![]() ![]() And so the skin represents what you consider to be a priority. Ultimately, as a skin author, you are probably making the skin for your own enjoyment. Odds are they used a UIS2 skin and had some problem. Sometimes users on the Internet will criticize WindowBlinds saying it's "buggy" or "slow". But that's not because UIS2 is better, it simply reflects the priorities that most people who customize their system. Most (nearly all) skins are made with UIS2. Slower than UIS1 since it has to handle much more complex regionsĬompatibility issues with programs that don't follow GUI coding guidelines. Windows aren't actually the size they think they are (because borders can all be independently sized, this sometimes creates "strange" behavior where the Windows thinks the window is 20 pixels higher than it is). Skin authors must specify the height of their title bar More straight forward to skin (since there's no limitations on sizes and positions of things) Window size/position is same as a standard windowĮach side of a window can be its own size and shapeīuttons can be placed on any side of a window (even the bottom) Works with virtually every program (almost nothing needs to be excluded) ![]() Very very fast (twice as fast as Microsoft's own Windows XP visual style on a similar skin) Why two skin languages? Because each has their own strengths and weaknesses that you as a skin author will have to weigh. The second one is called "Professional" which we'll call UIS2. The first one is called "Standard" (also known as "Extended Visual Styles) but we'll refer to by its techie name, UIS1 for this document. The program that most people use to skin Windows is called WindowBlinds and it supports two INI based languages. There are 3 buttons, the text is aligned from the left, it is indented by 20 pixels from the left. The image is unique 10 pixels from the left and from the right. The job of an INI based skin language is to make it as straight forward as possible (at the expense of elegance) as to how a skin works. By contrast, a Chromium one might look like: What I have shown above doesn't actually exist in the skinning programs, it's just an example of what one might look like. Here's an example of an INI based skin part: INI based skins means that each part is put into distinct sections. INI based skins and Programming based skins It also hasn't been certified to work on Windows XP. Chroma uses a skin langauge called Chromium. Each has their pros and cons which we won't get into here. Those programs are eFX, Illumination, Chroma, and WindowBlinds. Historically there have been several programs that can skin Windows to varying degrees. The first decision after deciding that you want to make Windows look different than how it comes out of the box is deciding how you want to go about it. Guide to Skinning Windows with WindowBlinds ![]()
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