WindowBlinds
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
WindowBlinds is a computer program that allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface. It has been developed by Stardock since 1998, and is the most popular component of their flagship software suite, Object Desktop. It is also available separately, and as an ActiveX/COM component called DirectSkin. Now in its fifth version, it supports alpha blending effects similar to the compositing of Windows Vista, but on Windows XP.
WindowBlinds has been downloaded over 10 million times[1][2] and was voted "Best Vertical Market Program or Utility" in the 2006 Shareware Industry Awards Foundation People's Choice Awards[3]. As of June 2006 there were over 3800 WindowBlinds skins available at WinCustomize, with an average of nine being added per week; another popular repository is deviantART.
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[edit] Skin formats
WindowBlinds skins come in two formats - "Basic" (or UIS1+) and "Advanced" (or UIS2):
[edit] Basic (UIS1+)
The Basic skin format can, despite its name, be used to create fully-featured skins, and it is still used today. The main limitation is that skin borders may only be "standard" sizes (four pixels wide for most of the side borders). This restriction was significantly relaxed when skin metrics — adjustments to using the standard Windows methods — were introduced, allowing changes to (among other things) the standard height of the titlebar. It is also only possible to put buttons on the titlebar, and scripting and titlebar background animation are not supported.
The advantages of UIS1+ are performance — Stardock has claimed that a UIS1+ version of the Windows XP Luna visual style is twice as fast as the original in repaint and resizing — and compatibility. Most msstyles can be converted to a UIS1+ skin.
[edit] Advanced (UIS2)
The Advanced skin format is provided for when a skin design cannot fit into the above restrictions. Typically these skins may have wider borders in some places, or none at all. They may also feature titlebar background animation, or the use of scripting features.
This format offers maximum flexibility at the cost of slightly reduced performance (as compared to UIS1+), and potentially more chance of incompatibility with applications. Some UIS2 skins include a UIS1+ subskin - if problems occur, this subskin may be substituted as a per-app skin.
[edit] History
WindowBlinds started in 1998 when lead developer Neil Banfield teamed up with Stardock. Stardock was looking for a developer to create a window skinning application, and Banfield had already created an app that he called Window Blinds in 1997. Previous attempts by Stardock had included Object Look, a minimal skinning application, and WindowFX, an application written in Delphi. That name would later be reused for WindowFX, also created by Banfield. For a short time there was also a scaled-back version of the original Window Blinds called WBLiteFX, a name which was still present in WindowBlinds registry settings as of May 2006.
WindowBlinds (now rebranded as one word) quickly made its way to a 1.0 release, driven by the requests of users to add "freeform skinning" (customizable window border shapes), sounds, and animation. Scrollbars, the task bar, the start button, menu items, the menu itself, and other GUI elements were added later.[4]
WindowBlinds 2 was a major redesign in C++ that added the following features:
- The "Basic" (UIS 1+) format, which offered greater program compatibility in exchanged for a restricted feature set.[5]
- Compound skins (later known as subskins) which made it easier to provide alternative versions of a skin—for example, a Macintosh skin could now have two subskins to offer control buttons at the left or right of the window.
- User skin recolouring.
- Scripting, though this was not widely used.
- Font and colour sections for specific controls and states.
- Support for additional controls.
At this time, BuilderBlinds—re-branded as SkinStudio in February 2001—became a popular tool, as it enabled artists to create skins without spending a deal of time learning the intricacies of the UIS format. It also allowed experienced users to avoid trivial errors.
WindowBlinds 3 accompanied the release of Windows XP, which contained its own skinning system called visual styles. It was thought that visual styles might deal a blow to commercial skinning systems. This proved not to be the case; in fact, sales of WindowBlinds rose, buoyed by a new set of users who had seen the changes offered by visual styles and wanted more. Even after modifications known as uxtheme hacks (named after the file they modified, uxtheme.dll) became available, WindowBlinds remained popular, since it had additional features that visual styles did not.
However, the program still contained flaws. WindowBlinds 3 had many new features, but with new features came new bugs, such as some which caused compatibility problems. Additionally, performance was suboptimal. Interim releases addressed these issues and provided for those areas of the Windows XP user interface that could not initially be skinned.
By the time WindowBlinds 4 arrived, there were fewer problems, due in part to an increased focus on stability for DirectSkin clients. In addition, SkinStudio now provided a method to import the Microsoft msstyles format.
WindowBlinds 4.6 was released in August 2005, with the addition of mouseover "translucent glow" effects for the titlebar buttons, push buttons and other controls. Windowblinds 4.6 has now been renamed WindowBlinds Classic, and is meant for non-XP Windows versions, which cannot run the new Windowblinds 5.
WindowBlinds 5, released in November 2005, extends translucency through per pixel alpha blending to the entire window frame, including the borders and taskbar.
