6XGate Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) Current Versions WB: 1.1 Gold VS: 1.0 BETA 2 FF: 1.0 RC1 Works In Progress WB: Whatever is next. VS: 1.0 BETA 3 FF: 1.0 RC2 or Final Hello there boy and girl, today we are going learn how to ... wait, wrong audiance... Today I bring to you the return of Enhanced and pAntoni's Longhorn Alternative (LhA) WindowBlinds skin. This version has many new features and additions. I have made many changes and improvements to this skin, some for the sake of ergonomics, and some for style. Extensions supported by Smooth Alternative for Firefox: CompactMenu SearchButton NewTabOnTabBar Local Install WindowBlinds skin changelog Changes since 1.0 Added a Compact Start Panel substyle for people with 32px icons. Changes since RC1: ... None, RC1 has become Gold. Changes since BETA 3: Fixed Start Button overlay in compact Start Panel substyles. Fixed Vertical Taskbar Buttons in compact Start Panel substyles having black squares in them. Fixed Start Button overlay to display correctly with vertical task bars. Fixed Start Button overlay in "Large Icon Compact Start Panel" substyle not staying on top. I have decided to keep the name Smooth Alternative as the skin and new GUIKit name. This will avoid all copyright concerns completely. Made the shellstyle super thin... or at least as then as it would go... Shunk the task images to match too. Finally found a way to fix the font uglification with Perpixel borders... I hope Stardock fixes this problem... Added Toolbar skin... Y'z Toolbar with bigger buttons comming soon. Changes since BETA 2: Fixed Caption margins to prevent text from overlapping the Max, Min, and Restore buttons. Fixed distortion of the Start button when the Taskbar is placed vertically. Fixed Rollup Size. Change the start button to protrude with both top and bottom taskbars. Fixed bug that caused vertical taskbar buttons to have black boxes in the middle. Moved the shell style to the bottom and restored the original shell style (fixes Control Panel problem) Changed to LogOff, Shutdown, and Undock buttons on the Start Panel to the new style. Changed the Go button to the new style. Changes since Smooth Alternative BETA 1: Changed the file extension of the sub-styles to sss from uis to fix the installation problem. Here is what has changed since Longhorn Alternative 1.5: Anti-aliased window frame corners thanks to WB5's per-pixel borders. Translucent StartPanel with blur effect and smooth rounded corners. Glossy orb Start button. Selection and focused control border color has been changed from orange to blue (I like blue) New per-pixel "Please Wait", Shutdown, and Log Off dialot boxes (with similar classic version) and interlace style full-screen masks. Heavily reoptimized to make it smaller than the original (there was alot of redundent images) Removed any references to Microsoft's Segoe UI Font MSStyle changelog Changes since BETA 1: Changed to Statusbar to match the WindowBlinds skin. Fixed some sizing margins. Added ShellStyle, an alternative, top, shellstyle is included in the Shell\NormalColor folder. Changes since Longhorn Alternerative 1.5: Changed the selection and highlight color from orange to blue Changed the Start button to the Orb used in the WindowBlinds version Changed all Segoe UI font references to Tahoma Changed the hover, active, and pressed Task buttons to a darker shade Removed all substyle and shellstyles at the moment, they will be back. Changelog for Firefox Skin Changes from Default Firefox: Replaced the toolbar icons with Smooth Alternative. The main toolbar buttons use larger icons when placed on the navbar that are much like the StylerTB styler. Made the address box and search box have the SmoothAlt sunken frame and combo button. Replaced the preferences icons with those from Longhorn Pinstrip and Longhorn Alternative. Added a border around the tabbrowser that is the same color as the list/edit box border. Removed the toolbar borders. Somehow lost BETA 1 to 2 changes Changes since BETA 2 Made the FindBar have a toolbar background/appearance. Made the full preference dialog have a toolbar appaearnce and the screen buttons act as simple tabs. Make the Extensions, Themes, and Download Manager windows have the appearance of a toolbar. Replaced most icons with those from the Crystal Clear iconset (like the ones from my desktop theme. Changes since BETA 3 Made the small icons work again on the nav-bar Added Crystal Clear icons to JavaScript console. Enjoy! The VisualStyles: Smooth Alternative WindowBlinds Smooth Alternative MSStyle The Add-Ons: Smooth Alternative StylerToolbar Smooth Alternative DesktopX Calendar Smooth Alternative Wallpaper Pack Smooth Alternative Logon Smooth Alternative ObjectDock Background Smooth Alternative Firefox Skin Smooth Alternative WinAmp Skin by Gelosea Edited February 10, 2006 by 6XGate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ConfusedFusion Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Thats one good looking VS, gr8 job bro! