How to Extract Files and Install A Skin

Currently this extraction tutorial is made only for Aim 6 skins.
This tutorial has been updated for July 27th, 2009

I often get many questions on how to extract files from a zip file. This process is not too difficult but people seem very confused over the file itself. This tutorial will show you how to extract a file to any directory. The second part of the tutorial will apply these steps to skins hosted on this site.

This tutorial is made through Windows XP, if you are using another Operating System such as Windows Vista, certain names and functions will differ. Please follow the general idea of this tutorial to get a handle on zip files.

Page 2: Installing a skin

Aim 6.8 Beta 2

Additional Plugins 

Aim 6.8 Beta 2, has launched with some reorganized features moved into different locations. Most notably, AOL Music, AIM Call Out, AOL Hot Searches, and AIM Mobile has been moved into a new My Plugins button. The My Plugins feature will allow developers and users to pick and choose what extra features they want with AIM. You are no longer tied to the four buttons at the bottom of the buddy list since now you can disable them and pick only the ones you like.

Two additional plugins were added called Notes and Stock Quotes. Notes allows you to write notes within your buddy list. Stock quotes just show Stocks within a small window. This is not a full featured Stock Ticker like many have been requesting but its a start.

Skinning Additions

If you’ve been skinning Aim, there has been some new functions added

    <linearGradientBrush id=”gradient.uiPluginPopup”>

        <rotateTransform center=”50% 50%” angle=”-90″/>

        <gradientStops>

            <gradientStop offset=”0%” color=”#FFFFFF”/>

            <gradientStop offset=”100%” color=”#EFFAFF”/>

        </gradientStops>

    </linearGradientBrush>

   <pen id=”pen.uiPluginPopup.border” color=”#000000″ WIDTH=”1″ /> 

gradient.uiPluginPopup, which was a pain to find, controls the box that shows up when you hover over “My Plugins”

pen.uiPluginPopup.border, controls the border around said box.

 

Look at how Things don’t work! :3

OS X Leopard Skin Preview

Aim 6.5 Skin: OS X Leopard

= Download This Skin =

So anyway the skin will be included in an OS pack which will include, Windows Vista, OS X Leopard, and Windows XP skin. If you have any OS skin requests speak now or forever hold your peace!

AIM OS Skin Pack:

–Windows Vista Basic [Blue] + Windows Vista [Black]

–OS X Leopard [Frost] + OS X Leopard [Grey]

–Windows XP Royal Blue

Aim 6.8 Skin: Vista Basic Theme

Introduction

Vista Basic is a skin featuring a design similar to the default Windows Vista Basic theme.

Vista Basic is a part of the OS skin pack which includes five skins:

• AimXP
• AIMXP Blue
• Vista Basic
• OSX Leopard
• OSX Leopard White

Each skin is included in the pack, you do not need to download them separately.

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Aim 6.5.4.16 launches with Text Ads!? Plus News on Aim Security Exploit!

Aim 6.5 Nearing Completion

AOL has released Aim 6.5.4.15, this newest version doesn’t add anything major in terms of features, which means Aim 6.5 is very very close to being Gold Master. The most notable new feature is new skins, now there are 20 skins to choose from for both light and dark themes. You can now stream music with Aim Tunes, and other UI edits and enhancements. The Buddy info now displays buddy updates on the side in its own little box. To the left you will see the regular buddy info. Sometimes the buddy updates do not load so the buddy info is displayed in full width. Aim has added the newest annoyance, Text Ads!, but when you think about it, Text Ads aren’t as annoying as music ads. So lets hope AOL decides to remove that large ad box at the top and give us back the buddy list we so desire!

AIM Security Hole

I’ve been asked on the situation of the “AIM Virus” that the major news companies have been reporting. I’ll cover this briefly. According to AOL’s statements, if you have Aim 6.5.4.16, you should be immune to any attacks that rise up. However Aim 6.1, 6.2, Pro, and Aim Lite are still affected. AOL has silently patched these versions for the majority of attacks, however according to the security research findings, these versions are still vulnerable to attacks. It seems AOL wanted to avoid releasing a new version AIM that patches this and just monitor IM streams for suspicious activity. Right now they don’t have any reports if Aim 6.5.4.16 is vulnerable right now. AOL at the time said that the next AIM beta version will patch this hole. Now that Aim 6.5.4.16 has been released, it should be safe to use.  

Skins in My Aim?

Well lets thank the developers for not changing the UI so drastically, this time my work converting skins to was less stressful. About 2 new IDs were added and they actually help make dark themes look better. Even though there are 20 skins to choose from, why not have 4 more colors just for fun. As promised, new skins will be on the way, Windows Vista Aero Basic Themes are coming up. Oh and one more thing, 4 more colors just for fun means FOUR MORE COLORS! Now all 4 colors are included in the download, so you can switch between any of them as much as you like. If you need skins, just click the Aim Skins category on the left. As always, check the FAQ for help on what version your supposed to be using.

Aim 6.5 Skins

Click Color to Download Skin

Blue Skin – Red Skin – Green Skin – Pink Skin

Vista Skin

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Creating Aim 6.0 Skins: Images and Icons

Aim 6.0 skins handles images a little awkwardly. Hopefully this will be changed in the end, but to be on the safe side we will follow its rules of making and using images. For the most part, your images won’t be over 32×32. So you have to think small and you also have one more thing going against you, Transparent PNGs.

