No Escape - READ ME (Eng)

This readme document includes information about NE theme and some tips for tweaking.
English version (switch to Russian)	May-October, 2003
Wallpaper "BSD_013_TechnoDream" by Vladimir Ivanov aka Vortex (permissions are obtained)

1. Terms of use 1

2. Description 1

3. Main elements 1

4. Tweaking the Top/VertPanel 2

5. Skin for Rainlendar 9

6. Creating your own theme for Aston shell. Getting started. 9

7. About author 9

1. Terms of use

• You cannot reproduce this theme or any part of this theme without author's written permission. Reproduction also includes printing, placing on web pages, BBS, papers and magazines, shareware CD-ROMs and other media.

• This theme is copyrighted freeware for noncommercial use. Any commercial use without author's written permission is prohibited.

• You are free to copy it and distribute to your friends AS LONG AS ALL THEME FILES, INCLUDING THIS README REMAIN INTACT. In other words, you're free to share original theme archive, not modifications.

2. Description

Theme resolution: 1024 x 768, 1152 x 864, 1280 x 960, 1600 x 1200, 1920x1200.

Theme plugin: Aston Clock with anti-aliasing, Taskbar ClockEx, CPU, Memory and Net usage monitor, Aston Top Panel, Aston Vertical Panel, Quick Launch Panel.

Additional skins: AltDesk and Rainlendar.

3. Main elements

	Set of animated buttons. Onclick actions: 1 - Aston home page launching 2 - Aston Master launching 3 - Aston Help launching 4 - This file launching

	System resources monitor. Shows CPU and RAM usage. ! If you don't see this element on your desktop make sure you have aMonitor.plg in a \Aston\Plugins folder! If there isn't copy it from Misc folder in the pack. Launch Aston Master-> Plug-ins and make sure that "..\Plugins\aMonitor.plg" is in the list. If not add it to the list from plugins location. Then switch it on.

	Favorite programs panel How to setup Top/VertPanel see Step 4 ! If you don't see this panel on your desktop the pluging must be off. *You should launch Aston Master-> Plug-ins and make sure that "..\Plugins\VertPanel.plg" is in the list. If not add it to the list from plugins location. Then switch it on.*

	System and control panel. How to setup Top/VertPanel see Step 4 ! If you don't see this panel on your desktop the pluging must be off. *You should launch Aston Master-> Plug-ins and make sure that "..\Plugins\TopPanel.plg" is in the list. If not add it to the list from plugins location. Then switch it on.*

	The Calendar Attention! This is a stand-alone freeware program. It isn't a plugin and it isn't in the theme. Download it from: http://vapaa.dc.inet.fi/~rainy/Rainlendar.html

4. Tweaking the Top/VertPanel

The VertPanel pluging contains favorite programs and documents. Each user has his own favorite programs and documents. You can specify your favorites. Top/VertPanel consists of items and folders. The largest amount of elements in this theme is program icons. To combine some icons into one group use "folders". Ex. Folder Games on the desktop:

Let's see how the folder "GAMES" looks like in the VertPanel's properties window. Right click on the plugin ->"Change"

Find folder "GAMES" and open it by clicking on "+".

"GAMES" element is a folder, consists of the 4 items. First and last are design elements, 2-nd and 3-d are program icons: "MS Hearts" and "Solitaire".

After this let's do four steps:

Step 1.

VertPanel - making the new folder “Office”.

1.		Right click on the VertPanel plugin ->"Change".

2.		Choose any folder (it is shown like a folder icon with "+") and click on Copy command on the top command tab. I used folder "WORK".

3.		Select the LAST(attention) element and click on "Paste".

4.		The new empty folder "WORK" is created.

5.		Select the previous folder and open it by clicking on "+". There are items for launching applications, except the FIRST and the LAST one (design elements). Copy the FIRST item in the "WORK" folder.

6.		Select our new folder and paste first item in it.

7.		You'll get this.

8.		Do the same with the LAST element in the "WORK" folder.

9.		Command "Paste" adds copied element AFTER selected item. So you should select the only item in the folder (not the folder itself) and do "Paste".

