WindowBlinds 8 Walkthrough: Changing and Applying Skins
Friday, July 19, 2013 by Island Dog | Discussion: Personal Computing
In my previous article we went over the new user interface in WindowBlinds 8. If you are new to WindowBlinds or just want a refresher, then give that a quick read here. This time I wanted to show users how to find, change, and apply skins in WindowBlinds.
Purchase WindowBlinds 8 for just $9.99
Getting New Skins
WindowBlinds includes quite a few skins to get your started, but there are thousands available for download on WinCustomize.com. There are skins with a minimal look and skins with wild graphics, and just about everything in between. Regardless of your style, I’m sure you will find something that you will enjoy having on your desktop.
WindowBlinds skins come in a .wba format, and sometimes those will be packed in a .zip file that will need to be extracted. When you double-click a .wba file, it should automatically install to WindowBlinds and be added to your skin list. There’s also an option to manually install a skin by clicking through the menu as seen in the screenshot below.
TIP! If you don’t see an installed skin, select ‘Rebuild skin list’ from the WindowBlinds menu.
Viewing and Selecting Skins
The left side of the WindowBlinds window is where you can browse and view all your installed skins. Hovering your mouse pointer over each skin will reveal the name of the skin and selecting one will bring up more options on the right. You will also see a preview of the skin there as well.
TIP! There’s an option available to keep the skin names visible if you prefer.
Right now you could just press the ‘Apply Style’ button and apply the skin, and you will be all set.
Substyles, Coloring, and More
As I mentioned before, when you select a skin you will get some additional skin options on the right side of the WindowBlinds window. One of those will be a drop-down menu for substyles. Substyles are variations of the selected skin. Some skin artists will make different substyles specific to Windows 7 or Windows 8, and some will make light or dark versions of a skin. If there are substyles available to can select which to use here, and remember, you will have to apply the skin again to show it.
There are also options available to recolor skins, add textures, and to change the Explorer backgrounds. We will cover these features in another article.
Reply #4 Friday, December 13, 2013 6:33 PM
MY WINDOWBLINDS WON'T WORK ON MY WINDOWS 8.1 PROGRAM! MAYBE YOU CAN HELP ME FIGURE OUT WHY! I SURE HOPE SO BECAUSE I MISS HAVING IT BE ABLE TO WORK. IT WOULDN'T WORK ON MY OLD COMPUTER WITH WINDOWS 7 EITHER. I REALLY LIKE WINDOWBLINDS A LOT! IT WORKED FOR ME ON WINDOWS XP. HOPE YOU CAN HELP ME. SUSAN THOMAN
Reply #5 Friday, December 13, 2013 6:41 PM
You can start by using capital letters correctly. It isn't polite to type in all caps on the internet.
- Edit - Or in RL for that matter, just get used to not doing it ever.
After that, you can perhaps try to explain a little better what is happening. Just saying "It doesn't work." doesn't help very much.
Are there any error messages? If so, what is the exact text?
If there are no error messages, try going step by step through exactly what you are clicking in order to try to make this stuff work.
Reply #6 Friday, December 13, 2013 7:59 PM
If you haven't updated WindowBlinds since you used it on xp you must do that. A version that old will not work on win 7 or 8
Reply #7 Tuesday, December 17, 2013 4:25 PM
hi, raiddinn, i am sorry i use large letters but i have vision problems and see much better in caps. i am 65 and the eyes are as young as they used to be. try and understand my problem and not be so rude! i am on a brand new computer hp amd a 8 and there are no old windowblinds programs on it. in fact i have all new stardock products on this new computer. i go into windowsblinds 8. i select the windowblinds i want. the box comes up saying it is being applied. then nothing happens period! no windowblind installed! no messages no error messages nothingi hope this is sufficient information for you now. susan
Reply #8 Tuesday, December 17, 2013 4:36 PM
Community members will try and help you but for official tech support from Stardock you should email support@stardock.com and start a trouble ticket. They will be able to sort out what is causing this issue for you.
You will receive an automated ticket number which you can post here in a comment.
In order to keep your position in the support queue, please do not send another email until you hear from a support tech.
Note: When requesting help it is better to start your own post in a relevant support forum section rather than post on a non-support post.
Reply #9 Wednesday, December 18, 2013 8:44 AM
hi, raiddinn, i am sorry i use large letters but i have vision problems and see much better in caps. i am 65 and the eyes are as young as they used to be. try and understand my problem and not be so rude! i am on a brand new computer hp amd a 8 and there are no old windowblinds programs on it. in fact i have all new stardock products on this new computer. i go into windowsblinds 8. i select the windowblinds i want. the box comes up saying it is being applied. then nothing happens period! no windowblind installed! no messages no error messages nothingi hope this is sufficient information for you now. susan
I created a support ticket for you. It will arrive in your email shortly. Please respond to it with the requested info and from there we can work with you on the issue.
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Reply #1 Monday, July 29, 2013 1:14 PM