Ah yes, the first day of December and what a perfect day to highlight some of the "greats" in skinning this week.  As usual this is a weekly feature here on Wincustomize that highlights some of the skins that have caught my eyes, and some of your eyes this week. 

Enough of the small talk, lets get to it!

Christmas Snow Globe Countdown in DesktopX
by RomanDA

This came in just as I sat down to write this weeks article, and without a doubt it caught my eye.  This is the perfect compliment to your holiday desktops especially the Christmas Time WB by mormegil.  RomanDA created this with DesktopX but exported it as a Gadget, so you don't even need DesktopX to use this Gadget.

Download

VXP_Logon for Logons
by neophil78

The VXP Windowblind is one I have featured before, and neophil78 has delivered a logon to match.  Be sure to visit his gallery on Wincustomize for more great works.

Download

X-2 Docks for ObjectDock
by messiah1

I always look forward to seeing some new dock backgrounds created by messiah1, and he comes through again.  If you are looking for some dock backgrounds you can find a great collection at his personal gallery on Wincustomize.

Download

Edisso Rainy for Rainlendar
by lovely62

Edisso was a popular Windowblinds skin at the GUI Championships this year, and lovely62 made a great skin for Rainlendar to go with it.

Download

Christmas Eve no text in Wallpapers
by clwoods

I didn't want to feature too many Christmas skins because of an upcoming article, but this wallpaper has been very popular the last couple of days, so I couldn't let it go.  Once again clwoods has created a beautiful wallpaper for the holiday season.  Visit her gallery for more great works.

Download

A little short this week because I am preparing a Holiday Skin Guide that hopefully I will have up in the next couple of days.  So in the mean time if you see any holiday related skins that you would like to see included, please e-mail me at sscott [at] stardock.com.

As always, thanks to all the artists for their submissions and hard work.  Be sure to stop by their galleries and check out the other great works they have created, and be sure to leave comments letting them know what you think of their work.

If you have nothing to do, or are just bored out of your mind, then here's a solution.  Read the Windows Vista Product guide and learn everything you ever wanted to know about Vista.

The product guide is available as a Microsoft Office Word 2007 document (65MB) or XPS (25MB). In order to view the XPS doument, you will need to install the reader (included in Windows Vista).

Another week, another feature of some skins that might have been overlooked, so I'm here to show you a few that you shouldn't miss.  It was kind of a slow week because of the holidays, but there is still a few things I wanted to feature this week.

Sliced for CursorXP
by Artur Berk

This cursor flew under my radar earlier this week, and was brought to my attention by a couple of people.  This metallic-like
cursor has some great animations that you have to see for yourself.  This is a great set and I hope Artur will make some
color packs for it.

Download

Clearly (search) for DesktopX
by Richard Mohler

One of the reasons I have always like Richards "Clear" series is that they go great with so many themes, and also goes perfect with a minimalist desktop.  Be sure to visit his gallery on Wincustomize to see the rest of the Clear series.

Download

First Noel Christmas Tree for DesktopX
by clwoods

I have said it before, I'm very exited about what skinners are going to come up with for the holiday season.  I was pleased to see clwoods submit this beautiful Christmas tree that plays "The First Noel".  Be sure to visit her gallery at Wincustomize and at Skinnalicious for more great works.

Download

Google Earth for ObjectDock Icons
by Havell

Google Earth is very popular, so Havell has submitted a fantastic icon for your ObjectDock setup.  Havell has a gallery full of icons and the list keeps growing.  Also, congratulations to Havell on his promotion to Apprentice!  Well deserved!

Download

Holiday Chrome Reindeer in Wallpapers
by William-Quist

Well the holiday wallpapers are coming in, and seems to be too many to feature.  However, this one has a unique take to it, and I think many of you will like it. 

Download

As usual, if you see any skin you think should be featured drop me an e-mail with the link and tell me why you think it should be featured.

