SkinStudio 6 Tutorial: Table of Contents

Thursday, September 4, 2008 by Island Dog | Discussion: OS Customization

The SkinStudio 6 tutorial has many sections, most with plenty of screenshots to help show the process of creating your own  WindowBlinds skin.  We tried our best to create a thorough Table of Contents which will make it easy for you to find the specific section you might want to reference.  Obviously, I would recommend reading through the whole tutorial first, especially if you are setting out to create your first skin.

I posted the links below, for reference, but you can find the full TOC here.

1.  An Introduction to SkinStudio

What are Skins?
What is WindowBlinds?
What is SkinStudio?
The Elements of a Graphical User Interface

2.  A Brief Overview of SkinStudio

Choosing What Kind of Skin to Make
The SkinStudio Categories

3.  Skinning the Start Bar

The Elements of the Start Bar
The Elements of Start Menu
Making a New Start Button
Importing the Image into SkinStudio

4.  Creating Images for the Start Bar

Horizontal Taskbar
System Tray
Taskbar Group Menu
Vertical Taskbar

5.  Making a new Start Menu

Creating a Start Menu
Start Menu Logoff Images
Start Menu Popup Windows

6.  Saving Your Creation

Saving Your Work

7.  Changing the TitleBars and Borders

The Elements of the Title Bar and Windows Borders
Understanding per-pixel frames vs. UIS1 vs. UIS2
Making a New Title Bar

8.  Making Title Bar Buttons

Creating and Importing Buttons
UIS1 and UIS2 TitleBars/Buttons
Minimized and ToolWindows Window
Creating Borders

9.  Skinning Windows Buttons and Other Controls

Buttons and Controls
Combobox Controls
HeaderBar Controls
Menus and Menu Bars
ProgressBar Controls
Scrollbars
Spin Controls
Statusbar Controls
Tab Controls
Toolbar Controls
Trackbar Controls
Treeview +/- Controls

10.  Windows XP Specific Elements

Windows XP Shell
Logoff and Shutdown Screens
Toolbar Icons in Explorer and Internet Explorer 6
Control Panel Shell Styles
Shell Style Icons and Pictures
XP File Animations

11.  Vista Specific Elements

Vista Specific Elements
Explorer/IE Shell Parts
Internet Explorer 7
Task Dialog Controls
Vista Explorer Parts
Additional Vista Parts

12.  Fonts and Coloring

Changing Skin Fonts
Changing Skin Colors

13.  Tips and Tricks

Creating and Managing Sub-Styles
Backgrounds
Re-Coloring Skins
Theme Part Details
Start Menu Animation Builder
Animation Compression
Misc. Tips & Tricks

14.  Conclusion and Resources

Conclusion
Stardock Resources

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