WTF?

Hey Tom, in Windows 7 WSB has NOTHING to do with start button images. They are in Explorer.exe.....

Sorry bad example but I think I understand now so thanks 3am, Panda X and ka-la.

Which part are you talking about specifically? The mindpi property?

What other DPI settings are there in WSB? No sarcasm intended.

No, you can't use a larger start button unless you change the DPI in Windows. Though it makes everything bigger.

Sorry to be a pain but what does the DPI setting in WSB do then?

DPI and PPI these days are pretty much synonymous of each other. The DPI setting in WSB tells you Windows will use a larger image for larger DPIs.

For example if you want to make a image for 120dpi you'd add the property mindpi1:int = 120 and import the image in imagefile1:filename

So just to make sure I've understood this correctly, if I wanted to use a bigger Start Button as I've previously mentioned I'd have to increase the DPI setting in WSB?

It' s called DPI settings and no, you can do it via WSB, see the box on top of the Image View ? Select the start button and change the DPI setting, It' ll change the start button for larger DPI

Edit: there are siome weaknesss about DPI too. First who ever going to use your theme has to change the DPI setting, and the second is that DPI doesnt only apply to taskbar/start menu, it applies to all other UI elements of Windows too.

Hi ka-la thanks for the reply but I'm a bit confused about a couple of things. Firstly what's the difference between DPI (Dots Per Inch) and PPI (Pixels Per Inch)? Lastly what exactly does the DPI setting in WSB do?

Thanks. Tom

1) According to this tutorial http://www.door2windows.com/how-to-create-a-windows-7-start-orb/ you can't have a start orb bigger than 55x55 pixels. I don't know this for a fact though.

2) The default superbar icon is 32x32 pixels. I don't know whether the superbar would accept anything bigger even if you made some for all your applications which doesn't make much sense anyway.

After doing some "investigating" (if you can even call it that), namely taking one screenshot of the TaskBar using the small setting (Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display) and one screenshot using the medium setting and then enlarging them in Photoshop, it appears that while using the default small setting that the Start Button measures 36 x 36 px while all the other icons are no larger than 32 x 32 px (as you stated) but while using the medium setting the Start Button measures 42 x 42 px and the other icons are 40 x 40 px.

Increase the last 2 values of the CONTENTMARGINS:MARGINS at Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > BackgroundBottom from (3, 3, 0, 0) to something like (3, 3, 6, 6) etc to make a higher taskbar and keep the icons centered. Or just increase the 3rd value to make space at the top or the 4th value to make space at the bottom.

I don't think you can make the actual icons bigger, but I could be wrong...

This is probably a stupid question but does the 32 px height limit also apply to the Start Button? Also does the 32 px limit apply to width of Taskbar icons/Start Button?

Thanks. Tom

Does anyone know if it's possible to make the Taskbar bigger thus allowing you to have bigger icons, and if so how you'd go about doing it?

Thanks. Tom

Taskbar is 40px high (default) icons are 32.

Ok thanks for the clarification

40px large icons

30px small icons

You can get small icon taskbar down to 24px:

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=925.msg4572#msg4572

32px (size of icon) is smallest you can get for large icon taskbar

At the risk of sounding completely stupid is the Taskbar 40 px high or is that the icons?

Does anybody know what the width of the Windows 7 Taskbar is in pixels?

Thanks. Tom

You just have to remake the images   at those locations with corners instead of curves, easy as that.Your new images don't have to be the  same size as the original aero ones.
  You'll probably hear this a lot :it's sometimes a good idea to open someone else's theme up in vsb to get an understanding of how they did certain things...

Ok thanks davesenior.

Please could someone explain how you get right angle corners on the start menu, dialogue boxes ect?

Thanks. Tom

Don't worry about them. Just scroll down and any wiki info will be there.

Ok thanks 3am.

Please could someone help, whenever I start Vista Style Builder I get some error messages?

You mean Uxstyle? Install the 64 bit version.

Cheers 3am 

1) Best theme patch is http://www.uxstyle.com/

2)This video shows you how to use WSB: http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1268.0

3) These maps show you just about all of the locations in WSB: http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?board=18.0

This should get you started

Thanks 3am but which installer package do I need to install because while I have Windows 7 64 Bit I also have a "Programs Files" and a "Programs Files (x86)"?

I just bought Vista Style Builder but unfortunately I'm a total noob with regards to this sort of thing so I'd really appreciate it if someone could just help me getting started.

First off in the requirements it states that you need "theming enabled and with a so-called patched UxTheme file" but I have Windows 7 64 Bit so does this still apply to me and if so how do I go about doing it?

Lastly are there any guides or tutorials explaining what all the different elements do in Vista Style Builder?

Thanks. Tom