Well another week has passed and a busy week it has been.  Despite all the big news this week I still wanted to drop by and give you an update of some skins that caught my eye this week. 

If there is any skin you would like to see featured here, feel free to e-mail me the link and let me know why you think it should be included in this weekly roundup.

 

Winter Clear for Logons
by Boss0190

Boss 0190 has a fine collection of logons and wallpapers in his gallery on Wincustomize.com.  Winter Clear is a very nice, clean logon that will
soon make its way to my computer. 

Download

Frois-01 for ObjectDock backgrounds
by messiah1

Messiah1 has produced a great pack of backgrounds for use with ObjectDock.  The docks are made to go with the Frois-01 Windowblind skin
found in the GUI Championships. 

Download

VXP2 Tabs & Side Docks for ObjectDock backgrounds
by WebGizmos

There are some great dock backgrounds out this week.  This is for the VXP Windowblind skin that was in last weeks article.  These docks are a perfect compliment to that skin.

Download

Country Cottage LT for RightClick
by Fairry~

Rightclick has always been one of my favorite programs, and I'm happy to see more skins being developed for it.  Fairry~ made this to match the Windowblind skin "Country Cottage".

Download

Deck the Halls for Windowblinds
by jazzymir

It's not a secret here that Christmas is my favorite time of year, so I'm always happy to see some seasonal skins coming in.  A very beautiful skin that I'm sure will be the focus of many desktops this coming holiday season. 

Download

As always, be sure to click the artists name and visit their personal gallery here on Wincustomize.  I want to thank all the artists for another week of great submissions. 

Don't forget to send any skins you think should be included in future articles, and since next week is Thanksgiving, try to find some Thanksgiving inspired skins!

Vista Preview

In 1999, software developer Stardock released a program called WindowBlinds 1.0. It allowed users of Windows 95, 98, and NT to "skin" the way Windows looked and behaved. It not only could make Windows look better, it could make it more functional by adding more buttons and controls to the Windows GUI.

The screenshots below may cause pain. But back in 1999, it was this or the default Windows look.

In 2001, Microsoft released Windows XP which had "Luna".

Microsoft applied the "Luna" skin using a built in engine called uxtheme. Some users figured out how to crack the digital signing protection in uxtheme to allow for other skins to be applied (some companies actually charge money for this).

Stardock followed up with a new version of WindowBlinds (version 4.0 by this point) which continued to add new things that it could skin.

WindowBlinds 4.0 had significant advantages in features over the built in skinning system in Windows XP such as the ability to skin non-theme aware applications (most programs even now aren't fully theme aware so you get a mish-mash of "classic" and Luna in them) and WindowBlinds could add more controls to the UI, have irregularly borders, independently sized frames and title bars, animation, etc. 

But the downside was that all those goodies came with a price in performance.  While WindowBlinds was the same speed as the Windows XP engine while running the same skin, most WindowBlinds skins tended to skin more things. WindowBlinds 4 and the XP engine were, from an architectural point of view, nearly identical.

That changed with WindowBlinds 5.

WindowBlinds 5 - faster faster faster

WindowBlinds 5 was a major departure in that it was the first version to truly make use of hardware acceleration. WindowBlinds 4 and the XP skinning system both did everything in software using GDI calls.  WindowBlinds 5 made use of DirectX to begin leveraging the performance of 3D cards which in turn allowed WindowBlinds skins to run faster than classic could in many cases (let alone Luna).

Moreover, this 3D acceleration allowed WindowBlinds 5 to have alpha blended borders -- glass.

But now there is a whole new Microsoft OS with a whole new system. And the new look on Vista (the default look) is VERY good -- Aero.

Version 5.5 of WindowBlinds has been designed to enable Windows Vista to become skinnable.  This is no easy task for a number of reasons. The biggest reason has to do with the new Desktop Window Manager (DWM).  While technically WindowBlinds could have hacked its way to work on Vista, it was important that WindowBlinds work natively on Vista and that means using the new 3D composited desktop. By using the DWM you get hardware acceleration and a ton of other possible effects. 

