This section outlines IncrediMail's skin structure. Understanding how the IncrediMail skin is built will offer you a logical and sensible approach to creating a new skin.

The IncrediMail Skin

The IncrediMail skin file is made up of hundreds of elements that are created in one of the following formats:

Simple bitmaps
The image elements made up in bitmap (.bmp) format are divided into several sections that give expression for each state the element is in.

An example of a simple bitmap is the 'play.bmp' - the element for the "Play" button in the Voice Recorder. The bitmap below represents one button in four stages;

1. active - idle mode
2. highlighted - roll over mode
3. clicked on - pressed mode
4. inactive - disabled mode

Each stage has a varied appearance:

Images in '.gif' format
Elements in .gif format, unlike the elements in .bmp format, always have just one image and sometimes may be animated. See the Options dialog for examples.

Images with Transparency
In the bitmap (contentbtn.bmp) below, used in the Style Box, you will notice a bright pink-purple color (RGB # 255,0,255) around each image section. The IncrediMail program identifies this specific color as "transparent". Any element behind this color will be transparent on the application - the background will be visible. Therefore, it is very important that you do not change any section of a bitmap that contains this color (in an existing skin) or that you use this exact color for when you need transparency in a skin you create.

        

Tiled Images
Whenever an element is resizable (such as, caption bars), there must be at least one section that repeats itself several times over in order to fit the size of the window. This behavior is called "tiling".

The bitmap below (captionbar.bmp) divides the main IncrediMail caption bar into 22 sections. The sections enhanced below include the tiled area that changes according to the length that IncrediMail determines so that it has the visual effect of always fitting the size of the window regardless if the window is minimized, maximized or customized to your preference.

The Layout properties - Settings
In addition to all the elements that make up the IncrediMail skin, there are settings that can be modified that don't have a specific format as described in the table above (e.g., the color and font of text, the background color of certain elements, margin offset and border width.). These settings should be modified using the Skin Creator tool.

Sound Files
Sounds are heard during various activities in IncrediMail. For instance, when opening and closing the Style Box, a 'swoosh' sound is heard. This sound is created by the activation of a .wav sound file.

Cursors
Cursors are part of the basic user interface behavior. A cursor's look can change depending on the activity performed in IncrediMail. For instance, when you perform a 'drag and drop' activity, the cursor changes to an arrow with a '+' sign in order to make clear the state it is in.

                              

Flash Movies
Flash movies are used in the Status Window only. It offers a sleek look, which integrates seamlessly into the application. In order to simplify the creation of flash movies for IncrediMail, samples of various kinds and colors of flash movies are provided.

The IncrediMail Skin File
All the elements that make up the IncrediMail skin, including sounds, flash and other images are packed together into an IncrediMail Skin file (saved in '.ims' format). When you create your own skin for IncrediMail, you may not want to modify and rework every single element in the skin. The Skin Creator, therefore, only packs the elements you modified into the new '.ims' file. IncrediMail knows how to recognize the elements that are missing in the 'new' .ims file that you create and will use the default elements that are provided in the original IncrediMail skin. In addition to easing the workload, this IncrediMail behavior enables the skin file to stay as light as possible.

To learn how to use the Skin Creator, click here.