What You Need

An enhanced text editor with code highlighting makes a big difference.

Here's what you need to create Rainmeter skins:

If you are tired of having to sieve through a humongous list of programs or folders on.

1. The Natural Rainmeter Skin will help you remember and appreciate nature. In a time where.
2. The next rainmeter skin resembles its name in terms of the overall look and feels. ALIENS displays all of your computer details on your desktop in the form of an alien ship control centre. This unique rainmeter skin display Disk partition shortcuts and Power status, to Network upload/download speeds, and much more.

1. Rainmeter.
2. A text editor.

And that's all. No extra software or materials of any kind are required.

Text Editor

That being said: while you can edit skins using Windows' built-in text editor, Notepad, we strongly recommend downloading an enhanced text editor, such as Notepad++, Sublime Text or Atom. These applications come with powerful features like tabs, auto-completion, embedded file browsers and more. You can even download extensions that add Rainmeter-specific code highlighting, which makes it much faster and easier to read a skin's code and spot errors.

For more information, see Notepad Alternatives.

Image Editor

Depending on the kind of skin you want to make, you may also want to find a good piece of image editing software. Rainmeter can create text by itself, as well as simple or complex vector shapes, like rectangles and circles. But you will find you often want a separately-created image file.

Adobe Photoshop is the usual gold standard for image editing, but there are other, less expensive alternatives worth considering, such as Paint.NET, GIMP, or Inkscape.

Configs

A skin can grow to become an enormously complex project by the time it's done. It may accumulate any number of images, icons, fonts, plugins, addons, scripts, and even included code that is strewn across multiple files and shared by other skins.

But at the core of every skin is a single .ini file. Named SkinName.ini—where 'SkinName' is the name of the skin—this is a text file that contains the fundamental code that Rainmeter uses to create a working skin.

Because a skin may have any number of variants, skins are typically identified not by their file name, but by the folder where they are located. This is known as the skin's config name. To quickly find out a skin's config name, just check the context menu—the first item is the config name. For example, the illustro 'Clock' skin's config name is illustroClock.

Each skin also has a root config folder. This refers to the one folder that contains all of the skins belonging to a 'suite,' such as illustro. When the skins in a suite are organized together in this way, they can be exported to a package, and then installed on another system, as a single collection. They can also share fonts, images and other resources in a way that separate skins cannot. For a simple skin that is not part of such a 'suite,' the config and root config are the same.

Here's a quick reference chart to help you remember the relationship between skins, configs, variants and roots, using illustro as an example:

Root config folders are all organized in Rainmeter's main Skins folder:

C:UsersYourNameDocumentsRainmeterSkins

Accordingly, you can identify any skin by its file path, according to a simple rule:

C:UsersYourNameDocumentsRainmeterSkinsConfigNameSkinName.ini

The illustro 'Clock' skin in the Skins folder. Remember that skins are identified by their config name, e.g. 'illustroClock'.

Your First Skin

Until now, you have been working with the pre-made illustro skins that come with Rainmeter. Now, you're going to create a new skin from scratch.

Creating a new skin is quite easy. In Manage, click the 'Create new skin' button. This will create a new config folder in the skins list, offering a default starting name of 'NewSkin'. Name this folder 'MyFirstSkin' and hit enter.

This will do several things. It will create a new root config folder with the name 'MyFirstSkin'. In it it will create an empty @Resources folder, will create a new basic MyFirstSkin.ini skin file, and will open this new skin in your default or defined text editor, so you are off and running.

Your new skin is created in the proper folder, and ready to work with in Manage and your text editor.

The 'Hello, World!' Skin

The very first thing you will see in your skin is the [Rainmeter] section. This is a skin's 'header' property, like the <head> tag in an HTML webpage. In the [Rainmeter] section, you will see an Update=1000 option. Like this:

The Update option is what sets the length of the skin's update cycle. The length is given in milliseconds, or 1/1000ths of a second, so Update=1000 means that the skin will update once per second. Updating is how the skin will react to changes in information. You'll see how this works in more detail later on.

Now that you've given your skin a 'head,' it's time to give it a 'body.' Let's change that default string meter. This is one of the most common types of meters, and it is used to create text.

The Meter option is required to tell Rainmeter that this section is, in fact, a meter. All meters have this option. The value of the option determines what type of meter it is.

The Text option, on the other hand, is unique to the string meter. As you might have guessed, this is where you provide a string of text for Rainmeter to display.

Believe it or not, what you have now is a complete, valid, working Rainmeter skin! Let's load it to see what it looks like. Load the skin using one of the methods that you learned before. You can either:

• Open the Manage window by left-clicking the Rainmeter tray icon, find MyFirstSkin in the skins list, then click the Load button in the upper-right.

• Open the context menu by right-clicking the tray icon, then select Skins → MyFirstSkin → MyFirstSkin.ini.

(As you get comfortable with Rainmeter's user interface, you'll decide whether you prefer working with the context menu or the Manage window.)

Now, look up in the top-left corner of your desktop. There's your skin!

It's... not very big. Or pretty. Meters without any options tend to be very simple and unimpressive. So let's add some formatting.

Here's what we've added:

• AntiAlias
  A general meter option that smooths out the edges of a meter. This almost always improves the appearance of a string meter.

• FontColor
  A color option that changes the color of the text in this meter.