The second challenge was making visual styles (skins) made for Windows XP work on Windows Vista without parts missing.  So Stardock developed "Smart Skinning" in which graphical elements in XP skins are translated to take care of new parts in Windows Vista.

The new configuration window

The new configuration dialog has been designed to be easier to use and adhere to the new Windows Vista UI guidelines. 

Performance

WindowBlinds 5.5 should run as fast or faster than the default "Aero" skin thanks to using some of the caching features of the DWM that Aero currently doesn't use. This should be particularly noticeable when moving windows around.  Aero is already plenty fast and at this point, where everything is accelerated, performance is no longer really a factor in skinning. But it is worth noting that the days of "slowing your system to a crawl" that was so common in the earliest days of skinning should be long gone at this point.

Compatibility

Compatibility is still being worked on in this beta. This has mostly to do with the sheer number of different skins that have to be tested.  WindowBlinds supports 3 different skin formats with thousands of different skins.  And many new applications, like the new Office, do some pretty..unusual things (if there ever was a program not designed to be skinned it would be the new Office apps but as you can see in the screenshot, we're doing it). 

Since this is being ready more so by technical users than most things we release, let's be specific: Compatibility has to do with the skins. For example, what if a given skin's title bar is really thin. How will it be handled by the new Office which assumes title bars of a certain height?  What if they made their start menu in such a way that it gets in the way of the new search field or the new buttons Microsoft added?While most experienced users would simply choose a different skin, we feel it important to make sure that skins, even ones made years ago, function properly on Vista or at least don't cause any problems.

A new life for visual styles

Thousands of WindowBlinds visual styles exist and work on Windows Vista.  However, thousands of msstyles were made too. They won't work on Windows Vista. The good news is that they can work vai WindowBlinds after being converted by SkinStudio (a free download). Once SkinStudio has been installed and associated with .msstyles, users can double click on one and convert it over.

Windows Vista includes Aero, a bold new look.  But for users feeling a little retro, they can still make Vista resemble great designs of the past.  OS/2, MacOS, Msstyles, and of course the Windows XP look itself.

Question: Will WindowBlinds 5.5 support the new blur effects?

Answer: The goal of WindowBlinds 5.5 is primarily to get skinning working on Windows Vista and support existing XP skins.  It is adding new features to the skinning format to support Windows Vista elements. Subsequent versions will begin to add support for different kinds of 3D effects such as blurring that skinners can make use of. 

Question: What versions of Windows Vista will WindowBlinds work on?

Answer: All of them. Even ones that don't include Aero. As long as your video card supports the DWM (any reasonably decent video card) you'll be able to get the full power of WindowBlinds 5.5.

Question: Will WindowBlinds 5.5 support Windows XP?

Answer: Yes. Stardock will be continuing to make new versions of WindowBlinds for XP users for a very long time.

Question: I've tried WindowBlinds and I don't like the visual styles for it. Are you going to make better skins?

Answer: We don't make the skins. We make the software. At least, historically. That is changing though. Recently we launched a new group called Stardock Design whose job is to create phenomenal looking skin suites.  There are thousands of different WindowBlinds skins out there plus there are thousands of msstyles out there that can be used with WindowBlinds. Just look for ones that suit your tastes.

Right now, the only way to get WindowBlinds on Windows Vista is to have Stardock Object Desktop.  You can get that at www.objectdesktop.com. Object Desktop includes over a dozen different programs that improve the user experience of Windows.  In January, Stardock expects to make WindowBlinds 5.5 available as a stand-alone download.  Current owners of WindowBlinds 5 can upgrade to Object Desktop here.

Get it now at...

Website: www.objectdock.com

ObjectDock is a program that enables users to organize their programs and running tasks into a dock. ObjectDock enables users to have more control over how they organize their desktop. Rather than have a bunch of icons on the desktop, these icons can be put into docks. ObjectDock can also be used to replace the Windows Start bar entirely freeing up valuable screen real-estate.

