I’ve talked a great deal about how cool WindowBlinds 7’s new Aero skinning feature is.  But one of the other major new features of WindowBlinds 7 is the ability to tap into the huge WindowBlinds library of skins and make them work on Windows 7 without modification.

But it’s easy to claim how great WindowBlinds is at skinning Windows 7, here’s a live demo of WindowBlinds 7 in action.

Fences Pro is a program that helps you organize your desktop and can hide your icons when they are not in use with the simple click of your mouse.  Fences Pro is the follow-up to Stardock’s popular freeware program fences which has become the most popular desktop enhancement on CNET’s Download.com since its release earlier this Fall.

Fences Pro adds a number of compelling new features to give users more control over their desktop icons. These features include:

• Having a default fence automatically pick up new icons as they get added to your desktop
  
• Automatically organize icons by file type, name, size and more
  
• Have fences and their contents be semi-transparent until mouse-over.

Fences Pro is available as a stand-alone for $19.95 and as part of Object Desktop, a suite of desktop customization software for $49.95. Users who purchase Object Desktop not only get all the programs of Object Desktop but also a 1-year subscription to ObjectDesktop.NET which provides users access to updates and new programs added to Object Desktop. Both Fences Pro and Object Desktop require Windows XP, Windows Vista, or Windows 7.

More information can be found at www.stardock.com/products/fences.

Stardock’s new freeware program Fences has become the world’s most popular new desktop enhancement program.

This month, Stardock has released Fences Pro which adds some killer features.

Visit the Fences website at https://www.stardock.com/products/fences to get it.

The great folks over at Windows7themes.net have been looking over Object Desktop 2010, and have published their review of it.

“The Object Desktop 2010 suite includes the best tools from Stardock to customize, organize, tweak and optimize your desktop. I love Object Desktop because it allows me to change my old, plain and boring desktop into a fancy, animated, organized 3D desktop that looks and feels totally different than the real Windows 7 desktop.”

http://windows7themes.net/object-desktop-2010-review.html

Since my return to being the Product Manager of Object Desktop and the programs that make it up in October, one of my jobs has been to re-evaluate where skinning is today and try to take the products in the direction I think skinning is going.

Object Desktop 2010, launched this month, is the result of some of this thinking – at least, as much as we could do in a couple of months.

My mantra for skinning has basically been: Make it useful, target power users.  I’m not interested in making software for grandma or pointless cosmetics which is the direction Object Desktop took in my view for the past few years.

Let me give you an example of the problem with skinning in a Windows 7 world.

Paint.net with plain Aero:

Pros: Perfect compatibility, visually pleasing.

Cons: It’s just AERO, like everyone else.

Next:

Paint.net with WindowBlinds 7 running a UIS 2 skin (Sublime):

Pros: Looks cool, very customizeable.

Cons: Cosmetic glitches can mar functional compatibility.

Next: WindowBlinds 7 running a UIS 0 skin (Aero Clay black)

Pros: Perfect compatibility, customizeable Aero.

Cons: Still basically Aero.

Next: WindowBlinds 7 with a UIS 0 Hybrid skin (Corporate Aero)

Pros: Perfect compatibility, skinned controls and client area, customzeable Aero

Cons: Aero frames limits how much skinning you can do.

Probably the single biggest change that I see coming to skinning is its return to the realm of power users. That means, if it’s a cosmetic only change then it better be 100% compatible and have no downsides. 

Power users might sacrifice something if it increases their productivity or looks significantly better but in the age of Aero, I have yet to see a skin that looks so good that I’d be willing to give up one iota of compatibility and I suspect I’m not alone.

That’s why UIS 0 is so important and moving forward why UIS 0 Hybrid is so important. 

UIS 2 skins, the ones that let skinners go wild, will continue to evolve to be better and better but there will always be apps that do different things that acan’t be predicted.

The upcoming public release of SkinStudio 7 will be crucial because it’ll include easy ways of making UIS 0 skins. I wouldn’t mind there being a SkinStudio 7 Starter Edition that just does UIS 0 to simplify things for new skinners.

December just keep rolling right along, and as we approach the end of the month, we we will have more cool offerings on Impulse.  On that same note, be sure you have Impulse Now enabled.  This is the tray icon that is installed when you install Impulse.  Having this on will give you a chance to see some great deals on games and software.

Well there’s lots of stuff going on and plenty to check out, so lets get started!

Articles to check out:

• Impulse Holiday Gift Guide - Day 1 for Casual Gamers
• Impulse Holiday Gift Guide - Day 2 for the Desktop Customizer
• Impulse adding titles faster and faster
• Sins of a Solar Empire - Trinity Announced
• WindowBlinds 7 Visual Walkthrough
• PC game developers mainstreaming themselves into oblivion?
  

New Releases on Impulse:

• Terror from the Deep
• Oddworld - Abe's Exoddus
• Three Musketeers
• Sins of a Solar Empire – Trinity (pre-order)
• Alganon
• Divinity II - Ego Draconis (pre-order)
• X-COM: UFO Defense
• Crysis Warhead
  

Updates on Impulse:

• Gratuitous Space Battles 1.27

This weeks Weekend Impulse Buys!

$39.99	$14.99	$19.99
$4.99	$34.99	$44.99

The second day in the Impulse Holiday Gift Guide is going out to those individuals who like to take their desktop above and beyond the normal look and feel.  Whether it’s an application to help organize your desktop, or a complete package to change the entire theme of your desktop, Impulse has the goods.

Buy some for yourself, give to your friend, share the holiday love!

