing my computer to look like Vista! The only problem is, I'm having trouble skinning the menu bars & menu bar option glyphs.

Thankfully, these screenshots of my computer will give you a very thorough idea of what I'm trying to do!

First, this is what the menu bar looked like on my old Vista computer:

Figure 1

Here's my current skin settings for the menu bars:

Figure 2

And the settings for the menu bar options:

Figure 3

Here's the value currently set for menu bar height in Windows Registry Editor:

Figure 4

Here's the menu bar height chosen in SkinStudio:

Figure 5

And, finally, here's a picture with different sizes of menu bar heights that I've tried experimenting with:

Figure 6

Oh, almost forgot the most important information of all: Basically, what I need help with, is getting the menu bar & menu bar options to show up properly in the SkinStudio preview, instead of those gray blocks with no button pictures on them (see Figure 2).

I tried using several different menu bar height sizes--all ranging from 19 to 26--but all I get is this result in Notepad, & I know it's not supposed to look like that, so I'm quite certain I'm doing something wrong with the skinning &/or the registry editing:

Figure 7

But I have no way of knowing what it is that I'm doing wrong! :-(

Can anyone please help me out with this problem...preferably before my free SkinStudio & WindowBlinds trials run out on May 30? ^^;; PMs will be a great help in continuing the conversation, as I can't post too many replies while I'm a new member.

skinstudio
36,357 views 12 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

My images within SKS for those areas show as exactly what I made them to be. You might need to uninstall and reinstall SKS, all I can think of.

Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Me personally, I keep the Menu Bar height at 19, in the "extra setting", then I make my Menu Bar image 80 pixels wide by 18 pixels tall.  As for the Menu Bar Options, there are five states, (Active Normal, Active Pressed, Reserved, Mouse over, and Inactive Normal) I personally skin "Active Pressed", and "Mouse Over", and the image (total) size, I make it 180 pixels wide, by 18 pixels tall/high. This is just me, now other Skinners (Masters) may choose to do things differently, but this way is a good starting point. Also, I would not go into the "Registry" to change anything, unless absolutely necessary, and you know what you're doing.  Hope this helps. |-)  

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Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting don5318, reply 2

Me personally, I keep the Menu Bar height at 19, in the "extra setting", then I make my Menu Bar image 80 pixels wide by 18 pixels tall.  As for the Menu Bar Options, there are five states, (Active Normal, Active Pressed, Reserved, Mouse over, and Inactive Normal) I personally skin "Active Pressed", and "Mouse Over", and the image (total) size, I make it 180 pixels wide, by 18 pixels tall/high. This is just me, now other Skinners (Masters) may choose to do things differently, but this way is a good starting point. Also, I would not go into the "Registry" to change anything, unless absolutely necessary, and you know what you're doing.  Hope this helps. |-)  

I took all of your advice, & I checked the registry to make sure that it was equivalent to 19 pixels (or -285)--it was--& I updated all of the graphics per your suggestions.  Alas, nothing appears to have changed in the menu bar. :-( Maybe, the computer needs to be restarted for all of the changes to take effect, or there's a bug of some kind?

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting LightStar, reply 1

My images within SKS for those areas show as exactly what I made them to be. You might need to uninstall and reinstall SKS, all I can think of.

 

Well, I might try that if nothing else works.  Hopefully, though, I won't have to resort to that.

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting TheMouseAvenger, reply 4


Quoting LightStar,
reply 1

My images within SKS for those areas show as exactly what I made them to be. You might need to uninstall and reinstall SKS, all I can think of.



 

Well, I might try that if nothing else works.  Hopefully, though, I won't have to resort to that.

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?

The skin settings would not change, you would only need to redo the settings for SKS itself.

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Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting TheMouseAvenger, reply 4

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?

Not if you make a new Wb in SKS. Make sure you save it somewhere. In SKS at the top just click on "File" Go down and you will see "Make WBA package" Save it. If you want a different file name you can rename it in SKS before you make the new WB.

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Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting LightStar, reply 5

Quoting TheMouseAvenger,
reply 4






Quoting LightStar,

reply 1


My images within SKS for those areas show as exactly what I made them to be. You might need to uninstall and reinstall SKS, all I can think of.



 

Well, I might try that if nothing else works.  Hopefully, though, I won't have to resort to that.

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?



The skin settings would not change, you would only need to redo the settings for SKS itself.

Well, that's a convenient relief! ^_^ I'll see if I can buy the full version this weekend, & after that, I'll try uninstalling & reinstalling. :-)

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DaveBax, reply 6

Quoting TheMouseAvenger,
reply 4

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?



Not if you make a new Wb in SKS. Make sure you save it somewhere. In SKS at the top just click on "File" Go down and you will see "Make WBA package" Save it. If you want a different file name you can rename it in SKS before you make the new WB.

OK, many thanks for the advice!

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting DaveBax, reply 6

Quoting TheMouseAvenger,
reply 4

If I should, however, what will happen to all of my saved settings for my skin? Will I have to re-add them after reinstallation?



Not if you make a new Wb in SKS. Make sure you save it somewhere. In SKS at the top just click on "File" Go down and you will see "Make WBA package" Save it. If you want a different file name you can rename it in SKS before you make the new WB.

OK, many thanks for the advice!

Reply #11 from Stardock Forums Top

OK, so I bought the full versions of SkinStudio & WindowBlinds! ^_^ Now, I'm going to try skinning the menu bars again.  But if anyone can come up with any other suggestions for fixing the problem, please feel free to pass them along! :-)