VistaStyleBuilder

Hi.  Just purchased Vista Style Builder (1.5) running on Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1, and trying to learn the ropes.

Starting with the standard aero.msstyles and modifying, and using the Luna VS (Luna.msstyles) as an example, trying to create a WinXP-style theme, much like the Luna one, for the learning experience.  I'm beginning with a basic VS (no aero), and using small icons with the taskbar on the bottom.

So far, I've created images of 34x34 for the taskbar at the bottom and the top, and 89x34 for the taskbar at the left and the right of the screen.  I've imported the images in:
Taskbar & System Tray > Taskbar > Aero > Taskbar > <1>/<2>/<3>/<4>, and
Taskbar & System Tray > Taskbar > Basic > Taskbar > BackgroundBottom/BackgroundRight/BackgroundTop/BackgroundLeft
which may be redundant, but I'm not sure which one could be removed, and the taskbar appearance is as desired at any of the four edges, using large or small icons, and using aero or basic.  So the taskbar background is fine.

The first problem I'm having is getting the taskbar buttons to use the desired colours.  The start-menu/taskbar animation visual effect is turned off, and settings are to never group buttons (actually, to group when taskbar is full); there are no pinned items, so it's just the normal buttons with icon and text.  I've been modifying the images at:
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > TaskItemButton

There are also button images which I have not modified at:
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand (Vertical) > TaskItemButton

And there are also TaskItemButton items which are empty, and whose Import button is grayed out, at:
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Aero > TaskBand > TaskItemButton, and
Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand (SmallIcons) > TaskItemButton

When I make all ten images in the Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > TaskItemButton group a solid colour, which I read in this forum was a requirement, the result is that the Normal buttons and the Selected button display in the correct colour, but when Hovering over either a Normal button or the Selected button, the button colour changes to that of the Pressed image (rather than the colour of the Hover image), and also therefore when the button is pressed there is no colour change (since it is already the colour of the Pressed image).

So to troubleshoot, I restored the images to default, and then changed only the Normal and Selected images.  At this point, the Normal and Selected buttons display as intended, and when Hovered or Pressed they act as they do in the unmodified Aero Basic theme (when Hovering, the button becomes the colour of the icon, and when Pressed the button becomes a very light colour).

If I then also modify the Hover images, no change takes place.  But as soon as I modify the Pressed images (whether or not Hover images have been modified), it reverts to the behavior described above of always changing to the Pressed colour.  So, I cannot get a proper Hover colour at all.

Sorry for the long post.  I hope I've been able to give an accurate problem description, and that someone can provide the solution.

I don't have any pinned items.  The problem is with Hover on a Normal (not Selected) button, and Hover on the Selected (the active) button.  When Hovering over any of those buttons, the button becomes the colour of the Pressed image (I have the same colour for Pressed Normal and Pressed Selected, other than that, all colours are different).  The colour of the Hover Normal or Hover Selected images never appears at all.  I'd be happy to send you my .msstyles file if that would help.

The ones where the import button is grey out are the parts that inherit from other parts of the msstyles.

The parts for the Task Item Button go as follows:

<1>: Open (a program that's just opened and not focused)
<2>: Other Side Hot (only used when labels are enabled and the buttons are uncombined. If you have open 3 notepads, they're listed together on the taskbar, if you hover over the first, the other two use this image)
<3>: Hover (When hovering over a program icon)
<4>: Focused (When a program is the foremost program in Windows)
<5>: Other Side Hot Focused (Same as Other Side Hot except for focused windows)
<6>: Focused Hover / Open Pressed (Used when you hover over a focused application's icon and/or when you press an icon on the taskbar that isn't focused)
<7>: Flash (Used when a window wants your attention)
<8>: Unused (To my knowledge this state is never used)
<9>: Pinned Hover (When you hover over an pinned application icon)
<10>: Pinned Pressed (When you press a pinned application icon)

By the way if you download 1.5.3.2 it has all these label and shows the inheritance in the status bar, it'll be more helpful and works better in Windows 7 that 1.5.

