Desktop, what do you have (56k)

[crumsteel]

[RunningMn9]

 My last post on GoneGold was to show my desktop and to try and explain the difference between StyleXP and WindowBlinds.  I have no idea if the original poster ever saw my post.  Oh well.  Here's the latest RM9 desktop.

[/img]

[Knightshade Dragon]

(compressed for space...its really 1152x864)

This is really...really...pathetic.  

[CSL]

Pathetic indeed

[Knightshade Dragon]

Suggest something for me!  I don't want some damned ubermega desktop replacement as those have only destroyed my system over time.  Just get me a nice wallpaper....something that I can love and not be distracted by.

[disarm]

here's mine...same thing i've been looking at more almost a year now.  one of these days, i'll find the time to come up with something new...

(click the thumbnail for a full-size pic)

i use StyleXP to change my theme, and was lucky enough to find a guy that made matching skins for WinXP and Trillian...works great

[Interloper]

I would like to eventually figure out that StyleXP or windowblinds stuff.

[Rob_Merritt]

[YellowKing]

Just found this one tonight. I'm going for the minimalist look.



[/img]

[Tebunker]

I 'd post a picture but it's not necessarry, the other morning My fiance Carrie made a quickie mspaint saying I "heart" You, and she made it my desktop. Which had been a Fire Emblem wallpaper.

Needless to say I was caught off  guard when I came out of sleep mode and saw it on the computer. Very appreciative too, we do this to one another all the time. It's so much fun...

[ravenvii]

... (fans self)... so hot...

Not really, I don't dare have her on my desktop, else I'll never get any work done :shock:

[Geezer]

 My last post on GoneGold was to show my desktop and to try and explain the difference between StyleXP and WindowBlinds.  I have no idea if the original poster ever saw my post.  Oh well.  Here's the latest RM9 desktop.

[/img]

I'm just learning object desktop.. so I'll have something cool to post nexttime this thread comes around

[SkyLander]

The major work of Kratzer and a few other people whose names I can't remember that helped me build my wallpaper:

[Thin_J]

[Boxcar]

RM9,

What is the difference between StyleXP and WindowBlinds?  I missed the GG thread, and now you've got me curious. I recently d/l WindowBlinds but I haven't really done anything with it yet other than d/l some skins. Not sure if I like it yet or not.

Thanks.

[happydog]

A little Arizona wheather for you all. Well, once a year that is. I have to brag, got this picture from my back yard with a digital camera.

[dangerballs]

The Macaws at Henry Doorly Zoo...

 

[gameoverman]

After going barebones, Im back to changing my look.

[Sam Hell]

[Knightshade Dragon]

Oral fixation Sam Hell?

[RunningMn9]

RM9,

What is the difference between StyleXP and WindowBlinds?  I missed the GG thread, and now you've got me curious. I recently d/l WindowBlinds but I haven't really done anything with it yet other than d/l some skins. Not sure if I like it yet or not.

Thanks.

StyleXP is the sort-of poor man's skinning utility.  Well, at least the 1.x line was.  I haven't played with the new version (which might still be in Beta).

It would just change the window decorations basically.  WindowBlinds completely skins Explorer.  It skins all the system dialogs, it skins the toolbars in Explorer and Internet Explorer, and it skins your animations (i.e. the copy file animation in my screen shot).

I prefer ObjectDesktop now because it comes with all sorts of components.  There's WindowBlinds, IconPackager (which is a utility to change all of your system icons in one shot), DesktopX (which basically lets you create a completely customized interface), ObjectBar (replaces the explorer/start bar), ObjectDock (similar to the yzDock utility I am using above), CursorXP, Logon Studio and Bootskin.

The downside of ObjectDesktop is that finding a theme that covers all of those apps isn't always easy.  At least not a good one.  Unless you are in to duplicating OS X, in which case, there is crap all over the place for that.

[Sam Hell]

Oral fixation Sam Hell?

 

[Nth Power]

[Jag]

If you're really into desktops and want to see some very cool ones, i highly recommend this thread over at ars. It's 138 pages and goes from 2002 to the present. It's also full of very useful information on pimping yo desktop.
http://episteme.arstechnica.com/eve/ubb.x?q=Y&a=tpc&s=50009562&f=99609816&m=9220901045&p=137


Oh and tons of funky desktops here:

http://www.pixelgirlpresents.com/desktops.php?page=5&cat=all

and here:

http://bizarresk.deviantart.com/

[Quipp]

[Boxcar]

I prefer ObjectDesktop now because it comes with all sorts of components. There's WindowBlinds, IconPackager (which is a utility to change all of your system icons in one shot), DesktopX (which basically lets you create a completely customized interface), ObjectBar (replaces the explorer/start bar), ObjectDock (similar to the yzDock utility I am using above), CursorXP, Logon Studio and Bootskin.

