From the guys who brought you Samurize comes Cairo, a new Desktop Shell Replacement for Microsoft Windows. The goal with Cairo is to "transform your desktop from the dated Windows user-interface to a brand new system that will change the way you use your computer forever." Pretty ambitious stuff, but looking at the concept work and screenshots they've released so far, it's at least going to be a damn pretty custom shell! Cairo is rapidly approaching Milestone 1, and they've select...
Seems it's Friday already, and that means Island Dog has a round up of some of the best skins submitted to WinCustomize this past week. This week was a really strong showing for skinners too! We have CursorFX and RightClick themes, Tabbed Docks, two stunning Wallpapers (one by Vlad!), and two killer WindowBlinds skins. Great way to end the week, and a stellar way to cap off February. I hope March sees skins as good as these, if not better!
Usually when someone gets started skinning a new application, the results are mixed to say the least. It takes time to learn the ins and outs of the app, and learning what looks good versus what doesn't can take a skinner years to master. With that in mind, imagine my shock when mkorashy uploaded Artifice WB for moderation. Artifice is colorful, unique and minimalistic. It's one of the most usable skins I've run in ages. The amazing part is that this is mkorashy's ...
With the recent forum update we went through, I found myself sifting through the categories we have hidden away, waiting for a user to wander by and grace it with a post or two. These lonely, unloved categories that think you're really cool and would love to hang out, but you've just been too busy washing your hair, or grooming your pet wombat to pay it much heed.... Where was I? Right, unused forums... We have a forum specifically for posting sneak previews of skins, icons, ...
CursorFX is the next generation of our Cursor theming software and is replacing CursorXP completely (CFX loads CXP themes). Since this update is such a major change, we've put in the time and effort to develop some very detailed documentation on the application, how to use it, and the theme editor works. The cool part? It's all up on the WinCustomize Wiki for you to check out, comment on, and edit (if you have more information you want to add). This is the first of hopefully ma...
Tired of the seemingly endless parade of "Glass" skins? Looking for something with a bit more of a retro feel, but without looking like something out of the Windows 98 days? Aero Metal may be just the skin you're looking for with it's clean brushed metal look. Aero Metal is a free skin designed by Frogboy & vStyler. It supports Windows XP and Windows Vista and is designed for use with WindowBlinds 6
This is a public service announcement for everyone who uses Microsoft Word, Frontpage, Expression or some other separate WYSIWYG editor to write your blog posts and then paste them onto JoeUser:
Don't do it.
These tools do their own special formatting, and all a lot of junk tags that don't play nice with the site (they didn't play nice with the old site either, but you didn't always notice since we weren't doing half the things we're trying to do on the new site.
Every now and then, we give you a glimpse into the inner workings of Stardock, show off some of what we've been working on and a little bit of what we have planned and what it means for our wider community. This time, we have a real doozy of an update for you! Brad Wardell walks through the major projects on Stardock's plate through the next few months. Here are a few products mentioned: Impulse Sins of a Solar Empire Political Machine 2008 MyColors & Licensing/OEM...
Lifehacker, a site I've mentioned here numerous times, often features cool applications and utilities that extend the functionality of your PC. If it adds something that's both cool looking, and especially useful, all the better. This week, two great customization applications were featured: Nubs by Shellscape Software LogonStudio by Stardock Nubs is one application you may not be familiar with. It's from the Shellscape, the maker of Kapsules. It's a nifty little ...
As part of the massive forum & database upgrade last week, we finally launched the new version of JoeUser .com. Originally launched in fall of 2003, JoeUser took a unique approach to blogging. Instead of having users sign up and create blogs that existed in a vacuum, so only they and people they specifically gave the link to would ever read it, JoeUser took a community approach to it. Based off of our success in building communities such as WinCustomize, and surrounding our ...
One of the most controversial galleries on WinCustomize is, without a doubt, our wallpaper section. In the past 90% of all work submitted was rejected out-right. Now, more is let through, but still the vast majority is placed on a user's personal page instead of the main gallery. This has met with mixed reactions from wallpaper artists and users alike. Some do not like the relaxed requirements, claiming that it has ruined the quality of the gallery. Others contend ...
Windows Live Writer is one of a number of blog writing/management tools out there, and personally, it's my favorite. It's completely free to download and use, works with both Windows XP and Vista.
Grab Live Writer here.
Essentially what Live Writer is, is a word processor for blogs. Type and format until you're blue in the face. Spell check, save a copy to work on later, insert rich media easily etc. It makes writing long and complex blog posts incredibly easy.
Plus, it does auto-thumbnailing of images if you have somewhere to post them.
Configuring Live Writer is the only tricky part, and to do that you need only a few bits of information:
- The URL of your blog (i.e. http://zoomba.joeuser.com/ )
- Your login information (username/password)
- The JoeUser MetaWebBlog API File:
https://www.joeuser.com/api/MetaWeblog.axd
Now, once you have Live Writer downloaded and installed, it's time to start it up and configure it to connect to your blog.
It's amazing how much a long weekend can recharge your batteries! After a three days off (thanks to ID and Hankers for their Friday/Weekend news posting), I'm back to start the week off once more with my weekend picks from the WinCustomize gallery. It was a great weekend with some really cool skins uploaded. We even have two sets of docks for the same theme by two different artists. Now, without further adieu I present my favorite skins from the past weekend... ...
Screenshots: Winstep Xtreme is an out-of-the-box integrated suite of shell enhancement applications focusing on giving users a greater experience through powerful yet convenient control of the Windows desktop. Download it here: Winstep Xtreme 8.2 (14.9 MB - Includes WorkShelf/NeXuS v2.5, NextSTART v4.5 and FontBrowser v1.0) NeXuS is a multi-dock system, which as well as holding traditional bookmarked icons can also hold any combination of widgets, clo...
Last week, we received an absolutely stellar Master Suite from skinner Z71; Tanipal. Tanipal uses a mixture of dark and light colors to create a unique color scheme that is both easy on the eyes and very different from other skins out there. It includes a Vista & XP-ready WindowBlinds skin, an Iconpack with 104 unique icons and two wallpapers in three sizes (1600x1200, 1440x900 & 1280x1024). It's a great suite that I've been running on my PC now for well over a week.&...