Any local Michigan folks looking for a Web Designer job should check this out.

https://www.stardock.com/about/jobs.asp#jr_web_designer

In this role you will work alongside other interactive designers and developers to produce work on usability and user centered projects. Projects include web pages, interactive kiosks, html emails, facebook pages, online banners and some print materials.

Responsibilities:

• Execute designs based on established look and feel and brand guidelines
• Work with lead designer
• Consistently bring new ideas to your designs
• Proactively participate in brainstorming sessions

Qualifications:

• 1-2 years design experience
• Proficiency with the Adobe Creative Suite: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Dreamweaver & Flash
• Professional experience with HTML and CSS is a must
• Ability to multi-task and balance multiple projects
• Graduate with BA or BFA
• Great attitude a must, as well as flexibility

A plus if you have the following:

• Experience in a creative or agency environment
• JavaScript, XML, and/or PHP
• Knowledge of Offset Printing processes

Interested and qualified candidates apply now!

If you're enthusiastic about the position and would like to tell us about it, please send Resume, pdf samples of work/or website address and salary requirements to klane@stardock.com, with "Jr. Web Designer" in the subject line.

This is one of my favorite features of WindowFX, although there are many cool features which are equally as cool. Many people think WindowFX is only about animating windows and the start menu on your Windows PC desktop. Sure, that’s a big part of it but there’s other things that are especially useful as well. Let's look at what you can do using your middle mouse button.

You can set WindowFX to enable a flip feature where when you press the middle mouse button the window will “flip” and show you process information, allow you to open the containing folder, etc.

Get WindowFX here.

Tiles is one of the newest apps from Stardock that lets you take control of windows and running applications on your Windows desktop.  Tiles places a customizable sidebar on the edge of your screen where you can view and interact with applications running.  There are a bunch of options and configurations for Tiles that lets it work the way you want it to, making organization easy to do.

One of the ways I personally use Tiles is to use it a “virtual” desktop.  I have several pages configured for common applications I use daily.  For instance, I have a page for Office documents, one for web browsers, and another for e-mail clients.  Usually with several applications running at the same time for each page, this can easily create a very crowded desktop.  With Tiles though, I configure it to minimize and restore windows when pages are switched.  When I switch to my Office page, all the windows in the Office page restore to the desktop.  Switch to another page and those minimize and bring up the windows on the other page. 

Here’s a quick video to show an example.

Another favorite use is just using it to switch applications.  The Windows task bar isn’t bad, but unless you hover your mouse over an icon, you are limited to just seeing the icon representing an open window.  Tiles gives you a live preview of the open window which is especially good when you have multiple windows open from the same application.  Of course, you can customize Tiles to show icons, captions, etc. to give as much (or as little) information as you want.

These are just a couple of examples of how you can use Tiles to help manage your desktop.  Tiles has a bunch of configuration options that lets you adjust Tiles to your workflow.

Get Tiles - https://www.stardock.com/products/tiles/

Happy Friday everyone!  This was a great week as we saw the first beta release of the very cool WindowFX 5, which you can get more info about here. I have been having a great time with it on my PC’s and I really like the start menu animations.  Otherwise we had another good week of skins including a new Master skin from Xiandi.

Now for this weeks picks!

The other day I wrote a guide on how to purchase using the in-app functionality, and today I wanted to follow-up with another quick guide on how to activate purchases made.  If you purchased an additional feature for Stardock Tiles, or have Tiles as part of the Object Desktop suite, you might need to activate your existing purchase/features.

Open the Tiles configuration window and navigate down to the ‘Add features” area.  Then click Activate existing purchases button.

Now just enter your Stardock account e-mail and password.

Tiles should recognize it and activate the features available for Tiles.

Tiles 1.0 has been released and is now available for download.  Tiles works by creating a side-bar on a user’s display. At the top of the side-bar are labels for each page such as ‘My Tiles’ or ‘Documents’ or ‘Apps’. Users can then drag and drop programs, documents, or website URLs onto Tiles. When the program is inactive, it appears as an icon. When it is active, it appears as a live preview tile.

Although it’s a free app there is an enhanced version available as well. You can upgrade to additional features or premium skins right inside the Tiles app itself.  This guide will show you how.

Open the Tiles configuration screen by right-clicking and selecting it in Tiles.  Choose the ‘Add features’ section.  Here you can browse through the available features and premium skins. There’s a variety available and you can just purchase the entire bundle for $9.95, or just individual parts.  You can also active existing purchases by entering your Stardock account information.

After you find the features you want and have added them to the cart, you can now begin the checkout process.  You will first be asked to enter your e-mail address.

Next you enter your information and payment method.

Next you’ll see a summary and then you just need to click Purchase to complete the transaction. 

You will now get a confirmation and your new features should be activated and ready to use!

Welcome to the first edition of This Week in Skinning for 2012!  January is usually a bit slow because so many take off for the holidays, but even so we always have skins to feature.

Now for this weeks picks!

If you’ve been looking for a program to replace Windows Media Center which performs all its functions and is highly customizable, you’ve got to take a look at Media Portal.

It has Main areas: My Music, My Videos, My Pictures and my Weather. It’ll play all the file types WMC does, and do it your way via slews of plug-ins. You can create your own playlists and

• Watch Live TV or schedule and record
• Play videos, movies and DVDs
• Browse EPG and upcoming programs
• Listen to music and radio
• Stream media, radio, TV to any connected HTPC/PC connected to your network
• View pictures or create slideshows
• Browse all your movies
• Check weather, news, or information on the web and even play games

And, you can make it look the way you want with many different skins to choose from and tutorial videos. There are widescreen and non-wide galleries. You even skin the weather app.

Check out the skins here: http://www.team-mediaportal.com/extensions/widescreen

Anyway, I figured folks here would want to see it:

These are all different skins. You really should take a look at their gallery. It’s easy to navigate.

Hey! Have a happy Sunday!

Source:

http://www.team-mediaportal.com/

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/media-portal-open-source-windows-media-center-replacement

Oh my, we have halfway through December and Christmas is just right around the corner.  We are also wrapping up our 2011 Holiday skinning contest, and so far we have received a nice variety of skins. 

Now for this weeks picks!

I wanted to give everyone a reminder that the WC Holiday contest ends next week, so be sure to get your submissions in before then.  If you need more info, head over to the contest forum thread.  As we get towards the end of the year, I’d like to hear about your favorite skins from the past year and what you’d like to see in 2012.

Now for this weeks picks!