Squarenesstag:squareness.beeger.net,2007://32007-09-29T21:00:03ZMovable Type Publishing Platform 4.01Squareness Look And Feel 2.3.0tag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.1072006-12-08T19:01:27Z2007-09-29T21:00:03ZI said Squareness Look And Feel 2.2.0 would be the last release for JDK 1.4 and now here’s 2.3.0. I have created this release because Johann N. Loefflmann, the creator of NumericalChameleon, pointed out to me that the license I...Robert F. Beeger
I said Squareness Look And Feel 2.2.0 would be the last release for JDK 1.4 and now here's 2.3.0.
I have created this release because [Johann N. Loefflmann][1], the creator of [NumericalChameleon][2], pointed out to me that the license I was using till now -- Academic Free License -- is considered incompatible with the GPL by the FSF. That makes it practically impossible to use any AFL-licensed libraries in GPL projects. So I decided to change to a BSD-style license. This kind of license is compatible with the GPL and at the same time allows commercial products to make use of Squareness Look And Feel. The license also ensures that I get enough credit for being the creator of Squareness.
[1]: http://jonelo.de/
[2]: http://jonelo.de/java/nc/index.html
Besides having a new license there's also a little new feature in this release -- as an incentive to update. Auditory feedback is now possible with Squareness. As with Metal you must explicitly enable it, but now it works. In earlier releases it didn't. Squareness is using the sounds provided by Metal for now. I think they are OK. I never use auditory feedback myself. I only switch on my speakers when I'm watching some video or listening to some music on the computer. Otherwise they are always off. So I didn't really know about this feature in Swing, but as the feature request appeared on the tracker and since it was quite easy to add, I included it into this release. Enjoy!
Adapted for Internet Explorer 7tag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.1002006-09-30T16:09:04Z2007-03-18T18:10:41ZI have installed Internet Explorer 7 RC1 on my WinXP box and found that the menus on this site didn’t work right with it. IE 7 now interprets child selectors. So the selector that was formally meant to be read...Robert F. Beeger
I have installed Internet Explorer 7 RC1 on my WinXP box and found that the menus on this site didn't work right with it. IE 7 now interprets child selectors. So the selector that was formally meant to be read by Firefox and Opera is now also read by IE. Unfortunately the `top:auto;left:auto` statements are interpreted differently by IE 7.
So now I dropped the child selector and the auto-statements and now the menus look like they looked in IE 6 in all browsers. It's not that bad. They overlap the menubar items a bit now, but that's OK. At least it works on all major browsers now.
Squareness for WindowBlinds 2.0tag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.992006-09-16T18:04:13Z2007-03-18T18:10:07ZFinally it’s here - the UIS2 port. It’s also another attempt at fixing horizontal taskbars. Besides the port to UIS2 there’s another — visible — feature: The tabs and tab panes now have a color of their own. Although many...Robert F. Beeger
Finally it's here - the UIS2 port. It's also another attempt at fixing horizontal taskbars.
Besides the port to UIS2 there's another -- visible -- feature: The tabs and tab panes now have a color of their own. Although many applications don't cope very nicely with the background of tab panes -- they simply put panes on them that use the window background color as their background --, it's getting better. Colored tabs are only available for the UIS2 version. There's also a UIS2 version with the old tabs that don't use the new color.
The UIS1+ version is now considered legacy and will probably be dropped on the next release.
New Servertag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.982006-09-10T19:24:40Z2007-03-18T18:09:24ZI’m hosting the Squareness site now on my own domain. It’s way faster than SourceForge and here I can use MovableType which I prefer over WordPress. Static publishing which is supported perfectly by MovableType is faster than WordPress’ dynamic publishing....Robert F. Beeger
I'm hosting the Squareness site now on my own domain. It's way faster than SourceForge and here I can use MovableType which I prefer over WordPress. Static publishing which is supported perfectly by MovableType is faster than WordPress' dynamic publishing.
All old page addresses are now redirected to the new site. Only for the RSS2 feed I wasn't able to formulate a working rewrite rule. So you'll have to add the new feed manually to your news reader. Since now there is a filtered representation of the DevBlog for each part of Squareness there are now also feeds for those parts. Take a look at [News Feeds][1] for a complete list of available feeds.
[1]: http://squareness.beeger.net/feeds.html
You'll notice that the site design has also changed with the move to the new domain. It now looks and feels like Squareness. You'll probably also notice that the tabs on those pages have now a new background color. I came up with that color as I developed the skin for ShapeShifter -- a MacOSX theme changer. This new background color will be included in all Squareness skins as the time goes by. The WindowBlinds skin will make the start later this week.
