Classic Shell: Forum

Hi everyone. In this thread I was working on a skin that contained every caption for every version of Windows. However, I though a thread like this would be more appropriate under the User Content forum.

So I made a skin based on the default classic skin that contains the original classic start menu captions for every version of Windows (including beta versions). Now if anyone is wondering what the point of this is (seeing as how the default classic skin will already let you use custom text) it's actually quite simple. With the default classic skin, there is no way to have the fonts be completely accurate. For example, making the caption say 'Windows 2000 Professional' won't make it look like the original Windows 2000 caption, as the fonts and colors will likely be off. But with this skin, you can have it look exactly like whichever version of Windows you'd like (which is a lot).

Keep in mind this is still a work in progress, so there may be issues with it. Feel free to give me any feedback or suggestions.

Hi R.O.B.
I was wondering what you and JoshD were working on.
Those original captions look very good.
Too bad Win8 can't make the 3d borders, without modifying the bitmap, and skin text.
Wow, even Longhorn. It's funny looking at those antiquated low bit color images.

Nice.

Thanks, juniper. Yeah, the Windows 8 thing with the 3D borders is pretty annoying. But that screenshot you see (with the Windows 7 Professional caption) is actually Windows 8 with a classic theme, which can be enabled believe it or not (http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.ph ... p?t=113024).
Too bad that's kind of impractical to use for most people though. I wonder if there's any way to force a 3D border without modifying the bitmap.

Anyway, I've actually finished making all of the Windows 7 captions, and I'm currently working on the Windows 8 and Windows 10 ones. I'll post it as soon as I'm done.
Also I still need to get the Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V captions. I just can't seem to find them though.

I've done some checking & the only one I've seen for Windows Server 2008 was shown horizontal to the menu, other than that I can't find anything at all so I don't even know if that single image is even correct or not.

It should be. I can't imagine the horizontal caption bug would add text to the bitmap.

Anyways, here's another update. The skin now includes captions for Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1, and Windows 10. If anyone has any suggestions for the designs of the newly added captions, feel free to post them. I'm open to any feedback.

how do you get it to work

save t he file in the 'skins' folder inside the install directory for classic shell, then right click the start button go to settings, select the skin tab and select t his skin

I mean were is the .skin file located

Attached to the 5th post in this thread

Right, sorry for the confusion. I edited my first post to include the download to make things simpler.

HEY! Nice job R.O.B. I appreciate this very much. I've made it a sticky post. Btw isn't it "Windows Me'? (not ME)

_________________
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.

Thanks, GauravK. I could change it to Windows Me if you'd like. I just went with ME because that's how it is on the Wikipedia article (probably an oversight). Most of the OS was branded as 'Millennium Edition' but I noticed the standard HTML desktop wallpaper was called 'Windows Me.htm', so I think you'd be right. Should I change it then?

Well, the OS boot screen said "Windows Me" and the strings used across the OS also said "Me", not ME. Wikipedia is a bunch of idiots vying for who wins the editing wars. Will be nice if you change it but it's up to you.

_________________
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.

Alright, fixed it.

Ok, so I've got an update for you guys! The download will be in the first post of this thread. Here are a list of changes:

-Renamed the skin from 'Windows Classic' to 'Windows Classic Captions'
-New 'About this skin' dialog.
-Removed the 'No caption' option, as it is kind of pointless for this skin.
-Better support for displaying the user name/user picture.
-Each caption uses an appropriate font for the username. For example, Windows 95/98/Me/NT use Microsoft Sans Serif, Windows 2000/XP/Server 2003 use Tahoma, and Windows Vista+ use Segoe UI.
-The icons in the Windows Codename Chicago variation now overlap the caption. This is not a bug, and it is in fact by design (see here). This does not affect the 'Windows Codename Chicago (Thin)' variation.
-Added a variation for Windows 95 Beta, which currently uses a placeholder image. I'll update with the original caption as soon as I can (for those of you who want to see what it looks like, see here).
-Added 2 new custom caption variations
-Custom captions have been moved to the bottom of the skin variations list to make it easier to add more custom caption variations in the future (just in case I decide to do so).
-Moved some resources around internally
-A bit of a milestone. This skin alone now has 100 different variations to select!

NOTE: When replacing the old skin with this one, you may have to re-select the caption you want manually due to the fact that resources in the skin have been moved around.

I still need to find the Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V captions. If anyone can send me a link to an ISO file of it, that would be great. If I'm missing any captions, please let me know and I will do my best to add them. And again, feel free to give any other thoughts or feedback. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Have you tried checking the bay? A quick search for me, appeared to show relevant files.

Yeah I think I found it, thanks! I don't know why I didn't think to check there sooner, lol.

I'll try getting the captions so hopefully I can update soon.

EDIT:
Right, so I actually couldn't find them there. I'll keep looking for them, but since there doesn't seem to be a huge demand for them, I'm not too worried.

