Skin Authors: Easy shadows under Windows Vista

New feature in 5.51

Published on June 28, 2007 By Frogboy In WinCustomize News

Skinners have an excellent opportunity to update their skins to take advantage of Windows Vista with minimal work: Vista shadows.

WindowBlinds 5.51 supports painting the shadows in Windows Vista as part of a UIS2 formatted WindowBlinds skins.

To add support simply open the UIS file and in the [Personality] area add: AllowVistaShadows=1 and from then on, on Windows Vista, your skin will display the Vista shadow underneath it.

Feel free to update your WindowBlinds skin on WinCustomize to support this feature as Vista users will likely appreciate the cool results!

Comments (Page 1)

PurrBall

on Jun 28, 2007

I think there should be an option in the override section of WBConfig to force on/off the shadows for people who have a different preference than the skin author.

JukEboXAuDiO

on Jun 28, 2007

When is the new Skin studio coming out?

Astyanax

on Jun 28, 2007

Now we just need the ability to make UIS1 skins into UIS2 skins.

zukakog

on Jun 28, 2007

I think there should be an option in the override section of WBConfig to force on/off the shadows for people who have a different preference than the skin author.

Amen! I spent all of an hour trying to figure out how to turn the shadows on, after the release announcement yesterday.

Neil Banfield

on Jun 28, 2007

This also applies to UIS1 skins.

Astyanax

on Jun 28, 2007

Oh good, I can add shadows to corvette.

I.R. Brainiac

on Jun 28, 2007

I'm confused...we already put shadows on the frames and start menu...what does this do?Would it add to the existing shadow?

PurrBall

on Jun 28, 2007

Yes, for the skins that don't have it

someone31988

on Jun 28, 2007

I completely agree with adding force shadows on. It'd make things much easier.

Bebi Bulma

on Jun 28, 2007

I think there should be an option in the override section of WBConfig to force on/off the shadows for people who have a different preference than the skin author.

That would be nice for XP users too. I personally prefer shadows, it just makes things look nicer. Was always hoping there would be an easy way, like a setting in the config, to instantly add shadows to any skin.

Astyanax

on Jun 28, 2007

I think it would be cool to have controls over the shadows too, like which direction it comes from, the intensity levels and so on...

starone

on Jun 28, 2007

On the blind I am doing it has a frame that is not square. With the Vista shadow applied it has a square shadow on an unsquare frame. In addition, the shadow's opacity needs to be decreased. Would be nice if these two items can be controlled.

Astyanax

on Jun 28, 2007

I'm confused...we already put shadows on the frames and start menu...what does this do?Would it add to the existing shadow?

It does not apply it to the Start Menu. Only the Windows get the shadow. I think it's mainly for those skins that don't have shadows on the frames. Say you dont wanna bother with shadows when making a frame, just add that little bit in and it uses Vista's shadows from the default theme. I'm using them on Corvette right now and it actually looks quite nice.

PurrBall

on Jun 28, 2007

That's strange since Aero has round corners.

starone

on Jun 28, 2007

Well not only is it square, but it has mirrowed the bottom left and right corners on the left and right bottom corner shadows which in itself is unique but undesireable for a nonsquare frame.

Welcome Guest! Please take the time to register with us.
There are many great features available to you once you register, including:

Richer content, access to many features that are disabled for guests like commenting on the forums.
Access to a great community, with a massive database of many, many areas of interest.
Access to contests & subscription offers like exclusive emails.
It's simple, and FREE!