ObjectDock comes in two forms:

1. ObjectDock Freeware, which is a free download for all users.
2. ObjectDock Plus, which adds additional features such as tabbed docks, system tray support, taskbar grouping, multiple dock support, multiplemonitor support, fly-out menus and more. ObjectDock Plus is $19.95.

ObjectDock Freeware

ObjectDock Plus adds tabbed dock support too

Users can download ObjectDock at http://www.objectdock.com.

ObjectDock 1.5: What's new

A ton of new features have been added to ObjectDock 1.5. This includes:

• Windows Vista support
• Vista-like searching in the image browser
• Users can reserve the edge of the screen for ObjectDock
• BRAND NEW zooming algorithm that is faster and smoother than before!
• Smarter resizing of docks
• .DockZip support
• All kinds of new window dragging features
• Users can now drag and drop data onto programs in a dock
• Tabbed docks will now auto-rotate when you drag them to a different edge of the screen!
• Smarter acquisition of images from short cuts (shortcuts won't have ugly icons anymore)
• Auto-hidden docks show themselves for a specified time when they're loaded in order for users not to forget they exist
• The config dialog for applications (taskbar items) now allow you to drop an image file onto them to set their image, like the rest of the config dialogs in the program.
• Always on bottom docks will now come to the front when click-activated.
• Always on bottom docks will now no longer steal focus from the foreground application unless clicked on.
• Fixed issue where if user put a registry path (e.g. ".html") as a shortcut link the link wouldn't work properly when some browsers e.g. firefox were set as the default.
•  Fixed issue where separators on tabbed docks could not be dragged (and thus moved or removed)
• Fixed major issue involving dragging existing items, in which animations would begin to heavily lag and ObjectDock would become temporarily unresponsive on drag and drop operations that are not completely quickly.
• Fixed issue with the top 64 pixels of fully-zoomed icons not being clickable when zoomed to a full 192 pixels.
• Fixed issue with Always-On-Bottom zooming docks, where the dock would flicker some when moving to the front and back again.
• The Calendar docklet for ObjectDock has a grey outline around it (as if the bounding box of the docklet were not transparentized)
• Fixed issue where some rare tray icons who have active popups as their main window, would become inaccessible when you open them via the tray.
• Fixed issue with always on bottom docks where configuring some items would be a challenge as the dialogs would keep going into the background once the mouse left the dock. Instead, the dock is not allowed to move to the back when config dialogs are open.
• Fixed issue with the background-skinning of zooming docks attached to the left or right side of the screen. The caps on the top and bottom would not always be the proper size.
• Fixed issue where if there were no items on a zooming dock, its background would have a strange behavior and not display properly
• Fixed dock issue where if it were set to be always-on-bottom, when you did a drag-and-drop it would snap back to the background on release.
• Fixed issue of authiding zooming docks not immediately re-hiding after you configure them and close the config dialog.
• Fixed issue where systray would exhibit a "shift right" graphical glitch when a program is exited that existed in the tray.
• Fixed rock/swing/glow alternate mouseover effects not working properly when no background is in use by the dock
• Fixed issue where if you were using a tile background and using a rock/swing/glow effect, the tiles could sometimes quickly disappear during a mouse-over
• Modified some option text for hopefully improved clarity

Full list can be found here.

ObjectDock Features: Standard Dock

ObjectDock has two types of docks. The standard dock is essentially a single "tray" or "wharf" that can hold short-cuts, running tasks, docklets, and system tray items.  The other type of dock, the "Plus" type, is the tabbed dock. The following section discusses the standard dock.

Highly flexible visual appearance

At a basic level, ObjectDock is simply a container for desktop items. It's been designed to be as flexible as possible to enable users to easily drag and drop their programs and documents onto it. It is also very flexible in enabling users customize the way it looks and feels.

