LAUNCHkaos Skin Authors Guide
1999, POCKETkaos

http://www.POCKETkaos.com
kaos@POCKETkaos.com

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O V E R V I E W

LAUNCHkaos is a "skin-able" launcher for your favorite programs, documents, and more.  It's a simple idea: a floating window of any shape, that can have up to 12 buttons that represent sections.  Each section can be defined by the end user; named to categorize their software and documents in any way they like.  When the user clicks a section button, all of it's "action" buttons appear.  They can then click the "action" buttons to launch the program, or even drag and drop other files onto the buttons to launch the program with those files.

What makes this launcher special is that it is fully skin-able.  Designers and end-users alike can create "skins" that make the launcher look like anything they can imagine.  The launcher window can be any shape, since it uses transparency.  You can even create up to 300 button looks, or "styles".  For example, you can create a launcher in an oval shape, where each section can handle up to 10 buttons that start in one corner, and spiral out across the edge of the launcher window, getting larger as they go.  All kinds of wild things can be accomplished.

As a designer, you determine the look, sound, and placement of everything.  Create up to 12 sections, each with up to 25 buttons in it to launch things.  Create a bitmap image to be the launcher itself, and use a specific color which will be transparent when the image is used as the launcher background.  Next, create up to 12 section buttons.  Then create up to 300 action button styles that can be mixed and matched, even within a section (every button can have its own style.)  So you can simply create 1 button style and use it everywhere, or create a separate style for each button in each section to get really wild looks.  All section and action buttons have multiple states, like when the mouse is pressed, released, or hovering over a button.  These states each have a graphic and a sound associated with them.  You can even have the programs icon drawn and positioned on the button, as well as a positioned caption to describe the button. Imagine the possibilities...

Examine the "default" skin's INI file, which is fully documented.  Use it as a template for creating your own skins.  The associated graphics and sounds will also assist you in this process.

