Living with Fences 2 Beta
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 by Frogboy | Discussion: OS Customization
I’m playing with the latest internal build of Fences 2. I can describe it in one word: WOW.
Let me show you some screenshots that will explain what I mean:
Folder Portals:
At first glance, this looks like Fences 1. But look closely… See the Videos and My Pictures? Those portals to folders. This is huge. Think of all the people you know that dump every picture and such onto their desktop. With Fences 2, people can put pictures where they belong – in their pictures folder. Then, using Fences, just create a portal fence on the desktop.
Pages:
This screen looks really busy right? Here’s the thing: It’s a Fences page. I got to it by clicking on the edge of the screen and dragging the screen to the next page. I use this page because I often have to interact and/or move stuff between these three folders. I bet I’m not the only one who gets pretty tired of having to open up folders, place them around the screen to drag and drop things between them.
Let me video this to really drive it home:
Easier to use
Fences 2 installs as a Control Panel item rather than its own proprietary UI..thing. So you can always get to it through the control panel and the UI works the same as any other control panel.
Also, for people (like me) who just want a clean desktop, Fences is still the world’s best solution for this: Double click on the desktop and your icons go away (double click to bring them back).
More powerful
The power-user features of Fences 2 are presented in a way that they’re easy for power users to make use of but don’t scare off casual users. For instance, in the above screenshot, I’ve got my pictures displayed as details while my videos are showing their items as large video items. I’m also configuring a new fence to be the place that intercepts things trying to add their junk to my desktop.
Besides the obvious addition of being able to have different sized icons on your desktop, it lets you use your desktop as it was originally intended – your portal for all your stuff. If you’ve used Windows 8, you can really appreciate how important it’s going to be to be able to use your desktop more effectively than ever and for everyone else, it lets you craft your desktop to work the way you want it to.
Fences 1 is, as some know, the world’s most popular desktop enhancement (by far). Fences 2, is more than a mere evolution of the fences concept. It’s is the realization of two decades of what the desktop can be when given the right tools. Fences is a simple program that has profound benefits.
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Reply #2 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 6:05 PM
now these are some awesome new features can't wait to try it out and see for my self first hand how everything works
Reply #3 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 6:18 PM
My favorite thing about Fences!!!! 
Reply #4 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 7:08 PM
Sry my english, is rly bad. I'd really like Fences that the program had a function to align the icons always at the center of the box Fences. Look at the Fences "Documents" for example. All icons are in the top left. It looks a bit ugly to me. Please, put a function to arrange the icons in the center. Tkx.
Reply #6 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 10:17 PM
Jafo is quasi-internal [ok... a 10,000 mile offset] so where's mine? ....
Reply #7 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 10:35 PM
This just keeps getting better ! I have like a million different skinning folders with like a gazillion different images spread through all of them, it takes me forever to track down the location of a particular image. This is going to save me soooooo much time and keep me organized. I'm so stoked about this update !! -- Ace ---
Reply #9 Friday, June 8, 2012 12:48 AM
Great additions to a great program!
Is there a thumbnail view or some other way of accessing multiple Fences "pages"? I can see sliding from screen layer to screen layer as getting cumbersome for 3 or more pages.
Reply #10 Friday, June 8, 2012 8:20 AM
Reply #13 Tuesday, July 17, 2012 1:49 PM
This is gonna be SO SWEET! 
Fences was excellent before but this goes to a whole new level! I'm drooling all over my keyboard here! 
Reply #15 Wednesday, September 5, 2012 3:29 PM
Hello,
maybe i'm stupid, but how can I create a Folder Portal?
I tried the several ways which were shown by asking the help, but I can't add a Folder Portal.
For example: The right-klick on any folder doesn't show me the point "Show this folder on the desktop"
Holding the ALT-Key don't work too.
Greetz
Marko
Reply #16 Wednesday, September 5, 2012 3:45 PM
Make sure you activate all the extra features, otherwise Folder Portals won't be available:
Reply #17 Wednesday, July 31, 2013 8:45 PM
How did you get the custom start button..? Is it the Windows Blinds product? Because I'm really thinking of purchasing it if it is.
Reply #18 Wednesday, July 31, 2013 9:07 PM
If on Win7, yes, WindowBlinds will replace your taskbar and start button. If you are using Win8, Start8 will allow you to replace the start button with one to your liking. https://www.stardock.com/products/start8/ There is even a gallery at WinCustomize to download more buttons, or upload ones you create. https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/start8
Reply #19 Wednesday, July 31, 2013 9:40 PM
Thank you for the reply! I actually just purchased Windows Blinds after of course purchasing Fences (amazing application) and am exploring the Win8 theme created by Stardock. I'm currently stumped on removing the "show desktop" button and changing the colours of the taskbar, but those are for a different sub-forum.
-Spencer
Reply #20 Wednesday, July 31, 2013 9:47 PM
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Reply #1 Wednesday, June 6, 2012 5:09 PM
Great evolution... right direction. Makes Fences more valuable than ever to every PC user.
Makes me wonder about a Tablet version.