|
|
Look & Feel: Visual Styles | 2 |
|
When WindowBlinds is started for the first time, you will see two menus running along the top. By default 
is selected on the main (top) menu. The menu beneath it is a sub-menu of
related options and
is
selected (default). |
 |
| The Windows XP sub-menu looks like this: |
 |
|
Clicking the help
The Visual Styles area is where you can select a skin and apply it to your desktop. On the Left side, you will see the following menu: |
 |
| The name of the current skin (or the one in the preview area), who created
it and skin type (i.e. UIS1, Perpixel UIS1, UIS2, Perpixel UIS2) is displayed at the top of the menu.
"Perpixel UIS2" are very common for newer skins. The "Perpixel" means the
skin supports semi-transparent frames, rather than the usual basic shaped
frames. As you click on each skin in the
list, the name of it will be displayed here and the preview pane will show what
the skin looks like. The name of the current skin (or the one in the preview area), who created it and skin type (i.e. UIS1, Perpixel UIS1, UIS2, Perpixel UIS2) is displayed at the top of the menu. "Perpixel UIS2" are very common for newer skins. The "Perpixel" means the skin supports semi-transparent frames, rather than the usual basic shaped frames. As you click on each skin in the list, the name of it will be displayed here and the preview pane will show what the skin looks like. The first option is "Change visual style colour" which is will change to the
The second option will load Stardock's SkinStudio if it's installed on your computer, otherwise it will open your web browser with the SkinStudio web site. SkinStudio is the editor used to create/edit skins for WindowBlinds. The third option allows you to "Delete this visual style", you may be prompted with the following prompt which asks you to select a skin (personality) first. |
 |
| Or once you select a skin to delete, you will see this dialog box asking if you are sure you want to delete the selected skin files. |
 |
Clicking
will erase the skin from your hard-drive. Clicking
or
button will abort the deletion.The fourth option, "Add visual styles" will prompt you for places to find them. If you select "Download from www.wincustomize.com", your web browser will open and display the WinCustomize web site. From there, under Category, select "WindowBlinds" and it will display a list of skins you can download. WindowBlinds skins are forward & backward compatible, unless otherwise noted. Meaning that you can download & install newer or older skins than your version of WindowBlinds. Being backward compatible includes a huge free library of skins to download (over 4,100)! |
 |
| The other option is "I want to install the skin from a file on my computer", this will ask you to locate the file(s) using an Explorer type window. By default, it will open files with extensions .WBA and .ZIP (compressed). |
 |
|
Locate the skin(s) on your computer and click the
Lastly, the fifth menu option is "Apply my changes". After selecting the skin from the list, click on "Apply my changes" and your desktop will be changed. Alternately, (shortcut method) you can double-click on the desired skin and it will have the same effect. Available SkinsBelow this menu is a list of skins you can apply to your desktop. The skins (by default) are shown horizontally across the bottom of the window. Each includes a portion of the skin (color), title of the skin, and who created it. When you first start WindowBlinds in (Vista), either Windows Aero or Windows Classic is shown as the currently applied skin (selected). A selected skin has a gray color surrounding it (Windows Aero is selected in the following picture). |
| Windows XP - has the first two skins different from Vista (see below), but the remaining five skin choices are the same. |
 |
Right clicking on a skin, opens a menu of options similar to the left side menu.
"Install skin from disk" is the same as the "Add visual styles" option on the
side menu. It will prompt you for downloading new skins or locating them
on your computer. "Edit in SkinStudio" opens SkinStudio if installed,
otherwise it opens the web site in your browser. "Change visual style
colour" changes to the
tab. "Delete this skin" (Delete this visual style) allows you to delete
the skin. "Set category" allows you to change the category for the
currently selected skin to anything in the list. You can then filter on
this by using "Filter by category". "Apply this skin now" changes your
desktop visual style to the skin you clicked on. |
 |
|
Options to View Skins There are a few options that allow you to view the skins, these options are seen under the side menu and above the list of skins. |
 |
Clicking on this
 grid icon, changes the view to show a larger number of skins at one time.
WindowBlinds comes with four skins, but you can download many more from a large
selection on
www.WinCustomize.com.
