Guide to making your machine look great!
Welcome all. In this guide you will find tips, links and programs to make your ugly ass computer look damn spiffy. I've seen too many people who fail to realize what quicklaunch icons are or the great looks of a shell, and I'm going to teach those bastards a lesson. Here we go!
First off we will introduce you to Deviant Art. Deviant Art is your friend. It is here you will find an absurd amount of application skins, desktop wallpapers, icon packs, cursor packs and program skins. Remember, if you need something related to making stuff look good, Deviant Art is a prime
resource. www.deviantart.com
1. ) Shells
-Shells are programs to morph your widnows, taskbar and certain applications to fit a certain style. This takes windows beyond simply changing color schemes. You will find a wide assortment of skins to use with your shells, so play around and find one that looks great but is still functional. The two most popular shells are Style XP and Windowsblinds.
-Style XP
-Windowsblinds
-Shell themes for both programs can be found at Deviant Art.
-Example Picture
2. ) Cursors
-While not the most vital to your computer looking great, cursors can add a nice touch to your overall theme rather than keeping the boring white default.
-CursorXP
-Themes are available at Deviant Art and Company Site
-Stardock Company Site
-Example Picture
3. ) Quicklaunch
-One of the first things I notice in a horrid desktop is an absurd amount of desktop icons and virtually no quicklaunch icons. What gives? Here is what you do. Unlock your taskbar and drag it upwards so that it is 2 or 3 lines high, then start filling it up with quicklaunch icons to give your desktop some room to breathe. Having all the shortcuts in such a compact area is also far more efficiant that trying to spread them out over a desktop picture without covering up the vital parts the picture. Personally I keep my 4 default icons (My Computer, My Documents, Network Neighborhood and Recycle Bin) on the desktop, along with my most often played computer games. You choose what you want, just remember quicklaunch is your friend.
-Silly, you need no programs other than windows to use this feature! Get off your ass and get to it!
-Example Picture
4. ) Desktop Picture
-One of the essentials. This baby is going to be your focus piece, your moodsetter, your picture that if you're constantly doing stuff like me you won't see much, but that's no reason to not get a great looking desktop picture. Make sure you have one that fits your shell, icons and cursor. IF you have a white shell theme, light icons and a white cursor, you've got to pick a desktop with colors that go well with white. Not all people have the same tastes so I can't tell you what colors to use, you've gotta decide that yourself. Deviant Art, Digital Blasphemy and hordes of other sites are good resources. Conveniently, most desktop pictures with credits have the credits at the bottom. Those ugly words will be easy to cover up with your taskbar standing at 3 lines high, now won't it? Below are two custom backgrounds created by me, feel free to use them at will.
-Deviant Art
-Digital Blasphemy
-Example Picture
5. ) Icons
-So you've got a sleek dark-blue shell theme and a nice desktop picture that is a matching shade. Icons? You can't possibly tell me you're
going to look good with the default, white icons on your desktop! No, you're going to either have to create your own icons or download icons packs. One easy method, which is what I used for my quicklaunch icons, is to simply use an icon editor program to grayscale all your icons. This is a quick way for non-artsy folks to give their icons a more themed look. Also make sure the Icon text is fitting for your theme. Microangelo is great for controlling text, shadow options and such.
-Deviant Art
-Art Icons (Needed to work with .ico files, XP users use the next program):
-Icon XP
-Microangelo
-Deskmod
-Example Picture
6. ) Messaging
-Eh, you thought you were done? Well, while your shell may improve the looks of AIM, one of the more commonly used messaging programs, it is still a disgustingly ugly application, even without Netflix ads. Solution? TRILLIAN. Trillian lets you combine AIM, ICQ, MSN, IRC, YAHOO and a bunch of other crap all into the same program. No ads and it is skinnable, even makes use of transparency effects. It is easy to setup and the program automatically imports buddy lists etc.
-Trillian
-My Favorite Trillian Skin
-Example Picture
7. ) Browser
-While this part is optional, the browser we are featuring beats the pants off IE. Skinnable, Built in pop-up blocking, built in notepad, built in tetris, tabbed browsing and more. 100% free. The skin I use is 'Gray Modern.' You can also set your own custom startup screen by taking any picture, saving it as mozilla.bmp and then moving it to your mozilla file folder. Below is my hilarious start-up scren.
-Mozilla
-Example Picture
-Start-up Screen
If you notice any non-working links or pictures, please PM me. If you need help, either PM me or post in this thread. Feel free to discuss, comment or correct my guide. You are welcome.
