So, I've found a great desktop background which has a certain amount of space free at the side, but illustro's default width doesn't fill enough of it. I also have ideas for some extra information I could cram into the new width.
The issue is that I don't know how to make the background images wider. I tried messing around in Photoshop but I wasn't sure quite how to do it and I'm sure someone here knows how. If someone could tell me how to widen the images whilst keeping them looking exactly the same, that would be the best thing, rather than me giving you all the background images and getting you to do it for me.
illustro includes a very delicate way of creating the background, using BackgroundModes. That means, the image is manipulated from Rainmeter, before showing up.
So, edit any illustro skin and replace the W=190 with the value you want. You will have to change the other meters' positions to match the new value, though.
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MerlinTheRed wrote:If somebody finds the time it would probably be a good idea to make the width selectable by the user.
I think we need to be careful here. illustro is meant, by design, to be simple and easy easy to understand at the code level for a brand-new Rainmeter user. It is meant to introduce people to Rainmeter. It is "training wheels". Our goal was to have a nice looking and useful default set of skins, but most importantly ones that a someone new to Rainmeter could dig into and after a few minutes of messing with the code say "ah-ha, I see how this stuff works, I can do this.".
It was never our intention that illustro should be a suite like Enigma for instance, which is is certainly powerful and incredibly customizable from a "user" standpoint, but to be honest is just about the worst possible thing you could throw at a brand-new person to demonstrate what really using Rainmeter is all about. They look at the code and just run away screaming. This is not a criticism of Enigma, it's just that Enigma and illustro have different target audiences.
In my opinion, it is not important that illustro be customizable without having to dig into the code. That is not the point of it. What we wanted (and I think poiru did a wonderful job) is a set of skins that are "accessible" to a new user. Something to whet their appetite, not be treated as an "app" that they just run.
I aggree 100%. I had the exact reactions you describe when I first looked at Enigma and illustro. "What the heck is going on here?!" against "Ah... I see how that works".
Inactive, due to life changes. Send me a PM for any question.
Thanks for the replies, I'm working on it. It does seem to be more complicated than simply setting w=300 everywhere that w=190 used to be. I noticed that when the background was set to the default of 210, all of the meters and so on were set to 190. So I changed the background to be 300 wide and everything else to be 280 wide, but it still seems like the text and so on is too close to the right hand side of the background.
I think I just need to fiddle around with the exact numbers and get something that looks how I want it to.
KreAch3R wrote:I aggree 100%. I had the exact reactions you describe when I first looked at Enigma and illustro. :) "What the heck is going on here?!" against "Ah... I see how that works".
And as bad as it was then, it would be ten times worse now. :)
I agree as well. It's great to see that illustro is so popular, and I'd love to accommodate those who want to go further with it. But there's a slippery slope to worry about, and I think illustro's purpose as an introduction to Rainmeter - both using and coding - takes priority.
Ellis wrote:I think I just need to fiddle around with the exact numbers and get something that looks how I want it to.
Yes, you 'll figure it out. Be careful with Stringalign in some meters, because it can be difficult at first to understand where they begin and where they end, and you 'll make it. If you need help, re-post.
Kaelri wrote:And as bad as it was then, it would be ten times worse now.
My relationship with your code (given that it was very popular at the time, I started with Enigma) was religious. "You don't understand anything, don't worry about, it works" Now, I just feel embarrassed.
You have done a tremendous job making it so configurable. Going a bit offtopic, I would love to see an update in Enigma.
Inactive, due to life changes. Send me a PM for any question.
Now, I just feel embarrassed. 