These options may appear on this screen, and will be covered later: "Filter by
Category", "Skin Options" and "Random skin settings".
|
 |
|
To return to the preview mode with the skins along the bottom & the preview
pane, click on this
As you add more skins to WindowBlinds, there are options to help you organize and quickly find the ones you want. Because this is a newer feature, some older skins don't include category support. Clicking on "Filter by Category" will display a scrollable list of categories (all checked by default). |
 |
|
(By default), all of the categories have been selected (all boxes checked). To view only "People" skins, you would click "Select none", then click on the checkbox next to "People", which will place a check in the box. Then click on "Filter by category" and it will close the category list and display only those skins matching the "People" category. Other options on the category list are "Select all" which selects all of the listed categories by checking all of the boxes. The other option is "Select none" which deselects (un-checks) all of the categories. And finally, you can sort the list of categories by clicking on the "Sort by name" at the bottom of the list. This will open a small pull-down window listing other sort options: Sort by name, Sort by author, and Sort by installed date. Click "Filter by category" to close the category listing. |
 |
| Skin Options If you click on "Skin options", a pull-down menu appears with a number of options. The first four will look familiar, as they are identical to the left-side menu choices. |
 |
|
The fifth option is "Rebuild List" which updates the list of skins, if you manually add/remove skins (i.e. extracting a ZIP) from your computer outside of WindowBlinds (e.g. using Windows Explorer). WindowBlinds maintains a database of installed skins that both it & SkinStudio use. Rebuilding this list, actually updates the database. The sixth option is "Set skin category" which will open a dialog box with a pull-down menu. Clicking the pull-down menu will display a list of categories (the same ones under "Filter by category"). This allows you to change the category for the currently selected skin to anything in the list. You can then filter on this by using "Filter by category". This allows you to
select just one category. Select a category from the list and click
|
 |
|
The seventh option is "Apply my changes" which acts the same as "Apply my changes" on the left-side menu. After selecting a skin, clicking on this will change your desktop to the desired skin. Preview PaneTo the right of the (above) menu, is the preview pane which allows you to see a sample of your desktop with the selected skin. By default, the preview shows your whatever theme your operating system is using when you run WindowBlinds. |
 |
| As you click on each skin in the menu (below the preview area), you will see the sample Start menu, explorer window, Taskbar, etc. change. Using the preview helps you see what a skin will look like, however it may not show you everything the skin can offer you. Take the Molten skin for example, the preview shows the following: |
 |
| It's easy to apply a skin to your computer, after clicking on the skin from the list either double-click the skin (in the list) or click on "Apply my changes" on menu. Then you can see fully what the skin has to offer. Try opening your Start menu, different applications, Windows Explorer, etc.. For Windows Vista, the preview doesn't show what your Sidebar (Gadgets) will look like. So explore and check out all of the skins. This is what the Start menu looks like for Molten on Vista: |
 |
| The wallpaper was changed to put our dragon friend in a better setting.
When you open the Start menu, the dragon is animated and opens/closes his mouth,
moves while flapping his wings and has green pulsating eyes. There is
animated fire along the top of the Start menu and lava following down the right
side of the menu. Don't get burned! Substyles For each skin there maybe substyles (or compound skins), such as choices of colour. If you click on the "Classic" skin you will notice the following option appear (under the preview pane and to the right) with a pull-down menu. |
 |
| Opening the pull-down menu, displays a list of colour choices for that visual style. |
 |
|
Regardless which operating system you're running (Vista or XP), you can select any from the list and the preview pane will be updated. Random Skin Settings |
 |
| Clicking on "Random skin settings", a new window will open with everything grayed out (inactive). By (default), "Pick a random skin from any installed skins" is checked. However, unchecking this box displays the following (active) choices: |
|
This gives you the ability to
Note: It is possible to select the "Random Skin" from the
Visual Styles Quick Reference |
| Action | Do this |
| Determine what skin my computer is currently wearing. | When you start up WindowBlinds, the currently applied skin will be selected in the menu, the name will appear on the side menu and the preview will display it as well. |
| Select a skin (visual style) & preview it. | To select a skin from the menu and it will be
displayed in the preview area. If you're in grid
view, you must change back to preview
mode. Selecting Random Skin won't display anything in preview,
because it includes multiple skins. |
| Apply skin to my desktop. | After selecting a skin, click "Apply my changes" from the menu on the left. |
| Change view of skins. | From the preview mode, click the grid
view icon to view multiple skins. To return to the preview mode,
click the
icon. |
| Filter skins by category. |
|
| Download more skins. |
|
| Add a skin from disk. |
|
| Edit a skin in SkinStudio. |
|
| Select a different
substyle (colour) for a skin. |
|
| Change colour of skin. |
|
| Delete selected skin. |
|
| Update skin database after manually deleting or adding skins from ZIP's outside WindowBlinds. |
|
| Change category of a skin. |
|
| Select random skins. |
|
|
|
|
icon
located in the upper, right-hand corner of the window will display information on
WindowBlinds. 
button or
click on
to
abort and return to the Visual Styles window. 
button to accept the choice or
just the
skins you want in the random selection. The above picture shows three skins have
been selected (e.g. Classic, Diamond, Molten). If you add a skin(s) you
decide you don't want, click on that skin, then click
.
You can also
skins to the selection, then
to accept the
changes. If you added a number of skins, but decided to start over, simply click
and all of the skins will be removed from the box. Finally, clicking