Classic Shell: Forum

So, as you may or may not know, Windows 10's taskbar does not support Visual Styles anymore. So I had an idea to fix this...what if there was an option to simply hide the taskbar background (already possible) and just draw a user-selected image behind it? In fact, could the same thing be done for the Taskbar buttons? This would be a huge deal for themers, and I'd probably be more open to upgrading to Windows 10 if I knew there was a decent solution to this major aesthetic flaw :T

(Not necessarily saying I'd upgrade, but I might consider it more)

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

i been looking for the same thing here and skinning of taskbar context menu so that it dont look like youtube would be ideal

If you can already hide the taskbar background, then you could easily modify the desktop wallpaper with a 'fake' task-bar on it.. or take it 1 step further, if you change wallpapers frequently. by making a rainmeter skin that lays where the taskbar should be

I used to use the wallpaper hack...problem is, that doesn't work on different screen resolutions, which is a big problem for me, if I want to make Plexcellent (the visual style I'm working on) available for Windows 10. Also, can rainmeter skins be locked to the edge of the screen and stretch to fit any screen? ._.

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

Yup, and it remembers its position after restart, the only time it forgets is when your changing monitors around
also displayfusion'sfree version allows you to have separate wallpapers on a monitor by monitor basis

...that doesn't address the problem - I'm more comcerned about making it work well for everyone, since I do plan to release thus visual style at some point, for Windows 7, 8.1.1, and hopefully 10... :V

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

true, its nowhere near as easy to do as a setting in classic shell that you just tick, and its done.. but it can be done, by people with enough drive to do-so

Yeah...I'm not worried about learning the rainmter language (I've been considering it regardless, might even help me make a new sidebar and/or the animated aurora desktop I've always dreamed of including? ), I'm just not too keen on having to make my users install moar software...it just seems like such a simple fix...just make the background transparent and draw a bitmap behind it. Makes me wonder...if the Windows 10 taskbar is powered by XAML stuff, then...could the rest of it be rendered invisible by Classic Shell, too? And if so, could there be the potential to simply do just that, and draw a series of bitmaps underneath, to mimic the appearance of a Visual Style-controlled Taskbar? I don't know how feasible that is, and I'd understand if it isn't (you won't believe the kinds of impossible Spore mods people think are possible .-. )...just wondering. I mean, at this point I'm not even using Windows 10 as my main OS, I just have it in a VM for a few reasons. I doubt I'll upgrade anytime soon, but I'd like to get the Visual Style done in the meantime, and if this could happen, that'd be great ._._.

...if "Classic Taskbar" was a feature in Classic Shell 4.3 ... (There could be a functional aspect, too, for those who don't like the Superbar.)


...is it just me, or am I basically requesting the earth? ._. (I'm fairly confident I'm not the only person who would benefit from this, so... :T )

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

well it is possible to add. Both Start10 and Startisback both have this feature, it just needs to be implemented. There is a free hack out there on deviantart if you want to see it yourself http://www.deviantart.com/art/Custom-Ta ... -571575905

EDIT: Actually the deviantart one is a dirty workaround that is similar to the wallpaper trick. The Startisback solution is a lot more elegant.

StartIsBack depends on third party visual styles to skin the Taskbar. Third party themes themselves require installing something like UxStyle to skin the rest of the OS so that's not the ideal solution. The way Start10 did it by letting the user specify a texture bitmap for the Taskbar and menu glass area is more ideal IMHO.

_________________
Links to some general topics:

● Compare Start Menus

● Read the Search box usage guide.

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

The Start10 solution is pretty much exactly what I was proposing, except without needing Start10 to use it it

(I had no idea Start10 did that .-. )

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

Actually, Startisback doesn't necessarily depend on UXpatch (I think). You have to add the Msstyles file separately. Still, I would like the option for classic shell to support theme settings on the fly. Startisback is a good solution, but it doesn't have the kind of granular customization of classic shell, but for now, I'll just use Startisback until the free trial is up.

The idea with making the taskbar transparent was a good idea! It looks like I actually have a Windows XP Taskbar!

_________________
Haldo!

Here's a clean Bliss one with taskbar if you want to use it!
(Note: The taskbar has to be set with SMALL ICONS)

_________________
Haldo!

Quite a neat idea. Everything on the taskbar will still work.

Which reminds me of the opposite. Crazy people at work,
putting a screen shot of the bosses desktop on the desktop, and turning on autohide taskbar.
That's where nothing on the taskbar works, cause the real one is not showing

Better idea: Turn on autohide AND move it to a different edge of thw screen

Also, someone please tell Sketch Animations that his "solution" is precisely what I was trying to avoid (doesn't obey screen resolution), and that he's using a Royale Start Button, not Luna .-.

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

Can you skin the taskbar Ivo because it is driving me bonkers in Windows 10. They made it all flat and ugly with no separation between buttons and no animation when opening anything. It is depressing.

Even if I manage to skin it (I'm not saying I can do that), it will not change the separation or the animation of the buttons.

The taskbar being transparent is the only possible option (that i know) atm. It still looks cool! And yes I've realised that I did use Royale's start button. It just looks better to me. And yes I had Windows XP. The royale theme was always my fav. :3

_________________
Haldo!

k...so why didn't you use the Royale taskbar as well? ._._.

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO

EDIT: Nvm, wrong thread >.<

_________________
TILES WOOOOOO