sacrat

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Draginol, let's clearify things once and forever. First of all, I completely agree, that you cannot (and should not) control skinners, but you have to control the default set of skins. And as certain skins in the default set (like Corona) cause more troubles (aka glitches), than others, they should be replaced, IMHO. The skin, which cases a minimum of problems (at least with the default configuration of WB 4.3 sw) is FlyOS (it's nice and

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Continue using WB 4.3: completely wiped out WB 4.0 and the menu transparency glitch has disappeared. Seemed to be the bug of that version. Noticed some incorrect drawings with some default skins: checking.

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

My apologizes: I haven't seen Neil's post before replying (technical resons) to you, Draginol. So, if these were not bugs, let's clear some things. All the data I provided is referred to Windows Blinds 4.0 enhanced. Just downloaded WB 4.3 shareware and installed it instead (with the default options). 1) This is a font problem, indeed. But IIRC such problems are typical to all languages, using non-latin alphabets (characters). Still for such

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

BlueDev, please try checking my Duality theme. It should work (I haven't checked, though...). Besides, there were a couple of themes, optimized for 1600x1200. Are you using 21" monitor? Just I know people, having 1024x768 resoltion on 21" and 800x600 (sic!) on 19" monitors Draginol, why do you use two resolutions then? isn't it easier to let everything work under 1600x1200? I use

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

OK. So what were these talks about WB being a successor to MSS about then? If console and menus cannot be skinned without glitches. BTW, i've pointed out other GUI elements. And what about bottom tabs? They're looking really funny with WB turned on (I know, i shouldn't use it). In other words, one should either fight with numerous bugs or just stay with an analog of MSStyles, which you have to pay for.

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

BlueDev, these three resolutions cover about 90% of all user configurations, so they're recommended. Your favorite 1600x1200 (am I correct?) should work on any properly designed theme theme, supporting 1024x768.

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

OK. The programs, which are seen on the shots are: FAR manager, Opera, Download Master, Abilon and The BAT. These ones i use daily. Previous versions of Aston used to use pre-made buttons for launching ICQ, Word and so on. The same was common with other shells. Now you don't need that stuff. You configure a panel plugin ONCE and if theme supports it properly, then you won't have to change anything. Besides, one can still work with Aston (or

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Bill Reid: you seem to be quite an interesting person. Really. Draginol: Still explorer has no kind of "themes". Don't start it again: I've replied What makes a theme to be resolution dependent? 1) Wallpaper: some wallpapers cannot be stretched without visible distortions. 2) Element placement: the biggest issue. If Explorer ever had themes it would run into the same

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Draginol. Once again: Resolution is an issue for the most applications, supporting themes (Litestep, Hoverdesk, Aston, etc...) BUT as i already told you, there are two basic ways to solve the problem: 1) create resolution independent theme (as much independent as possible) 2) create native support for each resolution. the second approach is more flexible. It's also possible to invent some kind of resolution independent theme format

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Calm down, Draginol. First of all, I know, that most of the problems, seen on the screenshots can be fixed by some tweaking. But will your favorite non-tech user do the same? Next, the number of "incompatible" or problematic applications seems to be too large for me. Without all this "advanced" stuff MSStules cause much less problems, so comparing both running "out of the box" I must say, that WB is more problematic. So, overall, the whole talk

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

I made few more. As soon as i find a space for hosting them, I'll collect them to the article. I'd liked Draginol to comment these screens (who asked for the shots?)

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Draginol, let me disagree with toolbars. I personally know no users, who ever tried them I myself used them a couple of times only...

Reply to Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Greetings again, Draginol; Memory: that depends on several things. First of all: a theme. The second: icon cache size. The third: the way of handling Explorer process. Depending on these three factors the memory usage is ususlly between 2 and 15 Mb. It's especially big if you don't deattach Explorer process from Aston in Shell Swapper. Being absolutely honest I have to say, that typical memory usage is about 8 Mb on the most recent themes (we, them

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

@Draginol: "Feel free to post a screenshot of thise "visual glitches" that make WB "nearly useless"." So, here we go: ftp://ftp.astonshell.com/blindbugs.zip (I'd post them right here if someone shares me some space). There's a basic set (got for the 15 minutes) Comments on each shot: Console: as you clearly see, the text line is hidden by the skin. Cyrillic: you don't like Russians, rigt? <img src="../images/smiles/joke.gif" border=0 A

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

BlueDev: the driver is the latest stable one. If you need more details about graphical glithes, e-mail me, we could talk about it more. Draginol: 1) I'm referring to a percent of Aston community, not the whole world And yes, alternative shells are not that popular yet. Many people doesn't know about them at all. The same applies to the whole Windows customization in general.

Aston versus Explorer in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Aston vs. Explorer: comparative review In this article I'd liked to name all the pros and cons of both shells. What for? First of all, some users think, that alternative shells have less features, than Explorer and thus less usable. Next, I know no comparative reviews of both shells as there are not really many alt shell fans (and the existing on

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

1) We once talked about "popularity". My position about it is still unchainged. 2) "Primitivity" highly depends on your position. The task of alt shell creators has never been in reconstructing Explorer. Explorer itself has numerous features I dislike and which I'd liked not to see anymore. As for "primitive" menus.... You're right, they miss dragon drop sometimes (for me it's not a big loss), but what about toolbars, what about LS-style menus? Wha

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

1) Let's just confess: none of us has EXACT data. 2) Doesn't Right-clicking Desktop work anymore? 3) Surely, only Stardock products seem to " give a lot back" to you

The future of Desktop customization. Pt. I. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

The future of Desktop customization. Pt. I. Greetings. Sacrat online. This time I'd liked to share some of my (and not only my) thoughts about the future of Desktop customization. And as i mostly work with shells , this article would be biased towards them. In my personal shell classification I divide them int

Reply to Aston vs. Talisman, taskbar customization.. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Draginol, if you ever needed a shell review, you could get any (icluding mine) from shell-shocked. Or ask me to help (I don't know if there are other people in joeuser, familar enough with the shells). I could in details explain you all the cons and pros of each shell I tried (more, than you can imagine; even give you the list of bugs in recent Aston releases). So blame yourself

Featured Aston themes in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

In a garbage of skins for a certain application one could often find few perls. This time I'll tell you about some interesting Aston themes . insignia -special by frozzzen/A.R.T. <

Reply to Talisman: critical review in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

1) So call us crazy: there are lots of people using Aston, who DO care about additional 10 Mb even having a gig of RAM. Surprised? 2) So enlighten me. At present time Explorer emulation in Aston is very high. I know, that some features (like Taskbar hints) are still missing, but I'd liked to know a third side opinion. sometimes it's useful. Aston ALLOWS you to have icons on D

Reply to Aston. New Experience. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

BakerStreet: OK. MAYBE. As you said BTW, where can I find your works? Just to take a look. If you manage to reread the whole thread, you might find, that these bugs were found on several completely different machines, so I'd not call them "environment-specific". And I DO care about 20 Mb of RAM, even having half a gig of it. Draginol: "A million of flies can't get wrong

Reply to CursorXP: alternative view. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

My favorite is Pixtudio. The most usable cursor set ever, IMHO. I tried tens of tother, but they're not that good.

CursorXP: alternative view. in OS Customization JoeUser Forums

Many users think, that Stardock's best application is Windows Blinds. Other praise DesktopX. My opinion on this is very different. If Stardock ever released a really good program it is called Cursor XP . Cursor XP is cursor ehnacement application, having some really nice features. If yo