Okay. This is it. I've been sitting on it most of the day after bugging a few folks for their opinions.
2of3 offered to help me with this. Vampothika & neone6 also offered help and support.
I decided to go with something new to get a fresh start and came up with this. Hopefully, it's simple enough so as not to be problematic along the way, but stylish enough that a lot of you will like it and it won't be too easy so I (and you) can learn from it as we go along.
2of3 was kind enough to send me some files to follow as sort of a workflow to keep organized. We're gonna go one piece at a time and won't be moving on to the next until the one we are on is good.
PLEASE :
So...this is pretty much it. How the rest of this thread progresses and shapes up will depend on how the back and forth transpires. If I leave something out as we go along and you want me to back up, give a yell. I'll be happy to.
If this is the only skin I ever do, we're gonna go through it from start to finish so enjoy.
What you see above is the Start window (I'll probably be going with the darker of the two). (401 px x 500 px)
These were the drafts.
UPDATE 1/17/2012 : gmc2 is going to attempt to do the Wiki for this. Woot! Based on that, I think we'll be doing more than one thread as we progress. THIS particular thread will be the basic design/draft of all the parts. Hopefully, this will make it easier for gmc2 to do his thing and make it easier for anyone to follow the progress.
I'll be asking for suggestions from time to time. Feel free to PM me anything.
Also - If you want to make anything to go with, this here is a color chart if it helps. I'll be sticking to these colors. Any variations will be due to shading/effects or 'overlay' layers.
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NOTES: Start Menu and Taskbar -
If you're looking for Part I, II, III you can find them here:
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The PSD files for the previous threads are in the Graphics Gallery.
Good morning.For anyone who cares, I had a rough night. For those bored by that shit, I slept like a gorram baby (insert big smile and sparkling, alert eyes) Either way, I'm looking forward to today. I think I have the taskbar done (start button is in limbo) and hope to get the start panel done today.
WebGizmo, just WOW.
Thanks for the start button ideas. Unfortunately, nothing is working for me. I may just stick with the 'O' or the 'A' and come back to it (because there are no excuses and nothings gonna hold this back). I need something that grabs me.
We don't care....... Just make the damn skin!
THE IGNORE BUTTON IS A MYTH!
Looks like a good start, Giz. The 'θ' actually looks very good too.
Sorry if I was unclear about the taskbar buttons states yesterday. Of course you need to have a button for every state (6 total) it is just not important what the pressed and disabled buttons look like as you will never see them.
As for the start button..... why not let it lie for a bit and go on to drafting the window frames? I find that one thing leads to another. Something you do in one section may inspire you to mirror in another. You are still in the design stage, so you are free to hop around as much as you like.
Details like what all the state of one button will look like are not as important at this stage as getting a fuller picture of what the skin "feels" like.
One final thing for now. If it takes me a while to reply to anything here, it is because I am
1. At sea....somewhere in between Norway and Germany
2. Not in the same time zone as the US
REALLY ?? I didn't know that ....
I see the short bus has arrived.
Like!
You , Vamp, and neone6 are 6 hours ahead of me.
You're all light-years ahead of Zubaz but that's a whole other derp.
Hell yeah!!!
Po, you are certifiable, I like you!
here's a concept I made to share some of my ideas as well......
-- Ace --
Nice. Very ornate.
I'm going with the last one I made. I have personal reasons and will explain later.
Excuse me while I have my Sally Field moment.
.........
Okay, I'm back.
I know there are going to be a lot of issues with this.
REMEMBER - When you mention them, mention why so the other folks can follow. (Don't forget we're trying to update the Wiki from all of this)
If I'm missing or am off on something else, let me know.
-Actually it´s the Height that´s the main concern here, If you look at many skins they´re quite wide, well the left one is and the right one"arrow" is short.
button´s 216 x 25 px
Edit: You can fiddle with it, but then you´ll have to have PNG-Air/space sideways to make it look shorter/smaller.
ech.
Doesn't leave much room to play with.
okay.
Tell me about the search window. I've had issues with that as far as skinning. Is that going to revert to some default when you try to enter text?
Edit: You can fiddle with it, but then you´ll have to have PNG-Air/space sideways, That way you could actually have the design made 25 x 25 placed on a 216 x 25 png space.
When I have skinned it (the few times) whatever I make for it doesn't apply or vanishes on mouseover when I test it. I'll see if I have one of those disasters saved so you can see what I mean.
*N/M Can't find one to show you. I'll see how this goes. Probably something I'm doing wrong when I am in SKS.
Added your new start button and threw in some other buttons to play with.
1. what template are you using for it?
2.how high is your bottom part of your startmenu (height does matter in this case)
3. go into skin studio/edit startmenu and taskbar/edit startmenu
click on bottom bar and go to extra settings tab. scroll down until you see :
Search box horz offset
Search box Vert offset
what numbers are these set to? try setting them both to zero and see what happens
Nice Job Po, wish I had the time to contribute but I cant even seem to get to my own work right now..
looks like your in good hands tho...
Keep up the good work.
they dont have to be transparent as far as i know if a mask exists the color defined by the program will be shown when you mouseover your Taskbarbutton and will move with your cursor...while the mask activates that feature + size of the mask will define the size of the area on your Taskbarbutton or over your taskbar button...The mask section is or can be pretty neat if you trick it -using a full scale Mask size -while having smaller Taskbar button : That way you can achive a small afterglow effect in the same color as the program defines : i think my explaination is to weired but here is what i mean just if someone wanted to know... 1.state ( left )mousover and mask applyd 2nd is the normal state ( the mask of the mouseover will glow 1 second longer when your mouse is already off the button ) if you look close the sides are still glowing... while this is only a little effect it can be amazing on a transparent taskbar...
I haven't applied any of this yet. The other skins are on my Vista Boot.
Yeah, the horz and vert are a bitch with the start panels I have made. Like I said, it's my design and not knowing the limitations of the area. When I have tried to adjust the x/y on it I can only go so far because of the area I have allowed myself for it and what SKS will allow. When we get to SKS I'll do it the way I usually do and you'll see then. lol.
Yup.
and thank you!
You're going to be done before I am!
* Note to self - New year, new List. Start updating.
Roloccolor, you lost me at 'mask'. Haven't played with that area of SKS yet but if you will hang around until we get to SKS you can try and inflict a migraine on me then.
for me at least, if I skin the search window from the "edit vista/7 explorer parts", "search field background" it eliminates the need to do the start menu graphic and provides better results.
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