Thanks so much for the speed reply!  After finding my old e-mail with the activation credentials and download link, downloading, installing, and activating VSB 1.5, then finding where to download the beta and overlaying it on top of the 1.5 install directory, I'm about ready to give it a test (though I'm a bit leary, due to the cautions in the readme file!).

One more question:  Does Windows 8/8.1 require any sort of patching in order to use custom themes, ala Universal Theme Patcher for Windows 7--and if so, where/how does one get/apply it?

Hi All,

Although this is likely a frequently asked question, I couldn't find any answer or FAQ pointer in searching; if I've missed it, feel free to point me to it.

Quite a while ago, I purchased VSB and used it to create a Windows 7 theme to my liking, which I have been content to use ever since, on all my Windows 7 machines.

I've just built a new box, and put Windows 8.1 on it.  I spent a very large amount of time creating my Windows 7 theme, so the natural question is:  is there a way that I can use/convert a Windows 7 theme for Windows 8?

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1133.0?

The image in that link was the one, thanks!

So this VS is done as far as the basics are concerned.  No one have any comments?

Do you mean in the Programs List?

That would be in 1.4.1 XMLs: StartMenu > Panels > Basic > List Item  > New or in 1.6 XMLs:Start Menu > Panels > Basic > Programs List > Controls > Programs List Item > New

Try to be more specific or show a picture of what you want to know about. Makes the question easier to answer accurately.

If you have checked "Highlight Newly Installed Programs" in Customize Menu in Start Menu Properties the highlight background is at StartMenu > Panels > Basic > NSC Host > InfoBk:Color  & textcolor is at Start Menu > Panels > Basic > NSC Host > InfoText:Color in 1.4.1 XMLs or Start Menu > Panels > Basic > Programs List > Panels > NSCHost > Info Bk and InfoText in 1.6 XMLs.
                        

Yes, I do mean in the Programs List (the left side) of the Start Menu.  When you install a new program and run it, it shows up there with a highlighted colour, only if you have "Highlight Newly Installed Programs" checked.  Unfortunately, I've tried both of your suggestions above, and neither has had any effect on this highlight.

Explorer & Shell > Explorer > Items View > ListView > ListItem > Hot, Selected etc images

In Aero. Not sure if it's the same in Classic Start Menu.

Thanks, 3am, that's got it!  Just to be clear, I'm not currently working on the Classic Start Menu theme (which has its own theming engine), but the Windows 7 Start Menu.

I've just remembered one more item:  new programs in the Start Menu have a pale orange (peach?) highlight to them--where can I change this colour (I've tried various images and colour properties, but haven't been able to find it)?

In the mean time, I'm attaching my VS here for anyone who would like to critique it and offer any input.  This theme has only one real purpose (aside from being a learning tool for me), and that is to make the interface easy to read.

The standard Windows 7 interface, whether Aero or Basic, is purposely designed with extremely low contrast, and is very difficult to view for anyone with eye issues, reading glasses, or just aging eyes; it is, in my opinion, the worst user interface ever designed in terms of visibility/readability!

The Windows XP UI, on the other hand, is one of the most well designed, in terms of visibility/readability (not necessarily talking about functionality), and therefore I tended to draw on XP for colour choices, and my VS is simply called WinX7.  But it's not intended to be XP, but rather to be Windows 7 with XP colouring/visibility/readability.

It is designed primarily to be a Basic theme, though I've attempted to give it the same attributes when used as an Aero theme as well, though it is designed without transparency.  It should work equally well with large or small taskbar icons, and with the taskbar on any of the four screen edges.

So based on those criteria, please feel free to offer any comments.

Well, I've got the Start Menu almost complete, but there is one image that eludes me:

When you type into the search bar and the results list is shown, where is the image of the highlight that you move up and down the results list?

1680 x 1050

I tuned up the taskbar buttons to improve contrast with transparency.  Start Menu is almost done... just a few more touches to go.

You aren't seeing the taskband Progress Bars because your TaskItemButtons are a solid color

Okay, I've added transparency to all the buttons.  I found that 50% allowed my buttons to more-or-less maintain the colour I created them with, while still allowing the green progress bar to show well.  But because the buttons are now a little faded, there is less contrast between the active button and the others, so it is a trade-off.