Okay, I did as you suggested.  I used three shades of red ranging from light to dark for Normal, Hover, and Pressed; three shades green ranging from light to dark for NormalSelected, HoverSelected, and PressedSelected; three shades of blue ranging from light to dark for NormalPinned, HoverPinned, and PressedPinned; and orange for Flash.

On the taskbar, normal buttons (buttons of opened programs, whether minimized or not) are light red, and the button of the active program is light green.  There are no buttons for unopened programs since I have no pinned items (you are correct that if I have no programs open, the taskbar is completely empty except for the Start button and the Tray).

As the mouse moves over the buttons, the light red buttons become dark red (not medium red), and the light green button becomes dark green (not medium green).  So, the colours of the three Hover images (medium shades of red, green and blue) never appear.

When any button is pressed, whether active or not (green or red), it becomes dark green (the colour for PressedSelected).

The colours of any of the Pinned items (the three shades of blue -- NormalPinned, HoverPinned and PressedPinned) never appear at any time.

Does this help?

Hi Panda, thanks.  Those labels are mostly different than the ones I see in 1.5.0.0.  Where can I download 1.5.3.2?

EDIT:  Okay, I found and downloaded WSB1532ATB.zip -- is that the correct file?  It says it will expire Dec. 1 (two weeks); should I install over top of 1.5.0.0, or install as a separate program?

It's for Windows 8 testing but it works perfectly fine in 7: http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1737.0

Though don't overwrite since this one does expire, you can just extract the contents to another folder.

Panda, sorry, I keep cross-posting with you.  Got it; thanks for the pointer!

The new version is very nice, in giving the additional information in the status bar; well done!

Okay, so the effects that I obtained, outlined above, exactly match your description with the new names!  I pinned a couple items, and they also colour as you described.

However, for uncombined buttons (whether setting is Never Combine or Combine When Taskbar is Full), I do not get the image colours.  Instead, whenever I open a second instance of a program, both the first instance and all other instances of that program's buttons immediately change to the Aero-style buttons, even though I'm using a basic theme and all of the ten images are solid colours?

The uncombined use Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > UncombinedTaskItemLeft Center and Right. The last 3 image states inherit from the other set of 10.

Got it, thanks!  I found one can even use gradients on the various buttons (no need for solid colours only), and it works fine.

So, all is good for the horizontal taskbar at top or bottom of screen.  The vertical taskbar (at left or right of screen) is still using the Aero-style buttons, so I suspect one will have to modify the Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand (Vertical) items as well (even though they say 'inherits from TaskBand2 (#215)').  I'll try that next.

Okay, taskbar is good, and button colour is good.  I'm trying to adjust the position of the button within the taskband.

By setting Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > BackgroundBottom > CONTENTMARGINS to 3, 3, 5, 3, I've got the button to be five pixels below the top of the taskbar, and three pixels above the bottom of the taskbar, when the taskbar is at the bottom of the screen, which is what I want.

However, when the taskbar is at the top of the screen, I want the button to be three pixels from the top, and five pixels from the bottom.  But, it always displays as five from the top and three from the bottom.  I have tried setting Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > BackgroundTop > CONTENTMARGINS to 3, 3, 5, 3; and to 3, 3, 3, 5.  But it is the same display either way.  Is BackgroundTop > CONTENTMARGINS not the correct setting to adjust the button vertically within a taskbar on top of screen?

BTW, what do the first two numbers in CONTENTMARGINS do?

Left, Right, Top, Bottom

You can't change the margins on the top background. They are always the reverse of the margins on the bottom.

They aren't reversed. It's always Left, Right, Top, Bottom.

I mean they look reversed. You can't change the content margins on the top background only on the bottom

But it doesn't.

(http://i.cubeupload.com/qkxfMm.png)
(http://i.cubeupload.com/wDwStH.png)

Panda, your pictures show the exact problem I'm having:  the buttons are always spaced closer to the bottom of the taskbar than to the top, regardless of whether the taskbar is at the bottom or top of the screen.

So, are you saying there is no way to adjust the spacing of the buttons within the taskbar when the taskbar is at the top of the screen, independent of when it is at the bottom of the screen?

