Like many WMP users, I got annoyed with the removal of the taskbar toolbar after the upgrade to Windows 7 or Media Player 12.  It was a very useful toolbar to have on when listening to music, as it gave you access to the standard playback controls and let you know what was playing.  There is no toolbar available with WMP 12, however.

Instead, I made a skin (yes, you can still use them!) which gives me the info I wanted from the toolbar and, so it didn’t get in the way, made it a mere 20px high.  This allows me to set it to “Always on top” and place it up in the title bar near the Minimise and Close buttons, nicely out of the way (see below).[more]

If the title of the song is longer than the text area it will scroll (right to left) at what I consider a good speed.  The buttons are all working: a “return to full view” button on the left, with the normal “Play/Pause”, “Stop”, “Previous”, “Next” buttons on the right.  The elapsed time is shown next to the title and does not scroll.

I have not yet added switches for Shuffle or Repeat, or a volume slider, and I may change the “Play/Pause” button to a ‘toggle’ button that changes icon depending on its action.  Also, I might improve the graphics – while they are fairly dull, they serve their purpose.

Download the files from here: Ticker Skin v1.0.zip (3.78 kb)

Alternatively, download all the source files in this ZIP: Ticker Skin v1.0 Source.zip (7.52 kb).  It contains all the images, the .wms file, and the JavaScript that go with the skin.  It also has the compiled skin in there (.wmz).