v26.9 was truly a mega release. It introduced some very useful new features, but above all a huge number of fixes and refinements.

Among those new features were additional per-tab colorization settings for Shelves. The problem is that, despite the various available colorization methods, not every theme is suitable for being colorized this way.

As I mentioned at the end of the v26.6 thread, nearly all Shelf themes rely on bitmap artwork, with the theme author deciding the colors, shapes and other visual details.

But there is another way of doing things: allowing users to choose the colors of individual tabs and even the shape of the tabs themselves from a handful of available styles.

In other words, simple color-based themes that users can quickly customize themselves, instead of being forced to choose among hundreds or even thousands of third-party themes.

Although the Shelf does not currently support this type of simple, solid-color user-created theme directly, we can achieve essentially the same result by combining the new per-tab Shelf colorization settings with a small selection of simple Shelf themes deliberately designed to be colorized.

Now that v26.9 is out, I finally had some time to create an example theme and determine what additional changes would be required to make this work properly.

As usual, something that sounded extremely simple turned out to involve considerably more than just creating three bitmaps. Working on the example exposed several limitations and even an old bug in the way overlapping tabs and the two small control tabs were handled.

The Shelf theme engine has now been extended with several new capabilities:

* Tabs can overlap the Shelf body by a theme-defined number of pixels. This allows an active tab to appear naturally connected to the body while preserving the body’s top edge outside the tab area.

* Themes can reverse the drawing order of overlapping tabs, allowing either the left or right tab to appear on top.

* Mini-tabs can remain anchored to the left and right edges of the Shelf when the main tab group is left, center or right justified.

* Alternatively, mini-tabs located inside the Shelf width can be rendered using the full inactive-tab artwork. With left-justified tabs, the left mini-tab retains its dedicated edge shape while the right mini-tab becomes a complete inactive tab. Right justification does the opposite, while centered tabs use complete inactive tabs on both sides.

* If an overlapping or slanted-tab theme does not provide dedicated mini-tab bitmaps at all, WorkShelf now automatically uses the inactive-tab bitmap instead, reserves enough room for the control symbols and centers those symbols correctly.

* Icon label colors can automatically switch between black and white according to the luminance of the selected Shelf color, improving readability against both light and dark backgrounds.

The end result is a simple Shelf theme whose body and individual tabs can be recolored almost at will, while still retaining proper shading, depth, overlapping edges and readable icon labels.

Naturally, this is not intended to replace traditional themes. Elaborate themes with textures, glass effects, unusual artwork and carefully coordinated colors will always have their place. This simply provides another option for users who prefer a clean design and want to choose their own colors without having to create or edit bitmap artwork.

The first working example is inspired by the overlapping tabs of the old OPENSTEP_EUI theme, but uses modern PNG artwork and was designed specifically for the new colorization system. Once it has been thoroughly tested, it can serve as the basis for a small collection of alternative tab and body shapes.

The simple example theme without any colorization:


The same theme with Tab Colorization enabled, using the Hue Shift method, Colorize Active Tab enabled and Colorize Shelf Body with Active Tab Color enabled:


Notice how the active tab connects seamlessly to the Shelf body instead of being separated from it by the body’s top-edge highlight. This is accomplished using the new `TabBodyOverlap` setting, which specifies how many pixels the tabs extend vertically over the top of the Shelf body.

The Shelf body is painted first, followed by the tabs. By extending the tabs a few pixels over the body, the lower portion of the active tab covers the section of the body’s top border directly beneath it. Since the active-tab bitmap has an open bottom edge, the tab and body appear to form one continuous surface. The inactive tabs retain their own closed lower edge, while the body’s top edge remains visible everywhere outside the tab area.

Also notice how the tab text color is automatically selected between black and white according to the luminance of that tab’s tint color. This automatic adjustment is only made when the original text color specified by the theme is either pure black or pure white.

The outer edges of the left and right mini-tabs in the screenshot above are straight, forming a continuation of the Shelf body just as they did in the original OPENSTEP_EUI theme. This makes sense when the tabs span the full width of the Shelf and the mini-tabs sit at the edges of the body, but not when the tab group is centered, for instance.

This is where the new `TabMiniJustificationMode` setting comes in. When set to `2`, mini-tabs located inside a left, center or right justified tab group are rendered using the full inactive-tab bitmap:


When the tab group is left or right justified, however, the mini-tab adjoining the corresponding Shelf edge continues to use the appropriate dedicated mini-tab bitmap. Only the mini-tab located inside the Shelf width is rendered as a full inactive tab:


Alternatively, when `TabMiniJustificationMode` is set to `1`, the mini-tabs are always anchored to the left and right edges of the Shelf body, while only the main tab group is justified:



Once again, keep in mind that this is only an example theme, intended to serve as the basis for a small collection of themes in different styles, all deliberately designed to be colorized.

The idea is for these special themes to ship with the main application by default, allowing users to take full advantage of the new tab colorization methods and quickly create their own combinations of colors and tab styles without editing bitmap artwork or searching for third-party themes.

It's really good Jorge.

Can I suggest you release some shelves in the Gallery like you did with Disks? I am sure a lot of people would use them.

Not yet, they require some changes to the code, which is one of the reasons I asked you to stop. In any case, the theme shown above was only a test theme.

I have now created eight variations of a basic shelf theme, each with a different tab and body style and all specifically designed to be colorized: Chroma Slant, Chroma Square, Chroma Curve, Chroma Capsule, Chroma Brushed, Chroma Inset, Chroma Bezel and Chroma Minimal.

