The Skinning Primer A Quick Guide to how to customize Windows! Don't be a drone. Don't let your desktop look like this! by Brad Wardell Note: I work at Stardock . I'm a guy who is so into messing around with the OS that I made it a large part of my career. But since I work at a company that makes this stuff, I obviously have my own biases and such. I've written this as objectively as I can. What are Skins, Themes, and Suites? These terms are thrown about a lot and can often be used interchangeably. But here are some basic definitions. Skin. A skin is a collection of graphics designed to replace the default user interface graphics of a program. That means its push buttons, title bars, scrollbars, radio buttons, check boxes, etc. Theme. A theme is a set of elements designed to change aspects of your desktop. It is often used to describe skins as well. A theme typically corresponds with a single program. Suite. A suite is a full set of skins and themes used to change your entire desktop. A suite may rely on skins and themes from a variety of different programs in order to achieve the desired effect. For instance, a suite might include a skin to change your Windows GUI, a wallpaper, and an icon package. This article is designed to help you figure out what does what and how to get it. | |
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