Windows XP Taskbar customization/replacement

DesktopX

try emerge desktop, it's a free, open-source shell replacement that can make XP look almost exactly like your screenshot.

http://emergedesktop.org/

OD should have an option to get rid of the taskbar, at least on Plus it does.

DesktopX can get rid of the task bar and allow you to build a systray/task tray like you have pictured. Litestep can do the same but much more is involved to do it. DX would be the safer/easier way.

sure, desktopx will work, if you want to pay for a memory-intensive program that runs on top of windows' explorer.exe shell.

or... you can use emerge, which is free. and open source. and it replaces explorer.exe shell which frees up memory. and it's far more flexible and customizable and it has lots of great features.

but it's up to you to weigh out the advantages and disadvantages of each...

You talk the talk but can you walk the walk? DX works great on this 5 year old XP machine! Let's see what you are talking about. Post a screenshot to illustrate how much better emerge is. Tell us why it's better other than open source and replacing the explorer shell. Aston replaces the explorer shell too and it uses less memory. I've used Aston but because it doesn't work right with IP I don't use it anymore. Make me see why I should try emerge other than you saying it is better. I must add one thing. Unless you are living in 1997 memory (RAM) is not an issue anymore. If you don't have it then you can't play. What OS are you using? XP works great with a gig. That's been more than enough to run most of the Stardock stuff on this old machine.

Try DesktopX.

ok you win desktopx is the food of the gods. i wish i were hungry enough to eat it, but i'm full of all the garbage you just fed me.

blech.

thanks garbanz0, emerge is d*mn close to what I was looking for... i tried desktopx, and it gave alot of options, but not the opacity option for the background of the taskbar which was the hardest thing to find... however, I am using Object Dock because it gives more options than Emerge Launch... and Chasbo, here's a screenshot from my shiny new Emerge desktop:
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c51/hydrotemplar/Untitled-1-1.jpg
i wish it had text in the taskbar, but i was browsing the site, and that should be in the works...
but yeah, thanks again garbanz0
David

Garbanz.

It's typically not very Classy to come to anothers site and trash their products while bumping your own. (noted you only joined 2 days before your post above.)

LiteStep can do all of the above, Replaces the Explorer shell, is open source, etc.. and It Is the "Original" Windows Shell replacement Notice how I did not need to resort to using insults or condescending remarks to achieve my point ?




Easy enough to find.In builder mode.. Right click on the Background, in the popup menu select properties,In the properties window go, States Tab, Transparency tab, opacity can be set here.

hydrotemplar, i miss the text in the taskbar too, but here's a tip. i assume you have emerge tasks reserving an edge of your desktop. if so, you can access the right-click menu even if you have a window maximized. if you edit that menu, you can add a folder called Tasks that will display all the running tasks (open windows). very handy addition to emerge tasks when you start to get a lot of windows open at once. your screen looks great! and i agree that objectdock (or rocketdock, or rklauncher) is better than emerge launcher.

but if you really want to complete your new emerge system, go get a program called Launchy (or Keybreeze, which has more features, but is less pretty and slightly more irritating to use because its demand for perfect spelling).

and HG_Eliminator, well what can i say, i'm just not a very classy guy. anyway it's not like emerge is real competition for stardock. you are all about eye candy, while emerge focuses on simplicity an ease of use. don't get me wrong, i ran the stardock suite for ages, and loved it, but my computer is getting on in years, and i can't afford a new one, so i've switched my focus from a pretty desktop to a useful one so i can better use my RAM on other things. anyway, emerge is not 'my' product. i just like it.



um, what insult did i use? oh yeah, i said you were not very classy. no wait, that was you. hang on, i can do this! was it when i called desktopx memory intensive? that must be it. or maybe it was when i referred to Chasbo's condescending post as 'garbage'. on that note, when was i ever more condescending than the sentence i quote from you above?

finally, what is 'original' about litestep? sure it's been around for over 10 years, but there were literally dozens of shell replacements available before it. even Norton made one way back in the win 3.x days. anyway Litestep really can't make a desktop like the OP was after...

My statement of "LS being the Original", was deliberately sophomoric and inflammatory. Notice the wink after the statement? An intentional misnomer to illustrate a point.

I know very well the time line of Shell replacements. I was there for the Birth of one.

http://desktopian.org/shelltree.html

Everybody forms differing opinions of the same item, based on their needs and or wants at the time.. I for one have played with most GUI's, Extensions, shells and found DX to be quite reasonable on the resource end... As with any program, GUI, shell, the more you pile on to it.. The more it eats resources. ( I have seen LS and Astonshell themes that were so loaded, they made explorer look small).


