Ok, no TWis this week, I'm taking an early weekend!  Awww, I'm just kidding you know it really wouldn't be Friday without this weeks roundup of featured skins.

Now for this weeks picks!

	Autobot for CursorFX by nimbletongue An Autobots cursor theme, do I really need to say anymore?
	~~~Fusion~~~ in DesktopX Themes by WeatherBound This DX theme has a wide variety of accessories, it's resolution independent, and has a slider to adjust the colors.
	Wispy Cloud in Dreams by CarGuy1 A very nice .dream, with a smooth animation that isn't too busy on the desktop.
	Black LogonVista in LogonStudio Vista by Life is a Game This logon has a very clean design and is a great addition to your logon library.
	desktopx icon in ObjectDock Icons by SG This icon for DesktopX takes a big turn from the "normal" icon.  It's a fun and unique twist to the standard icon.
	Twirl lines in Wallpapers by Dahama This design really caught my eye this week.  Very creative and good use of color.
	Thundera for WindowBlinds by Z71 Whether or not you know what Thundera is, this theme is still a fantastic piece of work.  A very smooth look, and don't forget to grab the wallpaper as well.
	gaiety for XP and Vista for WindowBlinds by mkorashy The second skin by mkorashy is another fine one.  I really enjoy the colors scheme with this skin and it's perfect for daily use.

Thanks to all the skinners this week, and be sure to visit their personal pages here on WinCustomize for more of their works.  See you next week!

 

 

So, for those of you that don't know, I've been working on making some cool new Dynamic Dreams. Only problem is, these Dynamic Dreams have some fancy new keyboard and mouse input commands! (ooohh!! super fancy!)

I've been having a problem though... Nobody wants their computer to be actively running mouse input (wasting a little CPU usage) when they're not looking at their desktop. It just doesn't make sense to have an object on your desktop following your mouse around when you can't see it! So, consequently, I have resorted to keyboard button commands to act as a signal for mouse input.

Now, I want the button command to be un-intrustive, a command that people don't use a lot (ex: Ctrl+C wouldn't be good since people copy and paste all the time). Currently, I have been using Ctrl+Shift as the button configuration.

I wanted to get people's opinions on what you feel should be the proper button combo to operate the mouse control. Try not to go down the "let's make it a setting!" option since that would take a little too much time to implement at the time being.

Thanks to all in advance for your help and input!

DesktopX 3.5 was released recently, and one of the biggest feature updates is the ability to export your DX creations as a Vista sidebar gadget.  Creating a gadget for the Vista sidebar isn’t the easiest thing to do, and it has limitations that DesktopX can easily overcome.  DesktopX is a very powerful application which can create a wide variety of mini-applications for your desktop.  These can range from simple weather gadgets, on up to very complex applications with multiple functions all that can be wrapped in custom graphics. 

The gadgets that can be created with DesktopX can be scripted with many languages including C++, which allows an almost endless amount of possibilities.  Now if you aren’t big on scripting, don’t be too intimidated, as you can still create some great gadgets with the included plugins, or by going through the huge amount of documentation/tutorials provided by Stardock.  You can also find more tutorials written by experienced community members which can be found at the WinCustomize Wiki.

I have created quite a few DesktopX widgets over the last few years, and although I am not a coder, I was able to create some really cool and useful widgets.  I’m going to take you on a walkthrough on how to create a desktop widget, and turn it into a Vista sidebar gadget using DesktopX Pro 3.5.  I’m going to break apart the Election Countdown gadget I made, which will make a perfect example for today’s guide.

Since I am somewhat of a political junkie, I wanted a simple countdown gadget that would tell me how many days left until the 2008 election.  Remember, this is just the example I’m using today, the process for creating the sidebar gadget will work the same for whatever type of gadget you create.

First step is creating the basic graphic resources for my project.  This of course will vary depending on what type of gadget you are creating, but since mine is a simple countdown, I really just needed a single image which will have space for the countdown numbering.