Here are the themes "as is", with no colorization and with the tabs extending across the full width of the shelf:

And here are the same themes with the tabs and shelf body colorized and the tabs centered:

They look really great Jorge.

I may have misinterpreted you one one thing - The TAB coloration. I figure they are Global? If not then I have an issue because I cannot use it considering how often I change themes - for obvious reasons skinning. If they are supposed to only be per theme, then mine is not cooperating.

If you look at the Graphs theme screenshot in Themes thread, I had to remove the colors in that screenshot because they passed to every other theme. So much like the above, a lot I won't be able to use if I have to change all the colors of both the tabs and the shelf every time I change a theme. If this is not what happens, then I have a bug because mine stores Globally on all from the Shelf except for the grid.

If they are Global then maybe an entry in the wsw file for per theme could be very useful, not just for skinners but if users want it per theme. If not, I personally cannot use most of this other than the design and layout aspects and some people change themes often so they may find it similarly not something they want to change as an extra step after changing a theme.

Andrew, the tab colorization settings are supposed to persist when you change themes. They are user settings, not properties stored in each theme, so what you are seeing is the intended behavior rather than a bug.

The new Chroma themes were specifically designed to work well with those settings. Other themes may not be suitable for colorization, so if you switch to one of those - particularly when taking screenshots for the Gallery - you will need to temporarily or permanently disable the tab and shelf-body colorization options.

These settings are intended for users who choose a theme they want to keep but would prefer it in different colors, or who want to assign a different color to each tab. They are not intended to change automatically whenever a different theme is applied.

Oh good, I was concerned I had a bug, I did misinterpret it, my apologies.

OK I guess I would normally put this in wishlist, but is it possible for you to write a simple sequential subroutine array that allows for a skinner to color more than one inactive button? ANY user can still recolor them.

e.g. Pseudo...
IF more than more than one inactive button
THEN Count array WsFullTabI2-WsFullTabI30
ELSE
END

Sorry, no.

I wasn't keen on the design of the tabbed dock/shelf, that is until you posted the newer shots with squared and rounded tabs. They are excellent. I have seen tabs, maybe in old stardock app's. But not to this design. I would most likely try them out.

Obviously stuck in the old ways, of using workshelf with subdocks, which suits me. But there is something to
be said, about the ability to have all music apps, customisation, Utilities each under there own tab. I see the option make shelf tab from dock. Is it a one way thing, can you revert back to a dock?

Does this run under workshelf.

They will ship with the application by default starting next version and any beta updates will include these themes, so you will be able to try them out.

As I already said above, they are simple colored shelves in multiple styles, designed to be colorized. Some of it is still work in progress (see below).


Yes.


Yes.

By the way, updated the Chroma Bezel theme to look like this (still not happy with the symbols though):

I just remembered where else I have seen something similar a long time ago. It just came to me. Remember IBM LOTUS the flat file database? It had a tabular system not too different in concept at one point.

This comes to the question...

Say you have for example, eight tabs all different colors. When you change colored tabs to the next, does the Workshelf body change to the same color? I ask because I know Lotus did and I am pretty sure the MAC version you are looking at does too. It seems to based on your images but I am not sure.

Yes. That is precisely what the **"Colorize Shelf Body with Active Tab Color"** option does. And that setting already exists even in v26.9, in the Tab Color Setting dialog.

When enabled, selecting another tab changes the Shelf body to match that tab’s assigned color. When disabled, the tabs can still have individual colors while the Shelf body retains its normal theme appearance.

One more, this one is called "Chroma Aqua":


Full transparency: I am being inspired by old DragThing themes.

Please excuse me right away if I'm wrong! Coloring the panel is a good feature! But I believe that each theme is created individually! It has its own functions, colors, shape, etc. Therefore, if the panel coloring feature appears, it will look like an overlay on the main panel. You need to create separate themes for the coloring feature! At the same time, the individuality of those who are currently in the gallery will lose their individuality! (Maybe I'm wrong!).

And the 10th and final theme, Chroma Aqua Frame:


Notice how the frame surrounding the tabs is also colorized. This is made possible by the addition of a new tab background bitmap, which is always colorized together with the shelf body. The actual tab strip is then painted on top of it.



Oh, and this could not simply be done by:

a) making the border around the tab strip part of the tabs themselves - in that case it would not be colorized with the shelf body, and if each tab had a different color the frame would turn into a rainbow;

or

b) making the upper part of the shelf body transparent except for the framing area around the tabs, then placing the tabs inside the body - because the shelf body bitmap is static, that would not work with dynamically sized tab strips.

So the only practical solution was to add a new shelf skinning feature specifically for the tab area: a separate tab background bitmap. As a bonus, that feature can also be used for effects other than this particular frame.

Peter, I don't really agree.

A theme provides the original artwork and design, but once somebody has downloaded it they are free to customize how it looks on their own system. That's rather the whole point of customization software.

If somebody wants to take a beautiful gradient Shelf background and colorize it until it becomes a completely black mess, that is entirely up to them. I might question their taste, but not their right to do it.

The important distinction is between modifying something for your own personal use and publicly distributing a modified version of somebody else's theme as if it were your own. The latter is obviously a different matter.

And adding colorization does not somehow remove the individuality of the themes in the Gallery. The original theme remains exactly what its author created. Colorization is simply another option available to the person using it.

Nor do I think we need separate themes specifically for colorization. Theme authors are certainly free to design themes that make particularly good use of the feature, but requiring a separate version of every theme would rather defeat the purpose.

One of the fundamental ideas behind Winstep has always been giving users control over how their desktop looks. If they want tasteful, they can have tasteful. If they want fluorescent purple tabs on a lime-green Shelf... well, that is their birthright too.