Yes a shell replacement would be a generally more resource free environment.. But without knowing off hand his capability for working with shell replacements, I recommended DX as a safer alternative.


As for what Hydrotemplar was asking? DX and LS are both quite capable to run a few icons and a task/systray, with little resources used. So your assertions of their capabilities is less than stellar, as it would not be hard in either case to replicate that style of look.. tho LS and DX do allow for the text in the Tasks. If I remember correctly, transparent backgrounds could be used for both sections in both applications.







Upon rereading my post (after a bit of needed sleep), I realize that my comment may have been worded incorrectly to convey my meaning. I was tired and struggled for the proper word's. It should have said, "It s not very "prudent" to come to a site and seemingly slight one application while promoting another. Especially if you know the general populace happens to be enamored with the the app seemingly being slighted."

is it really imprudent to exercise free speech, and to promote change and self-directed thought? i suppose that's why governments kill people. thanks friend, it's all coming together so clearly now. you may have saved me undue hardship. in fact, the time may come where i can rightly say i owe you my life. but then again, i might not heed your advice. i might get really evil, and to to a photoshop forum to promote gimp!

the way i see it, desktopx is capable of hiding explorer, then emulating a minimalist environment in lieu of said shell; conversely, emerge is what desktopx can only imitate. imitation may well be the best form of flattery, but why pay for an imitation when the real thing is free?

but perhaps we are going about this all wrong. perhaps the best solution here is to suggest to the OP that he install both, thereby gaining the advantages of each piece of software. emerge would give him with the productive, minimalist shell environment he is after, then desktopx can use all the leftover memory to clutter everything up with clocks and calendars and lasers and dancing bears. now that's a party that could last all night!

yours truly, and with a plethora of social niceties,
an imprudent, software slighting boy with little or no class.

garban0 I think the use of DesktopX to make a fancy desktop or a very utilisable desktop depends on the artist. Use your wits in script and you can get whatever you want. Messy scripts and heavy graphics consume memory. I run DesktopX at 256mb of Ram and it runs very swiftly and nicely. There are certain script funtions like desktopX.garbagecollection which make it even more faster if used intelligently.

I found it interesting so I spent some time with it......your first comment looks factual, I haven't tried everything possible but memory load seems to be an improvement.....one reason shell replacements have kinda fallen by the wayside is the fact that ram is so cheap and memory management so much better than pre-WinXP.

The second statement so far I cannot agree with. It does have potential but I can't say that it's more flexible or customizable than DX. DX is more "eye candy" whereas this is a true shell replacement. Here again you have to weigh the impact of DX on performance over it's abilities. All in all I like what I see for an open source program it's a pretty good option.

I think it's still got a ways to go before it's as good as Aston or Winstep but then again it's free. It also needs to address Vista or it will be no more than a footnote in the market. As this site's all about customization thanks for pointing it out.

I believe you get your money's worth from the Stardock alternatives....having run the program I suggest Object Dock Plus.....and Right-Click to get the same minimal desktop

for instance.....
This is the Right-Click program by Stardock..... graphics, adjustable opacity, Icons, etc


This is the Right Click menu from Emerge.....(as installed) it may have the ability to add graphics, icons and transparency...I haven't had the time to check


this is a screenshot I uploaded last month which has both and kinda shows what I mean....

The thing that struck me most about this thread and found fair enough to point out is that it's never really a good idea to just walk into someone else's house and tell the inhabitants therein how the food at your house is better than that "garbage" they're currently being fed in theirs.
Notwithstanding insults, sarcasm and condescension, if anyone did that in your house you'd think them a jackass and ignore them at best, or call the cops at worst, and one would invariably be drawn towards the latter.

In addition, "free speech" and the "promotion of self-directed thought" should always be dealt with carefully and courteously if the arguments are to hold any weight with a new audience, especially as a newcomer. After all, the freedoms afforded to any guest, whether in the form of speech or otherwise, are ultimately subject to the discretion and whim of it's owner, even in democratic environments.
Granted, this isn't "real life" and no one's going to be calling the cops, but it stands to reason that the same standard of common courtesy should be exercised, no matter what the situation or medium of communication if you want your voice to be heard and respected.

Getting back to hydrotemplar's question...
Having used DesktopX myself for years now, I can highly recommend it as a platform in which to build your dream desktop, and even go beyond.
Your view of the types of desktops you can build with the application itself should not be coloured or limited by the kind of content put out by the more artistic and intrepid users. You can just as easily make your desktop as minimalistic and easy-to-use as anything you could build in Emerge.

As garbanz0 pointed out, the real issue now is determining which application you find suits your own needs and requirements better.

Good luck.