Unfortunately, adding transparency caused the undesired glow effect to return, where the button assumes the major colour of the icon when hovered over.  But, I found that if I made just the two hover states solid, and all the other states with 50% transparency, I no longer have the hover-colour-from-icon effect, and all I loose is the progress bar when hovering over the button--the progress bar is still shown in all other states.  I can even have the 'Animations in Start Menu and Taskbar' item checked without issue, which should allow a button to flash (though this hasn't been tested yet, as I haven't had a flash condition--is there a way to simulate one?).

Next, on to the Start menu.  This is lower down the list since it is less important for me, because I use Classic Start Menu.

Got it!  Experimenting with transparency now.

Go to globals > GLOWINTENSITY:INT and change the value to zero and that'll kill the glow

That did it; thanks!

You aren't seeing the taskband Progress Bars because your TaskItemButtons are a solid color

Correct.  Sorry for such an elementary question:  how do I make the buttons that I've already created, transparent?

Here's another question:  in the original Aero style, the taskbar button gets a green progress-bar background when there is a download in progress, etc.; but in the buttons and taskbar I made, there is no such progress indicator--how can I reinstate it?

Okay, thank you for the image, which I imported.  I'm sure there's nothing wrong with your image (in Photoshop I couldn't tell the difference between yours and mine, though there is a considerable size difference), but yet this doesn't get rid of the glow around the name in the titlebar of Paint -- does it remove the glow in Paint for you?

Like Grim said replace the image at Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Details > Glows > Text with a transparent png. Works for me. I do it all the time.

Did that; didn't affect Paint.  Let me be sure I've got the transparent image right, since I'm not much of a graphics guy:

I'm using Adobe Photoshop Elements.  I took the original .png image, selected all, and deleted; this leaves an empty image of the same size, which I saved and then imported.  If this isn't correct, would you kindly provide the instructions to make a transparent .png of the same size as the original?

2) Using the uncheck FLATMENUS:BOOL option links the explorer menubar to your toolbar properties so you can change textcolors and background images for the various states. The background images would now be at Toolbars, Headers, & Rebar > Toolbars & Headers > Toolbar > Button.

Thanks, that did it!

Programs can still draw their own glow if they chose to override bits of the theming engine with their own. Firefox and probably Thunderbird as well use XUL which is what draws its UI. If you change something from the MSStyles for Firefox or Thunderbird then it's probably defined within its theme.

You could try the generic text glow though: Explorer & Shell > Shell > TextGlow > Glow or Explorer & Shell > Shell > TextGlow > <1>

You two are surely right about the Mozilla apps overriding msstyles.  But, I've tried the above TextGlow in Shell, as well as the two methods given by Mr Grimm, and nothing has gotten rid of the text glow in the titlebar of Paint.  Is Paint also creating its own, or is there still more settings in msstyles regarding the glow?

2) In the Explorer menubar you can change the color by unchecking Fonts, Colors, & System Metrics > Fonts & System Metrics > FLATMENUS:BOOL and then changing the textcolors of the states at Toolbars, Headers, & Rebar > Toolbars & Headers > Toolbar > <default>. For the Task Manager menubar you do the same at Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > BarItem.

This then causes the selection image on the menubar to change, need to figure out how to modify these as well.

To remove the glow on the title text adjust Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > Active > Opacity:Int to 0, also adjust for the other window states.

Or you can make Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Details > Glows > Text a blank image.

Thanks!  That worked fine (Opacity to 0) to eliminate the glow on the title bar text.  I notice that in Firefox the menu bar background is a lighter shade than the rest of the window, and that the text of the menu names also has glow around it.  In Thunderbird, the menu name text also has glow, but only when selected.  I tried the blank image, but neither of these methods got rid of the glow on the menu bar.  Any ideas?

In Firefox:

1) All disabled popup menu textcolor is Fonts, Colors, & System Metrics > Fonts & System Metrics > GRAYTEXT:COLOR

Ah, so all disabled items must be the same colour, whether selected or not?

2) Menu bar (File, Edit etc) background is Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > BarItem . Textcolors are Fonts, Colors, & System Metrics > Fonts & System Metrics > MENUTEXT:COLOR and Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > PopUpItem > Hot > TEXTCOLOR:COLOR

Okay, thank you.

