Last week, Stardock released version 6 of WindowBlinds, their Windows skinning suite, which is the first version to include full support for Windows Vista. Stardock was kind enough to provide OSAlert with a copy of WindowBlinds 6.0. Read on for some findings.Stardock, the company behind Windowblinds, actually has a fairly long history. The company made name for itself as a major os/2 ISV with their Object Desktop suite, a set of applications that extended os/2’s graphical user interface. However, as we all know, os/2 sizzled out, and Stardock was forced to port its Object Desktop suite to Windows in 1997/1998. Stardock continued to sell the version of Object Desktop for os/2 until February 2001, when they discontinued OD for os/2.
WindowBlinds itself is also quite an old application. The first version was released in 1998 for Windows 95, and was developed by Stardock and Neil Banfield. The second release added various new features like sub-skins, scripting, user-controlled colours, and so on. Version 3 included support for Windows XP and was released alongside Windows XP itself. The fourth version provided numerous bug and performance fixes; coincidentally, WindowBlinds 4.6 is the last version that supports pre-XP versions of Windows (now named WindowBlinds Classic). WindowBlinds 5, released November 2005, added per-pixel alpha blending for the entire window border.
WindowBlinds 6.0 adds, among other things, the following features:
- Full support for Windows Vista, including IE7 and the sidebar
- Utilises Vista’s hardware acceleration
- Adds ‘blurred glass’ capabilities to Windows XP, as well as some hardware acceleration
- A new configuration program
The new configuration program has a ribbon-like tabbed interface thing, and I must say, it is very easy to use, and looks rather dashing too. It is a definite step up from previous versions, where logic was sometimes a bit hard to find in the user interface of the configuration program. Additionally, you can change the colour of the interface of the program (surprising, is it not?). When you switch a skin, or change some specific elements of a skin, the apply button will now blur and decolourise your desktop during the time it needs to adjust the desktop to apply your changes. Nice touch.
By default, WindowBlinds 6.0 ships a few themes. These are obviously themes designed for use with the new version, but some of them still contain some errors. The ‘Leo’ theme for instance does some weirdness where the window’s toolbars appear to be a few pixels wider than the actual content of the window – those are little mistakes I do not wish to see in themes shipped by default. Some themes also show off the freeform skinning of the task-bar.
Via the configuration program you can also manipulate the themes themselves, by playing with colours, fonts, transparency, and blur settings. Sadly, you cannot edit Windows’ default Aero theme – I had hoped I could colourise Vista’s taskbar to match the window frame colour (one of my pet peeves about Vista, the taskbar always remains black, no matter the frame colour), but sadly, this is impossible. You can also create and manage themes for Vista’s sidebar, or use the Sidebar theme defined by the actual WindowBlinds skin.
A skinning application is obviously only as good as the themes available for it. And sadly, this is where WindowBlinds fails – in my opinion. There are ten million billion themes out there, but 99% of them are – excusez-moi – utter rubbish. When I set out to find a theme for my desktop, I want that theme to be subdued, elegant, and consistent. I do not want fire breathing dragons, flames, or snowflakes falling inside my titlebars. Microsoft and Apple know this, and that is why, despite their perceived flashiness, both Vista and OSX are actually quite conservative by design when it comes to the ‘G’ in GUI.
For instance, for a while I used a specific theme on OSX that combined the modern Aqua interface with the oh-so-attractive looks of Mac OS 9: a theme named Rhapsodized, by Max Rudberg. Elegant themes like this are hard to find for WindowBlinds, and that simply is a real miss. This problem is made harder for a Vista user like me, since not a lot of themes have been adapted yet for use with Vista. Obviously, however, I know that the quality of a theme is a subjective matter – so it might as well be true that for you, there are enough WindowBlinds themes that tickle your fancy.
So, the likeliness of you wanting to have WindowBlinds is dependent on whether or not you can find a theme that you really like. WindowBlinds itself, however, is a great application, that does what advertised in an easy and very usable way. The interface is well thought out, changes are easily made, and, not at all unimportant, you can easily switch back to Windows’ default, and turn WindowBlinds off completely.
To summarise: a great, mature application, but, in my opinion, hindered by a lack of elegant themes.
Software title: WindowBlinds 6.0
Publisher: Stardock
Price: USD 19.95
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I have always thought that WindowBlinds was a unique application, but if you did not like the default themes, there wasn’t much available that had any type of quality.