ObjectDock supports more than just programs and running tasks, it also supports "docklets". These are mini-applications that reside on the dock and are created by third parties. There are docklets for telling you the weather, your email status, network traffic, CPU usage, memory usage, clock, Wi-Fi connection strength, calendar, and much more.  Docklets let users add useful information to their docks.

Docks can be vertical (such as in this screenshot) or horizontal, on the top or bottom of the screen. They can be aligned to the middle of the screen or to the left or right. Version 1.3 also adds the ability to have the dock offset from the edge of the screen (both free and Plus versions). The background (skin) of the dock can easily be changed with hundreds of additional skins available on-line to make your dock appear as anything you'd like it to be.

Mouse-Over Zoom effects

Another popular feature of ObjectDock is the ability to have the icons grow on mouse-over.  When the mouse is moved over a given icon on the dock, it starts to grow.

This effect can be a "narrow" effect or a "wide" effect to determine how many near-by icons are affected by the mouse over.

Easy replacement of icon images

A minor but key feature of ObjectDock is its ability to allow you to change the icons of items on the dock. Since many icons don't look good when enlarged, ObjectDock enables users to replace those icons with either other icon files or .PNG files. The popular customization site, WinCustomize.com, includes thousands of replacement icons for virtually every program out there.

Optional Start Bar replacement

ObjectDock can hide the Windows Start bar if the user chooses and take over all of its functionality. (ObjectDock Plus supports taskbar grouping and system tray items as well.)

ObjectDock Plus feature: System tray (see on the right of the dock). Hold down the mouse button on a system tray item for a few seconds to change the appearance of its icon.

ObjectDock Features: ObjectDock Plus

ObjectDock Plus includes all of the features of the free dock, but adds other features including the ability to have customizable tabs on your dock, which allows for even greater organization and control over your desktop.

Two customized docks

Different docks can be organized in different ways, and tabbed docks can be docked to an edge of the screen to display just the tabbed dock. When the tabs are docked to the edge you can choose to have them show up on top or activate with a hotspot. What can't be shown in a mere screenshot is just how good the usability of ObjectDock is. Drag a dock to the edge and it'll automatically dock. Move it off and it'll undock. It works intuitively and easily.

When used properly, tabbed docks can enable users to organize their desktops in truly remarkable ways.

Because the tabs can be made any size the user wants, the user could have color coded tabs that have no text. Or they could simply have hot spots that activate various docks on mouse-over.  The hot spots are intelligent enough that the user can set how long the mouse must linger on that hotspot before activating the dock. This is a major usability feature that ObjectDock Plus has going for it.

The tabbed docks are incredibly powerful when combined with the ability to have multiple docks on the desktop.

Free vs. Plus

Feature	ObjectDock Freeware	ObjectDock Plus
Standard Dock
Docklet Support
Taskbar Support
Skinning Support
Mouse-Over Zoom effect
Notification Animations
Minimized Programs displayed as thumbnail
Image short-cuts displayed as a thumbnail
Custom Graphics Engine
GDI+ Graphics Engine
Replace icons with other images
Can hide Windows Start Bar
Start menu support
Multiple Docks
Task grouping
System Tray Support
Tabbed Docks
Multiple Monitor Support
Fly-Out Menus
Tabs docked to screen edges
Control of Tab Sizes
Hot-Spot activation
Multi-Dock Manager
Cost	Free	$19.95

Screenshots

Flip3D is one of the coolest new visual features in Windows Vista.  To use it, hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and hit tab. At this point, the desktop will re-organize your running tasks into an easy to visualize system of displaying your running tasks and windows.

Flip3D also helps demonstrate the new Desktop Windows Manager (DWM) which is essentially a 3D compositor that turns the Windows Vista desktop into a 3D surface. Because of this, many expect future Vista-specific applications will be able to display data and content in truly innovative ways.

