The iPhone has been out awhile and now that the initial hyping has subsided and the glowing reviews have faded a bit, how good is the iPhone really? I mean, for real people?
Stardock's Island Dog takes an indepth 2 part look at the iphone.
Do you have an iPhone? Tell us what you think of it.
Next week Stardock expects to unveil the first major update to DesktopX for the year.
DesktopX is a powerful yet easy to use desktop building program. Once installed, users can easily create desktop objects that can be assigned any image allowing them to be any size or shape. In addition, these objects can have multiple states (user-defined or simply mouse over, mouse away, etc.). Moreover, objects can have scripts attached to them written in either VB Script or JavaScript.
As a result, users can build nearly anything with DesktopX. It is almost certainly the most powerful utility of its kind. It has been used for everything including creating computer interfaces in movies, user interface screens in computer games, stand-alone programs, and more.
DesktopX 3.5 includes many small tweaks to the program along with one big new feature: The ability to export content as native Windows sidebar gadgets.
See the link below to get a guided tour of what's in DesktopX 3.5.
DesktopX is a program that lets users build their own desktops. It does this by giving users access to desktop objects. These objects can come in all sizes and shapes. They can have scripts attached to them, they can be combined together to form mini applications or turned into an entire desktop.
Let's take a look at a typical desktop. For this example, we'll use Windows Vista but it could just as easily be Windows XP.
Windows Vista's desktop
When DesktopX is first loaded, it provides 4 primary options:
Loading DesktopX brings up its launch menu
This menu lets the user decide whether they want to load an existing creation (widgets, objects, and desktops) or create their own. For our purposes, we'll go with create.
DesktopX appears in the system tray
From the system tray, users can now create a new object which will appear on the desktop like this:
An object on the desktop
This object can be made into almost anything the user wants. Let's look at a couple simple examples:
DesktopX objects can be turned into fancy desktop icons easily. They have the advantage of being sized however the user wants. Just right-click on the object and choose properties:
From there, a dialog comes up in which users can choose what they want the object to appear like. Users can use .PNG image files (or .BMP or even .ICO) to change the image. By selecting a new image, the user can see this:
The size of the image can be controlled by the summary page.
The object can be resized right from the summary page.
Now I just have it point to whatever program or website I want. In this case, I'll have it open WinCustomize.com.
And Voila I have a really fancy desktop icon.
Technically speaking, objects are widgets/gadgets. The difference is one of format. When you have finished, you can take your creation and save it as an object pack which simply saves the raw data to be imported back into your desktop or you can save it as a widget which turns it into a program (.EXE). If you have DesktopX PRO, you can also save as a gadget which turns it into a program that can run on any Windows XP, 2000, or Vista machine without requiring DesktopX to be installed.
What's new in DesktopX 3.5 in this area is that users can also export their works as Windows Sidebar gadgets. The Pro version will turn them into stand-alone sidebar gadgets.
Let's create a simple widget. First, we start back with our object. I'm going to us images and script provided by David A. Roman for this example.
This widget, when it's done, will show and hide desktop icons when clicked on. This means I'll need two images for my object: One to represent the hide desktop icons and one to represent show desktop icons.
DesktopX objects support multiple states -- unlike icons. This gives them incredible flexibility.
This object has two states
For each state, I provide an image.
The next step is to write some VB Script (or JavaScript).
Writing the script
This script is obviously more advanced that what a beginner would create but I wanted to show something that was fairly useful and it's only 67 lines even with spaces and comments. What it does is react to being clicked on. If the icons are showing, it tells Windows to hide desktop icons. If the icons are already hidden, it tells Windows to show them.
When I'm done with my object and have made sure it does as I ask, I can export it as a Windows Sidebar Gadget:
Since I have DesktopX Pro, I can export it as a stand-alone sidebar gadget (otherwise, the user needs to have the DesktopX run-times installed).
And there it is. the .gadget file
There's my new gadget
The advantage of DesktopX for making Sidebar gadgets is that DesktopX has a much larger library of APIs to call on and is a visually oriented development platform for gadget makers. Something as simple as a show/hide desktop icons toggle isn't very easy to make as a Sidebar gadget. But with DesktopX, it's a snap.
