First skin attempt… *gulp*

This http://www.windowblinds.net/skinning/ can probably answer most of your questions, but I'm sure everyone would be willing to help you with anything you're unable to figure out.

Thanks for the info, it has actually helped quite a bit... however I've hit a point where I have to ask something here:

Can the task tray (clock area) be stretched? I've set the attributes to stretch, yet it continues to tile. And on the topic of stretching, how do you determine the area to be stretched?

Thanks!

While I'm asking, how about content margins? Is there a way to specify where the content starts in an image? Currently my "Tray" image is mostly green (on the right) and a little grey (on the left). The system clock overlaps into the grey area a bit so I want to green to stretch out a bit more. I've messed around with the little "Margins" sliders but they don't seem to affect where the content resides... Hope I'm making sense..

Thanks

Ok, I've answered a few questions with the task tray, like the content margins and stretching, but the content margin question remains for the Start Panel bottom area. It seems no matter what I do with the content margins there, the log off/on buttons and text remain in the same place... hmmmmm...

Sounds like your having a time. I had trouble with margins at first but after awhile it becomes easier.

The margins and content margins are two different animals. The margin specifies the graphic margin. If you have a graphic that has three tiles of green on the right and three tiles of gray on the left, the margin would be left 3 and right 3. the remaining graphic is stretched or tiled depending on the setting.

Determining to tile an image or stretch it is by what the image is. For example I just put on-line a skin with a chain and if I stretched it the chain would look stretched so I tiled it to keep the size aspect of the links.

I am still learning so this is just what I learned so far. I am sure the other skinners could explain it better.

BTW the margins are adjusted with the spinner buttons. I don't think the sliders do anything. At least I never use them. I think they are for visual on where the margin is. IMO

Ok, so far so good. The tips have really helped. The one thing that I’m really stuck on are the content margins in the “Log Off / Shut Down” areas of the Start Menu. I cannot figure out how to move those down or over…

The log off/on buttons are confusing. They are moved using the content margins in the start menu bottom bar graphic.

Another confusing move is the user picture. The best way to figure out margins is to use the ole trial and error method.

A tip: the preview in SkinStudio is not always 100% accurate. There are times when the skin just has to be loaded on the PC to see exactly what the change looks like.

I'm in the "Bottom Bar" graphic and adjusting the content margin numbers (which are 0 by default) and nothing is happening ... thinking... I know that I have to be missing something that is painfully obvious...