 

Once my graphics are complete I fire up the DesktopX Builder and click the button to create a new desktop object.  This will serve as the base of my countdown gadget.

From the properties window I can set my graphic resources, and create a new script which will control the actual countdown.

Once my countdown script is set and applied, I can move on to tweaking the font that will be used to display the number of days remaining according to my countdown.  You can also adjust colors, add shadows, and many more options in this area.

I check to make sure all my graphics are looking good, and I can then right-click and group all my objects so that they will behave like one object, but keep the functionality of the different layers I have applied.  Now would be a good time to give your gadget a test.  If all is working correctly, right-click again and select Export.

From here you will begin the process of exporting your desktop object into a Vista sidebar gadget.  If you are using DesktopX Pro you can check the setting to export as a stand-alone gadget, so that users won’t have to have DesktopX installed to use it.  You will also be given the options to enter information like author information, description, etc. 

After all that, just set your output, click finish, and your gadget should be created.

Just double-click to install the gadget file, and you should now have your gadget occupying the Vista sidebar.

For more information about DesktopX, visit www.desktopx.net.

Gonna use one skin this week and take it several different places for you.

100: A Tribute to Boxxi by Pandorra (aka KittyMalone)

This is a beautifully worked skin that showcases the talents of two skinners in such a stylish way.

Boxxi's work has always leaned toward the flowing lines of Art Deco , giving his works a look of something you'd see in the home of a 1920's flapper.  Combining that style with Kitty's breathtaking artwork is a real winner here. The two styles compliment each other so well, it's like a pairing that' was meant to be.

 

The blind itself is easy on the eye, keeps it's coloration to a minimum so you can use any color you like with it and it still looks sharp and stylish, and is a fast load , easy to work with no matter how many windows you have open.

Since there isn't a CursorFX set yet for this blind, I found Eclipse by J. Aroche worked nicely with the whole concept.

I love this wall and just had to use it.It's by Pandorra (we're gonna miss you  KittyMalone!) 100 A Tribute to BoXXi ( I am so  thankful she uploaded this! you would have been missing out if you couldn't download it!) The irreverent pixielike girl swinging on the moon's beams , looks so free and happy I had to use her. And since she created a wall for this suite, I felt I should include it.

I used Slider by Skinhit twice this week. Because at the time I am putting these themes together, there is yet no Iconpackage nor as I mentioned earlier CursorFX theme.

I love the DesktopX theme created by PuterDudeJim for this suite. 100- A Tribute to BoXXi has everything you need in a desktopX theme all wrapped into one control panel. I like that feature makes things so easy to decide and I can pick and choose which items I want to display when.

100 A Tribute to BoXXi by Xiandi is a sharp little  RainLendar skin.

for the second look:

I looked at several walls, and found that BoXXiLoGiX by BoXXi was the logical path to take here. I liked one other (Existence by D8abyte) ,but it became too busy and I had to change. I will save that wall for a screenie with nothing but blind, as It is so intricate you really can't add to it without ruining the flowing lines that make up that wall.

I mentioned I was going to take one skin and show several versions of how it can be put together, this is my second look for the 100  A Tribute to BoXXi skin suite.

For the Iconpackage, I used Slider by Skinhit. I tried to recolor it, by inverting the colors , and while it looked exactly as I had hoped on my configuration screen, Iconpackager has some issues with recoloring still and it didn't make it to recoloring on my desktop. Too bad, while it looks good as it is, it would have been spectacular recolored with this skin theme.

 

I wanted to incorporate BoXXi's work into this theme and found a great CursorFX theme that works perfectly with the grouping I've created here. Allante by BoXXi (now renamed to BoXX) has the points and lines that flow nicely with the rest of the group. The pointer is sharp and easy to maneuver which is important when you are trying to highlight text and point to minute objects in whatever window you are using. I enlarged the cursor as well, to make it stand out more.