Unfortunately, nothing seems to change the colour of the text of the selected menu in the menu bar, in Firefox, in Windows Explorer, etc. (though it did in Thunderbird)?

There are no image records at MaxActive, MaxInactive. Those states only control the text color and the opacity of the window and/or glow.

Okay, thanks.  They actually have an image, it is 21 x 27 pixels, the same as the other states under Top, but the image is simply a black rectangle.  So, a maximized Aero window title bar cannot have an image, texture, etc., but simply a colour?

Speaking of glow, how to eliminate the glow around the text of the window title?

[except]

Since I still have had no luck in importing different sized images into the DWM window, I created images that were identical in size to the default ones, and was successful in importing them all except:
    Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > MaxActive, MaxInactive
refuse to import; they give no error or other dialog, they react exactly like the successful imports, except the image is never changed.  Top > Active, Inactive import okay.

Any possible thoughts on this?

Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > PopUpBackground, PopUpGutter, PopUpItem etc

Okay, so I've modded the images for Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > PopUpItem > Hot and DisabledHot to give the selection bar some colour.  So far, so good.  Each of the four items in PopUpItem has a TEXTCOLOR:COLOR property, and I changed Hot (default black) to white, so when the item is selected, the text colour changes from black to white; also good.  But when I change the TEXTCOLOR property for DisabledHot, it has no effect; I cannot find a way to change the colour of the text for a disabled, selected item.  Any ideas?

Strangely, changing the TEXTCOLOR property in Hot changed the text colour of the selected menu in the menu bar as well -- BUT only in my e-mail program, and not in my browser or other programs!?

Which brings me to the next question:  what are the settings the change the menu bar itself (background, item test colour, selected item text colour)?

Lists, Menus, & Tabs > Menu > PopUpBackground, PopUpGutter, PopUpItem etc

Thank you!  I'll give those a try.

Can you create a video with Jing or something showing what you're doing when the dialog doesn't appear. This function hasn't changed since it was introduced and this is the first time anyone's claimed to have that problem.

Having a look in Jing now.  Really, though, in the case of a successful import, when I click Import and then navigate to an image and click OK, the Open File dialog goes away and I'm back at WSB.  In the case of a non-successful import, it is exactly the same thing.  Once I click OK in the Open File dialog, it goes away and I'm back at WSB exactly like a successful import.  At the times when I have had a file-size dialog from WSB, it appears immediately after closing the File Open dialog.

One more piece of information:  in the unsuccessful (but no dialog) cases, previously the image never imported at all--I could immediately do and export and it would be the original image, not the one I tried to import, and in those cases the image I was trying to import was smaller in size than the original.  Now though, I've tried to import an image that is larger than the original, and in this case (tried many times) though there is no file-size dialog, the image actually does import, but it gets cropped to the size of the original image!

Menus are here:
Lists, Menus & Tabs > Menu
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > Menu > Toolbar
Explorer & Shell > Explorer > Menu Bar
and for toolbar
Toolbars, Headers and Rebar > Toolbars & Headers > Toolbar

There are many toolbars, menu bars, rebars in Windows unfortunately so if you still can't find one show us a screenshot of a specific bar and we'll track it down.

Thanks very much for all the help to this point.  The attached image shows Firefox with the File menu pulled down... this is the type of menu I'm looking to modify.  I was under the impression that the same setting would probably affect all of the menus in all of the normal programs one uses (browser, e-mail, etc.).

Okay, have tried adjusting CONTENTMARGINS in the various caption nodes (Caption, MaxCaption, CaptionSizing Template, etc.) and also tried adjusting CAPTIONMARGINS in those nodes where it appears, but nothing had any effect on the vertical placement the caption text.

Also, tried importing my images into the frames of the Aero window (previously have been working on the Basic window), but here again I get no dailog at all when the image size is different than that of the current image; have tried both versions of WSB with same result.

Finally, though I have searched and read much on this forum, I have been unable to determine which image/setting controls the colours for the menus in the menu bar of standard applications, such as the FILE, EDIT, HELP, etc. menus; a pointer would be appreciated.

Okay, then, thanks for checking.  I don't know why, on my system, there is no dialog in some places, while there is in others.  I just noted that it seems you are importing an image which is larger than the current image, whereas I was importing an image smaller than the current.

