All of you would be using custom visual styles (msstyles) in Vista by replacing uxtheme.dll, shsvcs.dll and themeui.dll but do you know how these MSStyles are being made? People who release Vista themes have to hand-edit the MSStyles through Resource Hacker which is a tiresome work.
UKIntel has tried to make this task easier by posting his awesome tutorial but still it isn't so easy as it was in the time of Windows XP.
Making visual styles for Windows XP was quick and easy because of the availability of StyleBuilder but TGTSoft couldn't make a StyleBuilder for Vista, then The Skins Factory came forward and announced the making of a Vista MSStyles skinner but he immediately drew back when AndreasV, the maker of AveDesk posted a working screenshot of his Vista Style Builder [LINK].
So what it is?
With Ave's Vista Style Builder there now is a fully fledged application for changing every aspect of a Vista Visual Style:
- No more hex-editing binary files
- Auto fixes alpha-channels from Photoshop
- Smart support for image import and export
- Add or remove properties
- Built-in documentation
- Import XP Visual Stye and export it as a Vista compatible
It's released! click here
"Bugs have been fixed in the alpha-converter module: Vista Style Builder makes it possible to import images from PhotoShop without fixing the alpha with other programs; you just import the image and it works. A major new feature is the ability to import XP themes into VSB to convert them to Vista themes. It works well on most XP themes (e.g. Luna). However, some themes might require some small tweaking still. It is still a magnitude faster than converting themes by hand."
Will it be a freeware?
It will be the first AndreasV's program which will not be free, but a small amount won't matter considering his hard work and the requirement of this program.
When it will be available?
It has been released!
Where can I know more about it?
How-To-Geek has a walkthrough to get you started with doing so.
How can I make a Vista visual style without Ave's Vista Style Builder?
As I have told above. You can make your own visual style by replacing the images of Aero.msstyles with Resource Hacker and by Hex editing.
Here are the tutorial links:
Creating a Windows Vista Visual Style, The Beginners Guide
How to change FONT TYPES, in Vista Visual Styles (using Hex-Edits)
Hex-Editing Vista Visual Styles, A list of some useful changes to your .msstyle
Ok, is there an easy way?
You can use SkinStudio that allows users to create visual styles for Windows XP and Windows Vista but these visual styles are applied by WindowBlinds and can't be exported as MSStyles. Both SkinStudio and WindowBlinds are sharewares.
Screenshots: Thanks to how-to-geek