Lantec, i tried stardock rightclick, and found it was no good for me. it might be skinnable, but that's not what i want. i want it to be useful. the emerge right-click menu (which does support transparency and icons btw, but i turn them off to speed things up) is more customizable. and object dock plus - well, it can't handle tasks and system tray items very well in my opinion, at least not my my old laptop. tried it, didn't like it, uninstalled it, moved on. emerge is perfect for me, and when i found it last month, all my other skinning stuff went away.

as for this territorialism that everyone is pushing in my face, i didn't art first know this was a stardock forum. wincustomize - sounds pretty generic to me. but now it's becoming clear that many of you would take a bullet for them. anyway i found the post when searching google for "taskbar replacement", and when i saw hydrotemplar's screenshot, i thought 'hey, this guy would probably like emerge'. so i told him about it. and i like a good argument, so when i got vehement replies, i responded with equal vehemence. that's the beauty of a public forum.

but i'm done, so i'll slip quietly back into the cobwebby corners of the internet from whence i came, and leave you all to enjoy your stardock goodies. bye bye.

garbanz0 it's not territorialism but, merely differences of opinion. Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't make them a fanboy either. In fact many of the posters in this thread are as hard on Stardock about some of the issues/shortcoming of DesktopX.

Once and awhile I run DesktopX without explorer. While this isn't a true shell replacement it is significantly easier on resources plus more flexible than most shell replacements in my opinion.

I would like to know if there are any of these shells that support scripting? That IMO where the flexibility is in DesktopX. Yes, I would like to do hard coding but, being on dial up makes it impossible to download any of the free or open source development tools.

Hmm... territorialism. Pointing out that exercising a little common courtesy in how one communicates with others gets better results than not is territorialism. :NOTSURE:

I just couldn't exactly see how Chasbo's challenge deserved such a rude and dismissive answer, let alone your other replies. Sure, the original challenge was vehement but it was in no way rude.
An evangelist for any alternate product/faith/whatever should expect to be confronted with unblelief and challenge. It comes with the job.
Also, keep in mind that you entered a forum in which people have primarily used Stardock products; you can't expect everyone to just swoon over Emerge at your first mention. It's totally within the realm of reason to expect some form of challenge which will require further proof of your argument. Had you put forward a convincing argument without resorting to sarcasm and condescension, your experience might have been a more pleasurable one.
You should nevertheless notice that you were at no point treated with the same disrespect you showed others.

However, thanks for mentioning Emerge desktop as an alternative shell. It's always nice to have more options to try out.

I would be interested in what you found that the emerge menu could do that right-click cannot. Right Click has support for embedded gadgets, RSS feeds, and scripting via plugins which Emerge does not. Both have the ability to show running tasks, but Right Click can also show the System Tray.....please enlighten me....

It's interesting that some people will wax lyrical about a newcomer shell replacement and at the same time 'diss' the only 'successful' alternative to explorer.exe.

Yes, there were squillions of attempts at shell replacements... I used Calmira on Win3x ...and a thing called 'Gorin Desktop' in Dos ...though the latter was a simple GUI interface more so than a 'shell'...and yes, they dated back to '95 or so....as did the origins of Litestep.

There 'was' a time when all the 'serious' modder needed was LS and a cut-down skin of Windowblinds to match. [eFX was just too buggy] [cut-down because there was no startmenu/taskbar in LS to skin].

As for 'enhancements'...there's Stardock's....and then there's the rest.

Wincustomize is about a lot more than altering 'functionality'...it's all about visual change...and that's where a product's skinnability is paramount....;)

what it didn't do was work smoothly. at least not with emerge. when i tried to bring up the menu, it would either flicker and go out, or i would get two menus at once - the regular rightclick menu, plus the 'add items' menu. the system tray function showed 2 out of the 7 items in my tray, even when i select 'expand tray'. and the taskbar item filled the whole menu with buttons, but in emerge, it makes a nice, clean pop-out menu. overall emerge's menu is quicker and leaner - that's what i am looking for. plus, the biggest thing that emerge's menu does that stardock's doesn't is that it provides me with what i want for $0 instead of $10. every little bit counts.

edit - i just tried it with explorer. the system tray function worked there, kind of. it was pretty buggy, but at least all my icons showed up. biggest problem is that when you tell it to take away your taskbar, it doesn't reserve part of the desktop, so you have to access the menu via a hotkey. if i'm on the keyboard, i don't use the right-click menu, i use launchy. i only use the menu when i am using a mouse-intensive program and don't want to switch to the keyboard to open a folder or bring up a program quickly. so why would i want to use a hotkey to bring up a mouse menu??

sure i could install objectdock and let it reserve the desktop, but that would just be another program installed that i really don't need. so thanks, but i'm going to stick with what works for me.