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total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

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totallybree
Posts: 12
Joined: November 18th, 2020, 6:01 pm

total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by totallybree »

Hi there! As it says, I'm totally new to this. I want a very simple clock only, so I found a skin that was mostly what I liked and I'm trying to edit it down to just what I need. It had date, weather, and sysinfo elements I didn't want, so I removed them, but I guess I didn't do it quite right. I have looked at the tutorials and haven't seen these two issues addressed.

First, the clock is centered on the screen and I can drag it vertically but not horizontally. I'd like to be able to drag both ways. I tried fooling with coordinates with no luck.

Second, I want it to have a background. Currently it has none. I want a background just big enough to make it visible on all screen colors. I tried following the tutorial on adding a background, but it's putting the background on the screen space where the weather used to be lol.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!
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balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by balala »

totallybree wrote: November 18th, 2020, 6:52 pm As it says, I'm totally new to this.
Welcome aboard. This forum is the best place to start working, so you are on the right way.
totallybree wrote: November 18th, 2020, 6:52 pm First, the clock is centered on the screen and I can drag it vertically but not horizontally. I'd like to be able to drag both ways. I tried fooling with coordinates with no luck.
Most probably the skin is as wide as your screen, but not as tall and is set to be kept on screen. This is the default setting for the skins, so there are great chances to havi it set this way.
In order to can drag it, right click it, go to Settings and in the submenu uncheck Keep on screen. Now you'll be able to drag it anywhere on the screen, but you can now go outside of the screen, so be careful.
totallybree wrote: November 18th, 2020, 6:52 pm Second, I want it to have a background. Currently it has none. I want a background just big enough to make it visible on all screen colors. I tried following the tutorial on adding a background, but it's putting the background on the screen space where the weather used to be lol.
You can add either a Shape meter as background, an image, or a solid color, depending on what do you want. So what do you want, how would you like to add the background?

Additionally post a skin name and a link where we can download the skin. Or even better, if you've modified it, pack the whole config (skin in Skins folder) and upload the package here.
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totallybree
Posts: 12
Joined: November 18th, 2020, 6:01 pm

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by totallybree »

Thanks! The keep on screen is unchecked and now it can move freely!

I don't want a fancy background, I just want the digits on a very small grey rectangular background to make it easier to see.

Here's the ini as mangled by me to get where I am so far. My apologies to the person who wrote it, I just didn't have the knowledge to start from scratch.

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
AccurateText=1

[Variables]
MyFontColor=   160, 203, 0   
MyFontFace=Arial
StringStyle=Bold
MyPadding=4

[MyTextStyle]
AntiAlias=1
FontColor=#MyFontColor#
FontFace=#MyFontFace#

[MeasureTime]
Measure=Time
Format=%#I:%M %p 
Substitute="AM":"am","PM":"pm"

[MeterTime]
Meter=String
MeasureName=MeasureTime
MeterStyle=MyTextStyle

StringStyle=Bold
FontSize=16
w=#SCREENAREAWIDTH#
H=16
X=(#SCREENAREAWIDTH#/2)
Y=(#SCREENAREAHEIGHT#/2)
Padding=0, 0, 0, 10
Last edited by balala on November 18th, 2020, 9:40 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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balala
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 16110
Joined: October 11th, 2010, 6:27 pm
Location: Gheorgheni, Romania

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by balala »

totallybree wrote: November 18th, 2020, 9:33 pm I don't want a fancy background, I just want the digits on a very small grey rectangular background to make it easier to see.
In this case, just add the following two options to the [Rainmeter] section, beside the existing ones:

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
...
BackgroundMode=2
SolidColor=0,0,0,150
Obviously you can change the color code used into the SaolidColor option to get a color / shade you like.
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totallybree
Posts: 12
Joined: November 18th, 2020, 6:01 pm

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by totallybree »

Thanks! Sadly that gave me a grey box across the entire bottom half of the screen. I want it very small just around the time. Did I do something wrong?
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SilverAzide
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 2588
Joined: March 23rd, 2015, 5:26 pm

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by SilverAzide »

totallybree wrote: November 18th, 2020, 9:49 pm Thanks! Sadly that gave me a grey box across the entire bottom half of the screen. I want it very small just around the time. Did I do something wrong?
In the [MeterTime] measure, find the line w=#SCREENAREAWIDTH#. This is the line that causes the skin to fill the entire width of the screen. Just delete this line, or comment it out (the comment is the semicolon, like this ;w=#SCREENAREAWIDTH#).
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totallybree
Posts: 12
Joined: November 18th, 2020, 6:01 pm

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by totallybree »

Now the bottom left quadrant is grey lol
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CodeCode
Posts: 1363
Joined: September 7th, 2020, 2:24 pm
Location: QLD, Australia

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by CodeCode »

Hi
Try this:

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
BackgroundMode=2
SolidColor=0,0,0,150
AccurateText=1

[Variables]
MyFontColor=   160, 203, 0   
MyFontFace=Arial
StringStyle=Bold
MyPadding=4

[MyTextStyle]
AntiAlias=1
FontColor=#MyFontColor#
FontFace=#MyFontFace#

[MeasureTime]
Measure=Time
Format=%#I:%M %p 
Substitute="AM":"am","PM":"pm"

[MeterTime]
Meter=String
MeasureName=MeasureTime
MeterStyle=MyTextStyle
StringStyle=Bold
FontSize=16
w=100
H=25
X=0
Y=0
ƈǟռ'ȶ ʄɨӼ ɨȶ ɨʄ ɨȶ ǟɨռ'ȶ ɮʀօӄɛ - ʊռʟɛֆֆ ɨȶ ɨֆ ɨռ ƈօɖɛ.
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totallybree
Posts: 12
Joined: November 18th, 2020, 6:01 pm

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by totallybree »

I loaded it but there's no background. I had no idea this would be so complicated. sorry!
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CodeCode
Posts: 1363
Joined: September 7th, 2020, 2:24 pm
Location: QLD, Australia

Re: total beginner - trying to edit existing skin

Post by CodeCode »

Hi The background is there it is just quite light - or faded in alpha note where the number was changed to 255 - that is the alpha channel or fade so to speak.

Try this:

Code: Select all

[Rainmeter]
Update=1000
BackgroundMode=2
SolidColor=0,0,0,255
AccurateText=1

[Variables]
MyFontColor=   160, 203, 0   
MyFontFace=Arial
StringStyle=Bold
MyPadding=4

[MyTextStyle]
AntiAlias=1
FontColor=#MyFontColor#
FontFace=#MyFontFace#

[MeasureTime]
Measure=Time
Format=%#I:%M %p 
Substitute="AM":"am","PM":"pm"

[MeterTime]
Meter=String
MeasureName=MeasureTime
MeterStyle=MyTextStyle
StringStyle=Bold
StringAlign=Center
FontSize=16
w=100
H=25
X=0
Y=0
ƈǟռ'ȶ ʄɨӼ ɨȶ ɨʄ ɨȶ ǟɨռ'ȶ ɮʀօӄɛ - ʊռʟɛֆֆ ɨȶ ɨֆ ɨռ ƈօɖɛ.