I'm not a themer, but I am somewhat savvy with photoshop. Attached is a quick mockup I did of some ideas for a Visual Style. Works with the wallpaper in as far inspiration. Aero, Royal, Watercolor... but different.

"A little bit of Whistler, a little bit of Aero, a whole lot of sexy" is the idea.

i like the idea for the wallpaper in your mockup care to post it?

that actually looks really nice. I'm not too keen on the start button though..I would like to see what this develops into

The start button was bugging me so I went with that. I'm looking for anyone wanting to help. Call it a desperate cry for an a new Visual Style

I am in secks with the taskbar.

wow. looks nice.

yeah, very nice

I love it

Just a concept of a window and a shift in color.

nice concept! love the shellstyle.

I love the way people love mockups.

U shoould know whats possible in a vs and whats not before u go posting Vs mockups

Some nice ideas, but implementation is another thing

Example, its not possible to keep the text within the blue area on left in msstyles.

and the shell...well.. it would be the only vertical and horizontal one ive seen thus far.

Not trying to be negative just trying to point out that .msstyles are not very flexible, maybe a WB could come out of this.

having said that, id be up for something along these lines.

Something fresh indeed.

My Msn is in my profile.

No offense winswy, it seems like everytime a mockup is made you're quick to deliver bad news on what wont work..

Nice mockup

just being realistic, i also offered to help.

Eh, not possible? Start/Run/MMC - Viola, both vertical and horizontal. Not currently used? Correct, but not impossible. Its a mock up, things aren't going to be 100% working model.

Looks good, post the wallpaper, make a dark version

i actually think the start button and task bar is great. (the clock section is absolutely ingenious)

BUT, seems like the caption window and the min, max, and close buttons are sexy enough for it.

Im sorry i thought u were asking for a themers help, i must have misunderstood.

What exactly were u gonna do in the MS Mgmt. Console that pertains to what i pointed out?

What I was refering to MMC for was that the shellstyle I made (granted, its completely fake and hypothetical) should be possible. Attached is a screenshot from the original Whistler, which as we know later became Windows XP. If it was in the old code, it can't be that hard (shouldn't be at least) to mimic in the new msstyle format. I'm not saying it *can definately* be done. I merely put forth the ideas I was aiming for.

Whistler had excellent areas in UI design that they dropped in favor of Luna. I'm wanting to take a flavor of Aero & Royal and apply it with the best parts of Whistler.

I have only attempted making an MSStyle once before, "Carbon" and was not impressed with the result. I'm hoping someone can take the mockup and run with it. I see several themes, currently Bant's 2005 Luna mod that has elements that lend towards it.

More to a point, because I don't want it to seem I'm flaming or baiting one. Text isn't easy to relay expression. I'm not taking it as negative, just looking for help on making a theme and hopefully -- and more importantly -- ideas. Foood put up some elements on the Aero-Soft board that seem appealing.

1. The blue area, I know about. When Yt and DeadZombie worked on Quantum, I discovered this hinderance (heck, even Trillian 1/2 has this issue). The caption bar is "ok". I just wanted to get something in my head beyond just a taskbar and wallpaper. Its looking a little too Royalish for my taste and think it needs a dose of Aero (but NOT to the point its another Inspirat mod) and hopefully incorporate the famous Watercolor squares. But then, Royal + Squares looks an aweful lot like the old Metal visual style that was posted on here last year.

2. As I said, the shell style is what I'm aiming for but can be changed. One I'm thinking of is using the Aero style shellstyle but with the blue colors and setup like I have displayed --- but I'd also like to offer the generic vertical shellstyle.

These things do need to be fixed. Once you get it to a point where it's possible to do I'll throw it together into a VS for you if no one else will.

Nice work. Looks great. I'm not big into form over function, so having the start button take up so much room is a bit of a pain. Looks nice though.

You know, I see something here. Not nessesarily in the way you posted it, but I see something.

Mind if I run with it after my mocks are over?

I like it

Yea I like it too, looks quite nice.

I would love if windows looked like your mock up or that whistler

The first one is amazing. Please make it real

this is the win!
YOU GET OWNAGE POINTS FOR MAKING COOL STUFFS LIKE THIS.

seriously, i like the shellstyle, but yeah, kinda hard to accomplish.

wow realy cute!!!
it's interesting seeing ppl having originality like that

man i love this even tho i am a macfanboy, this will make me want to switch!

change startbutton

"Change startbutton" ---- to? Need more input than that

make it smaller width wise

so instead of

--------------
l start l
--------------

this would be better
--------
l start l
--------

dont write start keep the windows flag

i like it as it is

ah god! I WANT IT

Looks great! I wouldn't mind a smaller Start button... that does seem a bit wide.

As it rests right now, me and Winswy are moving along, though he's waiting on more graphics from me.

Taskbar live screenshot.

Could a moderator change it to [WiP] instead of Idea. We're moving along. Sneak peek at start menu

Yes it may surprise some of you that i can also make non-maximalistic VS's.

Who would have known?



This is going to be a good one.

^^ I was surprised after Cinnawin Looking good

Very nice! I wish I could get photoshop and stylebuilder working again...been itching to theme again...

The only thing I can think of is to shrink the start button width wise, other wise it looks very nice!

working again??

Looking good fellas, that start menu pwnz. You should add the "start" text on the start button though.

I love the taskbar, but i am not too keen on the explorer windows. i think a much more streamlined thinner caption bar would go much better with the streamlined feel of the taskbar. the taskbar seems to look very thin because of the start button, despite the fact it is normal thickness(which i love), but the caption bar seems chunky.

lookin good

The caption bar at least to this point is actually thinner than Luna.

Very Nice .. I Agree That Thinner Caption Bars Would Look Nice ... Cant Wait Till This Is Done

Love the start button, I agree that the Windows Flag should be placed in lieu of the "Start" word. I was thinking a start menu similar to b0se's Codename: OpusOS3.0 - that is with a solid colour on the right half with a thin layer which wraps around a lighter coloured "frequently used programs" menu on the left.

Keep working on it! It's gonna be good, no matter what you do!

Love the way the startbutton looks. I hope you stay closer to the monochrome look rather than all thoes colors

what happened to this after all? is it being made?

Is anyone still designing/making this. This VS shows a lot of potential and I can't really think of anything more you could do exept make it into a VS.
Good Luck

College let out for the winter and I was getting lovin's from a chix0r. Muahaha. I plan to get back with vStyler if he's still interested.