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[knickelfarz]

Some people might think "this is not a skin, this is boring"... but I know some people are eagerly waiting for something like this...
There is not much more to say about it - it's just made to look as close to the standard windows GUI as possible. Compared to a "normal" windows application, there are three restrictions:

• No "application focus": MC 9.1 will always look like an "active" application...by switching to another application/task, the "window bar" of MC will not "gray out". Maybe this will be possible with future versions of MC...
• A skin can not really adapt to different fontsizes - this will shift some elements of the skin.

The "WinDoze" skins are optimized for 8 point if not described different.
I think "Tahoma 8 point" is the standard font setting of windows (and even MC) after installing it, and most people never change this - so I orientated myself by this...

• A skin can not take over the colors from your windows setting...there has to be a different skin for every windows color setting. There are available these versions so far:

WinDozeClassic

Zoom Picture -- Direct Install  for MC 9.1 -- Download ZIP for MC 9.1

Direct Install for MC 11
Download ZIP for MC 11

WinDozeBorderless
Looks like "WinDozeClassic", but without borders - for those who always view MC in fullscreen mode.
Direct Install for MC 9.1 -- Download ZIP for MC 9.1
[/list]WinDozeColdGrey
Similar to "WindozeClassic", but nameless recolored it to show a more pure, cold grey. He also introduced "CD" rating icons.
Zoom Picture -- Direct Install for MC 9.1 -- Download ZIP for MC 9.1

WinDozeMaple

Zoom Picture -- Direct Install for MC 9.1 -- Download ZIP for MC 9.1


Updates for 9.1.313:
Support for new drawing of player bar area, "floating" look for Action Window, support for slider front images, new rating image (stars look).

Please use the links above to update.


If you would like to have "WinDoze" skins with other colors (or for the use with different font sizes), please let me know...maybe you can just post a screenshot of the little windows dialog where the colors are set (If you want to post screenshots of your whole desktop, please post them as links...).


Track Info Templates

If you would like to use the Track Info templates that are shown with the screenshots of the skins, you can get them here:
Direct Install of "MapleOClock" TrackInfo template
Download "MapleOClock" TrackInfo template as ZIP

Direct Install of "ClassicOClock" TrackInfo template
Download "ClassicOClock" TrackInfo template as ZIP

[Rands]

Although I'll never use it (I actually paid for the PixOS skin suite just to make every match MC -- how is THAT for dedication?), I know a few friends who run XP in classic mode and would love this.

Great work!

[Matt]

You rule!

[nameless]

I have found sanity.  And it is called "WinDozeClassic".

THANK YOU, knickelfarz!  I so tremendously hate the "cute" skins that are a pain in the, uhh, "neck" to use!  And you just saved me hours of work.

The grey looks a bit funky (I use RGB 211/211/211), but I guess that's what Microsoft uses by default.  I can change my Windows theme to match, or mod the skin (but not distribute it), if you don't mind.

Very well done!

[nila]

lol - Ugly but clear - XP classic sucks

I upgraded to XP just to get skins

I LOVE your metal one even though u should just call it: iTunesR Us

[nameless]

Ah, yes, and "clear" means an awful lot to people like me.  Skins are evil!  

[nila]

lol.

This is a skin, just not a pretty one

One point - all the line seperators are blue still

[knickelfarz]

You rule!

You rule much more, dude...

 I can change my Windows theme to match, or mod the skin (but not distribute it), if you don't mind.

Please do it, give it a different name and distribute here! Everyone who makes variations is welcome (will save a lot of time for me, I can than concentrate on other skins... )

I LOVE your metal one even though u should just call it: iTunesR Us

I think you are talking about the skin JC made...the "iTunes clone" is great, but not my creation! But I will make another "brushed metal" skin later...without Cupertino touch  

[NoCodeUK]

Knicelfarz you should be up ther on the mountain with Zeus.  Although I love PixOS and would not want to use this I bow to your graphical prowess to be able to actually make it

Adam

[nameless]

Obviously it's a skin, but it's as close as us skin-haters can come to "skinless" with MC9.1.

But next time someone posts a skin, I'll be sure to go in and post how ugly it is. /not

[nila]

U got good art skills
Cant wait till u make some pretty skins

I'm actually getting used to this skin - it has the 'antique' old value to it

Like a skin for an old jukebox type feel

[knickelfarz]

One point - all the line seperators are blue still

Well, maybe you can not remember the "old times", but there was a little bit of color even in the old Windows GUI...

[KingSparta]

Moooo....

[knickelfarz]

Moooo....

He he, I'm just adding some udders...maybe next weekend you can pump up some milk  

[Ingo]

looks great, just like regular win, but behaves like MC (which is different from windows and common for all skinned programmes).

Ingo

[rocketsauce]

Beautiful! When I get around to reinstalling 9.1, I'll definitely be using it. Also, love ClassicOClock even more than BlueOClock.

