Driven by my desire to have a solid color desktop NOT limited to the "Bag of Skittles"(jsmorley's description) colors M$ offers, I offer for your use my DESKTOP COLOR SHADE suite of 3 skins.
As mentioned several times on this forum, using a Rainmeter skin in full-screen mode is not the best use of resources, since a wallpaper may be being displayed by Windows, but completely invisible behind the skin.
The main difference with these skins versus normal skins is that they need to be invisible to any normal desktop activity, so the only way to access is to Initially Hold the 'CTRL' key down, and Middle-click the Desktop. This will toggle the click-through property and allow you to interact with the skins.
The 'CTRL' + Middle-click action will:
- refresh these skins
- reposition them below other skins
- update chameleon colors
- show available settings
For those who have a top bar you may want to exclude from the skins, I include a 'TopOffSet' variable you can set in the '@Resources\UserVariables.inc' file that will drop the skins below that number of pixels.
You can always access the taskbar with the 'Win' key and access the skins via the system tray icon.
The Skins
DesktopColorShade
The 'DesktopColorShade.ini' skin lets you set any color, using a modified Kaelri's spectrum skin and script, as a solid background. It also lets you shade that color from none to 50% intensity. DesktopColorAutoWall
The 'DesktopColorAutoWall.ini' skin uses Sox-the-Fox's Chameleon plugin to obtain 2 foreground and 2 background colors from your current wallpaper; so you must have a wallpaper loaded!
The skin will offer 4 colors displayed in the upper middle of your screen, along with the current gradient angle.
By default, it will use:
Code: Select all
SolidColor=[mDesktopFG1]
SolidColor2=[mDesktopBG2]
GradientAngle=#GradientAngle#
Settings for the skin will appear near the top-center of your screen:
Left-click the color to set it as the color for the top half of the screen.
Right-click the color to set it as the color for the bottom half.
Scroll the mouse to change the gradient angle.
Note: by left-clicking AND right-clicking the same color you have a solid color background.
Click the 'X' to close the settings and set the skin back to click-through.
To access the controls again, hold 'CTRL' and Middle-click the Desktop (default colors will be re-loaded).
WallpaperColorShade
The 'WallpaperColorShade.ini' skin lets you shade your current wallpaper with any color. So having a covered wallpaper is not all that bad a use of resources; I use it for this skin and the auto wall above, and gives me control over the color of my desktop!
Conclusion
Don't settle for "Skittle Colors"!
Are gradients dated? Then don't use them...
Any other members have a creation that is 'Just for Fun'?
Edits to corrected my typing errors!
v 2016.10.27 Corrected Shading image location error X:
v 2016.10.01a: Remove introduced image error from auto version...
v 2016.10.01: Removed some of my ramblings. Modified mouse actions for easier use.