• FontFace
  An option that changes the font used for this meter. Rainmeter can use any font that you have installed in Windows, or another font in a skin's @Resources folder—but we'll get to that.

• FontSize
  The size of the font.

Now, let's apply these changes by refreshing the skin. Once again, you can either press Refresh in the Manage window, or MyFirstSkin → Refresh skin in the context menu.

Congratulations! You have just created a new skin. You are now ready to move on to the Basic Tutorials. This series will guide you through the entire process of creating several example skins, while teaching you about the fundamental elements of a Rainmeter skin.

Rainmeter is one of the best desktop customization tools of thisage. Ask any avid user of Windows-based PC or laptop and they’ll confirm that. Youknow the process of digging into your computer to find or check importantwidgets, folders, system stats and updates can sometimes be downright lengthy. Butif you manage to scout out a decent Rainmeter skin and get it onto yourdesktop, all that will be in the damn past.

What is Desktop Dock?

With the Rainmeter launcher program, you can gather shortcutsof all your favorite computer programs and folders and position them in oneplace of convenience. Whether it is games, apps, music folders or internetlinks, you can have access to their shortcuts in a snap of a finger.

Most Popular Rainmeter Docks

Now that you’ve been furnished with all the info on what Rainmeterlaunchers can do, why don’t we dive straight into the list of top ten dockskins?

Well, let’s go:

1. Silmeria Dock

If you are tired of having to sieve through a humongous listof programs or folders on your computer to locate certain items and/orutilities, then you can find respite in the Silmeria Dock skin. The simplicityof this skin is evident while the icons arrangement is nothing less thanstunning. You might also fall in love with the hidden dock design- which revealsthe icons when you sweep your mouse over it-if you are true minimalist.

2. Docker

This Rainmeter skin holds down your favorite apps, internetbookmarks, folders and other shortcuts like a true docker. Needless to say, thedocker skin is minimalistic but can still accommodate a sizable number of iconsin it. If you are all about simplicity, then this skin can be a nifty choicefor you.

3. Dock

If you are true fan of classic black, then you will findthis Rainmeter bar, which looks more like soundbar, absolutely stunning. Withthis skin, you can get all your favorite folders, internet links, apps andother shortcuts onto a safe dock, where they can be readily accessible. Dockalso teams up perfectly with the desktop background to create an overall lookthat’s elegant and enchanting. You just can’t get enough of this skin on yourdesktop.

4. Goth-Style Dock

This Rainmeter skin is apt for any Goth enthusiast, whetherhardcore or moderate. Designed with an animated diamond-inspired dock, the skinfeatures special effects that only reveal the icons (which you choose to add),when you hover your mouse over it. That’s ideally the 'Gothic mystery' of usingthis skin as a launcher.

5. Material Taskbar

Material Taskbar is a Rainmeter skin that’s simple yetextremely resourceful. It features a long bar that can house a couple ofshortcuts including, but not limited to, recycle bin, power button, photosfolder, settings short cut and downloads folder. The background theme for thisskin is changeable while the task bar itself can be tweaked a bit in terms ofpositioning, style and color.

6. Hexa Core

Hexa Core skin stays true to its name as it features 6hexagons that are held together by a core at middle, which looks more like a rotator.This super gorgeous yet minimalistic skin can hold down a number of shortcuts includinggames, desktop folders, apps, internet links and more. The rotator at the middleacts as a return button, which makes the process of navigating or switchingbetween shortcuts quick and effortless.

7. Red Dock

Red Dock launcher precisely features what looks like a redcarpet or table, where various shortcuts rest on. While the dock and iconssport red and white colors, the background takes on subtle grey, which lendssimplicity and class to the entire theme. You are free to include in the dockany shortcut you want, whether it is music, downloads, games, browser or MyComputer.

8. Plank Dockey

The Plank Dockey skin looks like a plank of wood curved in a classic design to form a dock where variousshortcuts can be placed on. With this skin, you can arrange all your crucial desktopfolders, personalization icons and programs in a simple and neat format. There’sa simple button just below the skin for scrolling forwards and backwards aswell as expanding and/or reducing the size of the dock.

9. Social Dock

Rainmeter Skins For Mac Windows 7

Social Dock is an eye-catching skin that comes with awell-lit shortcuts dock and a definitive city background theme. So the entirelook can be least described as lively and classy. With Social Dock launcher,you can enjoy swift access to such shortcuts as Google, Twitter, Gmail,Facebook, DeviantArt, YouTube and more. You are also free to customize/change anumber of things like color, fonts and sizes to suit your needs.

10. MiniDock

Rainmeter Skins For Mac Catalina

Mini Dock is a super amazing launcher that literally takeson the shape and form of a life-like kitchen shelf or bookshelf. That means youcan place all your favorite applets, in the form of shortcuts, on the dock,without worrying about them 'falling'. One other amazing feature about thisskin is that when you swipe your mouse over the icons, the respective apps,folders and/or programs pop up along with their tag names. Isn’t this skin justsuper cool?

Rainmeter Skins For Macbook

In Conclusion

Rainmeter Skins Mac Os X

These are just some of the top and best rated Rainmeter launcherskins available for Windows 7, 8/8.1 and 10. All the skins aforementioned are extremelyattractive and minimalistic. But as usual, the tastes and preferences willnever be the same. So it’s upon you to chooseone that will help you customize your desktop as per your whims and fancies.