That also not entirely accurate. You don't need a manifest file for XP to
skin an application. As long as that app uses standard windows and doesn't
try to create owner drawn versions, they will be skinned automatically by
the skinning engine. AFAIK, manifests are only needed for apps which don't
use standard windows (such as VB5/6 apps, which use Thunderforms -
effectively an ownerdrawn window).
As for the CPU time needed, I meant StylesXP doesn't use any additional CPU
time over the normal XP skinning because it's just removing the digital
signature check... I made NO mention about how much time the actual skin
itself might take to draw (sometime I make assumptions that people have
enough intelligence to work that out for themselves). If compare the CPU
time needed for XP with StylesXP and XP with Windowsblinds, both using a
basic skin, you'll see WindowsBlinds uses more (not matter HOW much Stardock
try to refute that). I do agree with what you say about 3rd party skins
could bring the GUI to a halt, but I've yet to see one do so... The skin
designers are hardly going to create one that does this, as they won't be
able to use it themselves!!
As I said to the OP. I can't decide which method is best for his
requirements, I just told him what the options are, gave him MY opinion, and
provided links so he could look it up himself... Surely the best way to
answer his question?
FWIW, I actually quite like WindowsBlinds, it's just too unstable on my
PC... I know others that it works perfectly on... For me, it was more
stable on Windows 98
Lorne
"Chris Jackson" <chrisj.RemoveThis@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:eN2aBOvfDHA.132@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> > ... WindowsBlinds add
> > additional functionality to the styles (in the registered version), but
it
> > does have a processor overhead ... StyleXPjust removes
> > the digital signature check and has no processor overhead or side
> effects...
>
> This is not entirely accurate. StyleXP is basically just using the Visual
> Style engine, so essentially you are comparing the Microsoft Visual Style
> engine with the Stardock WindowsBlinds engine. Both of them take processor
> cycles. (If you go into services in administrative tools and stop the
themes
> service, you will see what you get without this process consuming
processor
> overhead. The real issue is compatibility - WindowBlinds is more
aggressive.
> It will skin everything. Visual Styles are less aggressive - unless the
> application has a manifest (an xml file) that specifies that it is
> compatible with Visual Styles, it won't skin it.
>
> The theme itself also determines how many cycles are used. It's all too
easy
> to create a visual style that has terrible performance characteristics,
> which is the reason why Microsoft has the digital signature requirement in
> the first place. Somebody's visual style could completely hose the
> performance of the machine and generate a ton of support calls.
>
> --
> Chris Jackson
> Software Engineer
> Microsoft MVP - Windows XP
> Windows XP Associate Expert
> --
>
>
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