Software-update: Rainmeter 1.4 RC

Rainmeter is een programma waarmee je de desktop van een Windows-pc kan aanpassen. Zo is het bijvoorbeeld mogelijk om als een soort overlay allerlei informatie weer te geven, zoals vrije ruimte op de harde schijf, netwerkactiviteit, en of er nieuwe email is. Ook kunnen er functionele applets worden gebruikt om bijvoorbeeld notities te maken of tweets te versturen. Op GoT kun je meerdere voorbeelden van aangepaste desktops vinden en kun je eventueel ook je eigen werk ten toon stellen. Afgelopen zondag is de release candidate van versie 1.4 van Rainmeter uitgebracht en de belangrijkste verbeteringen zijn hieronder te vinden.

What's new in Rainmeter 1.4

Change to how featured skin suites are distributed
First and foremost, we have changed the way "default skins" are distributed for Rainmeter. No longer are Enigma and Gnometer part of the build, but are added after you install Rainmeter from our Downloads pages. This allows us to reduce the size of the installer and the footprint of Rainmeter on your system if you don't use Enigma and / or Gnometer, as well as providing a way to have the "Recommended Skin Suites" updated by the authors without having to wait for a release of Rainmeter. This will also allow us to feature new skin suites over time!

You will see a new "Download recommended skins" check box at the end of the install process. If you are new to Rainmeter, this will be checked and the page will automatically load in your browser. If you are upgrading Rainmeter, you can still check this box to view / download the latest versions of our recommended skin suites. Simply view the details of the skin suites we are featuring, and with one click you can install one or more and be up and running.

New illustro "default / starter" skins
Of course there needs to be some skins distributed with the installer, so our wizard poiru has created a new set of skins called "illustro" which are automatically installed. These are designed to show off some of the capabilities of Rainmeter to a new user, be very simple to edit and change, and are fully commented so someone looking to get started with editing and creating Rainmeter skins has a good place to start and learn.

Other changes to Rainmeter 1.4

• Updated the installer to support UNICODE characters in paths and file names
• MeterStyle now supports multiple styles in a single meter
  You can use multiple MeterStyles with MeterStyle=Style1 | Style2 | Style3 in a meter. MeterStyles later in the .ini will override ones earlier if there are conflicts in settings.
• Added support for image effects on BAR and ROTATOR meters
  The settings GreyScale, ImageTint, ColorMatrix(x), ImageFlip, ImageRotate and ImageAlpha supported in Image meters previously, have been added to Bar and Rotator meters as well.
• ToolTipHidden can now be used under [Rainmeter]
  ToolTipHidden can now be added to the [Rainmeter] section of a skin to turn off / on ToolTips for an entire skin.
• Added a link to the new "Downloads" page on the Rainmeter context menu.