Classic Shell: Forum

XP Metro-Glass Win10 [7style] for CSM version 4.3.1

For Windows 8 & 10. Will not work at all on Windows 7 due to Metro assigned color text in the skin file.
100%/96dpi,125%/120dpi,150%/144dpi exact size required




I'm copying off Splitwirez, where he made an XP classic skin with glass color support:

http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewt ... =17&t=4420


These types of skins can never have all the color tints of the original XP Luna skin.
They can only have shades of one color.



I made it for Windows 10. It can be used on Windows 8 but does not look as good with default system settings.
Using this skin on Win 8 is actually quite disappointing.
Most of the time the menu in desktop mode (glass), is generally milky bright. The same goes for the default Win 8 taskbar color.
Not appealing to me anymore. Maybe I'm biased towards Win 10 more saturated Metro desktop color look?
One really has to work hard to get the menu and taskbar looking good on Win 8.
In the "Glass" skin setting, either use Win 8 system color adjustments
Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Personalization\Color and Appearance, color mixer sliders,
or use CSM override glass settings in the "Menu Look" tab & taskbar color settings in the "Taskbar" tab.
For more intense color, switch to Metro skin setting, and adjust the Win 8 "Background color" in Start screen mode.
For more info settings for Windows 8 & 10 see this link for the similar 7 style flat version of this skin at the last entry of this post:

http://www.classicshell.net/forum/viewt ... 132#p36340


Note.
In most cases when using "Just shutdown icons with arrow" on Windows 8,
CSM setting "Menu color blending" should be at 0, or the tiny "Shutdown" text will be visible.
I thought about using the invisible font like in Vistalike skin, but that only makes the text invisible
and leaves the underline dash still visible. So forget that idea.


Edit: Now revision B version so 2nd column tint can be turned off,
to have just light grey 236/255 neutral look.



Ok Splitwirez, I will take you up on finishing your work on the classic 1/2 skin.
OK, I finished the classic 1 & 2 skin.

Looking at the now archived Start9 site :

https://start9.menu/blog

Splitwirez says he and others in the team have given up making the start9 menu project,
and he does not even use Windows anymore. It's a shame, but life is like that.
Our plans shift throughout life as the everchanging future effects our original plans.

Here is the classic 1 & 2 style skin.

The Metro/glass colored programs arrow is a little bit lighter on hover.
I find it very hard to make as good as the original green arrow. Original has different tints of green.
Adjusting in red/green mask environment is really tricky.
If I make it just like that green brightness, the highlight gets too blown out with other colors. It's a compromise as always.

I'm definitely proud of the XP taskbar that turns the flat Win10 taskbar into the top/bottom texture of XP that tracks the Metro/glass color.

Yes both skins terrific but Luna-based in 7 style is always a treat. Thanks Juniper7!

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.

Sorry I'm late...looks good, certainly better than my old skin. I'll have to take yours for a spin sometime.

And yeah, given the limited manpower we had, Start9 was effectively doomed from the moment it became more than just a Start Menu replacement...I still regret my failure to recognize that before it was too late. I'm sorry for getting all of your hopes up.

I do still use Windows 8.1 for now, but at this point I'm effectively packing my bags and getting ready to move to Linux land, turning all of my programming efforts towards cross-platform development to this end.

Don't let that stop you though. Keep fighting the good fight, don't let Microsoft kill Windows customization off once and for all. As long as people like you keep tinkering with, tweaking, and customizing anything and everything they can in Windows, Windows customization will never truly die, no matter what obstacles Microsoft throws at you.

Microsoft can't kill Windows customization, only the customizers can do that.

_________________
I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, only to shatter them. Best wishes, wherever you're all headed next.

Ah sorry to hear that kinda figured your eyes were bigger than your stomach still good to dream big. Just start small and have a gameplan.

Hey Splitwirez, in case you get bored with Linux land, and dealing with this COVID problem,
and since you know some Windows coding language,
think about helping out Open-Shell.

I sure wish someone could figure out how to have CSM scrollbar to be skinned again in Windows 10,
or at least to have an option to enable the Windows 10 dark mode scrollbar in the settings.

Another of Ivo's features that do not work properly is the ability to have different sizes of icons in column 1,
independent of icon sizes on column 2 of a classic 2 column skin.

I'll admit...I had my doubts regarding feasibility from the moment the idea of a modular shell was first discussed. I've had many people attempt to reassure me by reminding me of the apparent takeaway from all of this, which was to not overpromise. Cruel irony is...I'd already learned that lesson well prior. The real takeaway for me was to not let my excitement regarding such a proposition blind me to its (non-)feasibility, and I guess also to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good.

I still suspect that the original Start Menu plan probably would've eventually materialized. Oh well.

Linkin Park's "In The End" has never felt so painfully appropriate...




Oh I wish. Unfortunately, my knowledge of the language they use is...very lacking, to say the least. Maybe someday, once I've gained a stronger grasp of the language?

_________________
I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, only to shatter them. Best wishes, wherever you're all headed next.

Edit: I got totally sidetracked talking about Open-Shell.

Both of our menus are similar.
On yours, what it looks like is you used the blue luna bitmap along with a tint shifted blue to red bitmap mask for the glass color.
This makes the menu smoother looking and brighter as the green in the mask added more brightness together with the luna bitmap.

On mine, there is only the mask bitmap. That has red for glass/metro color,
along with slightly reduced green for a slightly darker brightness.
Both skins look good on Windows 10.


Back to coding. Am I wrong in thinking Classic Shell is based on C++
How long would it take to learn that language as well as how Windows 10 works?
Could a dummy like me figure it out before my coffin catches up to me?
(Nothing to do with COVID, just my dry humour showing through).

Anyone can learn to code.. tbh..
If you were willing to spend about 20 hours learning.
also a bit of advice is to dive right in and learn from what you need as you go rather than trying to follow a course.(though if you have 0 programming knowledge a turn by turn course might be the way to go. once you learn one language you basically can atleast read them all (ok not all of them, but most other object oriented ones will pretty much make sense well enough to edit/reverse engineer)

Yeah that sounds about right, lol


Different strokes for different folks, huh?


Yeah it's C++...I've done C#, but I'm still learning about C++.


Depends...


Wouldn't surprise me, if you set your mind to it.



For the most part, I think agree with that. There are...exceptions, though. (long story, not mine to elaborate on)


Yeah, C# was my first programming language...I learned it by diving in headfirst, just like you said. I remember those early days, messing with the source code for LongBar...I had no idea what I was doing, but man was it a blast figuring it out. I'd say that method of learning worked out pretty well for me...though tbh, I feel that some formal education in software architecture and the like would probably do me some good.

_________________
I'm sorry for getting your hopes up, only to shatter them. Best wishes, wherever you're all headed next.

This is my favorite skin for the past many months and will continue to use it. A big thanks to Juniper7 and Splitwirez for awesome skins.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

I am a Windows enthusiast and helped a little with Classic Shell's testing and usability/UX feedback.