Another month has passed and so I bring you another edition of "I Love DesktopX." Community Spotlight is coming up next month, and this time I thought I'd include a few questions from you guys. Our interviewee is none other than Master Vad_M! So, you've got all month to come up with some good questions for him on DesktopX and the world of widget-making, and get them to me.

On to the picks!

Outstanding General Info

Stargate Clock by Doubird

I deliberated a while in this category, as there were quite a few skins that caught my eye this month. One of the reasons I wanted to do this article series was to give more exposure to not just the best of the best of DX, but the up and coming DX enthusiasts as well.

Therefore, I’d like to give it up for Doubird. This author submitted four creative general information widgets last month and out of those, I like Stargate Clock the best.

Having a look at his gallery, you can see that creativity is evident in all his skins as no two widgets are alike.

An all around great effort by the author.

Most Original / Creative

Worms Hopping Sheep by 3Mo0

DX needn’t be all about productivity or displaying information on your desktop. Nay, I say! Sometimes you’ll just whip up something for your own amusement. This is one of those objects.

I like it for the sheer LOL factor. It’s a sheep that runs across your screen width (with a minor modification to the script) and hops over your mouse, should it be in the sheep’s way. I had this running in the background for a long while. It’s fun to play around with if you’re bored or just need a laugh.

Most Innovative / Resourceful

Chronos (W) by Vad_M

Another beautiful widget by Vad_M. The description says it all: moon phases, day/night indicator, CPU usage, RAM, drive meters, system information, and an analog clock all in one cool package. If you don’t need the analog clock, you can double-click to move the hands out of the way.

Plus, it’s a widget, which means you can study his scripts to learn how to do all kinds of cool stuff! Which I find similar to studying Einstein’s work to learn basic algebra.

I kid, I kid. Download it. Enjoy it. And if you’re so inclined, have a gander at the script. Ya might learn sumthin’.

DX Theme of the Month

Naked DX by RedneckDude

We’ve all seen them streaking WinCustomize, them nekkid skins. With the advent of Naked WB by vStyler, it seems May was the month to go au naturel.

In keeping with the ‘stripped down’, yet tasteful look, Jim has created a DX theme to match the WB. From the screenshot, you might think, “Where’s the rest of it?” But it’s all there: meters, shortcuts, media, weather, clock, and calendar, all in one central object.

It’s compact and the graphics are really streamlined. This, like much of the Naked suite, has a really airy and lightweight look, which can give your desktop a much more spacious feel.

With this version, it’s best to use a medium to darker wallpaper, but Jim’s also created the Noir version which is darker and works on lighter walls.

It’s another winner from RedneckDude.

Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion

“How can I make an object move in a circular motion?” A similar question was posed on the forums once before. I scratched my head and said it had something to do with a complicated algorithm.

Fast forward to 2008: I’m working on an information starfield theme/widget, which I called the ‘Infomatrix.’ I need to know how to clone an object several times and arrange the clones in a circumference around the first.

Google to the rescue, and I found the pertinent piece of code.

Fast forward to 2009: I’m working on theme called ‘Microbe: Red’. I figure it’d be cool to have one free molecule moving in a circular motion. I scratch my head and figure it has something to do with a complicated algorithm.

Light bulb goes off. I take the original code I found on google and modify it with a timer and some other adjustments. A couple hours of hammering out the details later, and happiness runs in a circular motion!

To do this, you’ll need two objects; one acts as the center point, and the other moves in a circle.

Create 2 objects:

“circ_center”
“circ_mover”

This script goes in “circ_center”:

Dim MovingObject,deg,dir,r,t

MovingObject = "circ_mover" '--Name of circulating object
dir = 1 '--Direction: 1 = clockwise, 2 = counter-clockwise
r = 100 '--Radius
t = 50 '--Degrees in a full rotation, i.e., how many points along the circumference: more = slow, less = fast
 
'Called when the script is executed
Sub Object_OnScriptEnter
 object.SetTimer 1, 10
End Sub

Sub Object_OnTimer1
 Circulate
End Sub

Sub Circulate
 a = (3.1415296 * deg / t)
 x = object.left + Int(object.width/2)
 y = object.top + Int(object.height/2)
 xa = round(x + r*cos(a))
 ya = round(y + r* sin(a)) 
 nx = xa - Int(DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).width/2)
 ny = ya - Int(DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).height/2)
 DesktopX.Object(MovingObject).move nx,ny
 If dir = 1 Then
  deg = deg + 1
  If deg > (t*2) Then deg = 0
 Else
  deg = deg - 1
  If deg < 0-(t*2) Then deg = 0
 End If
End Sub

Now this is mostly experimental, but as far as I know it works. The only stuff in the code that needs adjusting are the four variables listed at the top. That’s it.

Goings-On in the Community

Well, I had a look round to see what all goes on and looky here --  LINK

Two new themes in the works by RedneckDude: Tracer and Excalibur. They are part of two community suite projects lead by AVMAN, and comprised of several outstanding artists.

I have to say, Tracer DX is looking AWE-some! I had a chance to play around with it, and my oh my! You will want to get it as soon as it's available.

And here’s something interesting -- LINK

Prometheus Dark by Automan. It looks to be chock-full of useful functions, from weather radar, to media player. Can’t wait to see the finished product.

OCCAM is still in the works -- LINK

Keep up the good work, Po. The suspense is killing me on this one! But who am I to talk? It’s been 5 months since I started my current WIP.

So what goes on with you fellow DXers? Working on your first DX skin? Need help getting started, moving forward, or just finishing up some last function that won’t cooperate? Share with us and see what the community has to say.

And don't forget those questions for Vad_M next month. PM or EMAIL them to me, or post in the replies here. Until next time, happy DXing!