Ok, lets see if I can explain this correctly so we can stop mixing apples with oranges:

Modules under Winstep Xtreme appear in two 'flavors': as icons on docks and the Shelf (also called in-shelf/in-dock modules), and as *desktop* modules.

The desktop version is free form and the skinner decides what it looks like when he makes that theme.

It can also happen that an old theme does not have a skin for a particular desktop module (because the module was implemented after that theme was made or because the skinner did not bother making a skin for it). In that case, the desktop module will default to the same image used for the in-dock/in-shelf version of that module.

Now, in-shelf/in-dock modules, unlike their bigger desktop module brothers, always have two styles the user can choose from. In case of the clock, it's either analog or digital. In case of the battery module, it's horizontal or vertical. In case of the weather module, it's realistic or cartoon icons. And so on...

So, when you change the style of a module, you are only doing that for the in-shelf/in-dock version of that module. It will not affect the desktop version of the module as a whole (there are exceptions: for instance, if you change the style of the weather module, the icons displayed by the desktop weather module will be displayed in the selected style, but the module itself will not 'change shape' - hope you can understand this).

Now, for in-shelf/in-dock modules there is also a certain degree of customization in terms of the styles selected. For instance, the in-shelf/in-dock clock module has default backgrounds for the digital and analog versions. When you use the Change Icon button you are changing this backgrounds, but, again, this will NOT affect the desktop version of these modules, only the in-dock/in-shelf version.

Furthermore, if you change the background of the digital clock module but you currently have the analog style selected, then obviously you will not see any differences until you switch the clock module to the digital style.

WOW! Fast boot rocks!!!!

Ahaha! In the beginning, when I first talked about implementing this, everyone was just 'Meh'.

Now it seems to be quickly becoming everybody's favorite new feature lol



Ok, I should have fixed the issue with Edge and all other similar UWP apps.

I was afraid we might have problems with non-English versions of Windows but I just tested it here on a Windows 10 machine with Windows in Portuguese and it seems my fears were unfounded.

Microsoft should have tried to integrate UWP Apps into Win32 better under Windows 10. They made a really lousy job!

In the mean time, do not forget about the memory leak bug I fixed too. The description about this is a couple of pages back on this thread.

Not sure if I should release a new beta now or wait until I've worked a bit more on the Silent Update feature.

Jorge, you resolved the UWP issues FAST! Wow! Anxious to test it out!

I look at all the effort you put into this utility, Jorge, and your blindingly fast response to most issues. Not trying to be nosy, but does Winstep really generate enough revenue that you can devote your full time to its development? If so, that's amazing and I congratulate you that your hard work is paying off. It's definitely a win-win for both you and your end users.

Winstep has been my full time job ever since me and John T.Folden (who is no longer with Winstep) created it back in 1999. Winstep has been in business for 17 years.

The story of how Winstep came about is written HERE.

In the mean time, apologies for the lack of a new beta to fix the remaining UWP app issues and the huge memory leak.

I didn't want to release another beta without adding something new as well.

You might have already noticed that most of the latest additions are essentially 'refinements' to what was already there. The devil is many times in the details (the difference between something looking really 'polished' or not) and I remember ignoring those same details for many years... so I'm trying really hard to make up for that now.

As a result not everything added will be a bombastic new feature, but will instead be something that adds up to the experience.

For instance, the software is developed on a Windows 7 machine (with the help of two Windows 10 VMs and a physical Windows 10 system), and I think it's no secret to anybody how I feel about Windows 10. Never-the-less many users are currently running Windows 10, and in it a UI designed for Windows 7 stands out like a sore thumb as being 'too glossy' (true user complaint!).

It was for that reason that I added the 'Windows 10 mode' a couple of versions ago, which is enabled by default under Windows 10 but disabled by default under Windows 7 (user can still chose to use one or the other regardless of OS version). This way the UI, within obvious limitations, tries to adapt itself to the OS version it is currently running under.

In Windows 10 mode icons in the UI are flat, while under Windows 7 mode they're 3D and glossy. Likewise even the default themes are different: under 7 the default is Aero LowRes, under 10 it's DarkTech. Balloon tooltips and window live preview thumbnails are white with glass borders under 7 and rectangular and dark under 10.

This beta, as you were already able to experience, also adds compatibility with Stardock's WindowBlinds skins, so the UI again does not stand out like a sore thumb when running Winstep software together with WB.

These are all little touches which I hope make the software look more polished, regardless of what Windows version you're running it under.

Adding high DPI support was also a very important step, and one that was late coming by many years. Ever since I've first added it, there hasn't been a release where I haven't tweaked it and fixed many small overlooked issues (bitmaps that were not being scaled up properly, etc...).

The next release is not going to be any different in this respect: I felt that the default Tahoma font used in the UI looked really great at 100% DPI, much better than Segoe UI in fact, but with a screen DPI higher than 100% Tahoma already started looking 'too bulky', in my opinion.