I chose to use just an Object Dock theme for the desktop this time. I didn't want to go so busy your eyes hurt! BoXXi has a great theme for ObjectDock that I felt really spoke to this setup . The BlackBoXX  is the perfect accent here and I had a hard time choosing which of the images I wanted to use for the icons, there are so many and they are all great. I stuck with the images that mimic'd the tribal tatoos I have seen. Tribal tats have that pointed fading line style that is rapidly becoming the theme of this grouping.

CarbonRC by Nimbin worked the best here. It's simple, black and has a graphic with the same flow the rest of the theme seems to be taking.

 

Now for my third setup, I am going to add a bit of color to this blind.

Saturnesque2 by BoXXi is the wall I chose. I wanted to keep within the theme of highlighting BoXXi's work and when I saw this wall, I knew it would provide the color I needed to point out my idea of bringing out the beauty of this blind.

I did a bit of recoloring to the blind itself as well. There is a subtle purple hue to the  parts of the blind that take color. I will be showing a window for you to see that coloring ,in the screenie.

 

Win3D DuskXP Was a most colorful Iconpackage , all the Win3D packages are colorful and well done, but the lavender hue of this package worked perfectly with BoXXi's wall and the recolorization I did with the blind. I only wish there had been a firefox icon in the pack.

The cursorFX theme is kurio cxp suite by HAPTORK. I chose the kurio color duo subtheme here. I liked that it was already lavender and I didn't have to colorize.

I only used one desktop addition here ,as I wanted it to really show off the blind and wall. DesktopX object Glass Menu by Themer Boy had the right shade of blue and just the right amount of backlighting to work with the wall I chose.

All in all I would have to say the 100 tribute is very versatile and highly usable. I haven't even touched on all the accessories available to compliment this theme. I am glad that they chose to pay tribute to BoXXi, as he's been a hard working highly talented member of this community for a very long time. He is missed.

Unfortunately, this has become a small tribute to KittyMalone who has recently left the community as well. I will miss her as will many other community members.

Thanks for reading, all!

Wulfie  

With Dell taking the Windows experience to the next level with the introduction of the Dell Dock, I've seen a lot of online buzz about it.  Most agree that the Dell Dock is really good but intermixed are a lot of Mac fans who use terms like "Mac rip off" or how it's a copy of the Mac dock.

Mac zealots have a long and glorious history of retroactively claiming pre-existing concepts as being invented by Apple.  For example, the modern "widget" (end user created applets that use Javascript) was not invented by Apple.  They also didn't first appear in Konfabulator either. They appeared in Stardock DesktopX years earlier. Apple zealots usually counter by arguing that things like desktop accessories from 1981 "invented" the concept (as if the average user was going to whip out small assembly language programs).

I think most rational people agree that the modern widget is a mini application that can be created by end users that are tied together with a high level scripting language (i.e. Yahoo Widgets, Dashboard, Sidebar Gadgets, DesktopX).  And DesktopX borrowed the concept from IBM's worksplace shell which in turn was inspired by prior art as well.

But the controversy over widgets is nothing compared to the claim that Apple somehow invented the concept of docks.  Even allowing for the history of NeXT with its side dock, the dock concept is ancient.

 Stardock, for example, has been doing "docks" since 1994.  Object Desktop for OS/2 included things like Tab LaunchPad and Control Center. You don't see Stardock fans complaining that every sidebar is a "rip off" of Control Center. And Control Center certainly didn't invent the concept of a side-based bar or dock either.

You would be hard pressed to find many companies that have been continuously producing a dock and a sidebar as long as Stardock has -- 14 consecutive years of development. I think it's fair to say that we weren't "inspired" by an Apple OS that wouldn't exist for 7 more years from the time we started doing this sort of thing.