Correct

That's a shame.  Thanks for the confirmation.

Next problem is that I can't seem to adjust the spacing of the buttons when the taskbar is vertical (either left edge or right edge of screen).  Is this possible?

Nope. Or at least I can't do it

You can set it to 10, 10, 0, 0 and it'll edge both the top and the bottom:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/w2UY1W.png)

The vertical taskbar doesn't size the same way as the top/bottom. The buttons's width is set to automatic to fit the taskbar.

Thanks to both for the confirmation -- another shame.

Yes, if I make the button spacing vertically symmetrical, it will look the same both top and bottom of screen, but doesn't look too good with my taskbar, so... guess I'll need to rethink my design!

Okay, thanks to your help, and a little redesign of my taskbar/buttons, I now have the taskbar looking nice at all edges, with large and small icons, in basic and aero.

Next step is the window title bar color for normal application program windows, but as much as I have searched, I haven't found how to change this.  Could someone provide a pointer?

Fonts & System Metrics > CAPTIONTEXT:COLOR and INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT:COLOR

Those would, I guess, be the colours of the text; I'm trying to change the colour of the title bar--the background.

I've tried changing Fonts, Colors & System Metrics > Fonts & System Metrics > ACTIVECAPTION, INACTIVECAPTION, GRADIENTACTIVECAPTION, and GRADIENTINACTIVECAPTION, but the changes had no effect.  Is there something else required?

Those colors are for Windows Classic.

Got it.  So, how to change the colours for the title bars (background) in Basic and Aero?

Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > *
Windows & Caption Buttons > Basic > Frames > Window > *

All images under those categories are related to the window images.

Great.  Okay, I have the colours for maximized and regular, active and inactive, title bars and window borders (frames) on left, right and bottom.  But, though my left and right frames are four pixels wide, Windows is still making my window frames (left, right, and bottom) nine pixels wide.

1.  How to adjust the frame width?
2.  How to keep Window from stretching some columns of the frames, even though the SizingMargins are already set?

Also, adjusting the colours at:


as mentioned above, doesn't actually change my window titlebar text colours at all?

1. Fonts, Colors, & System Metrics > Fonts & System Metrics PADDEDBORDERWIDTH:INT. Though DWM still leaves a bit there unfortunately.
2. Can you show a screenshot of what you mean?

Still cannot get the window titlebar text colour to change, even with the above settings?

My PADDEDBORDERWIDTH is set to 4, yet the window frames ares till 9 pixels?

The first attachment is my active window right border; it is three pixels of blue and one pixel of black.  The second is a screen capture of the same length of border of an actual window; the border has been stretched to nine pixels wide, and both colours have been stretched.  My understanding was that the SIZINGMARGINS could be used to prevent some pixels from being stretched--in this case I do not want the black to be stretched (there should be only one column of black, regardless of how wide the frame is).

I meant can you show me a screenshot of a whole window, not the images you are using, I can't determine anything from that.

when you set your sizing margin did you set it at least 1 pixel less then the width of the image, if you don't it will still stretch the whole image, you also need to have canvas width 1 pixel larger then the image on the out site for the frames as those are not shown on the outer edge.

You must want maximized window titlebar text so either:

Add textcolors here:

 Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Dwm Window > Frames > Normal > Top > MaxInactive 
 Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Dwm Window > Frames > Normal > Top > MaxActive   

Or change them here:

Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > MaxActive
Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > MaxInactive

Depending on whatever XMLs you're using.

Okay, here's Win7 Style Builder window; you can see PADDEDBORDERWIDTH is 4.

I've since changed the sizing margins to 2 (the image is 4 pixels), but it didn't make any difference.  I don't understand the last point:  are you saying that if my left/right border is 4 pixels wide, the canvas should be 5 pixels wide, and if so, what is the colour of the extra pixel?

I already had set those, but it didn't change anything.  I also tried adding and setting the TEXTCOLORS property to Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Dwm Window > Frames > Normal > Top > Active/Inactive, but also with no change.

I should add that I am at present working on the windows in Basic (non-Aero) style; don't know if that makes any difference to either the caption colours or the frame widths.