So I made the software automatically switch the font used in the UI from Tahoma to Segoe UI *if* the current DPI setting is higher than 100% and ClearType is enabled (Segoe UI was optimized for ClearType, with it turned off it looks TERRIBLE).

Segoe UI is much less bulky than Tahoma at higher font sizes, but it also has a wider spacing between characters at the same font size, so, of course, there were many places in the UI where the bottom of multi-line text or checkbox descriptions was getting cropped. Fixing this was almost as much work (and just as boring! lol) as fixing the hard coded colors, but it was well worth the trouble IMO because all text in the UI can now expand to fit almost any font size.

Below you can see the different between using Tahoma and Segoe UI at 150 DPI. Please let me know which one in your opinion looks better (getting back to Tahoma at all times if you guys don't agree with me is as simple as flipping a switch now).

Unfortunately to see the image at full size it's not as simple as clicking it (it should). I have to look up the forum's code to see if I can also fix that lol


Tahoma (before)


Segoe UI (now)

Okay, for everybody trying to compare the two screeshots, open each image in a new tab, zoom in to 100% on the image, and flip back and forth between the two tabs. The forum is shrinking the images to fit, which is messing them up.

That said, Jorge, I think the second one you posted looks better. I don't know which is which, but the first one almost looks like you have bold selected versus the second one with normal thickness, if that makes sense. That said, looking at that, I think you SHOULD bold the text for the active tab title. I also think that the "Modules:" heading should be "Module:" because you're adjusting settings for one module, not all of them. And I'd recommend changing "Style:" to "In-Shelf Style:" or "In-Shelf/Icon Style:" or something like that to make it clearer that the setting is for in-shelf, not desktop modules.

Lastly, I think it's okay to release incremental betas, especially if they don't fix much, but what they do fix is important (like memory leaks). I get that you wouldn't want to release full versions with tiny changes, but for betas, you're talking to people that WANT the latest, most advanced, and usually want to see if they can break it for you.

Thanks. First one is how it looked before using Tahoma, second one is how it's going to look now using Segoe UI. I had the same feeling as you (even though I can assure you the font on the first screenshot is NOT in bold), which is why I decided to switch to Segoe UI at higher DPIs.



Can't. Bold increases the width of the text and I would have to use that width as the minimum width for all tab titles, selected or not. In English that would be ok, but as it is I already have trouble fitting the text in other languages (in a lot of cases I have to automatically lower the font size to fit the whole tab title section!).



Done and done, thanks. Changed 'Style' to 'Icon Style'.

Guys, if you see other issues like that in the UI please let me know. They are normally really easy and quick to fix.



Still... The purpose of a beta is to try and break things, so there must be something to break.

Is there any chance that you could include a UI/text scale in the app itself? I can't use high DPI font settings system wide because I still have apps that go bonkers when I do. (and disabling font scaling in the exe settings doesn't seem to help)

I actually like the way the old one looks, but I will admit the old font does look a little out of place in the UI.

PS I'm all for Betas as often as is feasible.

Sorry, no can do. Windows automatically scales dialogs and controls on high DPI settings. Simply scaling the text up, although relatively easy to implement, is not enough as there isn't enough room available on the UI (without the dialogs and controls being scaled up as well) for a larger font.



You mean in the screenshot above?

I much prefer Tahoma to Segoe UI when DPI scaling is 100%, and that is what you still get if you haven't changed your DPI settings to something other than 100%.

The problem is at DPI settings higher than 100% - Tahoma starts looking too 'heavy', almost Bold as Paul mentioned, which is why in those cases I now switch to Segoe UI.



Still tweaking the little things, almost done. You have no idea how many hundreds of little tweaks and improvements (not exaggerating!) are required when changing stuff like this.

I haven't been using it long, but I'm very impressed. It's pretty great as is, so not trying to hurry you.

New beta released.

If you pay attention, you'll notice lots of little changes in the UI. Especially if you are running Windows 10 or running with high DPI.

Anyway, UWP apps under Windows 10 should now all be handled properly, memory leak has been fixed, the tree view menus in the NextSTART Menu Editor and in the Systray Customization dialogs are now properly scaled up on high DPI systems, Segoe UI is used in the UI instead of Tahoma on systems running under high DPI settings, more Windows 10 style (flat) icons used on different parts of the UI under Windows 10 or Windows 10 mode and tons of other little tweaks.

If you are running a system with high DPI settings, please let me know what your first impact to Segoe UI being used in the UI was like.

One small UWP issue with running indicators. For Mail and Edge, the running indicator vanishes when pinned and minimized to the dock. I believe this has something to do with the app window title changes. If I leave Edge pointed to the Edge Start page and minimize, it will retain the indicator, but if I navigate to a website page with a long window title and then minimize Edge, the indicator doesn't show. All other UWP apps seem to work fine with running indicator. Just Mail and Edge have a problem and I think it is because of the changing window titles.

Also wanted to add that if I restore the minimized windows for Edge or Mail, the indicator comes back.