[edit] Competitors
WindowBlinds has had many competitors over the years. Initially, it was not clear which skinning program would be the most popular, and there was active competition between the programs from 1999 to early 2001. Most are still around, but they have generally faded in popularity, since WindowBlinds can alter more GUI elements.
[edit] eFX
eFX was a popular program made by Thirty4 Interactive that claimed to be the first skinning engine to offer freeform skinning. However, development stopped at eFX 0.40 when the program was sold to Akami Design in 1999. Many eFX skins were hosted at skinz.org, a very popular skinning website which had been founded for that specific purpose.
[edit] Illumination
Illumination was written in Delphi, initially released on 1 November 1998 and open-sourced under the GPL in March 1999. It was notable for supporting early KDE themes. The most recent release was in January 2001.
[edit] Chroma
Chroma was a technically sophisticated skinning program by Thematic Software. First released 15 May 1999, it quickly proved to be flexible; later versions used a skin definition language called Chromumll. However, it was perceived as difficult to use, resulting in a low number of skins. The last release was in August 2000, possibly due to a server crash in September, or perhaps in fear of competition from the impending release of Windows XP.
[edit] CustomEyes and ShellWM
CustomEyes, first released in December 1999, was a skinning program that progressed slowly, only reaching a 0.3 beta. It was effectively abandoned in late 2000 but open-sourced in October 2001. This led to the foundation of a project called ShellWM in 2002, which was intended to be the window-skinning sidekick to a variety of shell replacements. It was therefore restricted to titlebar skinning, although skinned menu backgrounds have also been shown in screenshots. In late 2004, ShellWM was itself forked into BB4WinSkin after a period of inactivity. As the fork had not been previously discussed, this resulted in a further loss of interest on the part of the main developer.
[edit] msstyles and StyleXP
With the release of Windows XP, a new option for skinning was made available: msstyles, the format used by the XP skinning engine. These were not intended to be usable by end-users—themes were checked for a digital signature to prevent unsigned msstyles from being loaded at all, though this protection was broken before release. Initially, only patched DLLs were available, but eventually a company called TGT Soft created a product called StyleXP to perform the patching. Early versions simply applied the patch; later versions employed a system service to do the same.
[edit] Skin design
The popularity of various designs has changed along with the skinning community. Initially, remakes (or ports) of older operating systems like BeOS and AmigaOS were very popular. Users then began to explore the potential of such features as freeform skinning, titlebar animation, and scripting, resulting in a number of unique skins.
When Mac OS X was announced, its Aqua visual style was the subject of numerous ports, some of a high quality. This was displeasing to Apple, as it did not like the misappropriation of its brand, and several skins were taken down at the company's request. Similarly, the run-up to the release of Windows XP resulted in many Luna skins. Skins with XP in the title were very popular that year. With the upcoming release of Windows Vista, numerous skins have been created to replicate Vista's GUI. Microsoft has not been hesitant to step in and take legal action.
Along with the popularity of OS-themed skins, recent years have seen an increased demand for original interfaces which follow a similarly professional design philosophy. Many artists have captured the sleek, smooth style of modern operating systems in their own completely original designs, offering skins which rival the quality and completeness of even the most modern of GUIs. Similarly, the "minimalistic" approach to interface design has gained a tremendous following, largely bolstered by the support of the screenshot scene. Skins with a clean, simplistic aesthetic have been well received in both msstyle and WindowBlinds formats.
[edit] References
- ^ WindowBlinds reaches 10 million download mark!, Stardock News, March 28 2006
- ^ WindowBlinds at Download.com
- ^ Shareware Spotlight Featuring People's Choice Awards Winners, Tucows, 19 July 2006
- ^ WindowBlinds 2 Overview - describes WB 1 and WB 2 features
- ^ WindowBlinds Skin Formats - UIS1+ and UIS2
[edit] External links
- Official site
- Skins for WindowBlinds at WinCustomize.com
- A very old Window Blinds site (ca. 1998)
- SkinBench, an open skin benchmarking program
- deviantART Gallery
| Stardock line of products | |
|---|---|
| Object Desktop Products | DesktopX | IconPackager | ObjectBar | SkinStudio | WindowBlinds | WindowFX |
| TotalGaming.net Games (developed, published) | BreakQuest | Chrome SpecForce | Corporate Machine | Disciples II | Earth 2150 | Flatspace | Galactic Civilizations | GalCiv II: Dread Lords | Gish | Jets'n'Guns | Knights and Merchants | O.R.B | Pizza Frenzy | Political Machine | Reaktor | Society | Trash | Uplink | WordWars | Xeno Assault II |
| WinCustomize Products | BootSkin | Desktop Pet | Natural Desktop | ObjectDock |
| Other Products | DirectSkin | Stardock Central | TweakVista | StyleVista | ThinkDesk (Multiplicity) |
