A Quick Look at Taskbar Editing

[gor17981]

I posted this as an answer to somebody's question, but thought i would add here in the correct place for any one looking for info on this.

A quick look at how to edit a taskbar,
The main Aero taskbar images can be found at these locations.

Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBar > Aero > TaskBar > BackgroundBottom , = section 1 of image below,
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Aero > TaskBand > BackgroundBottom, = section 2 of image below,
Taskbar & System Tray > System Tray > Basic > Horizontal > TrayNotify > Background, = section 3 of image below,
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBar > Aero > Show Desktop Button > Button, = section 4 of image below,

http://virtualcustoms.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=56297&d=1340268284 (http://virtualcustoms.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=56297&d=1340268284)

You will noticed that most images are signifigantly smaller than they appear in a theme, this is because windows style builder re-sizes the images as and when it needs too.

Take section 2 of that image for example, you can use the Sizing parameters to Stretch or Tile the image, Tiling is better for images with patterns, Stretch is better if there is no pattern.

As you can see in this picture, the Sizing Parameter is set to Tile, and the Sizing margin is set to 0, 0, 33, 2, (Left, Right, Top, Bottom)

http://virtualcustoms.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=56298&d=1340268739 (http://virtualcustoms.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=56298&d=1340268739)

If you change the left and right numbers, to say 10, 10, 33, 2 for example, then the first 10 pixels on left and right of the image would not be tiled (or stretched).

The same principle applys to most of the theme images in WSB.

Check out Dave Seniors guide for more locations.
http://virtualcustoms.net/showthread.php/28810-Complete-Guide-to-Theme-Building


Theme i used for this example is M-Class by Mr Grim.

I should of used one of mine, but this one was close at hand, and what im using at the minute. ..But feel free to open up one of my themes and mess about.

Hope this helps some.

[Harvey Sewdin]

good post bud, very usefull for starters :smile:

[faizalotai]

Good info and good tutorial bud.thanks :Peace:

[ChicoThorn]

Very helpful! Thank you so much!:loving:

[eddcubby]

just what i was looking for,thank you.:money:

[HitMeDoN]

my themes are not getting stretched in taskbar

[Big V]

what do you mean stretched can you post a screen please

[HitMeDoN]

what do you mean stretched can you post a screen please

I mean Stretched. I have replaced all the images

[YourNumbr1Fan]

Yea, you should take a screenshot m8. It's unclear exactly what you are referring to.....the taskbar images? Take a screenie. Sounds like your sizing margins need adjusting.
I mean Stretched. I have replaced all the images

[HitMeDoN]

Yea, you should take a screenshot m8. It's unclear exactly what you are referring to.....the taskbar images? Take a screenie. Sounds like your sizing margins need adjusting.

You are right it was something with margins :D

[neocorpse]

I know I'm late to the party but thank you for this gem. It looks like Style Builder works very similar to Skinstudio, just not quite as fluffy and polished visually. SS is more for the "common user" who wants to pay $40 for SS and WB combined. I've already done so...twice, and refuse to pay stardock an additional $XX for subscription fees per year. Aside from the fees, though, I've noticed way to many flaws in how WB "skins" the OS, which is the real and main reason I refuse to buy them again.
I think with yours and Dave Senior's tutorials I might actually have the motivation and a shot at trying my hand at this so THANK YOU!

[Ali-chan]

Thanks you so much, i was having problems editing the taskbar and this helped alot

[IceBabee]

Great info my friend....! Thank you so much for sharing this with us beginners :)

[alucardisking]

im using your nano-tech theme and was wondering how to change the color from red or blue to green?

[ONE MAN ARMY]

im using your nano-tech theme and was wondering how to change the color from red or blue to green?


You need to open the theme up with Windows Style builder. Navigate to ...

Taskbar and system tray> Taskband> Aero> Taskband> Background Bottom, Export image to a folder or on your desktop. Open image in Photohop.

At the top of photoshop you will see Image, Click image/ adjusments/ Hue and saturation. A menu will pop up by default master is selected. Change From Master To Red then adjust Hue to your desired color. Dont adjust other settings as they usually tend to mess with the color making it look bad. But its really up to you. Once you have edited your image to desired color save as .png. Then import your image back into wsb. Test it out and or save. Hope this helps.

[alucardisking]

will that change all the blue colors or just the task bars because i want tro change the whole theme from blue to green. and is it possible to do without windows style builder because i don't have the money to drop on it. if possible is there a person or a place here i can ask for someone to do it even if its for a price? if so this is the green i want it in red: 66 green:249 blue:4 please and thank you

[ONE MAN ARMY]

will that change all the blue colors or just the task bars because i want tro change the whole theme from blue to green


That will only Change that image to Green. Your going to need to go through the entire theme and Repeat the process. I explained for every image. You also going to need to change all text properties that are red to Green.

[alucardisking]

ok that is going to be difficult for me how do i do this without any programs that cost money or is it impossible to do so?

[ONE MAN ARMY]

ok that is going to be difficult for me how do i do this without any programs that cost money or is it impossible to do so?

You can use a Program Called Restorator to pull all of the images out Recolor them and then put them back into restorator. But I am not sure how you would change all the text properties. So you might have a Green theme with all red text. and From what I have seen When you recolor the images and use restorator to put the images back into the msstyle Some images have issue's with that alpha channel, and dont display properly. So your best bet is to get Windows Style builder Use the Link above for Dave Seniors Tutorial to find specific locations. Thats how I started.

[nhokrez]

I want to get the taskbar from one theme to replace the one in other theme (replace all the image, setting), can someone help me?

[Donkuz]

Thanks for This Bro, It helped me a lot to understand How Taskbar editing works as Im just getting started:peace:Cheerz

[perruquito78]

thanks !!

[bakiras]

Please help me to change the copying color (green progress color)

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