Skinning Windows 7 video demo

[Frogboy Administrators]

If you're into Windows customization, skinning Windows has usually meant picking between WindowBlinds and uxtheme patching.

If you picked WindowBlinds, you had to use WindowBlinds skins. And while there are a LOT of skins out there, a lot of those skins were pretty wild and crazy and some people just didn't like those styles.

If you picked uxtheme patching, you had to (especially with Vista and Windows 7) sift through a lot of skins whose changes to Aero were so subtle as to be painful -- and that was after you had already put through the effort of patching a system file which isn't always popular.

Enter WindowBlinds 7, scheduled for release this month.

It's designed to combine the best of both worlds. Besides being able to apply existing WindowBlinds skins, convert XP msstyles over it also can now natively skin Aero.

So if you wanted to have a brushed metal Aero you can have it. And it's still Aero. Making such skins, not surprisingly, takes minutes instead of days. Indeed, users can simply choose an existing texture and color and apply it.

Here's a quickie Screencast demo of it so you can see it in action:

[Video]

WindowBlinds 7 is in beta on Object Desktop right now.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

Oh wow, that is nice :yes:

I am definitely a minimalistic type of person, the colours and textures is definitely enough for me :D

Can't wait to test this out!

[Bubbabyte]

WB7 has come a long way and it continues to get better every beta.. good work guys.

[Frogboy Administrators]

Here's a video on how fast skin changing is:

http://screencast.com/t/NW5MG2UID

[Buendia]

It looks great! I hope it's not resource hog (I haven't actually used WindowsBlinds ever).

[Unrealistic]

Here's a video on how fast skin changing is:

http://screencast.com/t/NW5MG2UID

I didn't finish the video, so sorry if this is a stupid question, but is this speed for Aero derivatives only or for any theme? It was quite impressive.

Also, I wish you guys would let Non-Object Desktop subscribers be on this beta. I'd be happy to shell out the money right now for WB 7 Beta 3.

[Island Dog]

It looks great! I hope it's not resource hog (I haven't actually used WindowsBlinds ever).

Resources aren't affected. That ended sometime ago. :)

[Bubbabyte]

As much as i love WB and my OD subscription I'm still let down by the amount of quality WB skins. Sure there are a few decent ones bundled with WB7, but the majority of useable skins are for sale for $5 a pop. There isn't many free skins that are even worth the bandwidth atm. I really hope this changes in the future, even if stardock has to hire a few people to push out some free skins, but everything now is either a masterskin which costs money or a free skin with a wincustomize subscription which costs money, it's kinda BS imo to have to pay for a product only to pay for more product.

[Frogboy Administrators]

, it's kinda BS imo to have to pay for a product only to pay for more product.

I feel the same way every time I have to purchase software for Windows 7. :)

[Bubbabyte]

Come on now Frogboy.. that's like apples and oranges. I mean it would be one thing if WB has plugins you could purchase to add functionality, but comparing software to skins just doesn't make any sense. If i purchase software to burn discs, it's providing me with that function, if i purchase a skin it's doing what every other free skin does.

Anyway, that's my only complain/suggestion is to have more nice skins available to people so that there is a desire to want to purchase WB. Cause i think that is a HUGE drawback for people considering it, they know that by purchasing it their just gonna have to purchase more stuff to get what they want.

[Island Dog]

There are plenty of good, free skins out there if you take the time to look. :)

[Bubbabyte]

I know your stance with stardock Island dog and i'm not dissrespecting you or the product but your opinion is incredibly biased. You post WB skins on this forum all the time that are horrible in an attempt to promote WB. I'm not knocking it, just saying that your opinion on what is "good" is biased. Things with WB are changing for the good, I love the direction its taking i'm just saying that if stardock wants to grow it's fanbase you're gonna need alot more "free" talent. You may think the crowd here on neowin just wants simplified, minimalistic skins etc.. and you may be right, but these are the same people that you continue to try to win over to purchase WB so why not cater to a wider audience. If you're up for a challenge then i would like to challenge you to find 10 "free" skins on wincustomize that people here would agree are great skins. Now it doesn't matter if the people at WC think the skins are the best thing since sliced bread, you already won them over, try to widen that audience.

[Unrealistic]

I feel the same way every time I have to purchase software for Windows 7. :)

Funny thing there Brad. You're software isn't a full fledged Operating System. It skins objects and controls wallpaper. Also, there are plenty of wonderful free products for Windows XP/Vista/7. Quite honestly, the only products I use that aren't free are recording/editing software for music. If you look hard enough, you can find quality products that do the job.

