WindowBlinds Product Page

1. Welcome to WindowBlinds
   Features (Enhanced Version)
   Features (30 Day Trial)
   System Requirements
   Note on Drivers
   Upgrading
   Updates
   File Types
   Additional Visual Styles
   Compatibility
   Default File Paths
   Creating Visual Styles
   Support
   Resources
   Documentation
2. Introduction
   What is a Visual Style?
   Terminology
   Differences Between Windows
   Installation
3. Visual Styles
   How to Apply a Skin
   Alternative Skin Styles
4. Colours
   Terminology
   Existing Colors
   Hue
   Brightness
   Saturation
   Range of Colours
   Primary Skin Colour
   Change Skin System Colours
5. Textures
   Creating & Editing Effects
      Create Effect
      Edit Effect
      Delete Effect
6. Wallpapers
   Filter by Colour
   Filter by Rating
   Setting
7. Fonts
   Font Size
   Disabling Font Options
   Changing Fonts
   Quick Reference
8. Transparency
   Transparency & Blur
   Vista-ize™ Me

Wallpapers

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Clicking on the "Wallpapers" tab allows you to add a wallpaper to the selected visual style. Only the "Corporate" skin includes a couple of wallpapers, while the rest WindowBlinds found on your hard-drive. You can add other folders for WindowBlinds to search for graphic image files for use as wallpaper. The "Current" wallpaper (left) is what image is currently applied to your desktop.

When you move the cursor over a thumbnail, the resolution of the wallpaper image will be displayed (i.e. width X height, 1920x1200). When you select a wallpaper by clicking on the thumbnail, the preview will be updated. This allows you to see how it will look with your selected skin. Wallpapers included in skins are displayed at the far left, and are separated by a vertical line of dots between them and non-skin wallpapers (to the right).

Filter By Colour

You can filter by colours used in each wallpaper, by clicking the desired colours to the right of the word "All" (which lists all coloured wallpapers). For instance, clicking "Red" will only display thumbnails that have a lot of red or reddish colours. Clicking "Red" & "Green" will display wallpapers with the majority of both colours in them. There are also options for "Light" (coloured wallpapers) and "Dark" shades. You can combine any of these to help find the desired type of image. as you add more wallpaper images, these features will be helpful.

Clicking "All" will uncheck all colors & shades and display all wallpapers.

Filter by Rating

Each wallpaper has a rating, each is given three stars (default). You can change the rating by clicking on the number of stars. You can then search for wallpapers of a given rating or above, by clicking on the number of stars (or higher) you want to see. So for example, if you selected two stars (next to "Filter by"), you will only see thumbnails of skins with two or more stars.

You can filter by both colour(s) and rating to find the best match.

Settings

Clicking "Settings" (far right, above "Filter by") opens a "Wallpaper settings" dialog box that will list the current folders WindowBlinds uses to search for wallpaper images on your computer of type: .BMP & .JPG. By default these folders are included and can not be removed, however they can be unchecked (not included in search):

 

Folder	Where it looks...
Windows Directory	(Checked, default) will search under the C:\Windows folder on your hard-drive.
Web Directory	(Checked, default) includes the folder where Windows stores default wallpapers.
My Pictures	(Checked, default) searches the default Windows folders where pictures are stored. If you store pictures in a different folder, say from a digital camera, scanner, etc., you can add that folder to the list by clicking .
WindowBlinds Wallpaper Directory	(Unchecked, default) checks the folder where WindowBlinds stores wallpaper included in skins. So if you want to see every wallpaper included in your skins, check this option. Skins that include wallpapers, may have a number of the same image, but in different resolutions.

You can add additional folders for WindowBlinds to search by clicking the button. This opens the "Browse For Folder" dialog box, where you can browse & select the folder. The name of the folder will appear next to "Folder:".

Click to create a new folder, then type a name. Click to save changes. (Click or to abort.) The new folder will be added to the list displaying the file path.

To remove a folder, select it from the list and click and it will be removed. You will not be asked for confirmation. You can not remove the four default folders.

You can change how wallpaper is displayed on your screen, by changing the option under "Wallpaper mode". The choices are as follows:

Folder	Where it looks...
Smart mode	(Default) Lets WindowBlinds determine what is best for the display resolution of your monitor.
Stretch	Fits the screen resolution.
Tile	If the original image is smaller than will natively fit on your screen, WindowBlinds will repeat copies of it in a left to right and top down pattern. For example, if the image uses only one third of your screen, then the copy below it will most likely be truncated (cut off) as there is not enough space to show all of it properly.
Centre	Centers the wallpaper image on the screen. If the image is large enough to fill the screen, you may not notice any difference. When the image is smaller, you will see the image centered and a colour around it. That colour may be from the skin or from Windows.

Click the button or to save changes. (Clicking will not remove a folder you added/removed or checked/unchecked.) After making changes, scroll to review the updated list of wallpapers. Click on the desired wallpaper & click "Apply changes" to add it to your desktop.

Clicking (far right, under preview) will close the "Wallpapers" tab and return to the "Visual Styles" tab.