WindowBlinds
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 (beta as of October 2005), it supports alpha blending effects similar to the compositing of Windows Vista, but on Windows XP.
As of October 2005 there were over 3600 WindowBlinds skins available at WinCustomize, with an average of nine being added per week; another popular repository is deviantART.
Skin formats
WindowBlinds skins come in two formats - "Basic" (or UIS1+) and "Advanced" (or UIS2)
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.
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.
History
WindowBlinds started in 1998 when lead developer Neil Banfield teamed up with Stardock, who were looking for a developer to create a window skinning application, for which he already had tbe beginnings in Window Blinds, started in 1997. Previous attempts by Stardock had included Object Look, a minimal skinning application, and WindowFX, an application written in Delphi. For a short time there was also a cut-down version called WBLiteFX. Later the name would be reused for WindowFX, also created by Neil.
WindowBlinds quickly made its way to a 1.0 release, driven by the requests of skinners to add freeform skinning (customizable window border shapes), sounds, and even animation. Scrollbars, the task bar, the start button, menu items, the menu itself, and other GUI elements were added later.
WindowBlinds 2 was a major redesign in C++, adding the following features:
- the "Basic" (UIS 1+) format offering greater program compatibility
- compound skins (later known as subskins) made it easier to provide alternative versions of a skin - for example, a Mac skin could now have two subskins to offer control buttons at the left or right of the window
- user skin recolouring
- font and colour sections for specific controls and states
It even provided scripting, although this was not widely used, and support for additional controls.
BuilderBlinds — re-branded as SkinStudio in February 2001 — became a popular tool, enabling artists who did not wish to spend a lot of time learning the intricaties of the UIS format to create skins, as well as allowing experienced skinners 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'd seen the changes and wanted more. Even after modifications known as uxtheme hacks (after the file they modified, uxtheme.dll) became available, WindowBlinds remained popoular, with the promise of additional features that msstyles could not match.
However, things were still not perfect. WindowBlinds 3 had many new features, but with new features came new bugs. Some users had compatibility problems. Performance was also an issue. Interim releases addressed these issues, as well as providing for those areas of the XP user interface which were not initially skinnable.
By the time WindowBlinds 4 arrived, these were less of a problem. An increased focus on stability due to DirectSkin has meant that fewer problems were 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 will eventually be 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.
Competitors
WindowBlinds has had many competitors over the years. Initially it was not clear what skinning solution would be the most popular, and there was active competition between window skinning programs from 1999 to the start of 2001. Most programs are still around, but with the introduction of Windows XP they became fairly irrelevant - few users wished to skin for a less-capable platform.
eFX
eFX was a popular program made by thirty4 interactive, and claims the title of 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.
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.
Chroma
Chroma was a technically sophisticated skinning program by Thematic Software. First released 15 May 1999, it quickly proved to be a flexible piece of software; later version used a skin definition language called Chromumll. However, it was percieved as complex 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.
CustomEyes and ShellWM
CustomEyes, first released in December 1999, was a skinning program that progressed slowly, only reaching a 0.3 beta and was effectively abandoned in late 2000, but was 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.
ShellWM 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.
msstyles and StyleXP
With the release of Windows XP, a new option 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 — but 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 thing.
Relations between existing users of WindowBlinds and the new msstyle supporters were acrimonious, partly due to a negative marketing campaign by TGTSoft that represented other skinning systems as slow and incompatible. Proponents of msstyles and StyleXP derided WindowBlinds skins as chunky and ugly (as compared to the "smooth" msstyles), while WindowBlinds supporters retorted that msstyles were no more native than any other program, as they all used the same methods to take over window repainting and handle drawing, and that msstyles were simple because they were not able to be more complex due to format limitations.
Many arguments took place between WindowBlinds and StyleXP users on usenet, particularly on microsoft.public.windowsxp.customize, although TGTSoft lost significant support when a employee was found to have posted a critical response as a sock puppet called Bob Brown. They also lost support from the "skinning should be free!" community when they revealed that they would in fact be charging the same amount as WindowBlinds for StyleXP ($20). The popularity of msstyles in general decreased further when a main hosting site, ThemeXP, was sold to a company who started wrapping downloads with adware, and its static feature set and likely obsolescense with Windows Vista. Despite this, the format remains popular, particularly with who do not wish to pay for a skinning solution - several free patching programs are available that will allow you to run msstyles on your PC without the need for StyleXP, although toolbars will not be changed.
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 AmigOS were very popular. Skinners 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 their request. Similarly, the run-up to the release of Windows XP resulted in many Luna skins, although these did not attract the same sort of legal attention. Skins with "XP" in the title were very popular that year.
The rise of msstyles skinning has led to an increase in the number of skins with styles described as "clean" and "smooth", particularly those imitating the above operating system themes. This is partly due to the constraints of the msstyle platform, which place strict limitations on the width of borders and number and position of buttons. Some msstyle skin designers have moved to WindowBlinds, and others have permitted ports of their skins, leading to a similar change in WindowBlinds skin design. Skins incorporating transparency effects similar to that of Windows Vista became popular during the second half of 2005.
References
- WindowBlinds 2 Overview - describes WB 1 and WB 2 features
- WindowBlinds Skin Formats - UIS1+ and UIS2
External links
- Official site
- Skins for WindowBlinds at WinCustomize.com
- A very old Window Blinds site (ca. 1998)
- SkinBench, an open skin benchmarking program