pic...I can't even figure SKS 6 out at all! I've opened it a few times, and was completely lost...so, I am sticking to SKS 5 for now. I read in some thread that we should use SKS 5 for XP and SKS 6 for Vista. Since I only have XP, I am gonna stick with SKS 5 for now.

I've been using SKS6. I'm a first time user of Skin Studio, though. I may install SKS5.

It appears I missed the rest of that thread, pictoratus. But I'll answer here.

The start menu shadow setting is in SKS6. It's on the Extra Settings tab for the start panel user pane. I never set fonts for classic widgets, as they tend to cause more problems than they're worth. I don't believe they are in SKS6, but if they are, I may not have noticed.

SkinStudio 6 is still evolving, so once in a while you may think of something that you can't find in there yet. In those cases I make adjustments manually via the Code tab for a given section, or I close SKS6 for a moment and edit the UIS file in notepad. Those situations are becoming more rare with each update to SkinStudio though.

CobraA1, SkinStudio 5 does not support the new features in WindowBlinds 6. I wouldn't recommend installing it if you're just getting into SkinStudio now. Do yourself a favor and learn it with SkinStudio 6. SkinStudio 5 becomes more obsolete with each update to WindowBlinds. There is also a good chance that if you edit a WindowBlinds 6 skin with SkinStudio 5 it will delete parts of the code that it does not recognize.

Thanks for the info, Mike. I'll keep using SKS 6 then.

Jazzy.... when you open sk6, click on tools and then choose advanced option, this gives you acccess to the tree node..... the treenode is a great way to find your way around sk6....

its like anything..the more you use it, the more you get used to it....

Kitty...I guess what I need to do is just make some time and try to figure it out. What got me all confused was how to make the start panel. I was able to get the user pane, but then couldn't find how to get the rest of the panel in there. I guess I have been using SKS 5 too long...lol.

I use SKS6 since I only have Vista on my PC. I think its far more simple than the previous version, and will help beginners to come to skinning.
The only way to learn about it, is to try it !

While it works,I will always use 5 to skin for XP...the new WB6 features can be added to the code directly.(their are only 3 new ones that I can think of offhand that are not present in SKS5...the new Start menu animation,blurring and new titlebar button additions)

For Vista,SKS6 is the only way to go.  

Even for Vista,I start in 5 because the Vista skin is based on the Xp one...once XP is complete,I get on Vista,open 6 and create a Vista substyle from it and finish out.  (at least thats what I'm doing now...arrrghhh!)

I havnt tested leaving these blank before...sometimes font settings from a previous skin remain if a font isnt specified(when switching from one skin to another)...but I'm not 100% certain that applies to the system fonts(classic widget fonts)  

Thanks, Mike.

I have seen the Start Menu Shadow setting but was under the impression it didn't work yet in SKS6. I had already set it in SKS5 on the skins I am working on so I haven't verified that, but I'll sure try it on my next from scratch skin.

The Fonts for Classic Widgets can be a pain, but sometimes the font clash is a bit too much for me, especially if I'm using a distinctive font or fonts for all the other areas.

IR, I've seen that happen (font settings from a previous skin remain if a font isn't specified); although its been a while.

And since the ability to manually add code was put in a few versions back, it makes it even easier to stick with SKS6.


I like using SKS6. When I do open SKS5 now, it seems 'odd'   

CobraA1, listen to Mike.

jazzymjr, kitty's right ... the more you use it, the easier it gets. Before you know it, SKS5 will be the one in which you'll be lost.   

It didn't when I started the Organic blind. I made the start menu first and put it in SKS5 to remove the shadow. That is the only time I put it there. I've heard that putting the blind in SKS6 and then SKS5 and back again can mess things up, so I only skinned the start menu when I did it. I don't know if that makes any difference or not, but it seems to be working fine.

Every time I update SKS6 I find new things I can play with, and things that have been fine tuned. I'm loving it!

Slightly off topic. I would LOVE it if someone made a list or something of all the codes you can enter into the code tabs in SKS6.

I agree Mike I use notepad++ for it has a good search feature for finding things quick in the uis or sss files. I only open sks5 when I'm like looking for a certain color for a certain area. With like IE7 there is a place where you can change the color of the hilight for the favorites bar. So I find it in sks5 and get the code editor to show where it is completely with what color I want to use for it and then open the uis file and find the code to be changed. I never save in sks5! Like you say - it will damage a skin for wb6.
But thats is about all I ever use sks5 for anymore. I have seen how you leave the code out for the system fonts [ classic widgets ]. This works really good with Vista. But I'm not to clear on how that effects XP. I have seen a skin some place [ can't put my finger on it ] where the code for those widgets was added seperate to the .sss or that is the substyle for xp only. It seems to work ok... but as I say I've yet to have that problem with XP and those widget fonts.
I've been wondering if there is another place where the system fonts could be edited at also. That for both XP or Vista? Seems as with everything in the past in sks. There is always a place to add something to get it working like you want. The ole skinner tricks that some always figured was an error with the skin. But was really a code added to make things work correctly. I like that kind of stuff. But things change with each wb version we go to and it seems somethings that did work before do not now. Or they do but differently.

For the most part on that - those fonts are held in cache now by wb and the system. But not always...
A logoff usually clears this and a login reloads whatever is set. But as Mike has said with the classic widgets - it can be this or that. I've found - it really depends on the skin sometimes. Like some skins I can not get them to change at all ever. Not sure why either?

SGT  

Until now..hehe...I had not experienced SKS5 buggering up a WB6 skin...because the only features I had used were located in the uis file...which dosnt seem to get buggered by the switch back and forth.(Vista elements are just relegated to the nav tree as unsupported and cant be edited directly)

But...I opened Molten,which uses some rather interesting things I hadnt noticed before,and trashed its newer special features(I let SKS5 do a code correction).They were in the XPStuff file and SKS5 did mess that up.Whole sections of code seem to have vanished.  

So while its ok to start a skin in 5(especially if your having the minor issues mentioned above)...if you are using any of the newest advanced WB features...better stick with 6 once you have the skin going correctly.