Welcome all. In this guide you will find tips, links and programs to make your ugly ass computer look damn spiffy. I've seen too many people who fail to realize what quicklaunch icons are or the great looks of a shell, and I'm going to teach those bastards a lesson. Here we go!
First off we will introduce you to Deviant Art. Deviant Art is your friend. It is here you will find an absurd amount of application skins, desktop wallpapers, icon packs, cursor packs and program skins. Remember, if you need something related to making stuff look good, Deviant Art is a prime
resource. www.deviantart.com
1. ) Shells
-Shells are programs to morph your widnows, taskbar and certain applications to fit a certain style. This takes windows beyond simply changing color schemes. You will find a wide assortment of skins to use with your shells, so play around and find one that looks great but is still functional. The two most popular shells are Style XP and Windowsblinds.
-Style XP
-Windowsblinds
-Shell themes for both programs can be found at Deviant Art.
-Example Picture
2. ) Cursors
-While not the most vital to your computer looking great, cursors can add a nice touch to your overall theme rather than keeping the boring white default.
-CursorXP
-Themes are available at Deviant Art and Company Site
-Stardock Company Site
-Example Picture
3. ) Quicklaunch
-One of the first things I notice in a horrid desktop is an absurd amount of desktop icons and virtually no quicklaunch icons. What gives? Here is what you do. Unlock your taskbar and drag it upwards so that it is 2 or 3 lines high, then start filling it up with quicklaunch icons to give your desktop some room to breathe. Having all the shortcuts in such a compact area is also far more efficiant that trying to spread them out over a desktop picture without covering up the vital parts the picture. Personally I keep my 4 default icons (My Computer, My Documents, Network Neighborhood and Recycle Bin) on the desktop, along with my most often played computer games. You choose what you want, just remember quicklaunch is your friend.
-Silly, you need no programs other than windows to use this feature! Get off your ass and get to it!
-Example Picture
4. ) Desktop Picture
-One of the essentials. This baby is going to be your focus piece, your moodsetter, your picture that if you're constantly doing stuff like me you won't see much, but that's no reason to not get a great looking desktop picture. Make sure you have one that fits your shell, icons and cursor. IF you have a white shell theme, light icons and a white cursor, you've got to pick a desktop with colors that go well with white. Not all people have the same tastes so I can't tell you what colors to use, you've gotta decide that yourself. Deviant Art, Digital Blasphemy and hordes of other sites are good resources. Conveniently, most desktop pictures with credits have the credits at the bottom. Those ugly words will be easy to cover up with your taskbar standing at 3 lines high, now won't it?
Below are two custom backgrounds created by me, feel free to use them at will. -Deviant Art
-Digital Blasphemy
-Example Picture
5. ) Icons
-So you've got a sleek dark-blue shell theme and a nice desktop picture that is a matching shade. Icons? You can't possibly tell me you're
going to look good with the default, white icons on your desktop! No, you're going to either have to create your own icons or download icons packs. One easy method, which is what I used for my quicklaunch icons, is to simply use an icon editor program to grayscale all your icons. This is a quick way for non-artsy folks to give their icons a more themed look. Also make sure the Icon text is fitting for your theme. Microangelo is great for controlling text, shadow options and such.
-Deviant Art
-Art Icons (Needed to work with .ico files, XP users use the next program):
-Icon XP
-Microangelo
-Deskmod
-Example Picture
6. ) Messaging
-Eh, you thought you were done? Well, while your shell may improve the looks of AIM, one of the more commonly used messaging programs, it is still a disgustingly ugly application, even without Netflix ads. Solution? TRILLIAN. Trillian lets you combine AIM, ICQ, MSN, IRC, YAHOO and a bunch of other crap all into the same program. No ads and it is skinnable, even makes use of transparency effects. It is easy to setup and the program automatically imports buddy lists etc.
-Trillian
-My Favorite Trillian Skin
-Example Picture
7. ) Browser
-While this part is optional, the browser we are featuring beats the pants off IE. Skinnable, Built in pop-up blocking, built in notepad, built in tetris, tabbed browsing and more. 100% free. The skin I use is 'Gray Modern.' You can also set your own custom startup screen by taking any picture, saving it as mozilla.bmp and then moving it to your mozilla file folder. Below is my hilarious start-up scren.
-Mozilla
-Example Picture
-Start-up Screen
If you notice any non-working links or pictures, please PM me. If you need help, either PM me or post in this thread. Feel free to discuss, comment or correct my guide. You are welcome.
