When I started skinning last year (when VSB was released), one thing that always confused me was the way naming themes worked on Vista. I figured only few knew about it as my classic Appearance Settings window only displayed "Windows Aero" or "Windows Vista Basic" and the occasional theme that had its name, unlike the Windows XP days where the theme actually displayed its name in the list.
It turns out that Vista has several checks in place, and if you don't pass a check, it'll only apply the theme in Basic mode.
All themes will be displayed as 'Windows Aero' or 'Windows Aero Basic' by default.
You may have noticed that only one theme (Embedded_Segoe UI) in the list has its correct name displayed. This is because the author modified the value for the NAME:STRING property which breaks the check.
I'll explain it below with pictures and a few pointers/tips.
As mentioned in the picture, if you modify anything in the
NAME:STRING property, you will cripple Aero support for the theme. Vista does a check here to see if it contains the value "Aero". If the property contains any other value, your theme will be seen as a Basic theme.
But my theme doesn't support Aero, anyway. So why does this matter?There's actually a benefit for you here. Since you're not supporting Aero (and thus supporting Basic), you are able to have your theme name displayed! Remember that one theme that has its theme name displayed (first picture)? It's because he modified the
NAME:STRING property. He crippled Aero support intentionally as the theme was intended to be used in Basic mode only.
Cool! I just changed NAME:STRING, but I only see "Default" listed. Where is my theme name?
You got ahead
. Once you modify the value for
NAME:STRING in [
Documentation -> Documentation], you will have to modify the value for
DISPLAY:STRING in [
Documentation -> Variant -> Color: Normal]. And that's all that's necessary to have your Basic theme named.
Named my theme to Woot for this great occasion!
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Unfortunately, theme naming only works on non-Aero themes.
So your Aero theme will unfortunately have to stick with "Windows Aero" under the Apperance Settings window. There are ways around this, but it relies on the user to have third party applications installed. DeskHack is one alternative that is as 'native' as you can get. All the other ways to manage your themes rely on third party applications that will likely pull the Documentation information from your theme so you might as well modify yours for a polished look.
Check out AveStyler for a wonderful and pretty alternative!
