Has anyone thought of making a windowblind specifically for one app?

from WinCustomize Forums
I saw one windowblind recently (in the last few months) where a person made a skin just for one app to use (Using Windowblinds per-app section)

I bring this up because I have MSN 9 and when Windowblinds skins it, it becomes weird acting, I think, because of areas that are skinned that MSN 9 doesn't want skinned.(Plus, MSN 9 has these translucent menus that become... well, un-translucent with WB 4)


I plan on making an adjustment with the MSN 9 skin someone made here a few weeks ago by taking out some areas that are skinned and making the whole skin a UIS1 skin.





To make a long story short, I was wondering if others were thinking of making a WB 4 skin just for one app to use specifically.

???

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2,925 views 13 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Joe....I use Tiggz' GT2 for the general skinning, but one of my own oldies for ACDSee...as Tiggz' skin crashes that proggy.....just a case of an early skin being less complete and 'pain free'...
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top

One of the first skins I made back in 1999 was done specifically for ACDSee (or any graphics viewer) but it worked ok for a general use skin too. That was Darkmarble. I'm a photographer and I wanted a 'picture frame' skin.  The per-app capabilities of WindowBlinds has always been one of my favorite features.

I also made a skin for Doreen to use on her on-screen TV tuner. It's called Doreen's TV and was intended to be a per-app skin. 

Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I still enjoy Dor's TV, David
Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Recently there was one skin only for some video or music player window. Was some sort of MAC aqua style.
Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I'm bumping this thread to ask if anyone can tell me whether one can make a UIS1 subskin for a UIS2 skin. The reason I'm asking is that I've been working on my first WB skin for a while, trying to perfect it, then saw this thread and one similar, and am now discovering some problems with a few apps, ACDSee and MSN9 among them. If it's possible, then I'd like to include the UIS1 version as a subskin of my UIS2 skin.
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
#3 by Wizop Koasati - 2/18/2004 1:48:29 PM
In SkinStudio go to Tools >WIndowBlinds > Convert skin to UIS1. You can include it as a sub skin also.




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Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Thanks for the reply, Randy. I tried earlier to do just as you stated in your post, but did not have very good results. I'll keep trying, though since you say it can be done.
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I also made a skin for Doreen to use on her on-screen TV tuner. It's called Doreen's TV and was intended to be a per-app skin.


Wow really? I remember that one. i thought it was pretty cool.



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Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Shameless, if you poke around other compound skins you will see the settings for how it works and where the files are at. That is how I learned. DavidK skins are good for learning from. (And so are some others)





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Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
joetheblow,

Thanks for your suggestion. I do understand how compound skins work, and in fact, the blind I'm working on is already a compound skin with subskins for alternate color schemes. To clarify what I was asking, I was specifically concerned about having a UIS1 skin be a subskin of a UIS2 skin, since my results at trying it so far are a bit funky. I'll take a look at DavidK's skins, though, and see if that can get me on track.
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I've never really messed with converting UIS2 to UIS1 much, but I do know you'll have to do some tweaking after the conversion. DavidK's skins are an excellant source for learning about such things.



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Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Shameless, look at the one called Alien Technology if you're going to do that. It has UIS1 subskins with UIS2 skins. That one has 9 skins in it.

Koasati is right, you'll have to do some tweaking after converting to UIS1, especially to the border sizes to make a 3 pixel border which the convertor doesn't do right. It's best to look at it as a new skin and re-do the whole thing after the conversion.

Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Randy, thanks for the tip... )

DavidK, thanks for the suggestion to check out Alien Technology I just now downloaded it. (Would have gotten back here sooner, but yesterday was my fiancee's birthday... you know how that goes )

Thanks also for the comment about the 3-pixel border... that was one of the things making me wonder if my install of Skin Studio was corrupted, glad to know it's not just me.

Your suggestion about looking at the converted UIS1 skins as new skins has me thinking now though... How many subskins is too many? I'm doing a texture-emphasized monochrome theme, and I have 12 color variations. I had originally planned to just do one version and employ the colorizing features of WB, but this feature gave some surprisingly (to me) inconsistent results with the texture, which is gradient-based.

Anyway, if I now add UIS1 subskins, that would bring me to 24 subskins in one file! I have also been experimenting with a version with compact start-menu and thinner bars for a minimalistic feel using the same features. So now I'm wondering if I need to think about repackaging this thing into a few smaller uploads... Any suggestions?

P.S. joetheblow, I apologize for somewhat hijacking your thread, but I think this is related to your original question. I hope you don't mind.
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