Resource editing is a fairly straightforward process by which you can permanently alter the appearance of Xnews' toolbar buttons and various other embedded icons. This is entirely different to "skinning" an application, where a program fashions its GUI by calling on external files that it uses to overlay the interface. Here, we actually change the glyphs inside the program itself.

"Why would I want to do this?" you might ask. Well, the reasons are really a matter of personal preference and can vary from (a) wanting to make a program blend well with a certain desktop theme, (b) changing a button's icon to something more intuitive to the user, or (c) just because you can!  }:O)

My initial motivation came when I purchased a new PC preloaded with Windows^® XP and all of its accompanying eye candy. I quickly found that Xnews had a real Win3.1/9x look about it that, despite its flexibility and power, made it feel...old. I had also been nagged by a couple of buttons here and there that I never used, mainly because their purpose wasn't obvious to me by the icon adorning them.

Below are just some of the fruits of my labour.

groups window articles window (top) articles window (bottom) editor window (basic) * view more examples on the screenshots page

 

Pretty neat, huh? Yet, surprisingly easy to do!

The whole process can be broken down into three distinct phases:

1. extracting the resources;
2. editing the icons; and
3. rebuilding the executable.

In the pages that follow, I will guide you through this process step-by-step so that you might learn to create an Xnews look of your very own design!  }:O)