Time for another update! Here's a list of changes:
-Added a Metro custom variant, which will use your start screen colors if your using Windows 8/8.1
-Custom Skin variations now have names attached to them. For example: 'Custom 1' is now called 'Custom 1 (Classic)' and 'Custom 2' is now called 'Custom 2 (Vista), ect.
-3D border is now enabled by default when using the Windows Classic theme. The flat border with the classic theme can still be enabled in the options.
-FINALLY added the Windows Server 2008 without Hyper-V captions (that certainly took long enough).

Well that's about it. Except for one other change that probably won't affect the users who download this skin. I am no longer using Resource Hacker to update/change this skin. Instead, I'm using Microsoft Visual Studio to compile it as a resource-only DLL file. I was just sick of getting saving errors/glitches with Resource Hacker.

Once again, I'm always open to feedback, so let me know if you have any. I would love to figure out a way to use a 3D border with visual styles, but I don't want to use a bitmap to achieve this to keep consistency between the start menu and the user's color/window metric settings.

Resource Hacker has newer version 4.0

http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/

Woah, how did I not know about this sooner!? I thought development for it was finished. Thanks for letting me know, juniper.

Anyway, I'm loving this new version. I've been using Resource Hacker FX, so I'm not sure if saving issues have anything to do with versions. Although it might. But since I've got it all set up for Visual Studio, I'll just stick with that for now. I'm fine with using it anyway.

Also, sorry there's currently no download. I'm having trouble uploading the newest version of the skin, but I'll try it again tomorrow.

@R.O.B., before saving the skin in Resource Hacker, if you exit Classic Start Menu then you won't get any errors or skin corruption. You could create a shortcut to C:\Program Files\Classic Shell\ClassicStartMenu.exe in your Start Menu Programs or Desktop folder. Then go to that shortcut's properties and assign a keyboard shortcut key so you can load CSM quickly after exiting it and saving the skin.

I got saving errors in Resource Hacker too if CSM was running. Once I exit it, it never happens.

_________________
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.

Thanks for the advice, GauravK. I'll keep that in mind.

Now at this point, my biggest issue is actually uploading the skin. The progress bar window stays open, and the edit page in the main window just times out after awhile.

If you upload the file here : http://www.mediafire.com/filedrop/filed ... ca5151aa1d
I can create a shared link to it.

Thank you, Ivo. It should be uploaded now.

Here's the link: http://www.mediafire.com/download/1s8u8 ... tions.skin
Check if it works correctly.

Yeah, it works. Any idea why it won't upload as an attachment?

Hi R.O.B.

I'm using Win8.1, without system tweak.
On this version, the two column shows up the caption, as an added bonus.
It's just hiding behind the icons. The padding would require adjustment,
for two column, and two column with name.
The 5 custom skins will not be able to show current system caption in two column.
No idea how enable it.

Other than that, wow. So many os I've never seen before. Neptune, Whistler...

Hey, junuper. I've been considering re-implementing support for the two-column mode. Keep in mind this skin is based on the default Classic Skin, so that's why it ends up looking similar. Actually, I originally had plans to completely remove the two-column mode from this skin, but then I realized that it might be cool to have it with a caption. So I went ahead and changed it to not hide the caption with two columns, and figured that I might work on it later. Until now, I had not actually tested the skin with two columns, but since it sounds you brought it up, I think I'll go ahead and fix it up. And don't worry, I won't forget about the custom variations. Expect that in the next update.

Also, I'm glad you're enjoying all of the captions. I've had quite a collection of them for awhile (I try to grab them from every Windows OS I use), and it's nice to finally be able to be able to use them like this.

I'm just about finished with the two-column mode. The only real problem is I can't get the custom caption text to show up. I'm not even sure if Classic Shell supports it in two-column mode.

I still can't get the file to upload, so I might just post a Mediafire link or something. I wish I could get that to work though...


Edit:
Mediafire link has been added to the first post.

Classic Shell does not support it in two-column mode

_________________
Android hacking is sometimes a puzzle.

If you're talking about what I think you are then it shows up just fine in two-column mode for me.

Okay, then it works.

_________________
Android hacking is sometimes a puzzle.

Forgot to attach this.

Are you using Windows 10

_________________
Android hacking is sometimes a puzzle.

Windows 7, just using the Windows 10 menu from this skin.

Let me clarify what I mean. When using two column mode, you can display any caption you'd like just fine. However, if you have any of the custom captions selected (the ones with names like Custom 1 (Classic), Custom 2 (Vista), ect.) the caption text will not appear. This seems to be a result of Classic Shell simply not supporting caption text with two columns like NoahNicholsFourm said. The reason every other caption works is because the text is part of the bitmap, and it therefore doesn't need to be rendered separately by Classic Shell.

Also, are metro skins supported on Windows 10? The reason I ask is because I would like to know how the Metro variation (Custom 5) works on Windows 10.

I see what you mean now, I hadn't even tried the custom ones yet, disregard my comment about it working.