By making my images the same size as the originals, I was able to import them and had success.  So, though I wish I could use other-sized images, I don't think it's worth pursing at this point.

Still have the question regarding the vertical positioning of the caption text.

It's not WSB that's doing it, you're importing an image of the same dimensions, WSB doesn't have a bias toward location (as those locations are really arbitrary), all it does is check the current image record's dimensions against the new image that you're importing.

Try it with the 1.5.0.0 version.  Try importing the left border image I posted on the previous page, which is a four-pixel wide image (the original is eight pixels wide).  There is no dialog?

You probably imported and clicked the wrong button on the import dialog. Make sure to click the button 'Replace old image' rather than 'Resize new image'.

No, I've tried several times.  It seems to import, but when the image is exported, it is the old image rather than the new.

Now, the interesting thing is that, in other parts of WSB, such as the taskbar, when I import an image that is a different size than the current image, I get the dialog that you mentioned above.  BUT... in the Windows section, I get no such dialog, the dialog is missing--it seems that WSB simply discards the new image in favour of the current one.

On a happier note, I re-sized my caption/border images to the size of the current images, and was able to successfully import them.  Now the settings such as SIZINGMARGINS seem to work as intended, because the intended images are in place.

One thing that is a little puzzling:  with PADDEDBORDERWIDTH set to zero, the title bar (top frame) is 32 pixels high, and the other frames are four pixels wide (even though the actual left/right border images are now eight pixels wide); when PADDEDBORDERWIDTH is increased to one, the top frame becomes 33 pixels, and the others become five pixels, an increase of one pixel all the way around; when PADDEDBORDERWIDTH is increase to two, the top frame becomes 35 pixels, and the others become seven pixels, for a total increase of three pixels, rather than two:  so it seems that PADDEDBORDERWIDTH is not linear--this obviously is controlled by Windows rather than by WSB.

One further question regarding the windows:  is there a setting that controls the vertical placement of the caption text with the top frame (the title within the title bar)?

The images don't have to be the size of the border itself, windows will scale down or up depending on the width of the actual border. The sizing margins just tell it where to not scale. You could make the image the same width as the border and it will make it easier to deal with.

My images are the size of the desired (at least for testing) border (four pixels wide).  The problem is that I import the four pixel images, and then when I export those same images from Windows Style Builder, the exported images are eight pixels wide!  What's going on?

EDIT:  Don't know if this helps, but my four pixel images that I am importing are all in the neighborhood of 3kB in size, while the images when exported from WSB are all less than a kilobyte, many around two- or three-hundred bytes?!

Did you change the image that was there, because in the versions you uploaded had side border images with a width of 8 as you can see in my screenshot where it says 8 x 184.

The image in the one you uploaded is this:




2px of black, 5 blue, 1 translucent (which shouldn't be there since Aero Basic can't draw translucency like that)

No, I didn't change the image.  If you look at reply #30 on page 1, I uploaded the actual image that I imported.  BUT... when I now export the border images from my msstyles file, they are as you say, 8 pixels wide instead of 4.

So it isn't the sizing margins, it's the color of the black pixels that aren't matching those of the top frame, or at least that's what I assume the problem you're having is.

You are correct that the colours don't match; I'm aware of that, but will address that by correcting the images.  The problem I'm having is with the border width which, as we've now found out, is because the images in msstyles don't match the images I imported--how is that possible?  And, what needs to be done to cause msstyles to import and use the exact images I have?

Try setting it to 7, 0, 91, 0 for left and 0, 7, 91, 0 for right. It'll look like this:

If you want to remove the black border entirely, you'll have to edit the image itself.

The black border is there by design, but intended to be exactly one pixel wide.  I tried your settings, which resulted in the left border being as desired, but the right border still had two pixels of black, the outer pixel being full black as designed, and the one next to it being a lighter shade of black.

Since the images are four pixels wide, and that the sizing margin of 7 is wider than the image, I tried changing the 7 to a 3 in each setting, but this resulted in the return of undesired black pixels on both borders, with there always being one more black pixel on the right border than on the left border.

