Instead of Start11, use Rainmeter (FOSS), to customize not only the taskbar, but almost the whole UI + all kind of widgets. You can create your own skin (scripts), or use one of the hundreds made by the community in Deviantart and other sites (links in the homepage). Complete Wiki and tutorils. Before i forgot that i use also FreeTube and SMplayer as externplayer, if FreeTube fails, Gimp and Krita, but i think that these are already well known apps.