Tab LaunchPad on OS/2 circa 1994

Stardock makes no claims of having invented the dock.  We called our first dock Tab LaunchPad because IBM itself had created a dock for OS/2 2.0:

IBM OS/2 LaunchPad circa 1992

But let's say you're a true die-hard Steve Jobs zealot and want to argue that NeXT "invented" the dock. You'd still be wrong as docks were part of Acorn computers from the early 80s.  The point, of course, isn't who invented the dock, the argument of course is whether companies like Stardock (who wrote the Dell Dock) were somehow ripping off or stealing or what have you from the MacOS dock and I think you can see why this is such an obnoxious and offensive argument - we've been making docks since before Apple had figured out how to do preemptive multitasking.

They say a picture is worth a 1000 words.  Here is a picture of what the Macintosh looked like in 1996 (System 7.5) along with a picture of Stardock Object Desktop in 1996:

vs.
Mac 1996 vs. Stardock Object Desktop 1996: Which desktop do you think more closely resembles today's modern desktop? Note that Object Desktop was written during the Windows 3.1 era.

Stardock doesn't run around claiming that it invented the modern desktop experience. We don't imply or assert that everyone else is "ripping us off". Some ideas are just obvious.

The Dell Dock represents the continuing evolution of the desktop experience. Like all improvements to the user experience, inspiration can be found everywhere. But when advocates of a company or an operating system try to lay exclusive claim to all such improvements, they diminish the hard work, innovation, and inventiveness by thousands of other people from around the world who often have worked in obscurity with little glory. It is bad enough that these innovators don't get credit they deserve, it's even worse when they are so often smeared as copying those who came after.

Other Pictures:

Dell Dock

Stardock ObjectDock

Stardock ObjectDock Plus (4 different docks)

Stardock Impulse Dock

Friday is here, so the next edition of This Week in Skinning is here!  If you have friends or family that might be interested in skinning their PC's, you might want to refer them over to TWiS, just to show them what they are missing.

Now for this weeks picks!

	LED3: Dot Matrix for BootSkin by sydneysiders This bootskin is match to compliment the LED3 WindowBlinds skin.  I'm sure we will see many more matching skins in the coming days.
	Radio Wave DX in DesktopX Themes by PuterDudeJim This DX Theme has a wide assortment of widgets for the desktop, and the theme is resolution independent.  Great job!
	Happy Birthday in DesktopX Widgets by HAPTORK Two for one with this widget.  A game and a desktop animation.  Fantastic work on this one.
	SpyroGyro in Dreams by CarGuy1 The "swirling" colors of this .dream are terrific.  Check this one out for sure.
	deepsea_life_3 in Dreams by muckyman As the title says, this .dream features a unique look at "sea life", that looks really cool on the desktop.
	Resonance in Wallpapers by Rahul29 I really enjoy the colors and design of this wallpaper.  Goes great with many themes too.  Great job!
	Deco XP for WindowBlinds by Goldwing Here is the XP version of the Deco skin.  Great design, easy on the eyes.  If you have Vista, there is a Vista version as well.
	Avanti for XP and Vista for WindowBlinds by vStyler This Master Skin is one of my favorites so far.  A very clean design that is perfect for everyday use.

Another great week of skin submissions, and I thank you all for your work.  See you next week!

 

 

In the last walkthrough I showed you the Spring MyColors theme, and today we have a more seasonal oriented MyColors theme to show…..Sunny Day.  This is a theme designed for MyColors, and to find more information about MyColors, you can read through a walkthrough or view a screencast with more information.

Visual Style and Wallpaper

The Sunny Day MyColors theme has some bright and stunning colors.  Sunny Day is the appropriate name for this theme as the visual style as several elements of the “sun” in it, and the mix of colors in the taskbars and title bars are beautifully designed.  The start menu even has an animated sun that pops up when opened.

The wallpaper is a “sunny” scene of a grassy field in the summertime. 

 

Icons

The icon package included with the Sunny Days MyColors theme is one of my favorites.  In particular, the Recycle Bin is a sand pale which fills up with sand when it’s not empty.  The rest of the icon pack is just as cool with many other summer-inspired icons.

