WindowBlinds 7 gets a new skinning format
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 by Frogboy | Discussion: Personal Computing
It’s been several years since WindowBlinds has added a new skinning format. For those of you who are techies, WindowBlinds has UIS1 and UIS2 (User Interface Specification).
UIS2 is extremely powerful and lets users go wild with the design. 99% of skins use UIS2. The downside is that skins are very hard to do (and even harder to do nicely) and there can be compatibility issues with programs that don’t adhere to the GUI conventions of Windows.
UIS1 is a lot less powerful but faster. The borders and title bar are a fixed size and the title bar buttons can’t be moved. They’re a bit easier to make but still involve quite a bit of work. They have essentially perfect compatibility but most skinners don’t do UIS1 because they’re nearly as hard as UIS2 and and lack the power.
With WindowBlinds 7, a new skinning format gets introduced: UIS0. The idea here is to make it very very easy to make skins and the skins only apply to Aero (which means for XP users this won’t apply since there’s no Aero to apply to). Since the Aero design can’t be “touched” skinners can’t really easily hang themselves.
Don’t get me wrong, you CAN make an ugly Aero skin with UIS0.
Besides being easier to create UIS0 skins, UIS0 skins are Aero which means that any weird program that makes the assumption that Aero is running will be fine.
vs. 
The biggest goal, however is to make it a lot easier to make skins again. Terrific skins like Aero Metal and Aero Midnight (by Vstyler for Stardock Design) are designed to look just like Aero but with metal textures or be pitch black. It’s just as hard to make those skins (actually even harder since people are going to be comparing it to the default Aero) as any “original” skin.
Now, people who like the Windows Vista/Windows 7 default look but simply want to enhance it in some way can do so with a minimal of fuss. Textures, colorization, and other new WindowBlinds 7 effects can be applied to Aero just like any other skin.
The beta of this is due out this week for Object Desktop users.
Reply #2 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 7:16 PM
Well UIS0 should eliminate the last vestiges of people who poop on it for reason X, Y, Z. Look at the Aero black vs. what's in Windows by default. Now there is no longer even a theoretical downside for using WindowBlinds.
Reply #3 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 7:39 PM
pretty big step forward for WB Brad, I'll try to do my best not to let it put me out of work 
So... will one be able to upload a WB in this format to the galleries or is it just an end user tweakage dealy?
Reply #4 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:07 PM
They'll be able to upload their skins.
The skins I showed merely do the title bar, frames, and start bar. But a proper skin would still do toolbars and such.
Aero Metals: (UIS 0)
(has a dozen or so other metal styles to choose from)
Created in a few minutes.
Aero Metal (Vstyler's awesome UIS2 skin)
Considerably more effort to do.
Reply #5 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:15 PM
Hmm.. well.. surprisingly... I'm actually all for that, as it can only entice more users over to the WB side and therefore open them up to normal skins as well.
Reply #6 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:29 PM
It's great to see a new simpler way to get people making new skins and possibly enticing more people to use WindowBlinds and eventually learn to make original skins.
But I would be curious, if they are all basically going to be the Aero frames and such with a texture applied behind them and if it only takes a few minutes to put one together as you said on one above, if it would be a good idea that with the upcoming upgrade to the Wincustomize site if a seperate gallery for these type of blinds would be a good idea. That way the blinds with an original design to them and more work put into them don't get buried by them.
Just a thought.
Reply #7 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:41 PM
Wow this looks promising! Can't wait to look into this new idea.
Thanks Brad! 
Reply #9 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:49 PM
Just a thought.
Reply #10 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 8:52 PM
Okay, so with all the threads about the coming changes and options that will be available, is anyone working on some new tutorials? 
Reply #11 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:02 PM
Reply #12 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 9:16 PM
are we still able to create our own frames (mine are always a bit out of the box) im a little confused......
Reply #13 Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:27 AM
Reply #14 Thursday, October 22, 2009 7:02 AM
This really isn't taking anything away from the normal style of skinning, so you should be able to do the same and more.
Reply #16 Saturday, October 24, 2009 3:04 AM
Reply #17 Monday, October 26, 2009 12:48 PM
Nah I'll wait 'till after XmasReply #18 Monday, October 26, 2009 1:03 PM
Reply #19 Monday, October 26, 2009 1:05 PM
Doubt that, this I imagine is strictly for adding effects to Aero.
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Reply #1 Wednesday, October 21, 2009 6:44 PM
This might be my way to get back into WB skinning again.....