Sorry to be a pest.......what is Next Step

Can anyone tell me what Next Step is, I read it can "Skin" the start menu...well does it work for all OS?
2,534 views 6 replies
Reply #1 Top
You probably mean, NextSTART, not NeXTSTEP. NeXTSTEP is a wonderful, though now defunct, operating system that is enjoying a second life as Mac OS X.

NextSTART is a replacement for the Windows start menu. It doesn't work in all OS's, just Windows.
You can find more info at http://www.winstep.net
Reply #2 Top
NextStart does not skin the Windows Start menu. NextStart is a skinnable menuing application that provides the similar functionality of the start menu. It's a desktop enchancement that you can use in place of the the Windows Start menu.

You can define various popup menus within NextStart and have them display by various actions, such as clicking an area of your desktop, clicking a button, bumping the mouse against the sreen edge.

You can find more about nextstart at the WinStep site: http://www.winstep.net
Reply #3 Top
Hmm. I need to refresh the webpage more often...Oh well, 2 answers for the price of 1.
Reply #5 Top
Can anyone help? I've downloaded the next start but it wouldnt open I tried using stuffit. But anyways can anyone tell me how to apply the darn thing? .. Thanx in advanced if you can!
Reply #6 Top
Well, when you start it up, IIRC its default configuration is to have a button in the lower left corner of the screen. If you click it, it launches a menu that's similar to the Windows Start Menu. Additonlly, you can turn off NextSTART's task managment and use the standard Windows taskbar and just use NextSTART for menus.

You can edit the menu, or create more menus. To bring up the configuration, press Ctrl F12.

You can define hotspots, menus, and load other themes. The configuration window is pretty confusing at first.

You can ignore most of the config screens. The ones your probably interested in are:

Tasklist and Systray Preferences
Hotspot Definitions
Menu Editor
Themes

Press the Help button and look for info on the above. NexSTART's help is pretty good. Also you can find the same Help System on line here: http://www.winstep.net/help/help-ns2/help-ns2.html

Here's a small FAQ: http://www.winstep.net/help/faqs/ns2_faq.htm

There is an additional excellent tutorial on creating hotspot and menus here: http://www.winstep.net/help/tutorial/intro.html

To install a skin:

1. Download it (it's just a zip file).
2. Go to NextSTART's configuation's Theme setting (the one that shows 2 tuxedos.
3. Under the "Import Theme From Zip" section, click the file cabinet and browse to the zip file and select it.
4. Press the brown package icon to import it.
5. under the "Load Theme" section, select the theme from the dropdown list.
6. Press the floopy disk button to apply the theme.
7. Press OK to get out of the configuation dialog.