That's right. "Caption" as a menu feature is only supported by the single column menu.

What you mean by "metro skins"? Do you mean skins that use the metro colors? If so, yes, Windows 10 has even more colors to choose from.

Yeah one of the custom variations with this skin uses Metro colors, so that's why I ask. I'll be upgrading to Windows 10 as soon as I can, so I'll see for myself then.

In celebration of the release of Windows 10, I'm going to be updating the skin to include a few new variations, including:
-Windows 10 Home
-Windows 10 Pro
-Windows 10 Enterprise
-Windows 10 Education
-Windows Server 2016 (I'll probably include variations for every edition this time around)

I'm also thinking about adding a few other variations if anyone wants them:
-All editions of Windows Vista
-All editions of Windows Server 2012/2012 R2

And just for the heck of it, I'll also include a new Windows RT skin, even though it's not compatible with Classic Shell.

The Windows 10 variation that currently exists will have updated colors to better match the release version of the OS (I'll post the original bitmap just in case anyone wants to change back to it). I won't be able to do this right away, as my laptop with Photoshop is inaccessible at the current moment, but I shouldn't be long before I will be able to access it again.

I'm always willing to listen to feedback and suggestions, so let me know if you have any.

Sorry for the long hiatus, but I'm back. The skin has been updated to include captions for all editions of Windows 10, all editions of Windows Server 2012/Server 2012 R2 and Windows RT/RT 8.1. However, I decided not to add captions for Windows Server 2016 until its release. As for the captions for every edition of Windows Vista, I'll do those if there's a demand for it, but I'm in no rush to get them done.


I also wanted to say thank you to everyone who has shown interest in this project, and remember that I'm always open to feedback.

Nice, I like the Windows 9 skin, lol.

This is a pretty neat skin! What was Neptune code name for again? I know that Whistler was XP and Longhorn was Vista...

Neptune was the codename for a version of Microsoft Windows under development in 1999. Based on Windows 2000, it was to replace the Windows 9x series^[
3
] and was scheduled to be the first consumer version of Windows built on Windows NT code.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Neptune

So I guess the forums are letting me upload stuff again, so that's cool. I've re-uploaded the skin as an attachment to the first post.

Anyway, I'm still holding off on adding the Windows Server 2016 captions, since I'm not entirely sure all of its editions have been announced yet. I'm actually looking into options for using 3D borders with visual styles, so stay tuned!

I just realized the differences between the Windows 7 version of Segoe UI and the Windows 8 version. Since I created all the new captions on a Windows 8.1 machine, I now feel the need to redo all of the Windows 7/Server 2008 R2 bitmaps to use the correct version of that font. Ugh, I've created a monster!!!

Anyway, the next update will feature not only the Server 2016 variations, but also a few variations that I either couldn't find the bitmaps for (I'm looking at you, Windows XP 64-Bit Edition, Version 2002) or that I otherwise forgot about/didn't know about. If I ever have the time, I'd also like to do a version that always has 3D borders, but don't count on that (at least not anytime soon).

Well, here's that update I promised. This is the biggest update I've done in a while, and it includes many new variations, as well as a few updates to some of the older variations. Here is a list of changes:

-Added a variation for Windows XP 64-Bit Edition (Version 2002). This was extremely hard to find the original bitmap for.
-Added variations for all editions of Windows Vista.
-Updated the Windows 7 & Windows Server 2008 R2 variations to use the Windows 7 version of Segoe UI
-Added some Windows Embedded 7/8 variations
-Added a Windows Home Server 2011 variation
-Added Windows MultiPoint Server 2011 variations for both editions
-Added a few new Windows Server 2012/2012 R2 variations (including Windows MultiPoint Server 2012)
-Swapped the colors for the Windows 8.1 and the Windows 10 variations (I think the darker colors are a bit more fitting for Windows 10 than they are for Windows 8.1)
-Added Windows Server 2016 variations (finally)

I think that's about it. I wouldn't be surprised if I forgot to mention a few things, but that's all I can remember at the moment. In all honesty, this was probably one of the most difficult updates I've ever done with this skin, and that's part of the reason it took so long to complete. But I'm glad it's finally finished, and I'm still open to any feedback.

Oh, and one last thing. If anyone prefers the older variations, I've attached a zip folder to the first post containing the old bitmaps. You can re-apply them using Resource Hacker.

Well, that's all for now. I'm really glad that so many people seem to enjoy this skin. It really does mean a lot to me, so thank you to everyone who has shown interest in this project.

Enjoy!

Hi R.O.B., I used your start menu .skin as a base for my start menu .skin. I took out most of the captions though because I figured that you put in alot of work making these captions, and I didn't want to just leave them in there. I also made a few other captions, if you want to take a look. The start menu .skin I made is here: http://classicshell.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=7214

Happy Holidays & a Happy New Year! =)

There are few missing bitmaps of Windows MultiPoint Server 2012: it does not work.
Bitmaps 659, 660 and 661 are missing. Please fix them