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Ok - so not everyone's an expert.
I've had a few queries about using the skins here and I thought it was about time I added some information on how to use the files I was providing for download!
- the skins need other software!
First, and most obvious, to use the skins here you will need the appropriate software - they are not the same as a Windows 'Theme'; they don't work on their own. I have provided links to the websites where you can download the applications. You need to install them first before attempting to use a new skin. WindowBlinds and NextStart need to be purchased, but both are available as a trial version. Winamp is freeware - but make sure you download version 2, not 3! (my skins are only compatible with v2)
- installing a NextStart theme
Once you have NextStart installed, you should have a 'Winstep' folder somewhere on your hard drive (wherever
you elected to install it - by default C:\Program Files\Winstep). Within this, you should find a folder
called 'Autoinstall' and one called 'Themes'. You have three choices: you can either download the zipped theme
into the Autoinstall folder, unzip the theme into a new folder within the 'Themes' folder using Winzip or similar,
or use the built-in import facility.
If you download the file into the 'Autoinstall' folder, the theme will be automatically added when NextStart is run the next
time. If you unzipped into a new folder within the 'Themes' folder, you should see it's name in the list of themes available in the 'Load
theme' section of the 'Theme' tab in the NextStart configuration dialog (ctrl+F12). Just select it from the list and click on the 'floppy disk' icon. To use the built-in import function,
download the file to a temporary folder, then, while NextStart is running, open the configuration dialog (ctrl+F12).
Switch to the 'Themes' tab and click on the 'filing cabinet' icon in the 'import theme from zip' section.
Browse to the file you downloaded and select it, then click on the 'brown box' icon next to the 'filing cabinet'
icon to load the theme. And that's all there is
to it! If you are interested in designing a theme of your own, you could check out my tutorial on the Winstep website.
- installing a WindowBlinds skin
When you have WindowBlinds installed, you can download any skins into any suitable
temporary folder, then run WindowBlinds. Once you have run it, open the windows
'Display Properties' dialog by right-clicking on the desktop and selecting it from
the menu. If you are in Windows 95/98 you should see a 'skins' tab where you can
click on the 'WindowBlinds' button. In Windows XP, the button is on the 'Appearance'
tab - you might need to apply one of the default WindowBlinds skins first
(i.e. not an original XP theme, but one that WindowBlinds will install when you
first install the application - select it from the list of themes, then click on
the 'Apply' button), then click on the 'WindowBlinds' button.
This should open the WindowBlinds configuration dialog. In the 'Skins' section,
click on the 'Install skin from disk' button, browse to the temporary folder
where you saved your downloaded skins, select one and click on the 'open'
button. I'm not sure whether this loads the new skin straight away or just
adds it to the list of skins you can see displayed just above the button. If it doesn't load it,
select the skin you want from the list and click on the 'Apply changes'
button. You should see the skin load and window borders and titlebars start
changing. If you are happy with the choice, click on 'OK' to close the Config
dialog. You should see a WindowBlinds icon in your systray which you can use to
quickly load other skins.
- installing a WinAmp skin
Once you have Winamp 2 installed, you should be able to find a folder called 'Skins' within the 'Winamp' folder.
The files you will download from here will have a file extension of ' .zip' and you have a choice of what to do.
The easiest thing to do is download the file straight into the Winamp\skins folder, then rename the zip file to
have an extension of ' .wsz' (e.g. from 'forma.zip' to 'forma.wsz'). Winamp will recognize the file as a skin
and you can select it's name from the skins menu within Winamp without having to unzip it.
If you prefer, you can create a new folder within the Winamp\skins folder and unzip the file into it using Winzip or similar.
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