So far, we've really only scratched the surface of what DesktopX can do. DesktopX can create widgets & gadgets. But these days, there's a gazillion different gadget/widget creation tools (though DesktopX is probably the most powerful one currently available).
DesktopX doesn't stop at being able to make mini-applications. Users can build an entire desktop and then save it as a .desktop file to distribute out. It's a lot like making a widget except on a much larger scale.
Building a desktop
As we've seen, objects can be given images of any size or shape. Objects can have multiple states to them. And objects can be grouped together.
In this example, objects have been grouped together and also given scripts to allow for the creation of new objects:
A replacement desktop created with DesktopX
Since objects can be created by other objects with all their key properties assigned by other objects, users can literally construct their own Windows environment with DesktopX -- in a fraction of the time it would take to write ones own shell.
DesktopX can even give objects "hit detection"
When done, a user can simply export their creation as a .desktop file and anyone who has the DesktopX run-times installed can use it.
This Play-ground theme will be coming with DesktopX 3.5.
Developer: Stardock (www.stardock.com)
Price: $24.95 for standard client. $14.95 for run-time client. Both come with Stardock's Object Desktop suite.
Users who want to get DesktopX Pro can get it for $69.95 and that adds the ability to export stand-alone programs and Sidebar gadgets.
Visit http://www.desktopx.net for more information.
Greetings to the German speaking GalCiv 2 Community!
I-Mod Productions has voluntarily translated the campaign for Dark Avatar!
If you bought the Gold Edition and you are searching for the Dread Lords translation, I-Mod now offers a German version of the Dread Lords Pack at www.i-mod-productions.com.
If you recognize any bugs, please contact us at I-Mod, and they'll quickly set up an update!
Our hope is that we can help improve the experience for all German speaking players!
Download the translated files here!
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Why aren't planets in GalCiv Ii to scale? What about accuracy. Below gives you an idea if things were to scale...
zooming out...
zooming out.
zooming out...
It would be cool to be able to look at a map with things drawn to scale correctly. But i wouldn't want to play the game that way.
The next-generation edition of the world's most popular desktop enhancement utility, WindowBlinds, now has an on-going, regularly updated, preview guide available for viewing.
WindowBlinds is a program that empowers users to completely customize their Windows experience. WindowBlinds 6 has hundreds of new features including the ability to skin nearly every element of Windows Vista as well as blur-glass effects on Windows XP.
The screenshot shown here is actually Windows XP. Check out the blurring -- and Stardock Diamond on Windows XP is about as fast (or faster) than Aero running on Vista on the same hardware.
Only users with Object Desktop can download and try out the beta presently.
Check out the link below to get a sneak preview of what's happening.
Summer tends to be a slower time for skinning since people are, well, you know, outside. Personally, the sun causes me to catch on fire. Or at least smolder and no one wants to deal with that.
This Summer, there's been some real gems. Which is pretty amazing since those bastards at Stardock have co-opted most of the skinning community this year to work on MyColors projects. So without further delay, here are some of the cooler looking things I've seen this summer:
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Summer is only half-way over and we've only covered skins, icons, and wallpapers. Stay tuned, more to come!
Our friends over at deviantART are celebrating their 7th birthday this week. In 7 years, deviantART has become the world's largest art site on the Internet. With over 40 million pieces of art on the site and rising, deviantART continues its explosive growth.
On behalf of everyone at WinCustomize.com and at Stardock, we wish deviantART a happy birthday! Congratulations!
Stardock is pleased to announce that the beta of SkinStudio 6 is now available for users of Object Desktop to try out and give feedback on. SkinStudio 6 is a complete re-design from scratch of SkinStudio.
With a totally new user interface and completely different design philosophy, SkinStudio is designed to make skinning much less labor intensive and welcoming to new skinners. Check out the linked to preview guide for a taste of what's in it.
SkinStudio UI.