IMO, WindowBlinds does not have many themes suited to more practical users like Thom because more practical users like Thom do not normally use WindowBlinds.
Maybe holding a minimalist/practical theme competition here on OSAlert would be a good idea?
I mean, people are always picking apart the new themes on the open source OS’s, so there must be some knowledgeable people here. If StarDock thought it was a good idea, they could give away a free copy or two of ObjectDesktop and WindowBlinds to the winner and the runner-up, respectively.
Eugenia is quite…particular about GUI design. Maybe OSAlert staff could come up with an OSAlert-themed skin that could be a free download after the contest?
I am assuming that the trial versions of WindowBlinds and SkinStudio would work for this; otherwise, people would have to pay $20 or more to enter the contest!
Edited 2007-10-08 20:24 UTC
I’m about as particular as Eugenia when it comes to design. And yes, I indeed have a lot of ideas on how a GUI should look and, more importantly, behave. However, the ideas I have cannot be made to work in a mere theme – they entail so much more.
I’ve long thought about turning all those ideas, which are fairly coherent, into a nice design document. The sheer amount of work, though, is holding me back at the moment.
Who knows what the future brings.
Decreased stability,
Decreased responsiveness,
Fugly and incomplete themes,
Where do I get one?
Proof? No problems here.
Proof? No problems here.
As said in the review, yes.
All of the above mentioned are YES on my system. That should be part of proof You are looking for. WinXP Professional…and WB6 free managed to freeze XP to the reset button point.
No one is doubting you experienced it, but how is one to know that it is a Windowblinds problem and not a problem with your system, or other software on it, or drivers, or something else entirely?
Sounds like a driver problem, like most everyone else here who’s actually using or used WB6 those issues you’re having are quite isolated. No stability problems, no responsiveness issues, not even with the whiz-bang new flaming theme with that fire-breathing dragon in your start menu, and I’ve even got an ATI video card! I would expect issues from that at least. Maybe you should seek assistance with your problems from the people who make the application?
Windows XP crashed once when I inserted a CD – which is aparently “proof” that CDs are unstable
Was it a RIAA music CD, by any chance? I know they sometimes hide malicious code in their discs to try to prevent computers from playing them…
Nar – was just a blank CD-R. XP was just throwing a hissy fit as it sometimes chooses to do.
I was just making the point that personal experience does not constitute as computer science fact.
Edited 2007-10-08 17:21
Quite. Anecdotes do not constitute data, and there are so many variables involved in computers that you need to get an aggregate of end user experiences on a range of hardware and software set-ups before you can start considering a problem with a particular piece of software or hardware as a bug or design flaw.
Something might not work for one person for a range of reasons, from a defective transistor in a CPU to a virus ridden machine loaded with crapware. But if something consistently shows the same pattern on several very different machines, then you can say something is a bit sus.
I guess uptime ranging from 30 days to 3 months should be a good pointer if there is something wrong with my system.
Decreased stability
Proof? No problems here.
Decreased responsiveness
Proof? No problems here.
I’m glad that it ran well for you, but sometimes mileage varies…
http://forums.stardock.com/?forumid=167
About half the posts are problems…problems with stability mostly.
WB6, on Vista, is a very impressive application. By interacting with DWM, the entire experience “feels” more thorough and there appears to be no overhead or any of the strange themeing weirdness that always seemed to plague WB under XP. There are at least two theme’s available (one provided in box) that were pretty (both derived from other OS GUI’s) and didn’t impact usability.
That said, yes, for some reason wincustomize is full of horrid, garish themes. Even more disturbing is that many of them are, by all appearances, very popular. This would seem to indicate that all the goodness of WB6 will be used to help people turn their desktops into the digital equivalents of “hoopties”.
Nevertheless, WB6 is by far the best version yet.
This would seem to indicate that all the goodness of WB6 will be used to help people turn their desktops into the digital equivalents of “hoopties”.
Kind of like the ketchup and mustard theme on Windows 3.1?
“Kind of like the ketchup and mustard theme on Windows 3.1? ;-)”
Worse.
Example:
http://skins2.wincustomize.com/NightTrain/wb/6288.jpg
The worst thing is that you will read comments like these:
“Thanks man, this is the best skin I’ve seen so far”
Or people that will say…
“I have been looking for this !! ”
I guess that we’re outdated
I don’t know if we’re outdated, but one thing is sure:
most of us OSAlert readers see computers as tools to accomplish a certain task, and most of our UI setups (for those who actually use GUIs
) tend to be geared towards productivity and/or comfort. Extreme desktop-modding is “Pimp my ride” with a computer. Crazy looking but absolutely useless, and more than once absolutely ugly.
