Kaelri
Rainmeter 1.1 & Enigma 2.6 (Preview)
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Before we released Rainmeter 1.0 with Enigma 2.5 in August, we had always planned to follow it up with a small update - a patch, you could say - after gathering some community feedback. And feedback we have gathered. The response to 1.0 was delightfully overwhelming, and although I naturally have less time for pet projects than I did over the summer, I've put my other desktop work on hold to help the Rainmeter developers meet the demand and broaden Rainmeter's capabilities.
As with everything else I touch, these "small updates" have grown faster than anyone expected. So, while you shouldn't expect something quite as dramatic as the last go-around, I think Rainmeter 1.1 will make a nice early Christmas present for anyone with an interest. :)
1.1's feature list has grown at a feverish pace over the last two months, so I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. But here are some highlights:
- RainBrowser. Joining RainConfigure and RainThemes, this new addon helps you manage your entire Rainmeter library. We have added a complete metadata section to every single skin, which means you can now find detailed descriptions and setup instructions in a clean, user-friendly GUI. You can even sort your skins by tags, which you can add and edit from inside the app. RainBrowser also lets you change the settings on your active skins more precisely than the context menu. (In keeping with Rainmeter's light profile, all three apps are still completely removable.)
- Skins may now include local fonts, so you can use them in Rainmeter without going all the way to installing them in Windows.
- The mouse changes when hovering over buttons and links, making them easier to find and harder to click by accident.
- Images now scale automatically when resized.
- The WebParser plugin has seen some important bandwidth improvements. The plugin defaults to a ten-minute update rate, and it doesn't re-download a page unless it's been modified since the last update.
The real meat of this update is probably more exciting for customizers and developers than for the average user, so I won't be offended if your eyes glaze over this next section:
- Dynamic Variables. We have removed nearly all restrictions on how and where Measure values can be used.
- Meter Styles. You can now define blank sections that other meters can refer to as templates. This is a powerful new tool that eliminates mass amounts of redundant code and makes it easy to adjust meter properties throughout a skin, or even multiple skins, in conjunction with...
- Inclusions. Any skin can now include sections from external files, including measures, styles, and most importantly, variables. Thanks to these, Enigma now stores your personal settings - like Google login data, weather code, etc. - in a one convenient Variables file.
Naturally, I've made many additions and revisions to Enigma along the way. The package is now closely integrated with Rainmeter's new features, in an attempt to provide the smoothest, most intuitive user experience we can manage.
- Several new skins, of course. The oft-requested Google Calendar reader is here, along with a suite of skins monitoring network activity and WiFi signal, the moon phase, world clocks, and Winamp/Foobar variants for the Music skins. As befits the name of the program, I've also added a skin that measures the probability of rain. :)
- You can now middle-click to refresh skins or cycle their variants.
- The unwieldly and intimidating Home skin has been vastly downsized into a sleek launcher with access to your skins, themes, settings and support forum. You can open it from any setup by double-clicking the sidebar or the taskbar.
- The instructions have been expanded into a 13-page PDF manual with plenty of links and troubleshooting options.
- Colors can now be customized directly from the config tool, so the "Alt" variants are no longer necessary. (In other words, I literally got rid of half the code.)
- Taskbar skins now use a common stylesheet file, which can easily be replaced or edited - adding a whole new dimension of customizability to the suite. Even though this is still a bit limited, I'm really excited about the possibilities, and I'd love to reach a point where other developers can distribute their own "Enigma styles" and the user can plug them in without any further setup. :)
- The whole Weather skin fiasco is coming to an end - we've finally settled on Yahoo! Weather. One of the upsides here is that YW uses the same set of location codes as Weather.com, so your old settings are now usable again.
- All images, settings, etc. have been moved to a separate Resources folder, so you're free to move, reorganize and rename any skin without worrying about breaking it.
- I have (very grudgingly) added a new Theme to the default set - you can now make your desktop match the preview setup in one click.
We're looking to unleash this armada of new features upon the world by November 1st, so keep an eye out. :)
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Questions, comments, concerns? As always, this is your opportunity to give us your last-minute input.
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Wallpaper: The Opal Lake.