With SkinStudio 6, combined with the upcoming WindowBlinds 6, users can expect a whole new era in skinning thanks to the drastically reduced amount of effort involved in getting into skinning as well as the amount of work necessary to create outstanding looking skins. 
VERSION 6
Stardock is pleased to announce the availability of the BETA of SkinStudio version 6. SkinStudio is a program designed to allow users to create their own skins that, when applied by the popular GUI changing program, WindowBlinds, can completely alter the look & feel of Microsoft Windows.
With SkinStudio, users design their own title bars, push buttons, Start bars, scroll bars, and virtually every other part of the Windows interface. Users then take their creations and save them as a WindowBlinds skin which will work on Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, and Vista.
SkinStudio lets users create completely new looks and feels (Zelda skin property of Nintendo who used SkinStudio / WindowBlinds to create a Legend of Zelda branded desktop)
SkinStudio 1.0 was released back in 2000 and was designed with WindowBlinds 1.x in mind. Since then, two major new versions of Microsoft Windows have been released (Windows XP and Windows Vista) and the capabilities of Stardock WindowBlinds have also expanded. SkinStudio has been continually updated to keep up with all these changes but its design became difficult to use. For SkinStudio 6, Stardock went back to the drawing board and created a brand new version of SkinStudio.
SkinStudio 5 (left) and the new SkinStudio 6 (right)
The primary goal of SkinStudio 6 is to make it easy for artists to get into skinning. The existing SkinStudio (version 5) was an extremely powerful, capable program for users who already know how to make WindowBlinds skins. But for new skinners, it was daunting. SkinStudio 6 changes this.
Moreover, combined with changes in the upcoming WindowBlinds 6, skinners no longer have to worry about skinning every part of the OS. In previous versions, if a user didn't provide graphics for a part of the skin, that part was shown as "Windows classic" which looks downright primitive. Now, SkinStudio 6 will fill in either Aero (on Vista) or Luna (on Windows XP). This allows new skinners to worry about changing just the parts they want and grow from there as they gain expertise.
When you first load SkinStudio 6 you get this dialog:
SkinStudio will change its experience for the user based on experience level
Once that question is answered, the UI gets even simpler:
The only two realistic options -- opening an existing skin or creating a new one. The entire philosophy in the design of SkinStudio 6 has revolved around only showing what is needed rather than bombarding the user with hundreds of options.
When a skinner chooses to make a new skin, they're presented with an Aero-like UI (in the beta, it's Diamond) to start with. On Windows XP, they start out with Luna (the Windows XP style). Skinners can change as much or as little as they want.
The design of SkinStudio 6 is task oriented. When people look at the Windows user interface, they tend to think of it in pieces -- the Start bar, the Window frames, the buttons, etc. SkinStudio 6 takes this route to break skinning up into manageable chunks. Want to just change the Start button? No problem. Click on Start menu and Taskbar, then click on the horizontal (or vertical) taskbar option:
Editing the taskbar of Windows is a snap. Click on the taskbar option
Then click on the part you would like to change
I have set Photoshop as my editing choice from the preferences menu. Since I have no artistic abilities, I'm going to just turn my start button into a blurred orb:
Quickie change to start button
All I did is do a Photoshop blur to it. But I could have just as easily replaced it with a new image or created an entirely new start button. SkinStudio 6 automatically converts images between PNG and TGA for ease of editing.
The key thing here is that skinners have full power over how much or how little they want to skin. And the various parts of the UI are designed to make it self explanatory over what is being skinned:
Users can easily go through and alter hundreds of details of the look and feel of Windows at their leisure.
At any time, users can go to the file menu and apply the skin they're working on. No need to go and save and then go into WindowBlinds to load. As long as WindowBlinds is already on the system, the user can simply apply right then and there. If users want to share their skin, they can export it as a WindowBlinds archive file (.WBA) to give to other users.
SkinStudio 6 will be a free download once it is done. But it is available to users of Object Desktop right now. Visit www.objectdesktop.com to get Object Desktop and access to both SkinStudio 6 and WindowBlinds 6.