Just to see the effect, I swapped the 0 and the 3 in both sets of settings, so that the sizing threshold would begin from the inside of the border rather than the outside.  The result was that the left border was all four pixels the same shade of blue (as one would expect), but on the right border, the outside pixel was still black, though a lighter shade of black.  So it seems that Windows is always giving the right border an additional, lighter, black pixel.

EDIT:  Next, I changed the 3's back to 7's, so the settings were as yours above, but with the 0 and 7 reversed.  Now, the right border was as intended, while the left border had the outermost pixel being a lighter shade of black then the intended full black.  Does all this tell us anything?

EDIT ONCE MORE:  Finally, I reversed the 0 and 7 in the left border settings, so that now both left and right border settings are 7, 0, 91, 0, and finally achieved the desired result:  both left and right borders have the outer pixel full black, and the inner three pixels blue.  But the settings make no sense!?

Edit the sizing margins (or the image itself) here: Windows & Caption Buttons > Basic > Frames > Window > Left and Windows & Caption Buttons > Basic > Frames > Window > Right

We gave you the location to DWM Window as we assumed you were making a DWM/Aero theme instead of an Aero Basic theme which is why editing the image or sizing margins in your screenshot aren't changing anything.

Those Sizing Margins were set to:  2, 1, 91, 0 (Left) and 1, 2, 91, 0 (Right).  I changed them to 2, 2, 91, 0 for both Left and Right, but it made no difference.  Should they be something else?

Thanks.  Removing those two sections allowed the msstyles to control the title text colour and the border width.  [Actually, in the Colors section, I removed all but the Background line, otherwise the desktop was just black.  How do you set the desktop background colour in the msstyles?]

BUT... though the borders are now four pixels, as per the images, yet the left/right borders are still stretching all pixels including the first (black) pixel (undesired), even though left/right sizing margins are set to two:

In the .theme file that you are using the color for the titlebar could be defined and thus overriding the property in the msstyles. If you open the .theme in notepad is there a section named [Control Panel\Colors] ?

Yes, there is, and thank you for reminding me!  I removed that section, and suddenly the window title text became white (as specified in msstyles); I restored the section and the title text returned to black.  BUT... previously (before using Windows Style Builder) I had tried modifying those settings, and the only one which had any effect was 'Background'.  Here is that section from my .theme file; can you tell me which settings should and should not have effect:

Code:

[Control Panel\Colors]
Scrollbar=200 200 200
Background=0 128 255
ActiveTitle=153 180 209
InactiveTitle=191 205 219
Menu=240 240 240
Window=255 255 255
WindowFrame=100 100 100
MenuText=0 0 0
WindowText=0 0 0
TitleText=0 0 0
ActiveBorder=180 180 180
InactiveBorder=244 247 252
AppWorkspace=171 171 171
Hilight=51 153 255
HilightText=255 255 255
ButtonFace=240 240 240
ButtonShadow=160 160 160
GrayText=109 109 109
ButtonText=0 0 0
InactiveTitleText=67 78 84
ButtonHilight=255 255 255
ButtonDkShadow=105 105 105
ButtonLight=227 227 227
InfoText=0 0 0
InfoWindow=255 255 225
ButtonAlternateFace=0 0 0
HotTrackingColor=0 102 204
GradientActiveTitle=185 209 234
GradientInactiveTitle=215 228 242
MenuHilight=51 153 255
MenuBar=240 240 240

Finally, removing that section did not alter the border width?

It works for me without any modifications:

Are you applying it through WSB or the Personalization control panel?

Through the control panel.

Put it in a zip and it will

Great.  Here it is...

post your msstyles and we will take a look and then see what the problem is lol

Glad to.  But the forum won't accept that file as an upload...?

Try adding textcolors to Windows & Caption Buttons > Basic > Frames > Window > Top > Active and Inactive. This shouldn't work. But what the hell give it a shot.

Unfortunately, didn't help.

I have no idea why you are having a problem. Sorry

Thanks for trying to help; it is appreciated.

I give up on your textcolors. I tested in Basic and Fonts & System Metrics > CAPTIONTEXT:COLOR and INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT:COLOR work just fine. Show me a picture of the text you  want changed. Maybe we are talking about two different things.

In the attachment of the post above, the window is titled "Win7 Style Builder... ".  The title text is black; I wish to change it to white.