Rainmeter 1.1 & Enigma 2.6 (Preview)
- - - - - - -
Before we released Rainmeter 1.0 with Enigma 2.5 in August, we had always planned to follow it up with a small update - a patch, you could say - after gathering some community feedback. And feedback we have gathered. The response to 1.0 was delightfully overwhelming, and although I naturally have less time for pet projects than I did over the summer, I've put my other desktop work on hold to help the Rainmeter developers meet the demand and broaden Rainmeter's capabilities.
As with everything else I touch, these "small updates" have grown faster than anyone expected. So, while you shouldn't expect something quite as dramatic as the last go-around, I think Rainmeter 1.1 will make a nice early Christmas present for anyone with an interest. :)
1.1's feature list has grown at a feverish pace over the last two months, so I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. But here are some highlights:
- RainBrowser. Joining RainConfigure and RainThemes, this new addon helps you manage your entire Rainmeter library. We have added a complete metadata section to every single skin, which means you can now find detailed descriptions and setup instructions in a clean, user-friendly GUI. You can even sort your skins by tags, which you can add and edit from inside the app. RainBrowser also lets you change the settings on your active skins more precisely than the context menu. (In keeping with Rainmeter's light profile, all three apps are still completely removable.)
- Skins may now include local fonts, so you can use them in Rainmeter without going all the way to installing them in Windows.
- The mouse changes when hovering over buttons and links, making them easier to find and harder to click by accident.
- Images now scale automatically when resized.
- The WebParser plugin has seen some important bandwidth improvements. The plugin defaults to a ten-minute update rate, and it doesn't re-download a page unless it's been modified since the last update.
The real meat of this update is probably more exciting for customizers and developers than for the average user, so I won't be offended if your eyes glaze over this next section:
- Dynamic Variables. We have removed nearly all restrictions on how and where Measure values can be used.
- Meter Styles. You can now define blank sections that other meters can refer to as templates. This is a powerful new tool that eliminates mass amounts of redundant code and makes it easy to adjust meter properties throughout a skin, or even multiple skins, in conjunction with...
- Inclusions. Any skin can now include sections from external files, including measures, styles, and most importantly, variables. Thanks to these, Enigma now stores your personal settings - like Google login data, weather code, etc. - in a one convenient Variables file.
Naturally, I've made many additions and revisions to Enigma along the way. The package is now closely integrated with Rainmeter's new features, in an attempt to provide the smoothest, most intuitive user experience we can manage.
- Several new skins, of course. The oft-requested Google Calendar reader is here, along with a suite of skins monitoring network activity and WiFi signal, the moon phase, world clocks, and Winamp/Foobar variants for the Music skins. As befits the name of the program, I've also added a skin that measures the probability of rain. :)
- You can now middle-click to refresh skins or cycle their variants.
- The unwieldly and intimidating Home skin has been vastly downsized into a sleek launcher with access to your skins, themes, settings and support forum. You can open it from any setup by double-clicking the sidebar or the taskbar.
- The instructions have been expanded into a 13-page PDF manual with plenty of links and troubleshooting options.
- Colors can now be customized directly from the config tool, so the "Alt" variants are no longer necessary. (In other words, I literally got rid of half the code.)
- Taskbar skins now use a common stylesheet file, which can easily be replaced or edited - adding a whole new dimension of customizability to the suite. Even though this is still a bit limited, I'm really excited about the possibilities, and I'd love to reach a point where other developers can distribute their own "Enigma styles" and the user can plug them in without any further setup. :)
- The whole Weather skin fiasco is coming to an end - we've finally settled on Yahoo! Weather. One of the upsides here is that YW uses the same set of location codes as Weather.com, so your old settings are now usable again.
- All images, settings, etc. have been moved to a separate Resources folder, so you're free to move, reorganize and rename any skin without worrying about breaking it.
- I have (very grudgingly) added a new Theme to the default set - you can now make your desktop match the preview setup in one click.
We're looking to unleash this armada of new features upon the world by November 1st, so keep an eye out. :)
- - - - - - -
Questions, comments, concerns? As always, this is your opportunity to give us your last-minute input.
- - - - - - -
Wallpaper: The Opal Lake.