Software developer, Stardock Corporation, is arguably the world's leading developer of Windows enhancement software. It has already begun to prepare to release a series of software products that leverage the power of the VDM in many interesting ways.

Stay tuned!

One of the things I do on a daily basis is check out all the new skins people submit to Wincustomize.  I also check out countless other desktop customization sites and I am going to post some of the skins that have caught my eye in the past week or so.

Be sure to click the artist name and check out other creations they have submitted.

 

LightHelix (CP) for CursorXP
by Artur Berk

I'm still amazed at some of the just plain cool cursors that come from the galleries sometimes.  Now you can browse the CursorXP
library at Wincustomize and find things like Guitars, Lightsabers, and everything in between.  However, something
always catches my eye and this is it.

There are 3 different neon colors in this set, and the animation is smooth and easy to work with.

Download

Fett in DX Themes
by mcackerson

It's Fett.  It's Star Wars themed, do I really need to say anymore?  Well probably not, but this is a great theme that is based on the great Windowblinds skin by MikeB314.

Download

iTunes 7 in ObjectDock Icons
by Havell

I'm not a big fan of the icon that comes with iTunes, so I was glad to see Havell step up and create one.  Havell has a very impressive gallery of icons, so be sure to stop by his site and check out all his work.

Download

MP3 Player Icons
by deleket

While we are on the subject of music I found this great set of some of the popular music players available.  The design is very well done, and he has some other packs in the same style.  Head over and check out his page for the others sets. 

Download

Coastal Living in Wallpapers
by Kenwas

A beautiful render done in Vue 6 Infinite.  Kenwas has many wallpaper submissions that are just as great as this
one in his gallery at Wincustomize.

Download

VXP for Windowblinds
by vStyler

VXP is a great, minimalist skin that is easy on the eyes, and very usable for everyday use.  Great job on this and I'm looking
forward to more submissions from you in the future.  Be sure to stop by the GUI Champs to see his other skin, Vectra RC2.

Download

Well that's it for this week.  Please add any skins that you caught your eye this week, and don't forget to let me know what you think of these picks.  I thank all the artists for their hard work, and can't wait to see more contributions from them all.

I recently spent the entire weekend building myself a new home office.  I previously had a small, cheap computer desk from one of the big office supply chains, and it just wasn't efficient for doing actual work.  So I went and bought a nice new glass/metal desk, a few accessories, and went to work.  I spent several hours carefully bundling and running wires, and making them nice and neat with wire ties.  I think I actually did a pretty good job of concealing most of the wires, and making any visible ones appear organized.

Now in the next 2 or 3 weeks I need to purchase another computer and monitor.  Space is a big problem because well.....I don't have that much left.  So that also brings me to the next decision of what type of computer I have buy.  That's a whole other article in itself, so I won't get much into that.  However, I still have to plan ahead before I buy.  Another computer means another box, another monitor, another keyboard, and another mouse.  Or does it?

The last thing I want is more clutter and mess, so I found a solution that will fix some of that problem.  I can use Stardocks Multiplicity, and can eliminate the need for another keyboard and mouse on my desk.  I will be able to work with my primary and secondary computers as though they are one unit.  I have been using this with a laptop until I get my new computer, and I have found it to be an invaluable asset to my desktop.  Some of the benefits of running Multiplicity on my desktop are:

• Having dual monitors on my desktop, but each will have it's own dedicated PC without the need for another keyboard/mouse combo.
   
• Clipboard sharing between my computers, and Multiplicity Pro can copy files and directories from one machine to another.
   
• It now supports Windows Vista, so I can have my new machine running Vista and my current one running XP.
   
• The OS X client for Multiplicity is being developed, so I will be able to control my Macs also.
   
• I can play a game on one system, and work with Office or Photoshop on the other, while chatting on IRC on another.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone who uses multiple computers, and for anyone looking to save a little space in your work area. You can view a comparison chart and download a trial version to try for yourself at the link below.