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stadsport Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 It's gorgeous, but why no msstyles version? Is a future port a possibility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6XGate Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 I will try to contact Krezno, who did the original Longhorn Alternative port to Microsoft's VisualStyle format, but I don't have any real means to do this myself. It's gorgeous, but why no msstyles version? Is a future port a possibility? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamushroom Veteran Posted January 19, 2006 Veteran Share Posted January 19, 2006 Awesome! :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelgenX Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 If you seen any of my previous posts, you may notice that I absolutely hate all the vista mods coming out, because they are all the same, nothing much changed from a previous version. I have to honestly say, this is the best looking vista theme I've seen, ever. But one thing. WHY NOT A ****ING MSSTYLE MAN!? More people use MSStyle than WB5 (because it's free to use MSStyles now.) Sorry to sound rude, but I hate when this happens. If you were going to get it ported in the first place, you should have released them simultaneously. EXCELLENT WORK nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martin10018 Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Maybe you should put this thread in the WindowBlinds subforum? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6XGate Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 Dude read two posts up... I already stated my position on an MSStyle. I would love to have a port of it, but I am unsure if I will, the original LhA still has the problems that caused Microsoft to ask Enhanced to remove it. If you seen any of my previous posts, you may notice that I absolutely hate all the vista mods coming out, because they are all the same, nothing much changed from a previous version. I have to honestly say, this is the best looking vista theme I've seen, ever. But one thing. WHY NOT A ****ING MSSTYLE MAN!? More people use MSStyle than WB5 (because it's free to use MSStyles now.) Sorry to sound rude, but I hate when this happens. If you were going to get it ported in the first place, you should have released them simultaneously. EXCELLENT WORK nonetheless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwob Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 That vstyle looks great, but I'm not a windowsblind user, nor do I intend to be :( Hopefully a .msstlyes version will appear soon... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamushroom Veteran Posted January 19, 2006 Veteran Share Posted January 19, 2006 (edited) It doesnt work o_O It does show up in my skin list but with no preview. :s Other skins do work. Edit: Changed some stuff, file extentions didn't seem to be right. But anyways it's working now. What an awesome update! :woot: Edited January 19, 2006 by Capric0rn Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahamus Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 It doesnt work o_O It does show up in my skin list but with no preview. :s Other skins do work. Edit: Changed some stuff, file extentions didn't seem to be right. But anyways it's working now. What an awesome update! :woot: What did you do to get it to work? All I get is this... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Master Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Looks very very nice 6XGate. I've always loved LHA and I'm glad it will be updated for wb5. Any plans for a translucent taskbar substyle or smooth shadows around windows ? Good luck man !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aviii Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 i downloaded it but there seems some problem with the file perhaps..it didnt installed correctly...it looks gr8 but cant install anyway.. nice work Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 If you seen any of my previous posts, you may notice that I absolutely hate all the vista mods coming out, because they are all the same, nothing much changed from a previous version. I have to honestly say, this is the best looking vista theme I've seen, ever. But one thing. WHY NOT A ****ING MSSTYLE MAN!? More people use MSStyle than WB5 (because it's free to use MSStyles now.) Sorry to sound rude, but I hate when this happens. If you were going to get it ported in the first place, you should have released them simultaneously. EXCELLENT WORK nonetheless. whoa, for starters, maybe on Neowin, more people use msstyles (maybe), but I don't believe that overall that is the case. Most people I know in person use Windowblinds over msstyles, but that's not even the problem. There is NO REASON why this should have been ported to msstyles before being released. What about the msstyles not ported to Windowblinds. You don't see me on every one of those threads yelling at the artists because they didn't take my preferences into consideration. Quit whining. If you want to use this, either wait for a possible port, or just use Windowblinds. End of story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6XGate Posted January 19, 2006 Author Share Posted January 19, 2006 Neither. The shadows mess up the resize handle positions, and the translucent Taskbar looks ugly on the light version, but there is still the Dark version. Looks very very nice 6XGate. I've always loved LHA and I'm glad it will be updated for wb5. Any plans for a translucent taskbar substyle or smooth shadows around windows ? Good luck man !