Unless you have a good graphics program you probably won’t be able to create transparent PNGs. You don’t really have to use a transparent PNG but you’ll notice that you might get a white background distracting the title bar’s color of black, blue, orange, etc… If you have the skills to do so, please cut out the image your going to be using an icon. Otherwise, use a font and set that on another layer. When you create the actual PNG, make sure you have alpha layer transparency or use a background color similar to the skin. Please make sure this background color has blended with your icon.

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Creating Aim 6.0 Skins: Gradients Lesson

One thing I noticed during skinning Aim 6.0 is that most of the buttons you see are not pictures. Infact "Boxely" the engine that renders the program has the capability to create gradients on the fly. If you had experience with making web 2.0 style buttons on the web, you’ll know already that the secret effect that gives a button its shine or glossiness comes from where colors are placed along a gradient. If your new to this or don’t understand what I’m talking about, I’ll show you a little demo of how colors are handled in Aim 6.0.

Solid Brushes
Aim 6.0 has a Solid Brush function. solidBrush tells the program that the particular ID of what your editing will have ONE color. The solid brush markup goes like this…

    <solidBrush id="textColor.defaultButton" fill="#000000" />

Note fill="#000000", this is where you place the HTML Color Code. #000000 is the color code for black text. If you want to change it to another color you would change the letters and numbers after the # sign. Also there must be 6 Letter/Number combination in order to work.

Linear Gradient Brush 
Aim 6.0 also has a Linear Gradient Brush. linearGradientBrush tells the program that the particular ID of what your editing will have multiple colors. The linear gradient brush markup goes like this…

    <linearGradientBrush id="gradient.aimWindow.windowContent">
        <rotateTransform center="50% 50%" angle="-90"/>
        <gradientStops>
            <gradientStop offset="0%" color="#121212"/>
            <gradientStop offset="100%" color="#363636"/>
        </gradientStops>
    </linearGradientBrush>

Ok woah what happened here!? This got way more complicated than the solid brush. Well a gradient needs more than 1 color to become an actual gradient. Most of the entries in your skins will use linear gradients. In theory all solid brushes should be able to convert to linear gradient and vice versa. Now there are a few rules with linear gradients though. It needs to have a gradientStops tag and that tag must be closed after your gradientStop offsets. You also must close the linearGradientBrush tag at the end of the particular ID. Another rule is that you should begin the gradientStop offset at "0%" and end at "100%". Your free to place whatever values you want between those two colors. Aim 6.0′s boxely engine will render the blending it will take to those positions.

GradientStop Offset.
This is particularly hard to visualize if your new to creating gradients in photoshop or paint shop pro. What you need to do here is start off with one color at "0%" and end at "100%". The percentage tells you where that particular color will start and continue to. At the same time that particular color will also blend with the next gradientstop offset unless you specify otherwise.

Now your not limited to just 2 colors, in my skin, I use 4 to 5 different gradient offsets. By positioning the colors in a certain way you can create an effect where the colors smoothly create a bump like effect, or abrupt colors that creates a sheen glass like effect. Lets take a look at one of the mistakes I used in my skin.

            <gradientStop offset="0%" color="#f3f8e7"/>
            <gradientStop offset="25%" color="#8cc110"/>
            <gradientStop offset="51%" color="#abd747"/>
            <gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>

Now you may not see anything wrong here, but if your as picky as I am, you’ll notice that the send IM button’s colors does not match the bar beside it. Take a look at the markup. According to my percentages, these colors will blend smoothly. The farther apart the percentages are, the more smoother bump-like the colors are… [however this isn't always true since you can just use 2 similar colors at the top and 2 similar colors at the bottom to make use of the abrupt glass like effect.] Lets fix this up to create a similar style.

            <gradientStop offset="0%" color="#abd747"/>
            <gradientStop offset="40%" color="#8cc110"/>
            <gradientStop offset="41%" color="#D9FF82"/>
            <gradientStop offset="44%" color="#8cc110"/>
            <gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>

Ok now you’ll see a major difference. Take a look at the markup, I’m using 5 gradient offsets to achieve this effect. Note that at  41%-44% the brightest color is used. Then it continues back to the regular gradient. This can be cleaned up better since its kind of redundant to have 5 colors doing that style when I could just fake it with 4 colors.

            <gradientStop offset="0%" color="#abd747"/>
            <gradientStop offset="41%" color="#abd747"/>
            <gradientStop offset="44%" color="#8cc110"/>
            <gradientStop offset="100%" color="#abd747"/>

There, nobody will notice the difference unless they have really keen eyes. Thats all for this lesson.

Learn More About creating Aim 6.0 skins
- Download Aim Skins -

X – My First Aim 6.0 Theme

Screenshots of X! The Aim Theme. Link to Instructions on how to download this Aim 6.1 skin is located below.

Read More About Creating Themes

= Download the 6.1 Theme =

= Download the 6.2 Theme =

= Download This Theme For Aim 6.5 =

= Download =

= Download this Theme =

Creating Aim 6.0 Skins! Tips and Tricks!

Finally, the ability to skin Aim 6.8 is here. After months of skinning AIM, here are some tips and tricks to get you started on creating your own AIM skin. After you have created your skin you’ll be able to save it and it will create its own folder at

C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\imApp\ver6_8_10_1\theme\ This blog entry will have additional tips and tricks dynamically added once its been found.

= Download Aim 6 Skins =

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