Windowblinds 5.5 Released
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Wed 14th Mar 2007 17:40 UTC, submitted by Island Dog
Graphics, User Interfaces "Stardock released WindowBlinds 5.5 today. WindowBlinds is a program that enables users to customize the look and feel of the graphical user interface of Microsoft Windows. WindowBlinds 5.5 is a major update in that it is the first program to allow users to change the look and feel of Windows Vista. For Windows Vista users, WindowBlinds 5.5 makes use of the new hardware accelerated Desktop Window Manager to ensure the highest level of performance."
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does it...
by helf on Wed 14th Mar 2007 18:25 UTC
helf
Member since:
2005-07-06

... let you set a theme that looks like windows 2k with full hardware accel? that would be sweet. im on my treo so I can't really look for myself.

Browser: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows 95; PalmSource; Blazer 3.0) 16;160x160

Reply Score: 2

RE: does it...
by Bending Unit on Wed 14th Mar 2007 18:36 UTC in reply to "does it..."
Bending Unit Member since:
2005-07-06

No, because Windows Classic is already present in Vista. GDI has been hardware accelerated for many, many years.

Reply Score: 2

RE[2]: does it...
by Zoidberg on Wed 14th Mar 2007 19:21 UTC in reply to "RE: does it..."
Zoidberg Member since:
2006-02-11

The problem with the classic theme in Vista is that it's horrible. The new gui elements in Vista clash with it, large patches of empty or white space, buttons out of alignment. Overall it just looks awful. If someone can write a decent looking classic theme with Windowblinds that would be wonderful to hear.

Reply Score: 3

RE[2]: does it...
by helf on Wed 14th Mar 2007 22:23 UTC in reply to "RE: does it..."
helf Member since:
2005-07-06

it has? so wtf is with me seeing redraws still? Even on fast (2.8ghz) machines with a geforce 6600 i still see redraws occasionally. This is with XP and the latest nvidia drivers.

Reply Score: 3

RE[3]: does it...
by helf on Fri 16th Mar 2007 00:31 UTC in reply to "RE[2]: does it..."
helf Member since:
2005-07-06

'eh, never mind that previous comment. I actually did some reading and can see why even with hardware acceleration you would get redraws... ;) oopsie.

Reply Score: 2

Hmm
by knightrider on Wed 14th Mar 2007 18:37 UTC
knightrider
Member since:
2006-12-11

Disabling all that eyecandy should speed tings up.

Reply Score: 1

RE: Hmm
by CPUGuy on Wed 14th Mar 2007 19:01 UTC in reply to "Hmm"
CPUGuy Member since:
2005-07-06

Windowblinds actually speeds up XP because it offloads the work to the GPU.

Reply Score: 1

RE: Hmm
by SlackerJack on Wed 14th Mar 2007 19:03 UTC in reply to "Hmm"
SlackerJack Member since:
2005-11-12

Why would disabling the eyecandy speed things up?, the whole idea of the GPU is to do the UI workload.

Reply Score: 2

ugly themes
by stooovie on Wed 14th Mar 2007 21:19 UTC
stooovie
Member since:
2006-01-25

Let the orgies of tasteless skinning begin again.

Reply Score: 4

Not impressed by eye candy.
by shykid on Wed 14th Mar 2007 21:52 UTC
shykid
Member since:
2007-02-22

Am I the only left that doesn't like UI eye candy? The first thing I always do when I set up a computer is turn all of it off--it's KDE 1.x style and Windows Classic for me.

Reply Score: 1

RE: Not impressed by eye candy.
by Obscurus on Thu 15th Mar 2007 02:44 UTC in reply to "Not impressed by eye candy."
Obscurus Member since:
2006-04-20

"Am I the only left that doesn't like UI eye candy?"
------------

Yes.

Reply Score: 2

RE: Not impressed by eye candy.
by NotYou on Thu 15th Mar 2007 11:03 UTC in reply to "Not impressed by eye candy."
NotYou Member since:
2006-09-22

Am I the only left that doesn't like UI eye candy?

No

Reply Score: 2

PJBonoVox Member since:
2006-08-14

Am I the only left that doesn't like UI eye candy?

Maybe.

Reply Score: 3

diskinetic Member since:
2005-12-09

Maybe not

Reply Score: 1

ShyKid
by draginol on Wed 14th Mar 2007 22:14 UTC
draginol
Member since:
2006-05-20

When I code, I run a skin called Solaris (it just looks like Open Windows). It is the ultimate in non-eye candy.

But it has a couple extra title bar buttons taht are useful for coding.

Also, since WindowBlinds 5, it has used DirectX to accelerate performance far beyond what the default XP look and feel is.

It doesn't have to be about eye candy. It can be about performance and productivity.

Reply Score: 1

RE: ShyKid
by shykid on Wed 14th Mar 2007 22:31 UTC in reply to "ShyKid"
shykid Member since:
2007-02-22

True enough--a few years ago, I even used to use a NeXT/OpenSTEP-style Windowblinds theme, but I switched to Linux, and when I got homesick for Windows and did a dual boot, I didn't think about reinstalling Windowblinds.

But, that being said, 95% of users don't use Windowblinds for minimalist, anti-eye candy themes; they use it for the OMGPRETTY, for a lack of better words.

Edited 2007-03-14 22:34

Reply Score: 1

RE[2]: ShyKid
by Island Dog on Fri 16th Mar 2007 18:48 UTC in reply to "RE: ShyKid"
Island Dog Member since:
2007-01-11

"But, that being said, 95% of users don't use Windowblinds for minimalist, anti-eye candy themes; they use it for the OMGPRETTY, for a lack of better words. "

I disagree with that. There are many users who use Windowblinds for clean, minimalistic themes that are perfect for day-to-day use.

Reply Score: 1

I dont buy that
by wgan on Wed 14th Mar 2007 22:16 UTC
wgan
Member since:
2006-08-28

I'm figuring what you can actually get from that toy? also, i think it's nearly useless or even harmful for UI developers

Reply Score: 1

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