Yep, STF3 has been released! This new version, as has been shown in the preview, incorporates major layout changes, a new options panel thanks to Basilis, and more. You can check it out here.

The site has gotten a bit of an update as well, with a brand new logo, my Messenger status in the top right, and some minor design changes here and there. I’m still not finished with the status area, particularly the text formatting when I’m listening to music (it should be blue and underlined, like links on the site, just to complete the whole “Windows Live” feel to it).

Windows Live Messenger 2009 is entering RC (Release Candidate) stage soon, and I have to say, from what I’ve seen of it so far, it is, for the most part, pretty cool. It has its ups and downs, as any piece of software, of course, and with it still (at the time of writing) being in Beta, that is to be expected. I may not do much skinning for 9 when the final is released, as there is just so much more to do, but I’ll have a play around with the UIFiles and see what it can do. In the meantime, I’ll try and see if I can get started on that Windows Classic skin I mentioned earlier… It’s promising!

ryxdp

If you’ve been using the latest beta version of Windows Live Messenger lately, I have some good news: Messenger Plus! is now fully compatible with it! Although I don’t like releasing anything that’s not “final”, the growing popularity of this new Messenger made it clear something had to be done on my side. For that reason, Messenger Plus! Live 4.79 has been added to the Download section and the Change Log has been updated accordingly.

Keep in mind that this is beta material so no support will be given for it. Some of the improvements (display pictures in notification popups for instance) are global to all Messenger versions so if you like what’s fresh and new, this beta is for you.

[Source: Messenger Plus! Live - News]

I am in fact using WLM9 at the moment, and it seems promising, though it could be a little less cluttered. I have employed A-Patch to take care of this, however. It’s a tad hard to navigate around the place, but I could get used to it in time. A few things still need a bit of attention, such as images/text/etc. not aligning properly and so on, but these are not major issues, and I have not encountered any so far, which is brilliant.

I will be downgrading again to 8.5 to finish work on SevenTwoFour and my other skins, and staying there until 9 is final.

ryxdp