Thanks!

Rob

Listening to: 'All Around The World (Norty Cotto Club Remix)' from 'Promo Only (2003-05 Mainstream)' by 'Lisa Stansfield' on Media Center 9.0

[gkerber]

I have found sanity.  And it is called "WinDozeClassic".

THANK YOU, knickelfarz!  I so tremendously hate the "cute" skins that are a pain in the, uhh, "neck" to use!  And you just saved me hours of work.

The grey looks a bit funky (I use RGB 211/211/211), but I guess that's what Microsoft uses by default.  I can change my Windows theme to match, or mod the skin (but not distribute it), if you don't mind.

I call the cute stuff part of the AOL'ing of the comptuer world.  I use XPPro in window classic grey, I will love this skin.

[nameless]

I call the cute stuff part of the AOL'ing of the comptuer world.  I use XPPro in window classic grey, I will love this skin.

A good way to put it.  I tend to detest skins more than anyone else I know.  They add complication to programs, they take development time away from more important things, they almost always make the application much harder to use, they add overhead that slows everything down, they make the application use more resources, and they can cause instability.  But yeah, they're "cute".

But, this isn't really a "skin vs. nonskin" thread.  

[gkerber]

A good way to put it.  I tend to detest skins more than anyone else I know.

We must find a way to measure which one of us hates the whole idea of cute skins more...

To me, one of the great things about windows was how standard it was, now with skins, all programs look different and the controls and menus are in different places.  Skins are a step backward IMHO....  But I like this "skinless" skin very much... Thanks for creating it.

[knickelfarz]

There appears to be a bug under the progress bar, where it runs into the areas beneath the player controls and the search box; the frame lines don't quite match up.

Mmh, never saw that, which OS do you use? Has anybody else seen bugs? Please let me know  

[Sam]

I think he may be talking about the horizontal progress bar being too long on both sides.  The ends are visible when the pointer is dragged all the way to the beginning or end.  It probably should extend only as far as the tip of the pointer reaches.

You've done a great job, btw.  One of my PCs runs XP but the interface is in the classic mode (due to the demands of PCAnywhere).  And I kinda like it.

You've got talent.  I'm hoping you'll produce a skin that will be as beautiful as the brushed metal skin.  

[knickelfarz]

Thank you nameless for posting your variation! Well done

By taking a look at your screenshot, I discovered what causes the "bug" you mentioned...you are just using a bigger font size (I guess 10 points)! "WinDoze" goes best with an 8 point font, so using a bigger font will push down the elements in the "head area". Using a smaller font will shrink the height of the "head area", so the variation you made will look like that with 8 point, for example:

If you want to check it out, make sure to restart MC after changing the fontsize for all changes to take place...

This will of course not only happen with this skin...one big point for the "skinhaters" here ...
Maybe I should add that behavior to the "restrictions" of my first post...

[NoCodeUK]

nameless,

Don't know if you have ever seen Red Dwarf but this reminds me of an episode of that show where Rimmer has a clone hologram created and they have an argument over whether the ship should be painted Ocean Grey or Military Grey...  People can be very particular about their greys

If you have never seen Red Dwarf I recommend watching it.  British comedy at its best!!

Adam

[knickelfarz]

SKIN UPDATE

Functionality for "inactive toolbar blend" has been added to support build 9.1.214 - please use the links in the first post of this thread to update.

[knickelfarz]

I made some small updates...

To nameless:
The update should fix your problem with the 120 DPI resolution... Maybe you would like to update your version to get rid of the extra "Playerbar_Display" image
Take a look at my "Playerbar_Display"/"Playerbar_SliderPos" images and the <PLAYERBAR> and <LIST> sections of the "main.xml"

[Marko]

thnx for the updates. those of us on 9.1 need all the variety we can get atm. Nice one.

Nameless, I use your version too, so that applies to you too

Knickelfarz,
How's the "brushed metal" project doing?

[gkerber]

I updated my version for MC 9.1.214 Beta as well (not that anybody was actually using it anyway!):

I'm using it, so is another user who bought MC after she saw my setup.

We like it,  thanks.

[knickelfarz]

How's the "brushed metal" project doing?

I hope I can post it until next week

[zevele10]

knickelfarz

I LOVE YOU

Well ,let say ,i'am speaking about your WinDozeMaple.

All my computer is in this kind of colors/feeling

A GREAT thanks

[knickelfarz]

Nice to see that after all somebody uses the maple version

[zevele10]

My house ,my clothes are in this kind of feeling.

I use feeling,cause i'am a decorator.
This means a kind of family colors.
In this case , it is not only marple color ,but anything from abricot/peache up to dark brown

I did a search to find the Golden Skin-- even if it is not very friendly to eyes , but still better than this blue-

I found your post and was just amaze about the marple skin.
This may help me to find 9,1 easy to use.....who knows?

