Classic Shell: Forum

Hello everybody... well my problem is quite simple, I would like modify a bit the xp skin so that it looks a bit closer to the actual xp start menu, which would require to extend a bit the blue bottom border in height.



As you probably noticed, it's really thin, compared to the original one... and even to the top border; which is quite unsightly to me.

I've tried to modify a bit some values of the skin with resource hacker and even tried to change the bitmaps, but without success. I must also admit that I hardly understand what I should modify to obtain the desired effect, even with the help of the tutorial.

So, any help would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

Mickaël

You need to do 3 things.

First, you need to edit the background bitmaps to increase the bottom blue area. The bitmaps are: 1, 2, 5, 6, 8, 9, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. Why so many? Because there are 3 color variants and 4 styles. Let's say you add N pixels to the bottom of each bitmap.

Second, you need to increase the last number of Main_bitmap_slices_Y by N (from 8 to N+8). Main_bitmap_slices_Y appears in 2 places in the skin.

And third, you need to increase the bottom menu padding. It is the last number in Main_padding and Main2_padding (both appear twice in the skin). Increase it from 9 to N+9.

Okay, it seems quite clear. Thank you very much!

If you've done it, would you mind uploading the finished product here? I'm afraid that process is a bit too nerdy for me, but I'd love it to be more XPish.

Okay, I will, but I haven't had quite the time yet to look into it. It might take some time. But I will think of you when I do

But actually, you know, resource hacker is quite a simple software to use. You shouldn't be afraid of it

I'm not afraid of it! I tried it, but couldn't tell what I was looking at and didn't have the time to fool with it. And then I thought, hey, why do the work when someone else already has? So there you go--good old fashioned American laziness.

Have you done it yet?

Well, not quite, sorry. I tried but it wasn't really conclusive. And I really prefer xp over Seven. Because not only the design has changed, but few other details too (I use qttabbar and mmm+ on xp... niche apps which has just become vital for me and that you will hardly get working on Seven because of the way explorer.exe is made or the way the registry is managed). Now I use to switch between xp and linux mint cinnamon. I bought a KVM and another computer for this. I use xp for everything which doesn't involve online shopping or checking my bank account. Cinnamon has an xp skin which is quite well done; it just needs few easy adjustments.

Can someone else do this? I'm afraid I have no experience with things like this.

Check here.
viewtopic.php?f=17&t=3025