UIS2 porttag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.942006-04-29T14:29:00Z2006-08-19T12:09:47ZSo I finally ported my Wiindowblinds UIS1+ skin to UIS2. It wasn’t very complicated or anything like that. In fact it was quite easy. I wonder why there is no automatic UIS1+ to UIS2 conversion option in SkinStudio like there...Robert F. Beeger
So I finally ported my Wiindowblinds UIS1+ skin to UIS2. It wasn’t very complicated or anything like that. In fact it was quite easy. I wonder why there is no automatic UIS1+ to UIS2 conversion option in SkinStudio like there is for UIS2 to UIS1. The main difference are the frame images. The rest is mostly the same with some of the options just not working in UIS1+.
I’ll be testing the UIS2 version for some more time before finally publishing it. I want to make sure it’s working fine. At least the annoying menu bar bug is nonexistent in the UIS2 version. Well it’s really a shame Stardock apparently isn’t committed to fixing bugs for UIS1+, but that’s like it is.
I haven’t had any negative effects because of switching to UIS2, yet. But I’m only using the port since yesterday evening, so that’s not a guarantee there aren’t any waiting to be discovered.
Squareness Look And Feel 2.2.0tag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.932006-03-12T11:00:00Z2006-08-19T12:08:22ZThis release contains more performance improvements for TabbedPanes and integrates the newest and significantly changed version of Laf_Plugin. It’s also a release that will work with JDK 1.4...Robert F. Beeger
This release contains more performance improvements for TabbedPanes and integrates the newest and significantly changed version of Laf_Plugin. It's also a release that will work with JDK 1.4
TabbedPaneUI Optimizationstag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.922006-02-19T17:19:00Z2006-08-19T12:07:08ZI finally came up with a solution for the manic text area problem. I now reimplement the paint() method itself, calculate the tabs rectangle and repaint only the tabs area when the clipping rectangle is contained by the tabs area...Robert F. Beeger
I finally came up with a solution for the manic text area problem. I now reimplement the paint() method itself, calculate the tabs rectangle and repaint only the tabs area when the clipping rectangle is contained by the tabs area rectangle. After some tests I believe that to be a very effective way to handle the problem.
I’ll have to test it a bit longer before making a new release. I estimate that I’ll be able to release a new version by the end of the comming week.
Bugfix for Squarness Look & Feel to be Released Soontag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.912006-02-12T15:12:00Z2006-08-19T12:07:27ZRobert F. Beeger
Currently I’m working on a bugfix for Squareness Look & Feel. The problem that I try to fix is a fairly rare one but still annoying. It appears in applications that have a JTextArea (with a surrounding JScrollPane) that resides on a JPanel which is a tab component on a JTabbedPane.
Now when you type into that text area enough lines of text to make the vertical scrollbar show up and then type enough characters into the last line to make the horizontal scrollbar show up you can watch a show of indecision. Move your mouse cursor over the tabs of the tabbed pane and you will see how the text area grows a bit losing its scrollbars and again shrinks to regain its scrollbars. I have already succeeded in minimizing the number of repaints on the tabbed pane. But the show of indecision can still be watched each time the mouse cursor leaves one tab and enters another. So the text area isn’t as frantic as before but that’s still not really satisfactory.
I’ll try to make the text area a bit more decisive when returning it’s preferred size. I have still no concrete idea how to achieve that, but I’ll try very hard to find a way.
Still no Fix for Menu Bar Bugtag:squareness.beeger.net,2006://3.902006-02-12T15:12:00Z2006-08-19T12:04:46ZStardock as released another Windowblinds beta, but that one also does not fix the bug. The bug is rated low priority. Every time a beta comes out, I install it and check whether the bug is fixed. Every time I...Robert F. Beeger
Stardock as released another Windowblinds beta, but that one also does not fix the bug. The bug is rated low priority. Every time a beta comes out, I install it and check whether the bug is fixed. Every time I post a reply to my ticket in Stardock’s help server, but they keep ignoring it
It looks like Stardock has given up on supporting UIS1+. That’s really a pity and it’s also a pity they aren’t honest about it. Officially supporting it in that manner is worse than explicitly ending the support for this skin format version.
So it’s porting Squareness to UIS2 that I’ll have to do.
Squareness Look And Feel 2.1.0tag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.892005-12-30T11:00:00Z2006-08-19T11:59:21ZThis is the last major release for JDK 1.4 and earlier. It integrates Laf-Plugin about which I have already written in my personal blog....Robert F. Beeger
This is the last major release for JDK 1.4 and earlier. It integrates [Laf-Plugin][1] about which I have already [written in my personal blog][2].
