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

Thats one good looking VS, gr8 job bro!

It's gorgeous, but why no msstyles version? Is a future port a possibility?

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.

Awesome!

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.

Maybe you should put this thread in the WindowBlinds subforum?

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.

That vstyle looks great, but I'm not a windowsblind user, nor do I intend to be

Hopefully a .msstlyes version will appear soon...

It doesnt work o_O
It does show up in my skin list but with no preview.
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!

What did you do to get it to work? All I get is this...

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 !!

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

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.

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.

6XGate did you check your PM?

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?

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!

imho, the bar at the top of explorer takes up way too much space. It should be cut down a bit.

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/

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.

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!

Very nice WB skin. Would love for it to be ported to MSSTYLES, but oh well.

Ditto to that

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.

Great start, obviously still needs a bit of work, but i will keep my eye on you. Thanks for all the hard work!

I'd also like a full start menu.

and better AA on the window borders

6XGate, did you read my request yet?

I just posted the properly working version that has the full Start Panel. It is labelled "Standard Start Panel". As far as the AA goes... editor program did that.

This is good!, I will keep my eyes on it and download it when I get onto my own PC.

ditto! Nice!

hm sweet skin even better than the original

im wondering, any plans on a styler toolbar? or Yz toolbar...like in the original version?

Capric0rn, nice WA skin

something i'm working on, miranda skin

Nice Clist AgonitE

Great Skin!
i have two requests -

first (a bug perhaps) - i think the rollup value is set up wrong, because when windows are rolled up - this is what they look like
second request (has been mentioned before) - a substyle for top taskbars - so the start button is protruding downwards.

@AgonitE - nice, waiting for release...

I don't know about a Styler skin since the last time I installed Styler it fried my WindowBlinds installation. I had to uninstall Styler, then uninstall and reinstall WindowBlinds. What a mess. The Y'z Toolbar theme (seen in the screenshot) will be updated for the new look (glossier buttons) as well as a native WindowBlinds toolbar theme. If anyone knows why Style would fry a WB install, please tell me.

I could try and make a Styler toolbar.

n/m... Since it still had the settings from my last install to use only the toolbar mode, it didn't mess up my WindowBlinds install. I know it did something to the settings the first time, but still don't know what. I will probably work on a Styler them for it tomorrow or this weekend since I just bought the Toolbar only version of Styler.

For now, you could use this styler toolbar
http://www.deviantart.com/view/27468303/

Much better, thanks for turning this around as fast as you did. Note to everyone to make sure you clean out the previous installations first then install this one.

LHA was and still is one of my favorite themes of all time. I'm glad to see that the theme is being revised so that it can be brought back from the dead.

A few comments on what I have seen so far -

- I would love to see a Styler Toolbar for this updated release. Glad to see that it is being considered.
- The smaller shellstyle is great, but I think it would look better if it were a few pixels thinner.
- The new start button globe is a great idea. Any chance the taskbar can be a few pixels thicker. It just doesn't look right at the moment or maybe I am just too used to using Kol's VistaXP
- I prefer the taskbar tray chevron from Krezno's MSStyle Port and feel it would look better if the taskbar thickness was increased.

Oh and thanks for the updated theme package. It installed just fine this time without having to rename files and make changes to others

Nice, when I get home I'll post 2 screenshots from the winamp skins that i'm working on.

This is one of the skins that i'm working on to match the Smooth Alternative Windowblinds skin:



Smooth Alternative Light
I'm working on a Dark version aswell.

Please note to anyone designing skins for Smooth Alternative. I am planning to change the style of the toolbar buttons from the original. Please wait until I release the Styler and Y'z Toolbar themes and the toolbar skin from WindowBlinds before releasing any skins for other applications.

Plus the Dark and Xtra versions of the skin will go under similar chagnes as the light version/

I'm not planning on releasing it yet casue it's not done yet and I dont have permission yet
I just thought about showing others something that i'm working on

i wont release anything till the final skin is done so i can update stuff

thing I dont like is how you cant go all the way to the top right and hit the X. Gotta actually hit it was way used to default XP luna theme.

nice work!!!
keep up the good work!!!

wow!! didnt see there was a beta..I'm using it and it looks great!! I like it

As posted earlier in the thread, a top taskbar w/out a cut-off start button would be appreciated...

Well folks I am currently working on a StylerToolbar for Smooth Alternative and need to replace a few things, but the next release will be before Monday most likely, so keep your fingers crossed.

NICE!