Stardock Magazine: October 2006
## Contents ##
* The Halloween Desktop
* WindowBlinds 5.1 released
* ObjectBar 2.0 released
* GUI Championships is on!
* Rise of the Super Suites
## The Halloween Desktop ##
Halloween is almost here! And what better way to get your desktop into the mood than with Stardock's Halloween Desktop.
It's a free download that will change the way your Windows desktop looks and feels -- title bars, borders, buttons, Start bar, wallpaper, and more.
Have fun!
Download: Halloween Desktop
## WindowBlinds 5.1 released##
Stardock has released a new version of its most popular desktop enhancement program. WindowBlinds is a program that allows users to "skin" their Windows desktop by applying visual styles that change every part of the user interface of the operating system. There are thousands of visual styles available to download.
WindowBlinds 5.1 adds alpha blending support to older video cards, has new wallpaper changing support, and a host of other updates.
Screenshots:
* WindowBlinds 5.1 in action
* Collage of WindowBlinds skins
* Changing colors of skins
* Making Windows XP look similar to Windows Vista
* Making Windows XP look similar to the Mac
WindowBlinds 5.5 (the next version which will be free to WindowBlinds 5 users) will run on Windows Vista as well!
Homepage: WindowBlinds.net
## ObjectBar 2.0 is here -- finally! ##
After over 12 million years of development, Stardock has finally completed and released ObjectBar 2.0.
So what is ObjectBar? It's a simple program with a complicated explanation. The simple description is that ObjectBar allows users to create their own desktop interfaces. The Start bar on Windows, for instance, is one example of a desktop interface. The Mac Finder is another. ObjectBar is a virtual superset of every sort of bar, dock, launcher, finder, sidebar, etc. out there.
What makes ObjectBar special is how easy it is to create your own bars. The Windows Vista Sidebar, the Google sidebar, the Mac Finder, etc. all could have been made with ObjectBar in one form or other. But there's a lot of other ways one might interact with their computer and hence ObjectBar gives users the power to do just that.
Users can even save their designs and share them with others on-line. This past week we created a new gallery on WinCustomize.com for users to trade their ObjectBar designs. The program comes with several to begin with. Here are a few examples:
Screenshots:
* Powerful desktop example
* Vistabar example
* Finder example
* Gadgetbar Example
You can download ObjectBar and try it for yourself. It is part of Object Desktop which is Stardock's suite of desktop enhancements that includes not just ObjectBar but WindowBlinds and a couple dozen other programs.
Download: ObjectBar 2.0
## GUI Championships at full throttle ##
The GUI Championships is a multi-website contest that is held every other year in which graphics designers from around the world compete in a series of events for designing various elements of a desktop user interface.
This year, the contest includes GUI skins via WindowBlinds, icon packages that are applied via IconPackager, and wallpapers. The results so far have been spectacular!
Here are some examples:
* Winner of most usable icons
* Runner-Up
* A finalist for most usable WindowBlinds GUI skin
You can try these all out for yourself at the site and much more!
Visit: GUI Championships.com
## RISE of the SUPER SUITES ##
This Fall has already been great for high quality premium suites. Last year, zero new premium suites were released. We got a lot of email from users requesting that we start making them again and so we've responded with three high quality suites plus a brand new icon package combo.
What is a premium suite? A premium suite is a set of professionally designs skins, icons, wallpapers, gadgets, etc. that are put together into a single package. They require that the user have at least WindowBlinds, IconPackager, and Theme Manager to use but they often include additional content. If you have Object Desktop, then you have everything you need. Otherwise you will need to download at least those three programs above.
Once you have those programs installed, the suites can then be downloaded and applied to change the look and feel of your desktop in amazing ways.
The three that have come out include:
* Fortune. A cool looking desktop with its own icons, wallpaper, WindowBlinds skin, and a magic Stardock ball that will tell you the "future" when you shake it. (screenshot). It also has a logon screen for Windows and a boot screen.
* Liquidox has a slick look and feel with awesome icons, a cool shadow and more. (screenshot). It also includes mouse cursors, a screensaver, and a new Windows boot screen.
* Argos was designed for users who want a good looking but very clean desktop. The skin is minimalist and very fast. (screenshot). Argos also includes a couple of gadgets (a calendar and an RSS reader), mouse cursors, a boot screen and a logon screen.
There's more in the works as well. Moreover, these suites have been tested under Windows Vista so when we update the software publicly for Windows Vista, these suites will already work.
## That's all for now... ##
We hope you've found this month's issue of Stardock Magazine enjoyable.
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BioVistaMX
Elküldve: 2006. 10. 29. 14:08
Elküldve: 2006. 10. 29. 15:54
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