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamushroom Veteran Posted January 19, 2006 Veteran Share Posted January 19, 2006 6XGate did you check your PM? :whistle: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Master Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 It doesnt work o_O It does show up in my skin list but with no preview. :s Other skins do work. Edit: Changed some stuff, file extentions didn't seem to be right. But anyways it's working now. What an awesome update! :woot: Capric0rn, what do I have to do to make this work. I tried changing the folder to Smooth Alternative, but then it totally doesn't show up in windowblinds config? Can you help me out here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jahamus Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Looks pretty good. I've got some questions... Can this be made so that the text doesn't overlap the min/max buttons? Is it possible to get a top taskbar made? Are the buttons supposed to look like this? Last one... Is this my computer or the skin? Thanks for the great skin! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slimy Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 imho, the bar at the top of explorer takes up way too much space. It should be cut down a bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toadeater Posted January 19, 2006 Share Posted January 19, 2006 Dude read two posts up... I already stated my position on an MSStyle. I would love to have a port of it, but I am unsure if I will, the original LhA still has the problems that caused Microsoft to ask Enhanced to remove it. I've said this before, but here it is again, just in case... MS doesn't have any right to ask you to do that. If you drew the visual style by hand, there is no infringement of copyright. There is no such thing as copyright of a GUI's visual appearance, unless it is a trademarked symbol that you use for counterfeiting purposes. MS has itself to thank for that when it copied the Mac OS. Apple sued them for copyright infringement and lost. The court ruled that GUI appearance is not the same as "trade dress." Visual styles aren't even competing products, you are making something to be used within Windows. MS's claim is laughable considering this. Does MS now think it can govern how Windows appears on an individual's computer? http://www.cyberlaw.com/cylw994.html If MS tells you that you have to remove a visual style because it looks similar to Vista, they are flat out lying. If you ripped bitmaps out of Vista directly, that's different, you are distributing stolen property. If you are harassed by MS legal thugs again in the future, contact the EFF. http://www.eff.org/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phot0nic Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 did LhA getting pulled have something to do with it including segoeUI? because that's the only thing I can think of that was really "stolen" from Microsoft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodkelly Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 good work for a beta man, I'm glad to see this getting worked on again. Couple of things I noticed: 1. I had to rename the window blinds insatll folder to "smooth alternative" to get this to work at all 2. Don't forget about the start button needing to be on the bottom of the task bar when the task bar is at the top of the screen 3. Full size menu option please (I can always change that myself though) 4. I'm getting magic pink in the top corners for some reason (where the alpha blending should be) thanks again! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osirisX Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Very nice WB skin. Would love for it to be ported to MSSTYLES, but oh well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nolimit05 Posted January 20, 2006 Share Posted January 20, 2006 Very nice WB skin. Would love for it to be ported to MSSTYLES, but oh well. Ditto to that :cool: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
6XGate Posted January 20, 2006 Author Share Posted January 20, 2006 I have changed the sub-style extension to fix the problems with installation and it should also fix the other problems. Not to the guy asking about the full start menu options, note my screenshot, SkinStudio left it out. Hope this fixes those issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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