I’m kind of annoyed by this ‘Real users use the command line’ mentality.
Sure, I tend to use the keyboard to the exclusion of the mouse. But that does not mean I do not benefit from a GUI. I like having pretty programs, which have been enhanced by the (appropriate and conservative) use of graphics and sound. I like reading in well-designed eye-friendly variable-width fonts (that is a requirement for me, given how much of my life I spend sitting before a screen). I like having my commands organized into quickly-scannable lists of commands related to a particular topic (whether you’re using dropdowns or ribbons, the concept is the same). It’s great being able to summon application controls or OS controls with the touch of a single key (Alt or Win, respectively) and dismissing them just as easily. It rocks to have a well-designed GUI help me to do in three to five keystrokes what would take a command-line user a modestly-sized sentence, or a pure mouse user (oh, how I pity those poor souls) twenty or thirty seconds of lining up the cursor onto the correct spots. It’s always nice when programs and features look like what they represent, and work like their look suggests. And when I happen to forget a command (we all use dozens of programs, some with hundreds of commands, it happens to the best of us), it saves so much time to be able to choose the command list of my choice and browse around the list of commands until I find the correct one, as opposed to having to look up the particular arcane switch I need in a manual (or worse, if they use online ‘manuals’, to have to open up another application to search for this manual — granted I have internet access at all; wireless is not nearly as ubiquitous as it could be).
And when all you’re doing is randomly browsing around, or playing a game to clear your head after beating it against a particular wall one time too many, sometimes that mouse really is the superior option (although I’ve been known to hold ‘Tab’ down to cycle through links for 10-12 seconds to not have to reach for the mouse).
Paranoid much? Nothing better to do than ranting?
I could point a few dozens of cases where GUIs are not needed. At all. But I fail to see what part of my post led you to such a misplaced rant. I never said “real users don’t use a GUI”. Maybe I should have said: “for those of us who actually use a GUI”. Happy now? Do you feel better?
Edit: Spelling and removed the quote.
Edited 2007-10-08 17:31 UTC
Indeed. I was always puzzeled by case modders who stick bulbs inside their computer. For one, how many people actually look at the case when working on their computer – and secondly, wouldn’t it make more sense to cool the computer rather than further heat it?
The smilie in your system tray seems quite apt for that theme
…for some reason wincustomize is full of horrid, garish themes. Even more disturbing is that many of them are, by all appearances, very popular.
The reason it is full of them is that they are popular (and not, as you might imagine, the other way around). Most WindowBlinds customers are looking for something spiffy. Usability is not necessarily their top priority. I have always tried to make my own skins usable, but for many what matters most is the look, and it is not necessarily a subtle look.
I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing – it’s just a thing. As for the included skins . . . well, perhaps having a dragon on the start menu isn’t the ideal UI, but it sure is a neat way of showing off a new feature! Consider them as an example of what you can do, rather than what you should.
If you don’t like the included themes, there are many good skins on WinCustomize. I suggest you make use of the “sort by rating” option ( http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?libid=1&sort=rating ). Not all of the highly rated skins are likely to be to your taste, but that’s true of any art form. In my view, what matters is that some people like them – and if that’s the case, what’s the harm if you do not?
(Me, I like Blackcomb, but I’m the simple sort . . .)
Edited 2007-10-08 19:23
I’ve tried Stardock in the past and it was nice in what it did, but after a while the price in system resources wasn’t worth the cosmetic gain.
For those of you interested in going the way of minimalization, try GeoShell. I’ve replaced my explorer with it and my system is much more responsive. http://geoshell.org
“Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 16777216 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 8192 bytes) in /home/geoshell/sites/geoshell.org/gallery/lib/adodb/adodb.inc.php on line 808”
That’s when trying to check some screenshots. I remember it from long time ago when I was trying to get rid of explorer in a Windows box I had to use. It was pretty cool, IIRC. It’s not a WB replacement though.
Regarding WB, I wholeheartedly agree with Thom: it’s been alwasys a cool app, but the lack of (useable, elegant, clean) themes degrades the experience. The only really useable themes come from the base package and, as someone already pointed out, they’re inspired in other OSes GUIs. I will never understand why would I like to have little goldfishes swimming in my windows’ title bars.
It’s a shame, WB6 is a solid, powerful and affordable product, ruined by the lack of cool themes besides the always present yet-another-custom-aqua-like theme.