4 is an offset, change it to 0 and it'll get smaller. There's the sizing border, and then there's a bit of extra padding, which is what this property defines.

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.

Changed to 0, but no change in window frame:  the border is still 9 pixels on left, right, and bottom; and it is still stretching all columns, regardless of sizing margins.

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.

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

Thanks for trying to help; it is appreciated.

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.

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

Unfortunately, didn't help.

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

Put it in a zip and it will

Great.  Here it is...

It works for me without any modifications:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/n00UyM.png)


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

Through the control panel.

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:


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

They should all have an effect really.

Sizes are defined in [Metrics] section, if that's also in your .theme file, remove it as well.

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:

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?

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

(http://i.cubeupload.com/p4eH29.png)


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!?

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:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/PvfLUA.png)


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

Based on that image, the sizing margins would have to be 2 on left so the two black columns wouldn't stretch, 1 on the right so the trans parent bit wouldn't stretch which is what you set it to.

And when I zoom into what the frame looks like you can see that the two black pixels are there as in the image:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/4SJB5O.png)


If I color pick the last two pixels on the top frame and apply them to the side frame like this:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/XDoIqO.png)

I get this result

(http://i.cubeupload.com/Zxm01p.png)

and zoomed in you can see it looks perfect:

(http://i.cubeupload.com/VRlLKy.png)


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.

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.


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?

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?!

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)?

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.

(http://i.cubeupload.com/XMd2In.png)

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?

(http://i.cubeupload.com/5sbcV8.png)

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.

Try adjusting the content margins of the top frame, not entirely sure if that'll work but in theory it should.

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.

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.

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.

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!


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.).

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

Thank you!  I'll give those a try.

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)?

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?

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

In Firefox:

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

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, 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?

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


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)?

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.

1) In Firefox disabled textcolors are the same though not in other popups.

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.

3) Don't know about Thunderbird. Could be any of these or none of them. A lot of apps are partially controlled by msstyles or not at all.

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?

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

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>

1) Changing a textcolor has nothing to do with changing a background image

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.

3) Or you could leave FLATMENUS:BOOL checked and not be able to change textcolors or background images for the explorer menubar states. The only background change would be Fonts & System Metrics > HIGHLIGHT:COLOR.

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?

Thanks, that did it!

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?

I use Gimp

1) make the whole image a solid color
2)  selection tools>fuzzy select.select it then layer>transparency>add alpha
3) edit>clear
4) save

I'm sure there are many other ways but this is what I do

attached is the one i use

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?

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?

Works perfect for me. No idea what your problen could be.

http://i.cubeupload.com/vV33bd.png.

Taskbar progress bar is:

Taskbar & System Tray > TaskBand > Basic > TaskBand > Progress etc

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

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

That did it; thanks!


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

In Gimp I just hit Ctrl+L and use the Opacity slider to decrease opacity. Likely something similar in the image editor you are using.

They don't have to be completely transparent. Experiment with what level of opacity works best for you

Got it!  Experimenting with transparency now.

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.

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

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?

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.

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.

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

If none of these work then the only thing left I can think of is:

In 1.4 XMLs :StartMenu > Panels > Basic > JumpListItemLeft or in 1.6 XMLs: Start Menu > Panels > Basic > Programs List > Controls > Programs List Split Button Left

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?

The 1 moment you are talking about ←,→,↑,↓. Did I miss something as to make it change ↑,↓,←,→?

I don't understand, no where did I say anything other than left, right, top, bottom.

Maybe i'm just misunderstanding but you say 10, 10, 0, 0 will edge the top and bottom. Is left and right somehow supposed to edge the top and bottom?  :S

No, the fact the top and bottom are both set to 0 will.

Now it is a little unclear to me, what the difference is between List View & Items View. I would like to know if it is even possible to add a drop shadow to the text in explorer. My current theme is best used with FullGlass.exe, and I would like it to remain this way but found most text is difficult to read. Alternativly I could change my wallpaper but prefur not. So, can a drop shadow be added?

http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=1588.0