Rainmeter themes

•

This one was inspired by the wallpaper. All I wanted was a seamless setup that would feel clean and calm to the beholder so I stripped away all but the things that I really felt that I use on a day-to-day basis. The username is the only aesthetic item that I could probably have spared but I just felt like it fit in pretty well with the way that the frame in the picture contained the other elements.

For those who might want to replicate this theme
Below is a list of every skin package I've used to make the theme:
- Enigma by ~Kaelri - Used for the folder link
- Minimal Typography by ~Lysy1993lbn - Used for weather, username, time and date
- Omnimo by ^fediaFedia and ~Xyrfo - Used dimming the background to make the text stand out better
- Encoded by ~lilshizzy - Used for the recycling bin
- WhiteDior by ~RidKurn - Used for the search bar

Is there anybody in the world who doesn't love watching ink transform when it's dropped into water? I love these kinds of smokey wallpapers and this one I found gave me the opportunity to use the clean space on the left side for some practical information and links.

Being a moron when it comes to programming I downloaded other people's skins and modified them a slight bit (very little) and thus I'll list and credit each of the designers below:

- Encoded by ~lilshizzy - Used for everything between date, time, weather and recycling bin
- The music skin is actually two skins combined:

- Enigma by ~Kaelri is used for the text on currently playing music

- WhiteDior by RidKurn then provides the cover-view below the title
- Social Launcher by twistlemon - This one provides the menu on the bottom

- The wallpaper for the awesome ink-in-water-goodness

This is a... well, it's a simple theme set up in order to make everything easy to find - also I've only really included the elements that I use often.

- Wallpaper

- Encoded by ~lilshizzy - Used for everything but the menu below the clock

- Social Launcher by twistlemon - Used for nothing but the menu below the clock...

My December 2014 theme. This one is stripped of anything but the things I need most; Time, weather and information. I've considered still having some launcher shortcuts present but since Windows 8 has such a quick Start menu and connected search function I often find that navigation is easier to do from the keyboard (which I'll mostly be using to write a URL in Chrome anyways) than moving the hand to a computer mouse (or the trackpad on my laptop with this same theme).

This setup is fairly easy to recreate since I only use four skins:

- Textime by jlynnxx

- Do I Need a Jacket? by flyinghyrax

- Omnimo Double reader and Background dimmer

- Wallpaper

My first theme of 2015. I was feeling like something new so I scoured for wallpapers online, found this (link below) and made a new Rainmeter theme tailored for it - pretty straight-forward really

- Simple Rainmeter by bembem90

- Encoded by lilshizzy

- Do I Need a Jacket? by FlyingHyrax

- Omnimo

- Wallpaper

With Windows 10 I wanted a fresh and clean start, so I stripped my setup of all but the most relevant elements and left only three Rainmeter skins active:

- Textime by jlynxx

- Do I Need a Jacket? by FlyingHyrax

- Social Launcher by twistlemon

The 'Order in Chaos' Rainmeter theme is my attempt at juxtaposing the violent waves of the wallpaper image to the clean and calming Rainmeter skins in the center of the screen. The theme summarizes my currently chaotic and slightly uncertain state of life as compared to my mental resilience which keeps me composed.

For those who might want to replicate my theme, below are all elements that I used in the process:
- Drizzle by ~fadeoffset for time and date
- Flat & Blurry by ~satyajit00 for HDD and weather
- Alli Anew by ~FionnT for the RSS feed (seems he updated the old skin and deleted the one I used - if you really want the old version, I'll be happy to share)
- Pop Menu by ~filipbaotic for the subtle left-side launcher panel that folds out when clicked
- Omnimo UI for the subtle battery indicator (of course not needed if you're on a desktop PC)
- Glatt wallpaper by ~AidenDrew

Update

This theme was featured by the lifestyle blog Lifehacker.com.

A very simple setup fit for the darkness of winter, focused on essential needs and nothing more - I personally use a lot of shortcuts for my interaction and aim for not having to see the Windows Taskbar during my UI navigation. This theme allows me access to Chrome, the Downloads and OneDrive folders on the computer (and everything else is of course within reach from those folders via Explorer) and the 'Make' element opens up Adobe Creative Cloud for me to access all the creative apps. Lastly, for my creative endeavours, it is quite nice to know how much RAM and CPU I am using, thus those meters underneath the battery.

Rainmeter skin credits go to:
The Enigma suite by ~Kaelri
The Omnimo team for the black box backdrop and battery meter
Simple Clean by ~HipHopium for the time and date skin
The wallpaper does not have any explicit author, unfortunately, but I basically set up the UI around the content of the picture.

So I keep using the same Rainmeter skins, apparently. I'm currently studying an MA course in which I focus on developing on Augmented Reality interfaces and the UX of such a computer. I want to transfer my basic minimal approach from the 2D screen to something fitting the 3D holographic interfaces proposed by HoloLens, Meta 2 and other devices.

I wonder if it's even compatible...

For a more detailed breakdown, visit the display on Flickr.