I had used Windows Blinds on previous versions, and although I thought that it was a great idea, I agree with the others, about lack of good themes. The biggest problem that I experienced with it, was stability. Older versions were a resource hog for me, and I couldn’t justify using that much of my system resources for eye candy. There was very little that added any valuable functionality, and some of the themes were very buggy indeed. I don’t use Vista, so I can’t comment on this newer version, but from what I’ve read, it still suffers from the same issues as previous versions.
Most of WB themes are overdone, incomplete or simply ugly (and to top that, the themes for XP dont work very well under vista), but I’m sure once people like http://-kol.deviantart.com/ get their hands on the new version some nice AND usable themes will be produced
I’m waiting patiently
What kind of hardware acceleration WindowBlinds brings to Windows XP? I would presume it only brings 2D acceleration. There’s no mucking with GDI to get a buffered, 3D composited desktop, or anything like that, right?
Edited 2007-10-08 16:01
So, this article means StarDock should hire more professional designers to offer better quality…?
Well, IMHO that would be very positive! =]
but still… it’s hard to judge a product by its 3rd parties… =]
Everyone has different opinions when it comes to skins. Some like themes that are more minimalistic, and some prefer skins that are more “extravagant” and have features like animations.
Some of the most popular skins out there today are:
http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=5758&libid=1
http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=6156&libid=1
http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=6285&libid=1
Edited 2007-10-08 19:07
I can understand why Thom is so fond of “Rhapsodized”. It looks really smooth. Tish meets Clearlooks-Square (sorry about that comparison
). And no round corners – I like that… a lot.
Soooo… uh….
What ever happened to the .theme files we got so excited about in windows XP? them things even exist?m I thought Windows XP & newer had built in theming… What’s up with that?
The impression that I have is that if you want a more functional or minimalistic style you need to look at Visual Styles. Unfortunately, Visual Styles require a hack, and are not as customizable or system-wide like Window Blinds skins (example: Command Prompt).
On the other hand, I do have a license of Window Blinds 4, but its not installed on my system and I haven’t renewed the license. The reason is simply that the WindowBlinds skins available just make my eyes hurt.
My Visual Style for a long time has been Luna Element (since version 3):
http://tornado5.deviantart.com/art/Luna-Element-v5-1-Blue-47567543
It doesn’t looks like a big change from the default XP look, but the changes in color choice, color saturation and button shape are very well thought.
If there was an official Window Blinds port this that uses the Window Blinds additional skinning features, I’d buy Window Blinds 6 without thinking twice.
Edited 2007-10-09 02:30
SkinStudio5 converts MS visual styles to Windowblinds for a more complete skinning experience.
Tutorial here: http://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=147196
“If there was an official Window Blinds port of Luna Element that uses the Window Blinds additional skinning features, I’d buy Window Blinds 6 without thinking twice. ”
There has bene for 2 years.
http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=4778&libid=1
I do agree that most WindowBlinds skins aren’t that great. But that is the same of icons, wallpapers, and everything else.
The existence of ugly WindowBlinds skins as a reason not to use it would be like arguing we shouldn’t change our wallpapers because most wallpapers look terrible.
There are thousands and thousands of WindowBlinds skins out there but there are also many ones that would likely match your preference.
For instance, I have been running Metal Vista. (http://www.wincustomize.com/skins.aspx?skinid=6228&libid=1) It looks great IMO. (See http://www.stardock.com/brad/img47.jpg for a quick preview).
There are great themes out there. They’re not any harder to find than a good wallpaper or a good icon package. But it does require the user to sort by rating or look around just like anything else.
Edited 2007-10-12 21:10
Thanks for the nice review, it gave good overall information about WindowsBlinds, as well as detailing specific important aspects. However, it would be nice if the review stated near the beginning which version was reviewed on what platform. (Reading through the review it seemed that it was the pay version on Vista.) And while the review is quite useful as it is, ideally it would be nicer if it mentioned the differences between the shareware/pay versions, and what features it supports on which platforms.
Inspired by the review, I just tried the shareware version on XP with the Vista Aero-like Diamond theme and found it quite nice. Even though the reviewer said that most of the themes didn’t suit his taste, I think it’s enough to find a few themes that you like. (Well, admittedly, an Aero-like theme may not be very new for Vista users… Still, it has the advantage that unlike in Aero, with the Diamond theme, the taskbar color is more matched to the frame colors.)