Windowblinds not skinning properly-My recent experiences and findings

from Stardock Forums

Hi guys. I've been both fascinated and frustrated during the tenure of my WB experience. I gave up on WB for years, but now I think It's working, mostly. Here are some things I've figured out in my trial and error endeavor...

 

* WB does not work well with modern windows themes...It works best for me when I am in high contrast mode. There is much more control over the color settings in high contrast theme mode, and it makes it a bit easier for WB to do the skinning...In high contrast theme mode most everything skins properly....In my experience.

* Unloading WB after changing skins and applying the skin again will make the skin apply better. Sometimes even restarting windows after making changes works (with WB still loaded).

* The right click menu is messed up and doesn't display any text. 

* In some instances, using WB interferes with your ability to use your computer properly or easily. 

* Stardock makes products that don't work as advertised much of the time. No wonder WB is so cheap. I know many of you have used WB for years and it's worked for you, but some of us have had bad luck trying to get WB to work. They need to make WB work like it's supposed to. We shouldn't have to use a different windows exploring app in order for WB to work, after all, it's called WINDOWBLINDS right?...

windowblinds
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Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top


Hi guys. I've been both fascinated and frustrated during the tenure of my WB experience. I gave up on WB for years, but now I think It's working, mostly. Here are some things I've figured out in my trial and error endeavor...

 

* WB does not work well with modern windows themes...It works best for me when I am in high contrast mode. There is much more control over the color settings in high contrast theme mode, and it makes it a bit easier for WB to do the skinning...In high contrast theme mode most everything skins properly....In my experience.

* Unloading WB after changing skins and applying the skin again will make the skin apply better. Sometimes even restarting windows after making changes works (with WB still loaded).

* The right click menu is messed up and doesn't display any text. 

* In some instances, using WB interferes with your ability to use your computer properly or easily. 

* Stardock makes products that don't work as advertised much of the time. No wonder WB is so cheap. I know many of you have used WB for years and it's worked for you, but some of us have had bad luck trying to get WB to work. They need to make WB work like it's supposed to. We shouldn't have to use a different windows exploring app in order for WB to work, after all, it's called WINDOWBLINDS right?...
End of quote

I would not recommend running Windows Blinds while in High Contrast Mode, you could really 'bork' your system!

Curtains - Customize Windows with additional styles
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting chrisrshepherd, reply 2

My system is not borked....Can you elaborate please?
End of chrisrshepherd's quote

I didn't do enough research on it but, my system corrupted completely running WB and High Contrast. Could be just a fluke.

If it's workin for you, I'd say just keep an eye on it.

Sorry for the lack of info. ;)

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top


Hi guys. I've been both fascinated and frustrated during the tenure of my WB experience. I gave up on WB for years, but now I think It's working, mostly. Here are some things I've figured out in my trial and error endeavor...

 

* WB does not work well with modern windows themes...It works best for me when I am in high contrast mode. There is much more control over the color settings in high contrast theme mode, and it makes it a bit easier for WB to do the skinning...In high contrast theme mode most everything skins properly....In my experience.

* Unloading WB after changing skins and applying the skin again will make the skin apply better. Sometimes even restarting windows after making changes works (with WB still loaded).

* The right click menu is messed up and doesn't display any text. 

* In some instances, using WB interferes with your ability to use your computer properly or easily. 

* Stardock makes products that don't work as advertised much of the time. No wonder WB is so cheap. I know many of you have used WB for years and it's worked for you, but some of us have had bad luck trying to get WB to work. They need to make WB work like it's supposed to. We shouldn't have to use a different windows exploring app in order for WB to work, after all, it's called WINDOWBLINDS right?...
End of quote

1) You should not apply high contrast mode before using a WB skin, it would be totally redundant.  WB changes the system colours itself just fine and high contrast mode will produce some very odd results in some apps as they will intentionally pick colour schemes which are very contrasty.  High contrast themes are intended for those who have problems with their vision and applications will use that as a hint.

2) Unloading WB after changing skins and reloading it should have no impact what so ever.  There are the occasional buggy applications which cache things which need the app to be reloaded in which case a restart of Windows would be also achieving that

3) That is not normal.  If our menus were blank it would never have passed QA.  Clearly either a badly designed theme with incorrect text settings or something else interacting with it

4) WindowBlinds does not require a different Windows Explorer app?  What app are you talking about? 

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

1)High contrast mode on, WB off:

wb1

 

High contrast mode on, WB on (works fine with HC mode on):


High contrast mode off, reg win 10 theme, WB not on:


High contrast mode off, reg win 10 theme, WB on (not coloring the button face object, sometimes not coloring the main window space either):


This is what happens when I right click on the desktop (or anywhere else, any theme):

 

I'm not meaning to cause trouble or be argumentative, however this is what is happening on my pc. I mentioned at the outset that these things are what I'M experiencing. All I know is I've been trying to figure out some serious problems with WB and I know what is happening on my pc concerning WB. 

 

People shouldn't have to go down a frustrating rabbit hole to get a retail computer program to work....I have been using a computer for 17 years, and I know my system well. These are major problems happening with a program that is supposed to work right out of the box....