The downside of ObjectDesktop is that finding a theme that covers all of those apps isn't always easy. At least not a good one. Unless you are in to duplicating OS X, in which case, there is crap all over the place for that.

Thanks!  Sounds like these tools may be worth a bit of effort to learn them. I just may have to play around with them a bit.

[Belgedin]

Here we are, taken moments ago.

[Eco-Logic]

Do you mind telling me what I would need to use this:

http://www.deviantart.com/view/3857913/

Windows Blinds?  



What about this one?

http://www.neowin.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=201671
http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/10429888/ (for firefox)

[RookieCAF]

Resized from 1280x960. Nothing spectacular, just upgraded and haven't done too much. No time..

[Daehawk]

My latest ..

[Thin_J]

Mine has changed as well.

[Riker's Beard]

Thin_J, in your previous desktop (and I'm guessing your new one), it appears that your entire desktop has been revamped (i.e. your Start menu has a bunch of customizations).  I'd kinda like to set mine up the same way.  Is that all just plain ol' XP functionality that I'm not hip to, or are you using some kind of tool/app to set all that stuff up?

[Thin_J]

I'm using windowblinds, actually.

You can get it at http://www.stardock.com/

*Edit: Just for clarification, the only[/b] customization that windowblinds has anything to do with is the visual look of everything, if that's all your after, download away. If you're talking about how all the game shortcuts are in the start menu or something else of that nature, it's just basic XP functions. After posting I realized I wasn't totally sure which exactly you were asking about.

I was worried about it initially due to some bad experiences way back in the win98 days with it sucking up memory worse than most of the games I had. As it turns out, they've vastly improved the program. It's memory footprint is a great deal smaller than I expected it to be and it runs well.

There's a ton of places to download themes for it as well.

wincustomize.org
deviantart.com
customize.org

It's free initially, but the free version is of course, missing features. Also, it does pop up a window asking you to buy the program when windows loads. It's $20 or so if you want all the features and no annoying message.

If you have any questions, ask away. I messed around with different programs trying to customize my desktop for weeks before I finally was informed by Blackhawk that windowblinds had improved so much.

[Gedd]

Good grief, Daehawk, how do you find anything?

The funny thing is I know if that desktop makes me just want to scream "Why?!" that RM9 is somewhere lying on the floor with foam coming out of his mouth.



I just did a reformat/reinstall last week so my usual icon holding areas are a little empty at the moment.

[Jeff]

Merritt, love your halloween desktop.

[RunningMn9]

Do you mind telling me what I would need to use this:

http://www.deviantart.com/view/3857913/

Windows Blinds?

Usually when something is referred to as a "Visual Style", you need StyleXP to use it.  If the downloaded file has a "wba" extension, that's WindowBlinds.  The milk mod shown here looks to be StyleXP.  And *very* nice.

The downside of these sorts of skinning apps is that 99.9% of the skins out there are complete crap, and it can take a LOT of looking to find the good stuff.

Edit:  Gedd, you're correct.  There is just no need for desktop icons.  None at all.  

[EngineNo9]

And please, no bitching about the icons.  What's the point of having a desktop if you're just going to hide everything in menus?

[Jeff]

And please, no bitching about the icons.  What's the point of having a desktop if you're just going to hide everything in menus?

Hey, it's your desktop. As long as you're happy, that's what counts. That many icons would drive me insane though  I'd have a hard time locating what I needed amongst them all.

I use a utility called TrueLaunch Bar. If you look at my desktop above, where the QuickLaunch bar would be, those are actually organized menus of icons. I can hover over one, and it will auto popup a menu with apps, games, tools, etc.

[Gedd]

Edit:  Gedd, you're correct.  There is just no need for desktop icons.  None at all.  

Flip-flopper!  You used to like the way I had it.

And I'm not really sure I'd call your desktop icon free.  That application dock is pretty much the same as my icon "bins", except my "bins" are sort of organized by use.

[edit]And I'd agree with Jeff, No. 9.  It is your desktop, so it's up to you how to use it.  I just know that I've gotten so accustomed to having things a certain way on my desktop, and having icons all piled up in one corner or scattered to the four winds would drive me nuts.

To be honest, I wish I could clean up mine some more, but I don't like using add-ons for it and I've just gotten too set in my ways to do something like move everything to the start menu.

[RunningMn9]

And I'm not really sure I'd call your desktop icon free.  That application dock is pretty much the same as my icon "bins", except my "bins" are sort of organized by use.

I'm currently using a very cluttered desktop, no doubt.  Between yzDock (and really, comparing yzDock to "icons" is just stupid ) and the DesktopX objects, my desktop is certainly not what I would consider clean.

But it's nothing compared to the monstrosities that are some desktops here.  

And if you MUST have icons (which of course are different, and less better, than the Dock), then Gedd's way of doing it is best.