WindowBlinds 5.5 Officially released!

Windows Vista skinning arrives!

from WinCustomize Forums

Stardock released WindowBlinds 5.5 today.  WindowBlinds is a program that enables users to customize the look and feel of the graphical user interface of Microsoft Windows.  By applying "skins", WindowBlinds can change title bars, borders, push buttons, scroll bars, the taskbar, the Start menu and virtually every element of the Windows environment.  Thousands of different skins exist and can be created using a free program called SkinStudio.

WindowBlinds 5.5 is a major update in that it is the first program to allow users to change the look and feel of Windows Vista.  Thanks to a new technology called "SmartSkinning", WindowBlinds allows skins created for Windows XP to be used to skin Windows Vista.  WindowBlinds 5.5 then transforms the skin, on-the-fly, to conform to the new user interface conventions of Windows Vista to give it a distinctly Windows Vista look and feel.  Users of  .msstyles files on Windows XP can use SkinStudio to convert their favorite .msstyles to WindowBlinds 5.5 to run natively on Windows Vista.

For Windows Vista users, WindowBlinds 5.5 makes use of the new hardware accelerated Desktop Window Manager (DWM) to ensure the highest level of performance.   WindowBlinds 5.5 also skins the client controls of "non theme aware" programs on both Windows XP and Windows Vista so that users get a consistent look and feel across all their applications.

WindowBlinds has over 12 million downloads at CNET's Download.com and is, by far, the most popular desktop enhancement program of all time. It has also been licensed by companies looking to deliver their own branded looks to the desktop including Microsoft, Nintendo, ATI, nVidia, Ziff-Davis, Blizzard, and more.

Stardock has also begun work on WindowBlinds 6 which will provide a host of native features to Windows Vista such as custom blur effects, Sidebar skinning, glass toolbar skinning, and some new features that Stardock is keeping under wraps.  Users who purchased WindowBlinds 5 after February 1st will receive WindowBlinds 6 free. A beta of WindowBlinds 6 will be available for registered users shortly.

Users can download WindowBlinds 5.5 directly from the newly re-designed WindowBlinds.net website.  The enhanced registered version is $19.95 or can be purchased as part of Object Desktop, Stardock's flagship suite of desktop enhancement programs which includes IconPackager, DesktopX, ObjectBar, DeskScapes, LogonStudio Vista, and more.

WindowBlinds 5.5
Requires: Windows XP, 2003, or 32-bit Windows Vista (64-bit support coming shortly)

 http://www.windowblinds.net

Screenshots:

58,844 views 46 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Running pretty...looking good...except for 1 small issue...dialog backgrounds have disappeared.unloaded,uninstalled,reinstalled...still gone.A few others have reported the same prob.

Thanks for the cool prog Frogboy.  
Reply #2 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Will version 6 include any enhancements for XP or is it aimed totally at Vista?
TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top
A beta of WindowBlinds 6 will be available for registered users shortly.


Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

WB6 will include XP enhancements too though not titlebar blurring before you get excited.

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Nice
Lets update it
Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WB6 will include XP enhancements too though not titlebar blurring before you get excited.

Even though I don't use XP there are a few things im curious if WB6 will support? Such as Menu bar skinning (currently in XP uses the classic colors when using Per Pixel), and transparent rebar/menubar backgrounds?

Reply #7 from WinCustomize Forums Top
WB 6 woo-hoo!!!!!!

bring on the testing!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top
but windowblinds 5.5 released on 2/22/2007.
Reply #9 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Good news.. still waiting on the Vista 64 bit support tho. Funny, you don't realize how much you miss WB until you can't use it
Reply #10 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Me too - need Vista 64bit version - stuck in limbo till then - soon i hope - i hope - i hope !
Reply #11 from WinCustomize Forums Top
that center pic makes me wonder why microsoft hasn't created a new paint for vista. doesn't have to be a photoshop or paintshop pro, just something simple for file conversion and basic editing.
Reply #12 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Surj: Just download Paint.NET.
Reply #13 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Erk. hopes this is as good as he expects it will be.....   
Reply #15 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Great news..  
Reply #16 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Erm, that's what I thought - WB5.5 has been available since February 2007 and no new version showing for me on SDC?

