Special Folders
First I wanted to add backgrounds to Windows folders and there are commands for that under 'View' and 'Customize...' but somehow I didn't like the results because the left-hand panel stays mostly white and it all looks unbalanced. After a lot of experimentation with the html, which is also readily available, I could colour the left-hand panel as I liked using color codes obtained with Front Page Express. They can be obtained by choosing background colors in Front Page Express and then using 'View' to get the html code for each one. There are programs for producing these colour codes quickly. One very attractive looking one is free from http://pkworld.de.
With matching colors and backgrounds things were looking better but still weren't quite right but somewhere along the way I had accidentally knocked out a folder's division and that looked very good. With a lot more effort I found out how to do it reliably.
The division can be removed by making any change to the html file using the 'Customize' control, even only adding a space, then saving the change. Next you make hidden files visible using 'Folder Options' followed by 'View', delete the Folder file, then hide the hideable files again. The division just disappears and then, when a background picture is added it will cover the whole area. You will not have the previews of documents available with these folders but they look good and seem to be perfectly stable. Copy the folder a few times to have some spare ones available.
There are quite a few attractive background pictures available with Windows and if you want to retain the division, coloring the left-hand panel as well as using a background gives a better result than using the background alone. For example, using the Windows Clouds.bmp to customize a folder and then making the left-hand panel blue can look good.
To colour the left-hand panel with a shade of blue to match Clouds.bmp, first access the html code and make these changes:
Change this:
<body scroll=no onload="Init()">
to this:
<body bgcolor="#71A4E1" scroll=no onload="Init()">
Change this:
<div id=Panel style="background: white URL(file://%TEMPLATEDIR%\wvleft.bmp) no-repeat">
to this:
<div id=Panel style="background: "#71A4E1" URL(file://%TEMPLATEDIR%\wvleft.bmp) no-repeat">
Other color codes can be found using Front Page Express or a special programme like the one I mentioned above.
To make folders still more attractive you could try special folder icons and some are available from http://www.5star-shareware.com/ and www.debidawn.com.
Programmes for installing these special folder icons are available via these sites: http://www.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de/~corion and http://home.nordnet.fr/~pmdevigne/ .
Pass on the programs and collections of icons to anyone you would like to be able to see your new folder icons.
I hope this information helps increase your computing pleasure. Please see my sites including some of my historical and scientific work and many pictures of the area where I live.
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