My bad. I'm not actually interested in changing the buttons at all. I'm interested in adding a shadow to the window titles -- the area that in an unmodified version of Aero is black with a white blur behind it. I see how to change the white blur to something else, but how do I cause the text to have a shadow?

Derek

Using (a purchased version of) WSB 1.5.0.0, I'm trying to add shadows to the Aero-style caption buttons. I've tried:

Code:

Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Caption > Active: Add Property TEXTSHADOWTYPE:ENUM SINGLE
Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Caption > Active: Add Property TEXTSHADOWCOLOR:COLOR Black (or any other color, for that matter)
Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Caption > Active: Add Property TEXTSHADOWOFFSET:POSITION 0, 1 (and 1, 1)

I've also added identical values to ...Inactive as well. No visible change at all. I've also added these values to the "Windows and Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Caption" class without going into Active or inactive -- no go.

I also added these values to "Windows and Caption Buttons > Basic > Caption", "Windows and Caption Buttons > Basic > Caption > Active" and "Windows and Caption Buttons > Basic > Caption > Inactive" -- no go.

What am I missing? Does it matter if the Position values are in parentheses (I haven't been using parentheses since sizing margins and content margins aren't in parentheses).

Thanks!

Derek

P.S. I've also tried applying the StyleHack mentioned above, but the StyleHacks that come with the program don't appear to actually work for me.

I understand. In both cases, the image is being replaced, but in one case the new image is being resized to the dimensions of the old image. Gotcha.

Derek

So I imported the images without replacing the default images and I got this:

How did you import without replacing the defaults?

Derek

Thanks. What's weird to me is that if I open up my two images in Photoshop -- the originals or the ones exported from WSB -- they adjoin with each other perfectly when I place them side by side in a new image. So the question in my mind is: what's going on in Windows' display system that messes them up? Or is the oddity somewhere in WSB?



Derek

Thanks for looking into that, 3am. I'll do some further research and consider making changes to my skin. I appreciate your help!

Derek

Thanks for the response 3am. I don't have a cracked version, but my version does have problems. Foremost is that if I use the [Test] button, then after that I'm no longer able to [Save] or [Import] images. So I make my changes, [Test], [Stop Testing], exit the program, and restart the program. I downloaded it from the link that came in my "Vista Style Builder Download and Activation" email. Should I try re-downloading it?

Regarding my problem, I had hoped that I found the problem in the DWMWindow settings, in the Opacity and Colorization values. I changed DWMWindow:Frametop:Active to

• Opacity: 100
• ColorizationColor: 0
• ColoizationOpacity: 0

... and tested it by setting my pictures back to opaque. Unfortunately, there is still a visible color change in the Test display of the StartMenu.

In my previous post, I posted a link to the portion of my StartMenu that I'm splitting into the ProgramList and PlacesList images. That image can be found at: http://i35.tinypic.com/ddkefa.png. I'd welcome your looking at it to see if you experience the same problem.

FYI, my Win7 Style Builder version # is 1.5.0.0.

Thanks for your help. I'm looking forward to resolving this challenge and getting on with my style!

Derek

Well, K-Johnson, I tried the technique with your new suggestions and I'm still having no luck. I've uploaded a screencap of the result, which still shows the problem, at http://i37.tinypic.com/35laijl.png . And I've uploaded a portion of the image that I'm working with, in PNG format to http://i35.tinypic.com/ddkefa.png . You can see in screencap that the PlacesList section is slightly darker than the ProgramList section. Still no idea why... If you feel like playing with it to see if you're getting the same result, I'd love to hear about it (or even get a copy of a successful msstyles file). But don't by any means feel like I'm trying to assign you a task. I appreciate your effort to help as it is.

Thanks1
Derek

Thanks, sunbeam2000 and K-Johnson. As it turns out, both the left and right half of my Start Menu use transparency around the edges of the images -- the area featured in my pic shows the error in the partially-transparent region.

One thing I've found, however, in my effort to explore the problem, is that even if I make both images completely opaque there is still a color discrepancy. I've also found that when I view the respective images in Win7 Style Builder's preview panel and grab screenshots of them to compare in Photoshop, the colors are correct. But when I [Test] the style, the colors in the PlacesList image are slightly altered while the ProgramList image remains correct (The ProgramList image is always correct, whether using partialy transparency or not). I have tried opening styles created by others which have the same colors at the edges of both images and replacing those images with my own. When I [Test] the style which had formerly displayed the original images properly, the color error is visible. Not sure what that means.

I'll try K-Johnson's suggested approach and see how that works. Thanks for the feedback, folks!

Derek

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, your suggestion isn't working for me...

Derek

I originally posted this in the Vista Style Builder forum, but realized that it makes more sense here.

Here's the link to the original thread: http://vistastylebuilder.com/forum/index.php?topic=14.0

Basically, there appears to be a difference in how the opacity in my PNG images is interpreted. The referenced thread above suggested importing the image with the [Shift] key held down, which I did without effect.

Here's the pic that shows the problem:


------------
UPDATE
------------
Ok, so I've seen that this effect is tied in with the Glass settings in Windows' Control Panel > All Control Panel Items > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance.

Does anyone know if there's a way to cause those settings to not affect the visual style? Is there some trade off, such as not being able to use alpha or losing the blur on areas with alpha?
--------------
END UPDATE
--------------

Thanks!

Derek

Hi, I'm currently experiencing the same problem. I've tried holding down the shift key while clicking the "Import" button, with no visible effect.

Here's a pic illustrating the problem:


I'm using Win7 Styler 1.5. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is my first effort on a visual style.

Derek