New to customization, a few questions...

Hello everyone.

- I am WindowsXP Pro (32bit) user. Let's say I want to download a certain icon pack, and that pack is offered in .PNG or in .ICO format. What format should I choose? Which one is of superior quality? (While WindowsXP does not support .PNG, AveDesk and IconPackager does...)

- Sometimes icon packs of either format are offered in numerous sizes (128x128, 512x512). If I will probably change the size of my desktop icons from time to time, should I download the icon size that will suit my needs? Or is it OK to download the largest icon and let the icon software (AveDesk for example) resize it?

- When someone posts an image of his desktop at DeviantArt, he sometimes mention that the icons appearing in the image are NFR. Sometimes it's "Mix & Modz". So, what's NFR, Mix, and Modz?

- My goal is achieve a perfect clone of Mac OSX 10.5 "Leopard" on my WindowsXP Pro. What is the best way to achieve that, currently? (For Tiger, it's Flyakite. But there's no Flyakite for for Leopard, true?)

- I want to achieve the same thing for my HTPC that runs a Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005. If a software supports Windows XP Pro, will it support WinXP MCE 2005 just as well?

THANKS IN ADVANCE!

#493170

- As you said, windows doesn't support pngs, so if you need icons specifically for those get the icos. Otherwise, for docks and Avedesk and IP, get the pngs as they're of better quality and more resizable.

- I'd say go for the biggest size. Especially if it's in the png format.

- NFR: Not for release, Mix & Modz: means the person has modded some other existing stuff for personal use and as such the modded things are normally NFR.

- No one setup solution for Leopard. Look around, search these forums. If you already have stuff like WB and IconPackager, you just need to get themes for that, get a dock (RD or Rk) with a leopard theme (many are floating around, take your pick).

- It probably would as I believe MCE is based off XP. I however wouldn't claim myself to be the definitive source for this information so don't blame me if it doesn't.

Again, a lot of info is floating around here. Just search.

#493171

Ico is normally better for changing system icons, but it suck on everything else like docks and avedesk.

The bigger icons the better, if you have the space, but who doesn't

Not For Release

Do it yourself, no one has a "perfect" clone of leopard, but some have come close

There is also no customizable home theater software that is out to the public, so ether make you own or find some one to make it for you or just wait for a couple years, someone should release something like that if their is enough want and developers with a lot of time on their hands

#493172

- As you said, windows doesn't support pngs, so if you need icons specifically for those get the icos. Otherwise, for docks and Avedesk and IP, get the pngs as they're of better quality and more resizable.

- I'd say go for the biggest size. Especially if it's in the png format.

- NFR: Not for release, Mix & Modz: means the person has modded some other existing stuff for personal use and as such the modded things are normally NFR.

- No one setup solution for Leopard. Look around, search these forums. If you already have stuff like WB and IconPackager, you just need to get themes for that, get a dock (RD or Rk) with a leopard theme (many are floating around, take your pick).

- It probably would as I believe MCE is based off XP. I however wouldn't claim myself to be the definitive source for this information so don't blame me if it doesn't.

Again, a lot of info is floating around here. Just search.

Thanks, I'll go for PNGs. But in any case, I'll download both formats, and in every size. I have lots of room anyways. And what's IP?

I guess that RD=Rocket Rock, Rk = Rocket Launcher, true? What's THE best dock software (regardless of price? ObjectDock? Rocket Launcher? Rocket Dock? (and what about Y'z dock?)

Is there a guide for cloning the Leopard?

Mix is a mix of existing icon releases, true?

Thx again.

#493175

RD = Rocketdock

Rk = RkLauncher NOT Rocket Launcher

The best dock: debatable, lot's of recent threads on this. Look, take your pick. I prefer RD.

IP = Iconpackager, I was feeling lazy, lol

For cloning leopard, the process is mostly same as for Tiger. You just replace Tiger themes in the available guides with Leopard ones that you can find here or DevArt. For a convenient repository, see the Downloads section over at osx-e (my sig).

Mix...True.

#493186

Yeah, for the docks you'll probably do best to try them out.

Guess the main question is do you want to be able to use newer docklets then you most likely will have to choose between RK Launcher, RocketDock and Object Dock.

If you're not really interest in using docklets but, want a launcher then I'd check out Thewer's MorphDock for AveDesk. Or Y'z dock which is very low on resources.

#493193

What are docklets? Thanks.

#493227

Docklet's are addins or plugins that can do different things similar to desklets/widgets but, restricted because of the png icon size on the dock.

One of the newest ones and definitely hottest docklets is the Stacks Docklet here in the forum.

#493241

A bit about icons...

The standard Windows icon format is .ICO. With Windows XP came the addition of alpha blended icons, which use various levels of transparency to have smooth edges.

Programs like icon packager also use .ICO, but the nice thing about that program is that you can change icons easily, and also change certain icons that Windows doesn't allow you to normally.

.PNG is an image format, not an icon format.

