Everything you want to know about Windows 7 Styles

Page 1 of 1

You cannot start a new topic
Add Reply

Everything you want to know about Windows 7 Styles
Share Topic
Rate Topic:

#1 M.Sudoku

Super Duper WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,872
Joined: 31-December 06

Posted 25 January 2009 - 07:26 PM

While Microsoft's attempts to streamline and simplify the Windows 7 user interface are arguably the number one focus for this new Windows version, personalization isn't far behind. According to the software giant, a huge percentage of Windows users customize their PC desktop with a picture, using either a personal photo or something that they've downloaded from the Web. And users are clamoring for more ways in which to customize the PC experience and make it their own. In Windows 7 one of the main desktop customization features is Styles.

Here is everything you want to know about Windows 7 Styles:

Styles are a formal combination of desktop background, Aero glass window color, sound scheme, and screen saver.
In the Windows 7 Beta, Styles are called Themes. Microsoft says it will change the name to Styles in future builds.
Styles are accessed via the new Personalization option on the context menu that appears when you right-click the Windows desktop. (You can also launch this control panel by typing Personalization in Start Menu Search.)
Styles are portable, meaning that they can be packaged up and copied from machine-to-machine. You can upload them to WinMatrix and share with others.
To save a Style, click the Save theme link, which is subtly located near the bottom of the Personalization window. Styles are saved as a single file with a *.theme extension. These files can then be copied to other PCs and used elsewhere.
Microsoft is working on Windows 7 Styles that are unique to different regions around the world. The Beta version of Windows 7, for example, includes Styles oriented towards Australia, Canada, Great Britain, the United States, and South Africa.
If you have the Windows 7 Beta, most of these Styles are not available by default. But you can find them all hidden in C:\Windows\Globalization\MCT
While the number of Styles and their actual contents will likely change before Windows 7 is finalized, the following Windows Styles are current available: Default, Landscape, Light Auras, Nature, Regional.
If the Style you're using includes background images, sounds schemes, or screensavers that aren't found in a default Windows 7 install, you won't be able to pass them around to others. Fortunately, there's a way around this issue: You can also save Styles as a Style Pack (*.themepack), which packages all of the needed files into a single archive that can then be distributed to others.
Theme Pack files are really just ZIP files with a different extension. That means you can open them--and extract their contents--with any ZIP extractor, including Compressed Folders, WinRAR, WinZIP, and others.
Microsoft offers a number of wonderful pre-built Style Packs on the Windows 7 Web site. To download and install these Style Packs, click the link "Get more themes online" in the My Themes section of the Personalize window.
Styles can take advantage of desktop slide shows feature. This allows you to specify multiple pictures for the background image.
Style files are, in fact, simple text files, similar to XML or INI files, so you can open them with a text editor, like Wordpad, to see what they're made of. A typical section in a Style file looks like so:
[VisualStyles]
Path=%SystemRoot%\resources\themes\Aero\Aero.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize
ColorizationColor=0X45409EFE
Transparency=1
VisualStyleVersion=10

Source: Winsupersite

#2 Bill_Puertas

WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 218
Joined: 07-June 08

Posted 26 January 2009 - 01:52 AM

im not looking nothing new with win7 visualstyle... seven still use that ugly "aurora", that ugly "orb", i dont know why but cleartype doesnt look well with aero enable ... and basic theme is extremely ugly!!!

im going to upgrade to seven only if its performance is better than Windows XP

Actually i cant use Vista...and i always disable "aero"

,

i tried and i have a very good hardware an a lot of RAM to use it, but simply i cant use an operating system that looks builded for little childs !!! or sissies

why microsoft cant build a GUI clear, useful, smooth, plane without a lot of "auroras" in every where ...

The windows 7 basic theme really looks disgusting

how ever is only a beta ... i wanna see something to disable all that fancy an get something clear like windows 2000 GUI or Windows XP Classic theme ... because Vista classic theme doesnt look well

how ever is just my opinion

#3 henrydtv

AHHHH ninja stars!!!

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,109
Joined: 17-August 08

Posted 26 January 2009 - 02:19 AM

Bill_Puertas, on Jan 26 2009, 01:52 AM, said:

u think the new windows 7 orb doesnot look good?!!

#4 CommonSense

Super WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 2,566
Joined: 11-November 07

Post icon Posted 26 January 2009 - 02:24 AM

henrydtv, on Jan 25 2009, 09:19 PM, said:

Bill_Puertas, on Jan 26 2009, 01:52 AM, said:

u think the new windows 7 orb doesnot look good?!!

LMAOOOOO!

You're reply is in the quote :lol:

And I think some people wouldn't like to adapt to the new Superbar. I don't know what would stop them. It's an improvement over the old taskbar. I could've sworn that we had a topic about the Superbar and it turned into superbar vs taskbar "war".

This post has been edited by CommonSense: 26 January 2009 - 02:27 AM

#5 InlineSkate

Super WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,969
Joined: 13-September 08

Posted 26 January 2009 - 04:30 AM

Bill_Puertas, on Jan 25 2009, 08:52 PM, said:

A new OS will never be that much faster then the previous one.

XP isn't faster then win98 is it :whistle:

#6 SharmanNet

Super WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,454
Joined: 22-April 07

Posted 26 January 2009 - 09:25 AM

Quote

XP isn't faster then win98 is it

Win9x is slower than XP on the C2D and C2Q processors, XP is slower than Vista with at least 3 GB of RAM, same way Vista and XP both will be slower than Windows 7 on multicore (more than 8) CPUs.

Old OS's aren't optimized for new powerful hardwares!

This post has been edited by SharmanNet: 26 January 2009 - 09:26 AM

#7 Laguna

Active WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 720
Joined: 07-October 07

Posted 26 January 2009 - 02:06 PM

7's style it's ok. Nothing new besides the superbar, but it's ok.

Back on topic: These styles are useless. We want .msstyles!!

#8 Eye Pie Rate

Super WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,861
Joined: 20-November 08

Posted 26 January 2009 - 04:06 PM

They are .msstyles.... just an upgraded version of it... its much better, more customisable.

and @Bill_Puertas
Ever heard of a theme?
You can use Vista or Windows 7 without the orb or aero... its a simple patch and theme is all....

#9 The Silent Warrior

Got Orange Stars?

Group: WM Members
Posts: 2,426
Joined: 19-November 05

Posted 27 January 2009 - 11:23 AM

Thanks for the informative post.

#10 Edgar J.

PR WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 129
Joined: 07-November 06

Posted 27 January 2009 - 09:57 PM

Bill_Puertas, on Jan 25 2009, 09:52 PM, said:

Why not adapt the new stuff, you seem like like to use the same stuff again again again, this in improvement i like it, but hey that is why we beliebe in choice

#11 RickSOLET

Super WinMatrixian

Group: WM Members
Posts: 1,403
Joined: 30-April 08

Posted 28 January 2009 - 10:49 AM

Yeah we need an official MSStyles gallery.

#12 The Flashing Fish

om nom nom nom

Group: WM Members
Posts: 467
Joined: 17-January 06

Posted 28 January 2009 - 11:41 AM

Bill_Puertas, on Jan 26 2009, 01:52 AM, said:

i tried and i have a very good hardware an a lot of RAM to use it, but simply i cant use an operating system that looks builded for little childs !!! or sissies

Yeah. The fisher price look of Windows XP definitely screams MANLY to me.

And the light blue and light green of the Royale Theme is just FABULOUS.

I'm sure my sarcasm is going to go unnoticed on someone who doesn't speak English natively.

This post has been edited by The Flashing Fish: 28 January 2009 - 11:42 AM