Why can't WB users use Visual Styles?

Not using a tag since this is a general question lol.

Many times if there is a release of a particularly nice VS people will request a WB version, or are dissapointed to find there won't be a WB release. But why can't a WB user just patch their system to use a Visual Style if they really like it? It would seem to me that a person who has paid for Windowblinds can have the best of both worlds: complete WB theming, plus the occasional Visual Style if it's nice enough, whereas a VS person is just stuck with Visual Styles only.

I'm a VS user. I've tried WB about 3 different times in that past when a particularly nice WB theme was released. It's just not my thing, but I can see why others like it (especially WB 5, yay alpha-blending ).

#369899

Its much closer to a real mac. I think. The buttons...

What's alpha blending ???

#369909

What's alpha blending ???

if you look at the luna theme, you'll notice that there are jaggies in the titlebar corners. That's because the windows theming service does not support alpha-blended images on titlebars. Alpha-blended images are images in which each pixel can have its own level of transparency, which can result in smooth rounded corners. Here's an example :

in the left you can see the luna visual style, and in the right a tiger wb5 skin with alpha-blending (or per-pixel transparency)

#369914

@sakurakira: When you install WB5 you can't apply VS.

#369915

Actually you can use WB and VS, and it is easily switchable between, i have switched between the two easily by unloading WB.

Activating the VS on the other hand i noramlly navigate to C:WindowsResourcesThemes folder and double click the VS.

Also if you install Flyakite OSX 3.5 or previous versions, the uxtheme.dll is patched already for you to allow 3rd party themes, else available here: http://www.aqua-soft.org/board/showthread....ghlight=uxtheme

EDIT: Excuse my thinking, but are we thinking on the same level here, i seem to be a bit confudsed lol

#369918

actually you can, if you have skinstudio installed on your pc, when you double click a vs, it'll convert the skin into wb format and apply it. But, why would anyone wanna use vs if they had WB5? I mean, once you've tried wb, you would never think of going back to vs. At least that applies to me and my other friends, I was using stylexp before, i even bought it, something that I will regret for the rest of my life :P

#369919

Are you asking "why can't they" or "why don't they?" I don't think there's any reason they can't...

-NC

#369929

Well ive been switching between vs and wb- but if the theme i wanted was available for both- id use wb- aside from alpha blending, most dialog boxes- i mean the please wait, shut down etc are skinned, some themes have their buttons glowing, the left sided glyphs, ability to change fonts, animation easily, plus i like the finder border especially with shadows around it

#369937

WB users *CAN* use msstyles, but the mssytles are physically/technologically incapable of having all the great features of WB like smooth alpha-blended corners, left-side buttons (e.g. true Mac style), skinned Windows wait/shutdown dialogs, glows on buttons, built in shadows.

Plus with WB5, msstyles are actually slower on my computer, so I just import them into WB5 format using Skinstudio. If I was so inclined, I could always patch my system and use an msstyle, but there's no reason to do so.

#369944

if you look at the luna theme, you'll notice that there are jaggies in the titlebar corners. That's because the windows theming service does not support alpha-blended images on titlebars. Alpha-blended images are images in which each pixel can have its own level of transparency, which can result in smooth rounded corners. Here's an example :

in the left you can see the luna visual style, and in the right a tiger wb5 skin with alpha-blending (or per-pixel transparency)

Thx for the info.

#369959

@sakurakira: When you install WB5 you can't apply VS.

So you download skinstudio, 2 clicks of the mouse and the vs becomes a wba. Its not rocket science here.

@ NC, he's asking why we USE WB. Answer - because the skinning features are much better than VS. Visual Styles are limited in what they can do, WB greatly exceeds in everything a VS can do. Themes are of a higher quality, per pixel is just one example

#369962

@ NC, he's asking why we USE WB. Answer - because the skinning features are much better than VS. Visual Styles are limited in what they can do, WB greatly exceeds in everything a VS can do. Themes are of a higher quality, per pixel is just one example

I'm a girl... but no I was asking, "Why can't WB users use VS?" And I was asking this because I have seen WB users complain that some good VS don't get ported to WB and so forth. I know all of the nice features of being able to use WB, as i said, I've tried it myself... did you even read my whole post?

But thanks for replying everyone.

#369997

Your question was a tad confusing, because you asked why the WB users can't use VS, and they can, so everyone was trying to figure out what you meant...

#369998

Like duyvan said, install SkinStudio from Stardock, and it's really easy, just load up the VS and it'll convert it automatically and apply it as your theme using windowblinds jsut like any other theme.

#370001

So you download skinstudio, 2 clicks of the mouse and the vs becomes a wba. Its not rocket science here.

I know that. But hey, when you convert .msstyles to .wba is that new .wba skin better quality? (because of alpha-blending or per-pixel transparency)

#370004

No, it won't be better quality. The quality of it depends on the original images used to make the skin. Alpha blending can't just be added afterwards, to a bmp.

#370007

@Ronnie Coleman: You'll need to add the alpha-blending yourself offcourse.

If you want to use a Visual Style and you have Windowblinds loaded just select the Luna visual style in Windowblinds, then apply it.

When that's done just right click your desktop, hold down ctrl, click properties, and then release the ctrl key when the Display Properties dialog pops up.

Now you can use Visual Styles.

If you double click a Visual Style make sure you have the ctrl key down to.

When you hold the ctrl key down the Windowblinds propertys wont load in the Display Properties dialog

This is the way i do it when i switch from Windowblinds themes to Visual Stles.

#370008

I know that. But hey, when you convert .msstyles to .wba is that new .wba skin better quality? (because of alpha-blending or per-pixel transparency)

No, simply because thats impossible. It would lose quality. You would lose the tga (png) frame, among other things.

#370011

No, simply because thats impossible. It would lose quality. You would lose the tga (png) frame, among other things.

There are no TGA or PNG files in Visual Styles :S

#370013

I know, I was refering to WB, he asked if wb could be converted to vs...

#370015

He was asking to oposite

He was asking if Msstyle converted to WBA file could have alpha blending

#370019

the WB-VS world can certainly be a confusing world-- and the differences and capabilities aren't always made clear.

--> SKINSTUDIO can convert ANY VISUAL STYLE to WINDOWBLINDS format. As stated, if you have skinstudio installed, all you have to do is double-click on the *.msstyles.

BOTTOM LINE, VS users can ONLY use visual styles, WB users can use either! Spread the word.

#370023

I'm a girl... but no I was asking, "Why can't WB users use VS?" And I was asking this because I have seen WB users complain that some good VS don't get ported to WB and so forth. I know all of the nice features of being able to use WB, as i said, I've tried it myself... did you even read my whole post?

But thanks for replying everyone.

Alright then, yeah, there is no reason WB users can't use VSs, and they ask for WB ports because of performance improvements and visual improvements that would occur in a WB but not a VS.

-NC

#370102

@sunb1rd: not that's not teh bottom line

the real bottom line is that people should throw VS/msstyle/stylexp into the bin and get Windowblinds

#370105

the real bottom line is that people should throw VS/msstyle/stylexp into the bin and get Windowblinds

said by the WB master himself <3.

#370112