I know you think so highly of your software, but Windowblinds is not the most technical piece of software out there. To this day it still doesn't do the things I would like it to do, and since Vista came out you have neglected the software. I am glad you are working on it now, but I am also extremely satisfied to know I did not support your products these past few years, because quite frankly I would have been completely disappointed.

I know your stance with stardock Island dog and i'm not dissrespecting you or the product but your opinion is incredibly biased. You post WB skins on this forum all the time that are horrible in an attempt to promote WB. I'm not knocking it, just saying that your opinion on what is "good" is biased. Things with WB are changing for the good, I love the direction its taking i'm just saying that if stardock wants to grow it's fanbase you're gonna need alot more "free" talent. You may think the crowd here on neowin just wants simplified, minimalistic skins etc.. and you may be right, but these are the same people that you continue to try to win over to purchase WB so why not cater to a wider audience. If you're up for a challenge then i would like to challenge you to find 10 "free" skins on wincustomize that people here would agree are great skins. Now it doesn't matter if the people at WC think the skins are the best thing since sliced bread, you already won them over, try to widen that audience.

I guess he couldn't take up your challenge....

Also, can someone answer my question about the video?

[giannisgx89]

I know your stance with stardock Island dog and i'm not dissrespecting you or the product but your opinion is incredibly biased. You post WB skins on this forum all the time that are horrible in an attempt to promote WB. I'm not knocking it, just saying that your opinion on what is "good" is biased. Things with WB are changing for the good, I love the direction its taking i'm just saying that if stardock wants to grow it's fanbase you're gonna need alot more "free" talent. You may think the crowd here on neowin just wants simplified, minimalistic skins etc.. and you may be right, but these are the same people that you continue to try to win over to purchase WB so why not cater to a wider audience. If you're up for a challenge then i would like to challenge you to find 10 "free" skins on wincustomize that people here would agree are great skins. Now it doesn't matter if the people at WC think the skins are the best thing since sliced bread, you already won them over, try to widen that audience.

I think that only the StarDock Design makes the best skins that are very usable and nicely made!!!!!

[Island Dog]

If you're up for a challenge then i would like to challenge you to find 10 "free" skins on wincustomize that people here would agree are great skins

The skins I post here are very popular in and out of WinCustomize. They are posted at other sites by the creators or myself and get a totally different response then they do at Neowin. Lets be completely honest here, you can't post a WB skin here and expect it to get a fair shake by most people.

[Island Dog]

Also, can someone answer my question about the video?

The UIS0 skins are much quicker than others, because they are essentially "native" skins. Other skins, such as UIS2, which most past skins are at this moment, are still very quick and have improved greatly with WB7.

[Bubbabyte]

The skins I post here are very popular in and out of WinCustomize. They are posted at other sites by the creators or myself and get a totally different response then they do at Neowin. Lets be completely honest here, you can't post a WB skin here and expect it to get a fair shake by most people.

But that's exactly what i'm trying to get at. You already have the wincustomize crowd, they love the skins that are posted and continue to be supporters, but you need to think, or in this case "skin" outside the box. It's not fair at all to say that the neowin crowd wouldn't give it a fair shake, people here just have different visual tastes, as do the people at WC. Often times they don't give a skin a fair and unbiased shake. I've seen people on WC go ape**** over a skin that looks god aweful, but they like it so it's a win/win for both the product and WC support. However posting skins elsewhere, such as here, or deviantart where, let's be honest, people have a bit more knowledge/feel for good design and graphics etc. So why not try to win them over, that's my point. Stardock needs to hire some people to make all kinds of skins, not just minimalistic ones, not just bulky ones.. but all sorts to try to broaden the fanbase. Like i said before, there really isn't much out there in the way of free skins that would motivate the average user (outside of WC) to buy WB, and it's a shame because it's a great product.

I'm not trying to come down on you Island Dog, I'm all for team stardock and it's products, but you really need to start listening to people's needs/wants outside of your own setup at WC.

[Frogboy Administrators]

There is a pinned topic where I display 10 skins for Neowin users:

https://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=178075

It's getting a little dated now but there are plenty of good skins for WindowBlinds.

Neowin has more than its fair share of griefers who just like to poop on anything. I would know as I get to see both sides intimately every day. :)

At the end of the day, the popularity of WindowBlinds both from a shareware perspective (number of users) as well as from a financial point of view indicates that it's doing pretty well. There's really no competition for it at this point which implies that it must be doing something right.

I do think, on a personal level, that WindowBlinds 7 had to have UIS0 (Aero skinning) to keep being relevant to a fairly large segment. When you're losing me as a user, that's obviously not a good thing for the program. But Aero skinning has revitalized WindowBlinds for me. I can make Aero look like whatever I want in seconds and it kinds of makes moot the whole "WB skins are ugly" argument.