Information AboutWindowblinds |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT WINDOWBLINDS | |
| windows-only software | |
| graphical user interface | |
| shareware | |
|
As of October 2005 there were over 3600 WindowBlinds skins available at WinCustomize , with an average of nine being added per week; another popular repository is DeviantART . SKIN FORMATS ''WindowBlinds'' skins come in two formats - "Basic" (or ''UIS1+'') and "Advanced" (or ''UIS2''): Basic (UIS1+) The ''Basic'' skin format can, despite its name, be used to create fully-featured skins, and it is still used today. The main limitation is that skin borders may only be "standard" sizes (four pixels wide for most of the side borders). This restriction was significantly relaxed when ''skin metrics'' — adjustments to using the standard Windows methods — were introduced, allowing changes to (among other things) the standard height of the titlebar. It is also only possible to put buttons on the titlebar, and scripting and titlebar background animation are not supported. The advantages of UIS1+ are performance — Stardock has claimed that a UIS1+ version of the Windows XP ''Luna'' visual style is twice as fast as the original in repaint and resizing — and compatibility. Most ''msstyles'' can be converted to a UIS1+ skin. Advanced (UIS2) The ''Advanced'' skin format is provided for when a skin design cannot fit into the above restrictions. Typically these skins may have wider borders in some places, or none at all. They may also feature titlebar background animation, or the use of scripting features. This format offers maximum flexibility at the cost of slightly reduced performance (as compared to UIS1+), and potentially more chance of incompatibility with applications. Some UIS2 skins include a UIS1+ subskin - if problems occur, this subskin may be substituted as a ''per-app skin''. HISTORY ''WindowBlinds'' started in 1998 when lead developer Neil Banfield teamed up with Stardock . Stardock was looking for a developer to create a window skinning application, and Banfield already had the beginnings of what would become ''Window Blinds'', which he began in 1997. Previous attempts by Stardock had included ''Object Look'', a minimal skinning application, and ''WindowFX'', an application written in Delphi . That name would later be reused for '' WindowFX '', also created by Banfield. For a short time there was also a scaled-back version of the original Window Blinds called ''WBLiteFX'', a name which was still present in ''WindowBlinds'' Registry Settings as of May 2006. ''WindowBlinds'' quickly made its way to a 1.0 release, driven by the requests of users to add "freeform skinning" (customizable window border shapes), sounds, and Animation . Scrollbars, the task bar, the start button, menu items, the menu itself, and other GUI elements were added later. ''WindowBlinds 2'' was a major redesign in C++ that added the following features:
At this time, ''BuilderBlinds''—re-branded as '' SkinStudio '' in February 2001—became a popular tool, as it enabled artists to create skins without spending a deal of time learning the intricacies of the UIS format. It also allowed experienced users to avoid trivial errors. ''WindowBlinds 3'' accompanied the release of Windows XP, which contained its own skinning system called ''visual styles''. It was thought that visual styles might deal a blow to commercial skinning systems. This proved not to be the case; in fact, sales of ''WindowBlinds'' rose, buoyed by a new set of users who had seen the changes offered by visual styles and wanted more. Even after modifications known as ''uxtheme hacks'' (named after the file they modified, uxtheme.dll) became available, ''WindowBlinds'' remained popular, since it had additional features that visual styles did not. However, the program still contained flaws. ''WindowBlinds 3'' had many new features, but with new features came new bugs, such as some which caused compatibility problems. Additionally, performance was suboptimal. Interim releases addressed these issues and provided for those areas of the Windows XP user interface that could not initially be skinned. By the time ''WindowBlinds 4'' arrived, there were fewer problems, due in part to an increased focus on stability for '' DirectSkin '' clients. In addition, ''SkinStudio'' now provided a method to import the Microsoft ''msstyles'' format. ''WindowBlinds'' 4.6 was released in August 2005, with the addition of mouseover "translucent glow" effects for the titlebar buttons, push buttons and other controls. ''Windowblinds'' 4.6 has now been renamed ''WindowBlinds Classic'', and is meant for non-XP Windows versions, which cannot run the new ''Windowblinds 5''. ''WindowBlinds 5'', released in November 2005, extends translucency through per pixel Alpha Blending to the entire window frame, including the borders and taskbar. Competitors ''WindowBlinds'' has had many competitors over the years. Initially, it was not clear which skinning program would be the most popular, and there was active competition between the programs from 1999 to early 2001. eFX EFX was a popular program made by Thirty4 Interactive that claimed to be the first skinning engine to offer freeform skinning. However, development stopped at eFX 0.40 when the program was sold to Akami Design in 1999. Many eFX skins were hosted at Skinz.org , a very popular skinning website which had been founded for that specific purpose. Illumination '' Illumination '' was written in Delphi , initially released on 1 November 1998 and open-sourced under the GPL in March 1999. It was notable for supporting early KDE themes. The most recent release was in January 2001. Chroma '' Chroma '' was a technically sophisticated skinning program by ''Thematic Software''. First released 15 May 1999, it quickly proved to be flexible; later versions used a skin definition language called '' Chromumll ''. However, it was perceived as difficult to use, resulting in a low number of skins. The last release was in August 2000, possibly due to a server crash in September, or perhaps in fear of competition from the impending release of Windows XP. CustomEyes and ShellWM '' CustomEyes '', first released in December 1999, was a skinning program that progressed slowly, only reaching a 0.3 beta. It was effectively abandoned in late 2000 but open-sourced in October 2001. This led to the foundation of a project called '' ShellWM '' in 2002, which was intended to be the window-skinning sidekick to a variety of Shell replacements. It was therefore restricted to titlebar skinning, although skinned menu backgrounds have also been shown in screenshots. In late 2004, ''ShellWM'' was itself forked into ''BB4WinSkin'' after a period of inactivity. As the fork had not been previously discussed, this resulted in a further loss of interest on the part of the main developer. msstyles and StyleXP With the release of Windows XP, a new option for skinning was made available: ''msstyles'', the format used by the XP skinning engine. These were not intended to be usable by end-users—themes were checked for a Digital Signature to prevent unsigned ''msstyles'' from being loaded at all, though this protection was broken before release. Initially, only patched DLLs were available, but eventually a company called TGT Soft created a product called ''StyleXP'' to perform the patching. Early versions simply applied the patch; later versions employed a System Service to do the same. Skin design The popularity of various designs has changed along with the skinning community. Initially, remakes (or ''ports'') of older Operating System s like BeOS and AmigaOS were very popular. Users then began to explore the potential of such features as freeform skinning, titlebar animation, and scripting, resulting in a number of unique skins. When Mac OS X was announced, its Aqua visual style was the subject of numerous ports, some of a high quality. This was displeasing to Apple, as it did not like the misappropriation of its Brand , and several skins were taken down at the company's request. Similarly, the run-up to the release of Windows XP resulted in many Luna skins, although these did not attract the same sort of legal attention. Skins with ''XP'' in the title were very popular that year. The rise of ''msstyles'' skinning has led to an increase in the number of skins with styles described as "clean" and "smooth", particularly those imitating the above operating system themes. This is partly due to the constraints of the ''msstyle'' platform, which place strict limitations on the width of borders and number and position of buttons. Some ''msstyle'' skin designers have moved to ''WindowBlinds'', and others have permitted ports of their skins, leading to a similar change in ''WindowBlinds'' skin design. Skins incorporating transparency effects similar to that of Windows Vista became popular during the second half of 2005. REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|