10.		The result is our new folder with 2 elements: top and bottom items. If you want to change the folder's name (for ex. from “WORK” to “OFFICE”) you should open folder's settings.

11.		Input "Office" in a hint text label.

12.		Ok! We've just created our new folder "Office". If you want to place it higher (for ex. before "INTERNET" folder) do the following.

13.		Select the "OFFICE" and drag it into folder that will be BEFORE our one.

14.		You'll get this. Press OK to exit setup window.

15.		The result is on the screenshot - our new folder with 2 empty items.

Step 2.

VertPanel - adding the new icon for MS Word launching to the folder "Office"(see Step 1).

1.		Open VertPanel settings (see Step 1) Choose any non-design element (I’ve chosen "Adobe Photoshop 6") and Copy it.

2.		Command "Paste" adds copied element AFTER selected item. So you should select the FIRST item in the folder and do Paste.

3.		The result is on the screenshot. But we want to launch MS Word instead of Photoshop 6. To set this open item's settings.

4.		Input "Word" instead of "Photoshop 6" in the "Hint" text label.

5.		Then you should specify a program to launch. For MS Word application it is WINWORD.EXE. Write it in the Application label.

6.		Note: This is necessarily for other application. (For MS Word "WINWORD.EXE" in the Application label is enough) . Press '>>' button and set the path to your app.

7.		Close settings window.

8.		The result is on the screenshot.

9.		We have the new folder "Office" from Step 1 with our new item "MS Word" from this Step.

Step 3.

TopPanel - adding item "Drive F:" to the folder "Explore".

1.		Right click on the TopPanel plugin ->"Change".

2.		Select item "Disk C:" from the "Explore" folder and copy it.

3.		Command "Paste" adds copied element AFTER selected item. Select "Disk E:" and do Paste.

4.		Click on the the "Properties".

5.		Input "Disk F:" in the "Hint" label and "F:\" instead of "C:\" in the Application label.

6.		The result is on the screenshot. Close this window.

7.		New item "Disk F:" has been added to the "Explore" folder.

Step 4.

TopPanel - changing the "CD DRIVE" letter of the "Explore" folder.

Open setup window of the TopPanel (Step 3.1), select "CD

drive" in the "Explore" and click on the "Properties".

Input letter of your CD-ROM into the "Application" label.

5. Skin for Rainlendar

This theme includes skin for Rainlendar. If you havn't this program download it from: http://vapaa.dc.inet.fi/~rainy/Rainlendar.html

Applying skin for Rainlendar:

- Open Rainlendar folder and copy "(Techno Dream) …No Escape" (with all it's content) folder to "Program Files\Rainlendar\Skins".

- Restart Rainlendar.

- Skin "(Techno Dream) …No Escape" (Russian and English versions) will appear in the list of skins.

6. Creating your own theme for Aston shell. Getting started.

If you want to create your own theme it is better for you to start with Aston Shell Skinning Tutorial by Taras Brizitskiy aka Sacrat.

This tutorial has a lot of tips for Aston Shell themes creation. Besides, it contains links to the Adobe Photoshop tips that are very useful for newbies.

7. About author

Theme “(Techno Dream) …No Escape” is created by Roman Osadchy aka Roman Osadchy (mailto:roman@astonshell.com) (Russia) with a help and support from:

Nikita Evgenov aka Smanic (Russia)
Taras Brizitsky aka Sacrat (Russia)
Eugeny Chernov aka Frozzzen (Russia)
Nick Egorov aka Nick Egorov (Russia)
Dmitry Prosvirnin aka Dmitry Prosvirnin (Russia)
Maxim Kolesnikov aka McSIMM (Russia)

Maxim Kolesnikov, Nikita Evgenov, Taras Brizitsky, Dmitry Prosvirnin, Eugeny Chernov, Ivan Oshchepkov aka Ghosty and Roman Osadchy are the Aston Review Team (A.R.T.) - a group of theme reviewers, which consists of skilled Aston theme designers. This group decided if free key challenger theme really worths it.