Posts Tagged “WinCustomize”

The latest episode of the WinCustomize SkinCast is now up, and this week I go solo and do a re-cap of the latest news and happening on WinCustomize.com.

• News Reader
• iTunes

I’m solo on this weeks edition of the WinCustomize SkinCast as Zoomba is off doing real “work”.  However, I did have a great guest this week and that was Jorge (JcRabbit) who is the developer of WinStep.  I talk with Jorge about the development of WinStep and how Vista has affected the work.  We also touch on what we might see in the future from WinStep.

iTunes link: WC SkinCast #8

Podcast link: WC SkinCast #8

The latest edition of the WinCustomize SkinCast is now up.  This week we talk about the ‘06 GUI Champs, and give some info about the 2008 GUI Champs.  If you are a graphic designer, skinner, or artist, you will definitely want to start keeping track of this topic.

Link: WC SkinCast Episode 7

Every two years the GUI Champs makes its appearance, and we see artists and skinners from around the world converge on this one event to showcase their works and compete for thousands of dollars in prizes.  The ‘06 GUI Champs were a huge success and we had categories for Wallpapers, Icon Packs, and WindowBlinds skins.  Hundreds of entries were received and the quality of those entries are nothing less than stunning, and many of these skins are still used today.

Well the time has finally come for us to start planning the GUI Champs 2008 which will come sometime later this year.  So with that being said a bit of a “teaser” was posted today about some of the changes coming to this years event, and first up will be a new website.

One thing people probably don’t realize is how much planning has to go into even a relatively simple site like the GUIC one.  It’s not as simple as throwing together an upload page, news page, gallery page and skin page and call it done.  For the 2008 GUIC Site, we have to design and implement over a dozen completely unique pages, each with very different tech requirements.

Here are a few of the big improvements that are currently being talked about.  Keep in mind we’re still in the design phase of this, so it’s all subject to change.  But I wanted to tease everyone a bit with this to get some interest going in the competition, and to get some feedback on what you’d like to see in the site.

Read the full article about the upcoming planning for the GUI Champs ‘08.

I released a new wallpapers today, along with a matching logon for Windows Vista. The wallpaper pack has a wide variety of screen resolutions including widescreen. For Vista users, there is also a logon available, and you will need LogonStudio Vista (free) to apply it.

Download: End of the Dock wallpaper pack

Vista logon download: End of the Dock logon

I have been getting behind on wallpapers, so I took some time this morning to go through the galleries and find some picks to share.

Surreal Space Voyage by DEVJIT

Form and Function by kenwas

NOX 2 by vStyler

Episode 5 of the WinCustomize SkinCast is up, and this weeks guest is David Roman (aka RomanDA).  We talk about several things, but the main topic this week was DesktopX.  We cover several DesktopX topics including the new community project site at www.desktopx.info.

• News Reader
• iTunes

Windows Vista is here, and regardless of whether you upgraded from XP, or just purchased a new PC with it installed, I’m sure you are ready to customize the way Vista looks.  Now we can go in all sorts of directions in customizing Vista, but I wanted to cover some of the basics as that is enough for most people.

Let me also take this time to cover a few questions about customizing Vista that you might have.

Q. Will it use many resources or “slow” Vista down?

A. By using the tools I will show you, your system performance should not be affected at all.

Q. Will this somehow “hurt” my computer?

A.  Not at all.  The methods used here are not system hacks, and the software I will show here is fully tested on Vista.

Q. Is this free?

A. Some applications are free, and some require a purchase after the trial period runs out.  The price of the applications are typically small and well worth the investment.

Changing the Vista Logon

The logon screen is basically the first thing you see when you start your computer.  Windows Vista has a nice default logon screen, but why not personalize it?  To do that, just go and grab yourself a copy of LogonStudio Vista and have at it.  LogonStudio Vista (free) lets you easily change a create the Windows Vista logon to any number of downloadable logons already available.  If you prefer to use an image of your own, it’s as simple as drag and drop to create your own.

Read the full Customizing your Vista Desktop article….

The WinCustomize SkinCast has made it to episode #4, and the momentum keeps going and the support so far has been great. Both Zoomba and I are still relatively new to this whole podcasting thing, but I think we are getting the hang of it.  Just a quick recap of what the SkinCast is exactly for people just now seeing this.  The WinCustomize SkinCast is a podcast dedicated to basically all things related to desktop customization, the technology behind it, and the community that drives it. 

iTunes: Episode #4

Link: Episode #4

Episode 3 of the WinCustomize SkinCast is now up, and the best we have done so far. This week we talk with WC moderator Zubaz, and discuss several things including the new Crystalline WindowBlinds skin. Come have a listen and you can subscribe to our podcast via iTunes with the link below.

Link: WC SkinCast show notes

• iTunes
  
• RSS Podcast