Hi. I'm new to Rainlendar - just started using it in the last couple of days. I love the fact that you can customise its appearance.

So I decided to dive straight in and create a skin that matched my preferences -- plain and minimalist. The aim is to maximise legibility. I used Chromophore as a base:



I essentially did the following:

Removed the "swirls" and used a plain background for all items.
Replaced the bitmap day numbers with text.
Replaced key icons with colour-coded dots.
Used text colour coding on some calendar categories (e.g. holidays, public holidays).
Added more default leading (line spacing) to event and to-do lists.

If anyone is interested in using this, let me know and I'll provide an upload link. However, be warned that it is a work in progress, and probably always will be. I only use a few key categories -- colour-coded dots only work if the number of categories are limited, so this is really for people who just use the basics such as holidays/work/personal/birthday (does anyone use much more than that?).

I'm even newer than you at all this, but what you have been working on is very much what I'm after too. I'd love to download it, if that's possible.

Try this: http://tiny.cc/ZMIRc (link to file Chromophore_Plain.rar)

Feedback welcome, although as I said above it is a work in progress and designed to meet my simple needs.

Thank you for the link. I have downloaded and will have a good look at it. It is the (relative!) simplicity which appeals to me: the simple coloured event dots, plain coloured background, text numbers rather than icons (giving sharper numbers on screen).

THanks very much!

Pleased to help -- but I forgot to mention one thing: this skin makes heavy use of a font called Calibri (a Microsoft font, and a good one).

If you use Vista or Win7, or MS Office 2007, then Calibri will be on your machine. If not, you might need to install a copy of the font. The easiest (free) way to do it is to install the Powerpoint Viewer 2007: tinyurl.com/yfyrhj

Thanks for the tip. I'm running windows 7 and the font is there already, and it is agood font I didn't know about!

I'm getting used to how skins work. I have had no trouble with your plain version of chromophore. I do like the clean look with minimal colours and fonts that you use. Each to his own, of course.

What I'm really wanting to do (and I'm getting there) is working on a skin without backround images, and being able to precisely define background and text colours. Just one thing I can't resolve (unrelated to your skin) which I will post elsewhere.