This readme document includes information
about NE theme and some tips for tweaking. |
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English
version (switch to Russian) |
May-October, 2003 |
Wallpaper
"BSD_013_TechnoDream" by Vladimir Ivanov aka Vortex
(permissions are obtained) |
6. Creating your own theme for Aston shell. Getting
started.
• 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.
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.
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Set of
animated buttons. Onclick
actions: 1 - Aston home page launching 2 - Aston Master launching 3 - Aston Help launching 4 - This file launching |
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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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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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 |
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:
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Let's see how the folder "GAMES"
looks like in the VertPanel's properties window. Right click on the plugin
->"Change"
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Find folder "GAMES" and open it by
clicking on "+".
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"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”.
Step 2.
VertPanel - adding the new
icon for MS Word launching to the folder "Office"(see Step 1).
1. |
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Open
VertPanel settings (see Step 1) Choose
any non-design element (I’ve chosen "Adobe Photoshop 6") and Copy
it. |
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2. |
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Command
"Paste" adds copied element AFTER selected item. So you
should select the FIRST item in the folder and do Paste. |
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3. |
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The
result is on the screenshot. But we want to launch MS Word instead of
Photoshop 6. To set
this open item's settings. |
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4. |
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Input
"Word" instead of "Photoshop 6" in the "Hint"
text label. |
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5. |
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Then
you should specify a program to launch. For MS Word application it is
WINWORD.EXE. Write
it in the Application label. |
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6. |
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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. |
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7. |
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Close
settings window. |
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8. |
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The
result is on the screenshot. |
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9. |
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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. |
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Right
click on the TopPanel plugin ->"Change". |
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2. |
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Select
item "Disk C:" from the "Explore" folder and copy it. |
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3. |
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Command
"Paste" adds copied element AFTER selected item. Select
"Disk E:" and do Paste. |
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4. |
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Click
on the the "Properties". |
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5. |
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Input
"Disk F:" in the "Hint" label and "F:\" instead
of "C:\" in the Application label. |
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6. |
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The
result is on the screenshot. Close
this window. |
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7. |
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New
item "Disk F:" has been added to the "Explore" folder. |
Step 4.
TopPanel - changing the
"CD DRIVE" letter of the "Explore" folder.
1. |
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Open setup
window of the TopPanel (Step 3.1), select "CD drive"
in the "Explore" and click on the "Properties". |
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2. |
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Input
letter of your CD-ROM into the "Application" label. |
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:
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Open Rainlendar folder and copy "(Techno Dream) …No
Escape" (with all it's content) folder to "Program
Files\Rainlendar\Skins".
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Restart
Rainlendar.
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Skin "(Techno
Dream) …No Escape" (Russian and English versions) will appear in the list
of skins.
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.
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.
©2003
by Roman Osadchy & Nikita Evgenov