Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Everything posted by NoelC
-
I found some time to review the things you mentioned, Sean. All the features you have identified are by design. My intent is not to make it look like the Windows 8 standard theme but to have a personality of its own. I'm not as allergic to skeuomorphism as Microsoft wants me to be. I happen to LIKE the appearance of depth and texture in my desktop elements, even if subtle. 1. The light hint at the tops of the buttons is to imply the light is coming from the top, and that the button has kind of a "chicklet" shape. 2. Lack of lightness/opacity behind the minimize and maximize buttons is on purpose. I generally prefer dark screen backgrounds and this makes those buttons all but disappear, reducing the visual clutter. We all know they're up there, and hovering over them lights them up in blue. I know not everyone likes the same things, so I encourage you to edit up a set with the features you like. You may feel free to start with the version I posted; I have no attachment to it - it's free for your (and everyone's) use as you see fit. -Noel
-
I just use Photoshop as well to manipulate the theme atlas elements. You have to be careful to manage the transparency correctly. It's not just about color, but how much each element occludes the pixels behind it. I'm busy with the Windows 8.1 release today, but when I get some time I'll look at the specific issues you've mentioned, ralcool. -Noel
-
Just to let you know it CAN work - it downloaded them automatically for me. -Noel
-
What are you talking about? Could you really be expressing impatience that BigMuscle hasn't released his product for an OS that's not yet officially released? How fast do you expect him to work? ClassicShell 4.0 works fine with Windows 8.1. BigMuscle's Beta 1 version of Aero Glass for Win 8.1 works with Windows 8.1. It's just not finished. -Noel
-
I'm having trouble understanding the context of your question. First off, I'm not the developer of Aero Glass for Windows 8. A member named BigMuscle is. But I *do* develop software - just not Aero Glass for Windows 8. If you are asking whether Aero Glass for Windows will be developed for Windows 8.1, then I wonder how it is you don't already know the answer, given the discussions just above and in the threads on the first page this forum. Your question in that context is essentially nonsensical, so I look for another meaning... If you are asking whether I personally plan to develop products that are compatible with Windows 8.1, I am already doing that (desktop products, NOT Metro/Modern). But I am doing so using Windows 7 Ultimate x64 as the bootup OS on my workstation. Windows 8 or 8.1 do not provide me any advantages over Windows 7 so far that make it attractive to me, and in fact have removed features that I actually use. Whether I stick with Windows 7 may change in the future, as it will no doubt become more and more advantageous to keep current. At the moment I test with Windows 8+ in virtual machines using VMware workstation 10. -Noel
-
That's true, allexandr, and it's not advertised to work on Windows 8.1. You should read more carefully. Note also that there is a thread in this forum on the beta version that DOES work on Windows 8.1. -Noel
-
Thanks for the feedback, guys. Personally I prefer rounded corners, even if just a hint of them; I feel it makes the system seem more polished or elegant or something. To each his own, and bravo to the people who make it possible to change themes. But the writing is on the wall for all this desktop elegance stuff - Microsoft seemingly doesn't want us doing it and enjoying our desktop experience. They're trying to steer us toward Metro/Modern - and perhaps justifiably so. Writing and maintaining a desktop app is rather complex and error-prone. Perhaps they feel the new application environment will provide a whole new level of productivity in the future. -Noel
-
Congratulations on the release. I'm sure that was a lot of hard work. I can't understand why anyone would use anything else other than ClassicShell. I especially like the things it does to augment IE and Explorer too. By the way, version 3.9.5 thought it was up to date, even though 4.0.0 was released. And by the way, for Windows 8 with BigMuscle's Aero Glass for Windows 8, a whole new theme isn't strictly necessary. ClassicShell 4 looks great on Windows 8 with just a theme atlas replacement. -Noel
-
That's really nice work, Arr0w. I wonder, do people generally like square corners now more than rounded? -Noel
-
All well and good, thanks. It won't be long before I can run RTM code. -Noel
-
I'm on Windows 8.1 Enterprise Preview, by the way, as there hasn't been a Windows 8.1 RTM version of Windows 8.1 Enterprise Evaluation version yet - at least not that I'm aware of. I hope I'm not muddying the water by reporting something that's fixed in the RTM. -Noel
-
I just tried it on a dual monitor setup. I'm getting transparency on both monitors but no blurring on the second monitor (i.e., the rightmost 1600 pixels in this all-monitors screen grab). The other thing wrong I've seen so far are minor visual artifacts after a window is dragged over a blurred transparency region. Link to: debug.log -Noel
-
Looks great, BigMuscle, thank you. Went in easily, runs smooth as silk, and works nicely with my theme atlas. -Noel
-
This site doesn't notify me of private messages, and honestly I don't notice the indication, so no, I haven't read a private message here in a while. Judging from what you've written, which sounds ominous, perhaps I don't want to read them. -Noel
-
BigMuscle, may I suggest that for future releases you change the default installation folder to one that has 8 characters or less, e.g.: C:\AGForW8 -Noel
-
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\DWM:DisableGlassOnBattery (DWORD 0x0 / 0x1 = default) -Noel
-