Gifts for the Desktop Customizer:

DeskScapes 3 Put some animation on your desktop with DeskScapes 3.  This application gives you the ability to have animated wallpapers on XP, Vista, and Windows 7.
WindowBlinds 7 Tired of same old default look of Windows?  Maybe you just want to be different?  No problem, WindowBlinds 7 lets you change the complete visual style of Windows, and can now even skin Aero.
ObjectDock Plus Use ObjectDock Plus to organize your desktop shortcuts, icons, programs, and more into a “dock” that resides on your screen.  ObjectDock Plus features tabbed docks, multiple docks, and much more.
CursorFX Plus You stare at that cursor all day, why not make it fun?  CursorFX lets you change your cursor to one of thousands available, and CursorFX Plus adds effects, adjustable size, animation, and more.
Object Desktop This is the ultimate desktop transformation package.  This includes WindowBlinds 7, DeskScapes 3, IconPackager 5, Tweak, and many more applications.  It also includes a year of free updates.

If you are new to WindowBlinds 7, it’s pretty easy to pickup and start using right away.  Although, you might have some questions on what a specific feature is or where to find it, this visual walkthrough should help. 

To get WindowBlinds 7 visit www.windowblinds.net.

The holiday season is here, and as we have mentioned before, it’s very easy to send digital gifts to people next door, or around the globe via the Impulse Store .  I decided to create a Gift Guide for Impulse to give people some ideas for gifts, or for themselves.

Day 1 is dedicated to casual gamers.  These could be people who aren’t “hardcore” gamers, but still enjoy playing some games on their PC during leisure time.

Games for Casual Gamers:

Kitten Sanctuary This game has been widely popular in the Stardock office.  I mean who wouldn’t want to rescue and keep the kittens safe!
World of Goo This award winning puzzle and construction game is a must-have in any gamers’ library, casual or not.
City Rain City Rain is another addicting game where building literally fall from the sky and rely on you to rescue and organize the cities.
Flock This is one of my personal favorites.  You pilot a UFO while trying to herd animal life back to the Motherflocker.
Braid Braid is a visual masterpiece.  This is a puzzle-platformer with a “painterly” style.  Another addictive game that you will spend countless hours on.

And now we come to the very last edition of I Love DesktopX. I have to thank all of you who’ve read, commented, and featured this series of articles, because I just wouldn’t keep doing it without you guys support.

This being the biggest month for the holidays, below I’ve decided to feature seasonal skins from the past month. But if you’re not feeling the Christmas cheer yet, we’ve also got 3 non-seasonal skins for you to deck the halls with.

Santa Clock by Doubird

I had Doubird’s Anticko clock up all last month, and it looks like I’ve found my new clock of choice for December. It’s a simply designed clock with a lovely Christmas scene that will bring holiday cheer to your desktop. Makes me want to listen to old nostalgic Christmas songs.

Happy Effin' HO HO by happycamper88 

I can totally see anyone having a dismal holiday season getting a kick out this. It’s a bit icky for my desktop, but I find it hilarious nonetheless.

Merry Christmas? Bah effin’ humbug!

WC Community Holiday Suite '09 - Countdown Weather  by Island Dog 

This countdown gadget is made to match the 2009 Wincustomize Community Holiday Suite of skins. Keep track of how many days before Santa arrives, how many days before you find out what presents everyone got you, or how many days you have left to finish your Christmas shopping. Either way, this is a handy gadget to have, and it takes up very little space on your desktop.

Check out the matching DX desktop, weather, and the full community suite here: LINK

Clear View by Richard Mohler 

This is an updated version of the popular Clear View widget. It’s extremely minimal in design, and I love that it takes up so little space. For such a small package you get all your basic tools including weather, clock, media, and system info.

As you might expect with a clear widget, it goes well with pretty much everything.

Hanukkah and Friends DX by Redneckdude

I love this beautiful theme. Nice balance of colors, minimalistic design, easy on the eyes and great on the desktop.

You can get the matching weather widget here: LINK

Find the whole suite here: LINK

R 001  by BoXXi 

It’s not all that often you find a killer theme in purple, but if anyone can pull it off it’s definitely Master BoXXi. The original theme was by another author, but I’m glad BoXXi recreated it for DX. Simply put, this theme is the awesome sauce. It’s packed full of user and system shortcuts, system info, and a wallpaper changer, all in one striking layout.

Resolution dependant: 1680 x 1050

Digital Clock Using Images

Sometimes fancy font just doesn’t cut it, especially when you want to make your clock 3D. Making a digital clock with images isn’t as complicated as you might think. We just need about dozen images and a small script.

First you’ll create your images, the digits 0 through 9. You will also need a colon, AM, and PM image. Here are some of the ones I used.

The first object we’ll create in DesktopX is the first digit—the ‘1’ in 12:00.

Create a new object. Then add 4 states: “none”, 0, 1, 2. (Why 0 or 2? Because you might want to do a 24 hour clock, in which case you’ll need them for 0600 hours or 2100 hours.)

Apply your images to each state. For the “none” state, leave the image field blank. You can delete the Mouse Away or Default state if you like. 

Create another object for the second digit. Add the states: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9. Apply your images to each state.

To save time and energy, clone digit 2 twice for the third and fourth digits. Then, create another object for the am/pm sign. Add the states: “am” and “pm” and apply your images.

Lastly, create your colon object and Group all.

On to the script. 

The script consists of three simple functions. The first thing is to get it to show the correct time. As always, we use FormatDateTime to get the current system time. To show 24 hour, change the timefrmt value at the top to 4. To show 12 hour, change the timefrmt value to 3.

On the 1-second timer, we splice up the time and set each corresponding object’s state to the correct digit.

Unlike with a text clock, we have to line up the objects manually. So we create an alignText function. I’ll spare you the details, but you can align left, right, or center by changing the textalign value. Obviously, you would need to make adjustments to positioning depending on the images you use.

That's all there is to it. The example dxpack is here: LINK

Thanks for reading and happy DXing!