Sounds good, though I only use DX for a weather widget anyway and always use the same one, heh. Having its own category would be easier to search through and not push all the other stuff to the side.

You got it RomanDA! It's been said before. Widgets need to be a tree library where you click on widgets and you have a choice of four categories 1) General purpose, 2) Weather, 3) Clock, and 4) MP3 Players. And, of course, possibly more as the library grew. This should be implemented so not to add clutter to the main library list on the right side.

I agree 1000% ...As a user only it gets quite trying to wade through looking for a great gadget...And when I look I am not looking for a particular item..so I can not use the search panel.
I also wonder about the *new potential skinner of DX..When all they see produced are the weather & clcok widgets...what do you expect them to make?...Seeing gadgets prominently displayed may *open their minds to new possibility's.

And I agree with you BigDogFeet

It's My Secret

Im all for that tooo.  

yup yup... good idea...   

I was just thinking the other day about how many of those clocks/weather widgets there are.I do not really use the clock widgets because of the one in the lower right corner on my pc, but the weather i use on a regular basis.Heck i live in Minnesota for pete's sake!  that's my 2 cents.

I Agree with RomanDA but this problem is more deeply...

Are you remember how we loved DX Galleries when Tiggs, Martin, Will Ross and other Great People uploaded their new creations here? How we waited for each new addition? Were these people?

What we can see now? Hundreds of weathers...

DesktopX is not Sysmetrix, Rainlendar or Winamp. This is a Power Software for developers but not a simple program which apply new skins to old widgets! And I think that Skinning and Widgets Development are a different things.

How much time we need to create complicated code? From one week to one month and more.
How much time we need to draw a several boxes and buttons and apply scripts here? 2 - 3 hours.

Is these both works are equal? And how these works may have the equal ratings? I become sad when I thinks about...

So it would be great if we will have Galleries for Gadgets, Widgets, Objects etc... with new creations and a special Gallery like Skins for Widgets to upload "remakes".

YES.. I miss them all. but VAD -- YOU are the one I wait for now to see not just a WIDGET or GADGET but an amazing PROGRAM, when it gets over 1000 lines of code its no longer a WIDGET. Your stuff is the things i dream of being able to do. As for the others, I think most of them have gotten tired of their work being lost in a sea of Skinned weather widgets.



The problem would be that people might be confused about what is where.

DX Widgets - This is still the place to find NEW Widgets not widgets that have been MADE BEFORE with new images.
DX Objects - why do we need this? Objects are just like widgets? you can just import them. -- Most of these end up being "Zoomers" or something that is an ICON, not an object. But in DX an OBJECT is ANYTHING.... That makes it so much harder to know what should be in there.
DX Gadgets - this is a MUST it shows everyone that DX makes GADGETS too!!
DX Weather/Clock - These 2 are the most popular styles of DX Widgets
DX Themes - There are so many issues with Themes, most people have no idea how to make these work for THEM. I have tried to make several Widgets that allow customization without anyone having to know how to use DX, VAD_M's work is the perfect example of this, Look at the LAUNCH BAR it allows ANYONE to use it without ever opening up DX in "BUILDER" mode. Somehow we need to get THEMES to this level so that everyone can use them!!

Im not an expert on how to set this stuff up, but something needs done before we lose more DX "Programmers" and then we will only have 1 widget with 200,000,000 SKINS.

Is there ANY input from the Stardock Guys???
BRAD?? What do you think we need to do? Its your baby, we all want DX to be a popular PROGRAMMING platform, not a SKINNING one.

I would love to know what you think.

Thanks for all the input all, lets keep this issue at the forefront of things here, please. Lets not let this issue just go away.

Seems to be a strong common thread here.   

I completely agree that themes need to be extremely customizable *outside* of DX Builder mode. It's alot to contemplate but anticipating all the customizing needs of the end-user and implimenting certain factors to make it possible will make DX themes much more accesible and appealing. There's always this 'lockout' feeling I get when using a theme on my desktop. You feel like you lose some control over your environment or you feel somewhat restricted. Not so with WindowsBlinds. Why? It's because everything is still there right where you left it- you've only changed the look. That's why I think WBs are much more popular. All you have to do is apply it and you're off. But DX can come with some really cool capabilites (e.g. mini-applications galore), and if we can combine the powerful capabilites of DX with the ease of use and simplicity of WB, I think DX themes can really shine.

I am waiting to see what happens with DX 3.5 being able to export to VISTA SIDEBAR GADGETS, I pray that this new feature will not introduce a flood of crap weather/clocks into that platform next.

I am still hoping to hear from Brad or someone else at SD/WC...

That MIGHT help.

There might be away around this. There's an app called vbstoexe that I've been trying out. Just haven't figured out if it's a glorified packer or not. Certain scripts won't work which makes me think this is a little more than just a zip/unzip creator.

Protecting some scripts is also a huge concern of mine and perhaps most of the developers here. Personally I may just realease lesser versions as widgets/objects & more powerful gadgets. I plan on doing more FSO examples.