Make it look like XP!

danielfeveryear · 12-14-03, 10:19 PM

Hey
I have been working on a wisbar skin for an XP theme. It is all from the real XP buttons on my desktop, and all are proportioned to the right size. I have made an "unlocked taskbar" and a "locked taskbar" theme for wisbar. I also have XP Shutdown to make it even more like XP. My question is, what else can I do?
What other software (preferrably freeware) can I use to make it more like XP? and does anyone have really good, sharp, high-rez XP themes? Like, Bliss, crystal, or something like that? All of the themes I found don't look too sharp. So I want help on two things:

Other software for a better eXPerience, and XP themes.
If anyone would like my XP themes for Wisbar, I can post them here. I have school tomorrow, but it is a two hour delay, so I might be able to post them then. There are a few icons I don't have, but I am using WisBar advance. Because of the "two-tone" background, there is a certain way the buttons must be placed. To keep with XP closer, the OK and Close buttons are just the close button all together, so assign the THclose and Close to the okay items as well. I am really happy with these themes.
In the morning, I will post some screenshots of the themes, and the themes themselves, with a small readme file included for some things I left out of the themes. Be sure to read the Readme file, because there is some important stuff for you in it.
So, if anyone would like these themes, please just reply to this post (also, with answers to my questions, if possible) and I will post it all tomorrow.

Thanks,

danielfeveryear · 12-15-03, 06:42 AM

Here is the .zip file.
Just extract them onto the desktop, and they will be put into their own directories.

danielfeveryear · 12-15-03, 06:52 AM

Here is the preview for the "Locked Taskbar" theme...

danielfeveryear · 12-15-03, 06:53 AM

And here is the preview for the "Unlocked Taskbar" theme...

blatty · 12-15-03, 07:31 AM

I don't understand your locked vs unlocked theme, but anyway this theme has been around for along time. Does the locked vs unlocked provided something special?

danielfeveryear · 12-15-03, 07:40 AM

Yeah, I know this theme has been around for a while. But there are differences. I want my Axim to almost exactly match my desktop PC. So, I copied all the images from the desktop and proportioned them all to the right size. I wanted mine to look as real as possible.

The only difference in display between Locked and Unlocked is the little line at the bottom of the Unlocked Background. I just liked the Unlocked look too. When you uncheck "Lock the Taskbar" it will show like this.

Sorry for confusion.

sracer · 12-15-03, 09:00 AM

I am currently beta testing a product that you can use to create your own custom User Interfaces. It is called PPX forPPC. It provides a task manager and the ability to skin the taskbar. PPX can replace the Today screen and use Today screen plug-ins.

By using simple graphics and entering some data in a few dialogs, you can create virtually any UI you can dream up.

I have created a WinXPSE UI for PPX. Here are actual working screenshots (NOT some PhotoShop fakes):

Check out my speedZone site for more info and UI designs.

MentalV · 12-15-03, 09:27 AM

ME LIKE THAT LONG TIME!!! where can I download that product?

srf506 · 12-15-03, 09:35 AM

Geez, there's a lot of creative, talented people out there! I wish I had the time to do some of the things I've seen you folks do on your Axims. I feel fortunate I can use theme generator and made my own today screen! I can program a little in C and C++ but I can't/don't take the time to make them "pretty" just functional. One day I'd like to get enough time and talent to sit down on a project and really make it both. My stepson is in an engineering, science and technology magnet program in his high school here in Orlando and he's already doing animation and CAD! Like the Buffett song says "I'm an over forty victim of fate..."

sracer · 12-15-03, 10:20 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by MentalV
ME LIKE THAT LONG TIME!!! where can I download that product?

Unfortunately, it is still in beta test. I've been testing it for about a month and it has been amazingly rock solid. I have been hesitant to post any screenshots sooner because I didn't want people to get interested in something that isn't available... however, the developer has said that general availability is only days away and that it would be okay to give folks a glimpse as to what is possible.

you can check my site periodically, and I will update my post here when it does become publically available.

srf506, I'm in that "over forty" crowd myself... just by a year.

"Spare time" is very scarce for me but hopefully you see that designing your own interface with PPX 4 PPC is dead simple to do... no programming required. Just create a few graphic elements (simple .bmp image files) and enter some data in a few dialogs, and you're done! You can even drag-n-drop icons to move them around!

Grentz · 12-16-03, 08:00 PM

IcBar has a nice xp theme that i use plus the start menu is shortened with out the word start that saves room.

good job with it

danielfeveryear · 12-16-03, 08:08 PM

Yeah,
I thought about having the Start Menu shortened with no "Start" in it, but see, I guess I'm kinda freaky about this.
I wanted to make my Axim look as much like XP as possible. I didn't want to change anything except the screen size basically. I also found a Pocket XP theme that I can have on my Ax and have The "Windows XP Home" theme on my desktop. I might actually do a shortened start button if anyone wants it. It will take a little work though, to cut the "start" part out of it. I will work on it, and also updating the themes.
I have my Windows 98 theme almost finished. When I am done, I will post screenshots and the zipfile as well.

Finally! I found something that I CAN make!!!

danielfeveryear · 12-16-03, 08:55 PM

Here is the windows 98 theme. A couple of things. there are three backgrounds, all having to do with the size of the one little bar (just look and see what I mean).
You can add your own icons to this if you want. I already have a WA .skin file in the .zip so you can just go right to it.
Remember, no else takes credit for all this. I know most of you don't, but there are always the certain few...
anyways, here's the zip, and the previews are following this post

danielfeveryear · 12-16-03, 08:57 PM

Here's one picture of it...

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