[1]:https://laf-plugin.dev.java.net/
[2]:http://beeger.net/archives/2005/12/squareness_look.html
Menu Bar Annoyancestag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.882005-12-29T17:29:00Z2006-08-19T11:56:14ZCurrently I’m waiting for Stardock to fix a really annoying bug, that was somehow introduced in Windowblinds 5. Menu Bars in UIS1+ skins - Squareness is one of those - now have a fixed background color that is independent of...Robert F. Beeger
Currently I’m waiting for Stardock to fix a really annoying bug, that was somehow introduced in Windowblinds 5. Menu Bars in UIS1+ skins - Squareness is one of those - now have a fixed background color that is independent of the skin itself. The color is a shade of gray with the RGB 212,208,200. It looks especially awful with Squareness’ bright colors.
Fortunately Stardock acknowledged this to be a bug and will probably look into it soon. Before getting this positive answer, I feared I would have to convert Squareness to a UIS2 skin. While UIS1+ is older than UIS2 it has some advantages. It is more stable and faster than UIS2. Also some applications don’t play nice with UIS2 skins. Since Squareness doesn’t have and also doesn’t need any features only available to UIS1+ skins, I’d like Squareness to stay a UIS1+ skin.
So that’s why there’s still no new release of Squareness for Windowblinds. If the bug gets fixed I’ll release the new version that comes with the announced change to the progress bar and yet another try to fix the task bar (This time it seems to work, though ;) )
DevBlogtag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.862005-12-21T11:00:00Z2006-09-01T10:26:45ZI’ve added a Development Blog to this site. On this blog I’ll post all kinds of information and progress reports about the development of all the different skins and tool around Squareness. The blogging software I’m using here is Wordpress....Robert F. Beeger
I've added a Development Blog to this site. On this blog I'll post all kinds of information and progress reports about the development of all the different skins and tool around Squareness.
The blogging software I'm using here is Wordpress. The theme is mostly done. There are some rough edges left that will be fixed soon.
Progress Bar Changestag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.972005-12-21T09:21:10Z2006-09-10T18:05:25ZThe Progress Bar in the Squareness skins is going to get a slight change in the next releases of the Windowblinds skin and the Java Look And Feel. The Progress Bar was originally designed when Windowblinds didn’t have the “Progress...Robert F. Beeger
The Progress Bar in the Squareness skins is going to get a slight change in the next releases of the Windowblinds skin and the Java Look And Feel.
The Progress Bar was originally designed when Windowblinds didn’t have the “Progress Bar XP” feature and painted a beveled border around it. Now that Squareness uses that feature the Progress Bar has a flat look and somehow the gap between the progress bar chunk and the progress bar border doesn’t look all that good anymore.
I have removed those gaps some months ago from my local version of Squareness for Windowblinds and after having tested it for months now I really think it’s an improvement.
JDK 5tag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.872005-12-21T09:21:00Z2006-08-19T11:53:59ZThe next release of Squareness Look And Feel will be the last major update to the JDK 1.4 version of it. It will integrate the Laf-Plugin which is a nice way to allow the extension of a look and feel...Robert F. Beeger
The next release of Squareness Look And Feel will be the last major update to the JDK 1.4 version of it. It will integrate the [Laf-Plugin][1] which is a nice way to allow the extension of a look and feel for custom Swing components. After that release I will move on to port the look and feel to JDK 5.
[1]:https://laf-plugin.dev.java.net/
You may wonder why porting to JDK 5 is a big deal. In fact the current version of Squareness Look And Feel runs well under JDK 5. With the release of the Synth Look And Feel that allows the definition of a custom look and feel through a XML file, new features were added to the look and feel superclasses also used by Squareness. “Roll Over” effects are available for many components now and some of the superclasses have opened up new extension possibilities. Now it’s possible to change the “previous” and “next” buttons on the TabbedPaneUI without copying the whole code from BasicTabbedPaneUI.
Last but not least there are those nice new language features like Generics that will be used in the port.
Squareness DevBlog startstag:squareness.beeger.net,2005://3.852005-12-20T09:20:00Z2006-08-19T11:48:51ZIn this blog I’ll post all kinds of informations and rant about the development of the different subprojects of Squareness. You’ll get informations about changes and new features long before they are released (or even implemented.)...Robert F. Beeger
In this blog I’ll post all kinds of informations and rant about the development of the different subprojects of Squareness.
You’ll get informations about changes and new features long before they are released (or even implemented.)