FreeStyle: Application skinning
Amazing interfaces. What's the secret? A plastic-like surface on the buttons, a creamy gradient
behind a tab control, the subtle glow of a mouse-over effect, or the way two complimentary
colors can make a dialog box look like a work of art?
It's all of these. And Skybound FreeStyle is a simple yet powerful way to do it. Download it
today and give your applications an instant competitive advantage.
Any Look on Any OS
Using the built in Luna skin, it's a cinch to make older operating systems look and feel just like Windows XP in
your application. FreeStyle offers your application a
consistent user interface between platforms.
Or, free yourself from the confines of that same plain vanilla operating system look your competitors are all
stuck with. The FlatLook skin pictured here mimics the less-is-more look made popular by such applications
as Microsoft Money® and Encarta®. Several color schemes are provided, and you can even change the
active color scheme on the fly.
Fixes Windows XP Visual Styles
FreeStyle does everything
VisualStyles does, and then some. Using the same
familliar interfaces, your application can switch between a custom skin and the system theme in an instant.
And when the system theme comes on, you can rest assured the theme will render properly—with skinned
tab backgrounds, images on buttons, and so on.
Not to mention speed. FreeStyle renders system themes and skins quickly and flicker-free. We've
put a lot of effort into making FreeStyle as efficient as possible, and we're always working on pushing the
limits to improve it further.
Teaches Old Dogs New Tricks
FreeStyle supports legacy operating systems: everything from the first release of Windows 98 to the latest
release of Window XP. The screenshot to the left was taken from Windows 2000—see what a difference
simply applying the Whistler skin to a tab control can make?
FreeStyle does away with drab, gray backgrounds and brings applications to life.
Skin Compiler
Some of you out there are going to want more control over the skinning process than simply picking a skin
from a list. You want to tweak pixels and colors and borders and everything else. Yes, we understand.
Our included skin compiler enables you to design and build custom skins with your favorite text
editor, and then integrate compilation directly into your build process. You can even add skins to source
control to track changes over time.
The included documentation extensively explains the skin file format, and provides examples of every
type of skinning operation you'll ever do.
Design-time Support
XP visual styles and skins both appear in the Form Designer, giving you an instant preview of how your
application will look at runtime. There's even a designer verb to refresh the active skin—perfect
for skin designers.
Professionally Designed Skins
To help you get started, FreeStyle includes a set of skins made by professional skin designers. Each skin brings a unique look to your application.
Built To Last
Part of the formula behind every successful product lies in the manufacturing
process. Software development is no different, and that's why we've invested
heavily in an automated build process that enforces strict unit tests, design
patterns and framework conventions. Every name down to every last field of every
little class is planned, written, tested, and carefully documented.