Near as I can tell, you didn't describe a problem. With this beta software everyone sees a DWM window with things like what you've shown in it. -Noel
-
Maybe I missed something, but I don't know just WHAT he did, whether it was just changing the theme resource or something more sophisticated and involved - which is why I asked. -Noel
-
What did that involve? Are you going to share it with others? Does it place a blur behind the title bar text of File Explorer and Wordpad windows? -Noel
-
Can You Fix It? Custom theme: Sample (unfinished) theme based on Windows 8 Release Preview As an alternative, try this: Return to the Windows 8 standard theme. Have Aero Glass for Win 8 do a theme atlas replacement via the CustomThemeResource registry entry.Here is a simple one I've developed that yields decent drop shadows and nice, clean borders. http://noel.prodigitalsoftware.com/ForumPosts/themeatlas.png Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows] CustomThemeResource"="C:\\BIN\\themeatlas.png" (you'll need to set the folder to whatever you use; keep it short and simple) You may see an increase in system reliability by using the Win 8 Aero implementation instead of a fully custom theme, while retaining a nice clean look with drop shadows and a hint of rounded corners. For me it simultaneously feels more modern and still provides the things I like about an Aero Glass desktop. -Noel
-
Not that much of a noob.. system is already NTFS, first thing I checked when I bought the computer. I wasn't accusing you - the setting to which I'm referring isn't just "already NTFS". It's a setting you can change in NTFS to tell it not to bother to generate the short filenames for compatibility. Programs that use short filenames won't work; that's all. Thing is, no programs should be using short filenames nowadays. BigMuscle apparently uses it to get around a name length limitation deep in the system, but you won't need that if you install Aero Glass for Win8 into a folder whose name is 8 characters or less in length. This is the command line tool that you can use to query it is as follows. A related command can be used to change it. fsutil 8dot3name query -Noel
-
One of the things, in my Windows tuning book, that I advise people to do is to consider deconfiguring the NTFS feature that generates short filenames. If you don't actually have any programs that use them - and these would generally be ANCIENT programs at this point - then the system runs more efficiently AND you don't have situations like what you described occur. As I recall, (and my memory isn't what it used to be) it seems to me BigMuscle said some time during the beta testing period that the installation folder should be one that has 8 characters or less in the name. I chose C:\BIN myself. -Noel
-
Works fine on two monitors here. I enabled the Taskbar on my second monitor (something I don't normally do) and it has transparency and all the characteristics of the Taskbar on the first monitor. Both monitors are identical. -Noel
-
Sorry, I didn't notice your message on the prior page. I dislike forums that divide threads into pages, though there are practical reasons for doing so. I'm not sure I can answer all your questions directly, but I can describe what I did/do to get things working. I test on VMware virtual machines (VMs), as I still prefer to run Windows 7 on my workstation hardware. I created a Windows 8 (.0) VM back when it was released, and used that to help test BigMuscle's work. I also donated to him early on, way before the release, and he provided a license file with which I could work. One of the things I normally do is set up a C:\BIN folder with many utilities and things that I use. I set up Aero Glass for Win8 in that folder, and ultimately installed the released version into that folder. From C:\BIN it works nicely, without a "nag screen". Fast forward a bit... When I set up a Windows 8.1 VM I copied a number of things from my Windows 8 VM, including the entire contents of C:\BIN, which brought over all the files BigMuscle had provided. Of course I didn't copy the registry, so all the files BigMuscle had supplied for Aero Glass for Win8 sat dormant for a time. When BigMuscle released his 8.1 prototype software, I plopped the files into C:\BIN, set up the three registry values to get Aero Glass going, and it just worked. Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows] "LoadAppInit_DLLs"=dword:00000001 "AppInit_DLLs"="C:\\BIN\\DWMGlass.dll" "RequireSignedAppInit_DLLs"=dword:00000000 I have no other custom values than the above (on 8.1). When he released Alpha 2 of the 8.1 prototype, I naturally dropped the files in the same folder, C:\BIN. Unbeknownst to me the alpha software relies on files I had already had in there, from before. In essence, my having copied C:\BIN from a Win 8 system where Aero Glass worked was a lot like BigMuscle developing in the same folder he had been already working in. At the moment, Aero Glass for Win8.1 alpha 2 responds to the Color intensity, Hue, Saturation, and Brightness controls in the Color and Appearance control panel. It affects mostly the active window title bar and borders, though also affects the inactive windows in a minimal way. As far as your theme question, I don't use 'em. Instead, I use BigMuscle's little trick of replacing the composition resources from the themeatlas.png file. This is an important choice, as it both restores the drop shadows and (IMO) better looking controls, but does not require replacement of the theme. In essence the system is closer to what Microsoft delivers than one where a full (signature-circumvented) theme replacement has been done. Hope this helps. -Noel
-
You can certainly minimize it. I wrote a small script to do so and put it in my Startup folder. It's actually handy to have it there if you're testing or developing theme atlas changes and would like to restart DWM - just close the window. -Noel