Again thanks

[zevele10]

knickelfarz

Do not know if you can do it ,but:
As you can see ,on the right of info tracks ,you have this blank spectrum.
Any way to remove it ?
I see that many track info do not have it.

I plan to search for sleves in brown. Next time friends are coming ,they will get only  music with a brown sleeve

[knickelfarz]

As you can see ,on the right of info tracks ,you have this blank spectrum. Any way to remove it ?
I see that many track info do not have it.

Mmh, I would like to help, but I don't know what you mean...can you post a screenshot?
EDIT: I sent you my mail address, so you can even send the screenshot to there... Thanks!

[gkerber]

Thank you very much, Marko and gkerber, for letting me know that you use my version of WinDoze Classic.  I wasn't going to update it until I read those comments.

Thanks again, still looks good to me.

[zevele10]

If you take your picture.
On the left of Track Info ,you have the sleeve.
On the right you have
Title
Artist
Album
Comment
Duration     Year       Genre  

And ,at the bottom this black spectrum  

[knickelfarz]

Ah Right Click on it to chose another visualization... If there is no visualization that fits your needs, that "area" could be deleted... Maybe you would like to have another field "info" to be shown there?

[KingSparta]

http://www.earthstation1.com/SFXs/SFX_Wavs/mooo.wav

[zevele10]

To change visu is already much better.

I understand that only you can delete this window? I'am right?

If it is the case ,i do not want you to change it for my only taste.
Maybe others would like to have this visu case

[knickelfarz]

I understand that only you can delete this window? I'am right?

It's just a HTML page... I think a lot of users change their Track Infos... all you need is a a little knowledge of HTML.

If it is the case ,i do not want you to change it for my only taste.
Maybe others would like to have this visu case

I would make a new version - maybe there are other users who have a similar taste

I'm also working on a "Smart" Track Info Template where you can change the colors, the image size and much more without knowledge of HTML (it has a shockwave "toolbox" for doing that...). If you like to test it or have ideas for it, you can take a look here. But it will still need some time to be released  

[JimH]

I've cleaned several extraneous comments out of this thread and re-opened it.

Be nice.

[knickelfarz]

I've cleaned several extraneous comments out of this thread and re-opened it. Be nice.

Mmh, I don't know further details about what happened here... but here is a small update for build 229...

Please look at the first post of this thread to download.

[knickelfarz]

Small update for 9.1.231...
Support for .231 PlayerBar and ActionWindow ("Home button"), sliders are a little bit bigger now... Please look at the first post of this thread to download.

[gkerber]

Thanks for the update.  I want you to know I'm using it and liking it!

[RemyJ]

Thanks for the update.  I want you to know I'm using it and liking it!

Same here!

[knickelfarz]

Again some small updates for 9.1.234 (Support for .234 ActionWindow changes)... Please use the links in the first post to update  

[jcouch93]

Would it be possible to have a dark skin made?  I currently use Doreen's TV since I have a dark desktop, and I haven't seen any dark skins to match.

Thanks all!

phatrabt

[knickelfarz]

Would it be possible to have a dark skin made?

Of course, how dark should it be?  
Dark grey or blue... or more black?
Maybe you can post a screenshot of your desktop...

[rocketsauce]

Great skins, but just a couple of suggestions.

The Windows skins all have a narrow, sort of beveled border around them that makes the MC window appear as if it's not maximized all the way. Any way this border could be eliminated so that MC would look like a normal Windows window that is maximized?

Also, this is not just a problem with the Windows skins, but why is some of the text on some of the dialogs and options windows white? It's a little difficult to read on the grey Windows skins, but it makes the PixOS skin pretty much unusable (white text on a pale blue background).

Thanks,

Rob

[knickelfarz]

The Windows skins all have a narrow, sort of beveled border around them that makes the MC window appear as if it's not maximized all the way. Any way this border could be eliminated so that MC would look like a normal Windows window that is maximized?

Currently skins have only one "state", so they can not hide borders when maximized... The only thing to reach this would be a borderless version, but this would look strange when it's not maximized... But maybe a lot of people use MC always maximized, so it would be worth doing a borderless version... Should I make one?

... why is some of the text on some of the dialogs and options windows white? It's a little difficult to read on the grey Windows skins, but it makes the PixOS skin pretty much unusable (white text on a pale blue background).

Mmh, I wasn't able to find that white text... can you post an example?

[rocketsauce]

But maybe a lot of people use MC always maximized, so it would be worth doing a borderless version... Should I make one?

I always have MC maximized, so I would use a borderless skin...assuming I don't revert back to 9.0, as the more I use 9.1 with enforced skinning the more annoyed I get with it.

Re: white text

I have white text on the Import Media Files dialog, on the Convert Format dialog, on the Plug-in Manager dialog, on the Options dialog, etc. Let me know if you want screen shots.

Rob