Programs like application docks (RK Launcher, Rocket Dock, Object Dock) simulate the dock on the bottom of the Mac screen. AveDesk allows you to have not only links to programs, but display information about your hard drive (space free/used), recycle bin, calendars, and other fun things. With those you can use .ICO or .PNG, but .PNG is preferred because they scale nicely.

http://ieub.deviantart.com/ has some icons to get you started.

I would recommend downloading the Windows version (which will be .ICO), and then using Icon Packager to make an icon theme using those icons. Then if you want, you can also download then .PNG version for use with your dock, or AveDesk, or whatever else.

* * * *

Some OSX modding essentials for perfect emulation (some of these are shareware programs):

Window Blinds ~ You really want this over using Visual Styles. WB allows for smooth edges, shadows, accurate scrollbar cups, left aligned caption buttons (min, max, close), transparency, and more.

Object Bar ~ Emulation of the OSX taskbar, also allows you to hide the default Windows taskbar.

Ave Desk ~ Allows for emulation of the mac desktop icons (much more attractive presentation than the Windows ones.)

RK Launcher, Rocket Dock, Object Dock ~ Application dock. Whichever you choose is really up to you, research them all and see which you like best.

Icon Packager ~ Change default Windows icons.

Styler ~ Change the explorer toolbars.

Firefox ~ It's much easier to use Firefox with some sort of OSX theme, than to try to customize MSIE, I think anyway.

There probably are a few more things I could add, but I can't think of anything else at the moment.

#493262

Avedesk - hide desktop icons, and avetunes

Rklauncher- iVista nightly 0.41 beta nightly

Visual style - Leopard 3.0 by neodesktop

Firefox- iSafari Leopard

FinderXer + Styler - markraats.com/FinderXer_Tutorial.htm

icolorfolder- use leopard icons

y shadow- gives you a similar shadow to Leopard's.

Miranda - MSN, AIM, Yahoo, etc.

Check out my deviant, paulerxx.deviantart.com . I have a few screenies of my desktop.

#493271

Thanks a lot for your input! Great community...

Regarding Icon Packager, does it support .PNGs?

Can .PNG wallpapers be used with WindowsXP somehow? The nicest WPs are .PNGs...

The new Leopard has a reflective dock. Is there a dock program that can do this as well?

What do you need FinderXer, Styler, Finderbar and Y'z shadow for?

Is someone still using KKmenu?

Thanks again.

#493314

"What do you need FinderXer, Styler, Finderbar and Y'z shadow for?"

FinderXer, styler make the explorer(my computer for example) look more like Leopard's.

Y'z shadow gives everything a shadow that emulates Leopard's.

Finderbar gives the taskbar the "Finder, File, Edit, View, Go, Window, Help"

"Regarding Icon Packager, does it support .PNGs?

Can .PNG wallpapers be used with WindowsXP somehow? The nicest WPs are .PNGs...

The new Leopard has a reflective dock. Is there a dock program that can do this as well?"

Im pretty sure icon packenger does support .pngs.

Yes, .pngs can be used as a wallpaper.

Rklauncher nightly .41 has a few Leopard skins, the 2D one black, a couple of shiny and reflective ones also.

You should do what I did, first intsall Fkyakite 3.5 and work your way to make it look like Leopard.

#493327

Search! Even though Pauler has answered you, all that info could have been searched out.

#493329

A wallpaper doesn't need to be .png forever lmao, you can open it up in paint and convert it in like half a second.

FindeXer adds this nice sidebar to your window:

Of course, it doesn't automatically look like that. Mark Raats has a nice tutorial about it on his website (www.markraats.com).

I edited the margins in the .conf file of an RKLauncher theme, and go it to look like this:

Again, you can receive much more impressive results with Objectdock, but i choose not to install it because 1.) it's shareware, 2.) it's ****ing intrusive. So yea, that's it.

YzShadow adds a drop shadow to your windows.

Objectbar adds the familiar Menubar mounted upon Mac OS X's desktop. The white (or transperant) bar at the top of the screen.

You cannot apply PNG's to Windows icons. You must use an .ICO file for icons.

*Takes a breath* any other questions?

#493367

My understanding is that .PNGs cannot be used under WinXP as wallpapers, but they can be coverted to .JPG/.BMP using Paint in seconds, true?

Besides that, that's it I think...

THANKS a lot for your help!

#493468

You can use pngs as wallpapers. they just have to be big enough for wallpapers(800,600 at the smallest to infinite).

#493469

Weirdly enough, when I try to set .PNG as my wallpaper the result is a weird graphical anomaly - the resulting wallpaper has the same pattern as the original .PNG, but the colors are mess!

#493542

In Windows you cannot set a .png as a wallpaper because the graphics display engine cannot handle alpha transparency in the wallpaper. You have to take the .png file and "flatten" it. In paint or something (I use Infranview).

#500474

Paint. Save it as a bitmap.

#504442