Any requests, let me know in the comments. Here’s the list so far:

Pirate Windows wallpaper

Pirate Apple wallpaper

Pirate Ubuntu wallpaper

Pirate Windows – rusted edition wallpaper

Destroy Ubuntu wallpaper

Template file

I’m not really sure why you’d need to pirate Ubuntu since it’s free, but I still think it looks good.

Version 1

Available sizes:
1920x1200px (widescreen)
1600x1200px
1280x1024px

Version 2

Linear gradient background

Available sizes:
1920x1200px (widescreen)
1600x1200px
1280x1024px

Version 3

No crossbones

Available sizes:
1920x1200px (widescreen)
1600x1200px
1280x1024px

Version 4

No crossbones, linear gradient background

Available sizes:
1920x1200px (widescreen)
1600x1200px
1280x1024px

This guide will be a (hopefully) simple guide to creating skins correctly for Launchy 2.0 based mostly on my own trial-and-error in making this Elegant Brit skin.

The 5 main skin files

Launchy skins are made up of 5 files.

1. alpha.png – is the main part of your skin and should contain all the colours, patterns, etc and have a transparent background. It should also have the areas for the input, output and icon removed (transparent).

2. background.png – will be the background for the input, output and icon areas and should contain nothing else. The rest of this image should be filled in red (255, 0, 0).

3. mask.png – should be based on your background.png, but with the red areas filled in white (making them transparent) and the input, output and icon areas being in black.

4. misc.txt – defines the areas for the input and output text, location of the icon, alternative suggestions area and the size of the above images (all the same size).

For example:

• input = 14,49,276,19 (input text where you will type the program you want. This box will start at 14 pixels from the left edge of the image and 49 pixels from the top. It will be 276 pixels wide and 19 tall)
• output = 14,14,276,20 (will be the title of the program selected. The box will start at 14 from the left and top and will be 276px wide and 20px tall)
• boundary = 0,0,311,83 (the overall image size of alpha.png and the others which are the same size. 311 being the width and 83 the height)
• icon = 264,9,32,32 (position of the icon for the selected program. 264px from the left, 9 from the top, in a 32x32px box)
• alternatives = 7,74,296,100 (location of the alternative suggestions box. 7 from the left, 74 from the top, 296px wide and 100px tall)

Some skins also define a few font related variables in this file because it is not possible in the qss file. These related to the path details in the drop down list:

dropPathColor = colour in RGB
dropPathFamily = font name
dropPathSize = font size
dropPathWeight = bold
dropPathItalics = italics

5. style.qss – is basically a CSS file and controls the fonts and borders for the skin.

<QLineEdit#input or output or alternatives>
font = font size and name
background-color = text background colour, including alpha value %
alternate-background-color = background colour for the alternative suggestions box
color: font colour
border-style = whether border is a solid line, dotted, dashes, etc. Borders are usually off
border-width = border size in pixels – usually 0, meaning off

Other files

author.txt – information about the skin such as title, author, date, version, etc.

Sometimes other skin features such as option button, close button and skinned scroll bar are included.

–

Thanks to sierra13 and this thread in particular on the Launchy SourceForge page.

Short video I made showing how to change the little My Computer icon from the default Desktop type computer into a laptop/notebook in Windows Vista.

Basically:

• In the Control Panel, search “icon” then click “Show or hide common icons on the desktop” (You’ll need to be in the default Vista control panel, rather than the Classic style in order to search)
• Click on “Computer” and select change icon
• Scroll until you see the laptop (should be two columns to the right)

The back story to this is that I bought a laptop around October 2007, before I came to London. When I first got it and was finding my way around Vista for the first time, I saw the My Computer icon was a desktop one. I thought at the time I should change it to a laptop but pretty much instantly forgot about it.

Earlier this year, my brother bought his own laptop, inevitably with Vista as well. One of his first comments when playing with it was, “can you change the icon to a laptop?” This prompted my memory and I decided to find out how. I found this thread where “Transfer” explains how it is done. Being a visual person I decided to make a short video tutorial for other visually minded people.