 

Gadgets

The Sunny Day theme includes two gadgets, a clock with the Sunny Day style, and an expandable weather gadget.

The Sunny Day MyColors theme is available for both Windows Vista and XP.  If you are a subscriber to Object Desktop then you are eligible for a discount for MyColors themes.  For more information visit the Sunny Day MyColors page.

Stardock’s Impulse is here, and whether you are purchasing a game, software application, or MyColors theme, the checkout process is basically the same.  I wanted to write a guide showing just how simple purchasing through the Impulse Store is, and what to expect when your sale is completed.

This is the Impulse Store.  You can get here by selecting the Store tab in Impulse.

As you can see in the notes in the screenshot, you can select different tabs to view different product categories.  From there you can also filter and sort by using the drop-down menus.  Once you find something you are interested in, just click it and a more detailed product view will appear.  I’m going to select the Rockstar MyColors Desktop.

You can view more detailed info here, and when ready to buy, just click Add to Cart. From there you can either continue to shop and add more to the cart or just start the checkout process.  We will move on to checkout.

The screenshot above shows your cart, where you can review the products in it and make any adjustments if needed.  If you have a coupon you have the option to enter it here, and then select Checkout or select to pay with Paypal. 

This is where you need to start entering  your billing information such as your name, address, e-mail, etc.  One of the great features about Impulse is that you can purchase an item for someone else and have it sent to them.  Just select the check box and in the next step you will just need to enter their recipient information.  Otherwise, you will now need to enter your payment information as seen below.

After your payment information is entered, it’s time to confirm it all.

If everything looks good, go ahead and click Place Your Order.

Your order is complete.  Since we ordered a MyColors theme, this is a digital download so at the bottom of the page you will see the information about download links and registration numbers.  This information will also be e-mailed to you.  As you can see in the screenshot, you might also be prompted to download and install your item now. 

That should pretty much cover the purchasing process through Impulse.  When using Impulse it’s important that you make sure the e-mail you enter for registration is the same e-mail you used to purchase with.  You can view all your registrations and even add or modify them through the registration section in Impulse.

For more information and download for Impulse, visit the ImpulseDriven website at www.impulsedriven.com.

Last weeks "contest" was a lot of fun.  I really liked what I saw.  I loved the fact that two of the submissions are on their way to production!

This week we'll try to engage folks that like games.  Mock up a skin based on a First Person Shooter.  Break out you Doom assets or your Master Chiefs.  See if you you can get Duke Nukem out before 3D Realms does!

So let's see what the great brain and artistic trust at Wincustomize can come up with.

This week's template is from the Sins of a Solar Empire skin:

Just about to hit the middle of month and even though it's summer, the skin submissions keep coming in.  Lets keep it up!

Now for this weeks picks!

	MB-Assassin for CursorFX by ModBlackmoon This cursor set is highly detailed and worth downloading just for that.
	Turbine Clock V1 in DesktopX Objects by AVMAN This clock for DesktopX is made to match the Turbine WB skin, and the animations on this are just fantastic.
	Simple IP LookUP in DesktopX Widgets by Julynessi This is a simple, but very useful widget that will instantly retrieve your IP address.
	Fire Storm in Dreams by TheMasterBaron This isn't your ordinary fire .dream, this takes it to another level with the "storm" like design.
	Photoshop CS in ObjectDock Icons by Libardo This goes way out of what the Photoshop CS icon looks like, but I love Libardo's take on it.  I hope to see more like this.
	Traces in Wallpapers by Skinhit The color of this wallpaper immediately caught my eye.  I can think of quite a few themes this will work perfect with.
	Subtle in WindowBlinds by Z71 This skin is smooth, clean, and perfect for everyday use.  Be sure to check this one out.

Thanks to everyone who contributed skins this week, and take some time and browse through the galleries and see all the other great works.  See you next week!