I'm all confused, and I still can't get WB5.5 and DreamScene/Scape working together /cry
Reply #17 from WinCustomize Forums Top
The beta was available since Feb on SDC for OD-subscribers. This news are about the standalone/shareware version, which is always a little later.
Reply #18 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Here's a great new feature in WindowBlinds 5.5!!

If you don't like the option of having one choice in your animations window....how about six of them?? (shown as five, sixth one is off the screen)

I must be dreaming here...I've must have smacked my head on the floor...cuz I keep finding these things, ... didn't you guys used to have a small "preview" pic in this window as well? It's got to be me... my bad for missing all the staff meetings.

You see....I'm not trying to be a smart ass. I find things, report them...and get told off. Only person that hasn't yet to do this is Neil...and for that, I truly do hold him with utmost respect. But I fail to see how the Quality (didn't you just hire someone new? Fire them) department didn't catch something as simple as this?? This particular one has six options (all the same) whereas a few others are just duplicated.



Reply #19 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Hence...my foothold on the other thread, trying desperately in all shapes and forms...to strongly advise Stardock to fix CURRENT issues before moving on...otherwise the problems follow you.

I've said enough.
Reply #20 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Morpheous416.. the issue you present is a skin problem not Windowblinds. When a skinner doesn't name a skin correctly, that is what happens. Everytime you installed the skin, Windowblinds installed copies of the animations and toolbar icons. That should be reported to the skinner as there nothing the Dev's can do about it.

I know vStyler and I will make sure he never makes the same mistake again.   
Reply #21 from WinCustomize Forums Top
I forget how you get rid of the duplicates...  John is aware of the issue(one vectra ia actually Stargate,hehe)...will probably fix on later updates.

Hellooooo Craig...come up and see us sometime.  
Reply #22 from WinCustomize Forums Top

We have never had a small preview dialog in that dialog, just the preview of the animation.  As it happens one was considered for 5.5, but we decided against it.

As for the duplication of animations, this is unfortunately a case of multiple animations existing with the same name.  We cannot just drop duplicates because while the name might be a duplicate, the animations may well not be. 

The same is true of toolbar icon sets.

Reply #23 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Morpheous416.. the issue you present is a skin problem not Windowblinds.


How did I know that was going to be the first thing I seen as an answer?

Ok..let me get this straight.

Each time, someone installs a skin...let's use beta skins being tested for example...WB copies the animations and toolbars...etc. But, in order to go from one skin to the next to see changes, us beta testers know that we're to delete the previous from within WB? Correct? Ok..but, on top of that, we're told that we must go into the Program Files folder and make sure the folder was truly deleted...but if we don't, we're stuck with duplicates right?

How are we to get rid of the duplicates...if WB remembers them? Where does WB copy these animations so we can manually delete them? A push/pull issue can be solved.

Neil: Back when I started using WB, when you clicked on each animation selection, some did actually have a small pic of a folder...they're gone now. Please remember, I wouldn't bring something up if it didn't happen to me...not saying that it's not possible that it only happens to me (laugh it up Brad)...but it does happen. In the example I shown above....all those animations do indeed belong to the same skin. So there's got to be some kind of easy solution...whether it's integrated into WB, or something Stardock needs to tell it's customers to do manually.

In my opinion....you should remove all animations when deleting a theme. It just plain looks bad in WindowBlinds seeing a stock pile of duplicate animations. If the issue of naming a theme and it's animations correctly truly lies with the designer, this will be a way of making sure the themes/cursors/iconpacks...or what have ya, are not causing the problems within the programs!
Reply #24 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Maybe a simple solution such as adding an option to delete the animations from that section? That way a user can see what the animations are...and if they are indeed duplicates..they can remove them.
Reply #25 from WinCustomize Forums Top
Neil why were the animation previews removed?....To have to click on each one to see what it is ...is well .... ..It would be no different if I had to do the same for each WB installed... Just a thumbnail would save wasting time looking for the just right aniamations.

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