Version 5
Contents |
Info & Requirements |
Developed by: Stardock Corp. (www.stardock.com)
Price: Trial version is free for 60 days. Enhanced version is $19.95. Can also be purchased as part of Object Desktop suite ($49.95).
OS Compatibility: Windows XP and Windows Vista. Windows 2000, ME, 98 users can use WindowBlinds Classic (v4.6).
Home Page: http://www.windowblinds.net
More Skins Available at: WinCustomize.com, deviantART, LotsOfSkins, SkinBase, XPThemes.com
Introduction |
WindowBlinds is a program that that enables Windows users to completely change the look and feel of the Windows user interface. Users customize Windows by using visual styles (skins) created for WindowBlinds. With these skins, WindowBlinds can change the look of:
Title bars
borders
The Start bar
Progress animations
Explorer Views
and virtually every other part of Windows!
WindowBlinds is part of Stardock's Object Desktop suite of desktop extensions. It is also available stand alone at WindowBlinds.net.
Features of WindowBlinds |
Excellent application compatibility. Because Stardock has had years to tune WindowBlinds for compatibility, WindowBlinds has excellent compatibility. How good? Ask Microsoft, Nintendo, nVidia, ATI, and many others who have licensed WindowBlinds to release additional visual styles.
Top Notch Performance. WindowBlinds uses the graphics acceleration features of today's video cards to accelerate visual styles.
Tight Integration. WindowBlinds 5 doesn't need to any dedicated process in order to run, it runs as a native Windows XP extension.
Native. WindowBlinds DOES NOT "skin over" the existing user interface. It works by extending the existing painting calls with newer, faster, more feature rich ones.
WindowBlinds skins virtually every aspect of the Windows GUI that one can imagine. And in fact, the enhanced visual styles used by WindowBlinds can skin things previously not thought to be skinnable such as logon/logoff dialogs, the "please wait" dialog, backgrounds in the Control Panel and other special folders, and more.
WindowBlinds also comes with clean and easy configuration dialog. Users can still control their WindowBlinds enhanced visual styles from the display properties dialog, but the WindowBlinds configuration makes it easy to manage dozens of skins, sort them by category, and configure it to their liking.
WindowBlinds comes with tons of configuration options for users.
WindowBlinds 5 skins support per-pixel alpha blending on nearly all controls including the title bars, borders, menus, and other major elements. That means no "jaggies", semi-transparent elements, and just plain cooler looking user interfaces. And best of all, it does this using DirectX acceleration so for most users, it actually increases performance over standard Windows.
WindowBlinds skins can customize the Start menu to a very high degree.
WindowBlinds can be configured either from its configuration program or from the Windows display properties dialog.
WindowBlinds lets users define what double clicking and right clicking on the title bar do. This can translate into significant productivity gains for users as they can perform various actions with a single or double click to the title bar.
Animation support even on per-pixel title bars!
WindowBlinds can change the color of any visual style on the fly. While there are thousands of existing WindowBlinds visual styles, this feature allows users to take those visual styles and tune them to their own tastes visually. The same is true about gamma adjustment and even gray scale. A user can even invert the colors of a visual style.
WindowBlinds allows users to have different visual styles on different applications.
Before & After. Same applications. WindowBlinds can skin non-theme aware applications.
WindowBlinds can skin non-theme aware applications. Windows XP is designed to only fully skin "theme aware" programs. But WindowBlinds 4 can skin even non-theme aware applications fully while still maintaining a high level of compatibility.
WindowBlinds enables users to change the Windows progress animations to one of their choice. Users can even mix and match their visual styles and their animations.
WindowBlinds can change the toolbar icons of Internet Explorer and Explorer.
WindowBlinds works by extending the drawing APIs of Windows to support additional features. These features are designed to provide new functionality, improve performance, and be seamless. WindowBlinds does not hack any system DLLs, it doesn't replace any system files. It follows the Windows programming guidelines which is why Microsoft awarded it its designed for Windows XP logo certification.
(WindowBlinds is certified by Microsoft for use with Windows XP, Windows 2000*, Windows ME*, and Windows 98*).
* = Windows 2000, ME, 98 users use WindowBlinds classic based on WindowBlinds 4.x.
WindowBlinds in action |
See how WindowBlinds has been used by millions of individuals and corporations as well. Here are some examples of WindowBlinds in use in the real world...
Microsoft licensed WindowBlinds to create an X-box visual style. If you would like to try this visual style, visit Microsoft's Xbox website.
Warner Bros. licensed WindowBlinds to promote Terminator 3 on their website.
Blizzard licensed WindowBlinds to create a World of Warcraft desktop!
Touchstone pictures licensed WindowBlinds for the computer interface scenes in The Recruit.
nVidia licensed WindowBlinds to provide an nVidia UI for their customers. Additionally, nVidia partners such as ABit, EVGA, BFG, and others also licensed WindowBlinds to include with their video cards.
Nintendo is currently using WindowBlinds to promote the Nintendo Gamecube and their games such as Super Mario Sunchine, Pikmin, Legend of Zelda, and others.
Today, WindowBlinds has an estimated installed base of over 8 million users worldwide. It is one of the most popular programs of all time time on C-net's Download.com (the world's most popular download site) and the world's most popular desktop enhancement program. It has thousands of visual styles (skins) created for it with new ones appearing every day from people from around the world. It is used both by consumers and corporations alike. For consumers, it lets them personalize Windows to their needs. Corporations use it for branding or to extend the Windows GUI to have additional features needed by individual companies.
Its website is http://www.windowblinds.net. It is $19.95 stand alone but is free to try with a download available on the WindowBlinds website. It is also part of Stardock's Object Desktop suite of desktop enhancements which is $49.95.
If you're a commercial software developer, you can make your application skinnable with DirectSKIN.
The Advantages of WindowBlinds vs. The XP visual style engine |
If you're running Windows XP, WindowBlinds provides significant advantages over the bundled visual styles system.
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