Some weirdness with Startbar:

I have a fixed bitmap background used for the startbar. However, depending on the "Content Offset from Startbar Inner Edges", my startbar image changes vertical height...something I do not want. I am trying to get the quick launch buttons to appear at exactly the desired height. However, I have to set the "Top" content offset to "10" to get my startbar background to the correct vertical size...and then my quick start icons are too high within the startbar.

Any ideas how to get around this weirdness?

The problem is that the Startbar was never designed to have a fixed size background bitmap. This is because the startbar must be dynamic, i.e.; it has to be able to grow and shrink automatically to accommodate content.

For instance, when you make a theme, you might be using a 16x16 icon size for task buttons, but another user applying your theme might be using a 32x32 icon size instead, which forces the startbar to expand the background bitmap vertically to accommodate the larger task buttons. That is why you have top, bottom, left and right tile sections (i.e. areas at the edge of the bitmap which are NOT stretched automatically) for the startbar bitmap. Not all bitmaps are suitable for this, unfortunately.

I appreciate your point of view, however your response did not really address the issue. Let me first say that I am basically impressed with your product during my trial and will probably buy it. Being a 40-year veteran software engineer myself I believe my input will be useful to you.

First of all, my start bar does NOT need to accommodate dynamic content. I have detached the systray and current task list, and will place only the quick start icons I want. There is no reason that a user who is customizing his desktop for his own productivity purposes needs to be concerned about what some other user might want.

With that in mind, does it not make sense that I should be able to tell NextStart exactly what bitmap to use and exactly what offset to use for each type of content that I may want to have: start button, quick launch, etc.? In my case I want a dedicated 40 pixel high area for most of my desktop enhancement tools, and have designed bitmaps that "flush up" against each other provided their vertical size does not change when not really needed.

As it is, NextStart is not nearly as simple to force things in certain positions as other products, although your product seems to be more stable.

Thanks for listening.

That's one of the drawbacks of being so much more flexible than other products. For instance:

Themes for other products are usually screen resolution-dependent, i.e.; they will run fine in the screen resolution that the theme maker intended them to run, but, otherwise, you will have a hard time re-arranging everything. Winstep is totally resolution-independent.

Worse, themes for a some of the other products out there are also content-dependent, i.e.; the theme provides the actual content. This means that every time you download a new theme and apply it, you will also have to add your favorite icons and objects again. Winstep, on the other hand, completely separates looks from content. You can change a theme with a single key press and the only thing that changes is the look; all your items will still be there.

Take, for instance, Sysmetrix's approach (great program made by Nick Decker): it is the theme maker that decides which meters appear on a specific theme, not the user. This allows for a neat, compact, block graphic where each meter fits nicely next to the others. On the other hand, this removes the choice from the user, since they will have to go along with whatever meters the skinner likes if they want to use that specific theme - instead of being able to select which meters they actually would like to use.

This said, you *might* be able to solve your problem by playing with the top/bottom tile edges of the Quick Launch graphics (e.g.; make the top 8 pixels of the Quick Launch bitmap transparent, shifting the actual bitmap down, and set the 'top tile' setting to 8 pixels). Hope I'm explaining myself well?