Just a little skin named Dim-WIT (DIM-ming W-allpaper I-mage T-ool) that can
automatically dim your wallpaper based on the time of day/night, in 15, 30, or 60 min intervals.
Or you can manually set a static dimming level to tweak your image.
The skin transparency settings in Rainmeter can also be used to decrease/customize the amount of dimming.
The skin has 3 ini's: Time, Manual, & Test
The test variant will show the effect at high speed.
There is an information text file included explaining how to change settings.
Changed the control to respond to mouse wheel rather than clicks.
Improved the code for quicker response
Added an info screen to explain how to access the invisible setting control **
Added an info screen on the test page also
** YES!, the control to set shade levels is INVISIBLE until you hold the 'CTRL' key and scan the left screen edge. I have never seen anyone use this technique and would be interested in any feedback.
Of course, this skin has been around for almost a year and no one has commented, so I won't hold my breathe...
The CTRL one does not seem to work for me and I have not seen any special code to handle it. I run the Test.ini and I could close it without using my CTRL. Did I missunderstood something how to use it but just following the instructions shown on the screen?
thatsIch wrote:The CTRL one does not seem to work for me and I have not seen any special code to handle it. I run the Test.ini and I could close it without using my CTRL. Did I missunderstood something how to use it but just following the instructions shown on the screen?
In design, to dim to only the wallpaper, you need to change the default skin settings by changing the skin as 'Click through' and the position to 'On desktop'?
I believe that will make a difference, and necessitate using the 'CTRL' to access.
Note: The 'test.ini' does not hide any controls, the control is only in the '...-manual.ini' or '...-time.ini' variants.
EDIT: I added Clickthrough=1 to the skins. Now that setting should now be the default when the skin is loaded. I didn't even think about having that in the original skin, my bad...
I really like the idea of this skin (especially only dimming the desktop vs all windows), but I think you should re-consider some of its "functionality".
Starting with Windows Vista, holding the CTRL key and scrolling the mouse wheel causes explorer windows to scroll through the various "view" types. So if you have a folder open in explorer (and it has focus), your skin inadvertently causes explorer to scroll through its view types. On the desktop, it can cause the icons to grow or shrink.
Since you basically need "ClickThrough=1" to make this skin useable, it can be difficult to make your skin work as described and not effect other Windows functions (perhaps this is why others have not used this technique).
I would suggest coming up with a different way of changing your settings. Also, it can be a little difficult to "find" the meter that controls the dim on larger displays.
Brian wrote:I really like the idea of this skin (especially only dimming the desktop vs all windows), but I think you should re-consider some of its "functionality".
Starting with Windows Vista, holding the CTRL key and scrolling the mouse wheel causes explorer windows to scroll through the various "view" types. So if you have a folder open in explorer (and it has focus), your skin inadvertently causes explorer to scroll through its view types. On the desktop, it can cause the icons to grow or shrink.
Since you basically need "ClickThrough=1" to make this skin useable, it can be difficult to make your skin work as described and not effect other Windows functions (perhaps this is why others have not used this technique).
I would suggest coming up with a different way of changing your settings. Also, it can be a little difficult to "find" the meter that controls the dim on larger displays.
-Brian
Thanks for the feedback Brian. I will look at different options for the control. I appreciate you taking the time to explain some of the possible caveats of this approach.
I had just changed the action from clicks to scrolls, so I may revert and look at an easier activation method...
Back to the drawing board to see what I can come up with!
