Talk:Windows XP visual styles

Plus themes?

Should we include the Aquarium, DaVinci, Nature, and Space themes from Microsoft Plus XP in this article? Or will the article only cover visual styles? 68.62.186.103 (talk) 02:38, 11 November 2012 (UTC)

Disponiblized?

What does "disponibilized" mean? This is not an English word and I have no idea what was meant in order to change it to an appropriate word. I'm going to attempt what I think makes sense in the context, but I am still curious was "disponibilized" means. I get some Portuguese pages in Google when I search.

• After a bit of tracking, i think i may have solved it. See http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=pt&u=http://www.macromedia.com/go/gnav_products_br&prev=/search%3Fq%3Ddisponibilize%26hl%3Den%26hs%3DHya%26lr%3D%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DG

for a Portuguese variant of this site http://www.macromedia.com/software/

If you "find" disponibilized, it appears under the product "ColdFusion MX 7 Enterprise", and the corresponding English word is "deliver". I'm just wondering whether it is net-slang or is worthy of wiktionary mention.130.95.128.51 04:50, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

In Portuguese, the word "disponibilizado" (disponibilized in English) is a verb (disponibilizar) and means to turn something available (affordable, accessible, handy, approachable, forthcoming, easy, get-at-able) or to make something affordable to be used. Ex .: soil bacteria turn (become?)phosphorus available ("disponibilizado" in Portuguese)to be used by the plants.

Royale Noir

There is a theme, Royale Noir, that is downloadable from this site. However, I downloaded Royale from the same site. And part of the description for Royale Noir says:

If you already have Royale installed, you’ll need to remove it as both of these skins share the same name.

So is there any way to remove Royale? It doesn't say how to do it, it just says that you need to do it. Because when I open up Display in the Control Panel, Royale Noir doesn't show up...

Also, if I remove Royale, and install Royale Noir, will I get Royale again? TanookiMario257 23:59, 26 November 2006 (UTC)

Ah. See, I downloaded it, too. And had an issue at first when it didn't show up. The read-me said to put the folder in the C:/windows/resources/themes folder, in a folder named "Royal Noir". Then, to double-click on the luna.msstyles file. When I did that, I got the Desktop Properties dialog, with the "Royal Noir" color scheme but nothing selected under "Windows and Buttons" where it normally says "Windows XP theme, Windows Classic Theme, Media Center Theme". What I wound up doing is just leaving it like that and saving that theme as a .theme file, and putting it in the Shared Docs folder for whoever wants it. Seems to work. Seems to me that if you were to just delete the old "Royal" folder and name the new one with royal noir to "Royal", then it should replac it. And yes, you can choose plain Royal, too. Hope that helps. If you install it, you might want to put a screenshot on this page under the section about it. --Tech Nerd 22:37, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

Err, sorry. I meant Royale where I said Royal above. Oops.--Tech Nerd 00:49, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Double click on the luna.msstyles file. go to appearence, cahnge colour schemes from Royale to Royale Noir, just like changing colour schemes for Luna or classic. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 150.101.102.188 (talk) 15:35, 30 March 2007 (UTC).

Merging with Luna (theme)

Looking at both of the articles, it almost seems like the two article should be merged into a general article about Windows XP's general theming engine and themes provided by Microsoft to use with it. Chris (Talk) (Contribs) 18:05, 26 December 2006 (UTC)

Well, they are fairly different. Maybe, I don't know. Not enough people have commented yet to take any action, yet. I do think that this article should be renamed Royale (theme), since it talks not only of the Energy Blue theme, but of the Royale Noir and Zune themes as well. Maybe all one article to the tune of "Windows XP Themes"? --Tech Nerd 00:50, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Actually, yeah, I agree. There should be an article "Windows XP themes". It could talk about all of the XP themes - Luna, Royale/Media Center/Zune and Windows Classic. I suppose there could be links to the existing articles, or just a new one. You may want to propose that on the Luna (theme) talk page. --Tech Nerd 00:05, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Merging with Energy Blue

It has been proposed that this article be merged with the article Energy Blue into one article, Windows XP themes (or something similar). This new article could discuss the Luna, Royale, Classic and any other themes designed for Windows XP. I agree with this idea, does anyone else have any input? --Tech Nerd 00:10, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Original Discussion

• Although a little late, I completely agree with that. It doesn't make sense to have the theme aritcles divided. Before I liked the articles together (see also section), readers wouldn't know that the other even existed. -KULSHRAX 10:59, 17 July 2007 (UTC)
  • Also, there is a Windows XP Themes section in the Theme (computing) article, but it only contains screenshots. -KULSHRAX 11:03, 17 July 2007 (UTC)

Zune theme download

Would it possible to add a link to a .msstyles file for the Zune theme, as opposed to a .msi file? _~~Neo 2.3 Hylan 08:47, 22 May 2007 (UTC)

Well, a .msstyle file doesn't work on its own. You need some dlls, and things get screwed up when you just start using a .msstyle. The MSI does all the necessary registry work an puts in all the right files for you. Much easier.

New Image

What's with the new image? Although I like that it's PNG, it doesn't show the default Energy Blue desktop, and therefore doesn't show this theme as accurately. I think you should switch it back, or else upload a version with the default desktop. Thank you. --Tech Nerd 03:20, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

That image is called New Bliss, and was automatically installed on my computer as the desktop image for the Royale theme, but I also have the Energy Blue picture, so I don't know which would be considered official.71.241.220.177 21:45, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

Sorry, above comment was me, forgot to sign in. Penman 1323 21:47, 1 December 2007 (UTC)

About to remove the fair-use gallery

According to administrator soum and numerous precedents, "displaying copyrighted images in a gallery or list is an absolute no-no". --tyomitch 10:44, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

Elements not part of Luna

The non-style related elements of the explorer, the start-menu and the taskbar, are not part of Luna, but of Windows Explorer, and are available whether Luna is active, inactive, or replaced with something else. Shinobu 03:42, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Also, its (supposed) resource intensiveness has nothing to do with it called a Fisher-Price interface. This article calls for some heavy-handed editing. Shinobu 03:44, 16 July 2007 (UTC)

Luna Screenshots

I think that the old screenshots that were once on this page should be re-added, because all of the variations of Luna are discussed, so they should be shown. The screenshots themselves are very uniform and provide good comparison. -KULSHRAX 01:19, 19 July 2007 (UTC)

Error in Zune theme picture?

The caption for the Zune theme says "featuring the new green start button". However, it is actually orange, could someone fix it? Iceage6891 (talk) 07:01, 7 December 2007 (UTC)

Royale?

"The theme Royale, which is designed for Windows XP, is very similar" and "Also known as Royale or Media Center style" -- which of these is right? Anyone know? Entbark (talk) 22:29, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Royale Noir not official

To see what Royale Noir was made of, I took it apart using a program I cannot remember the name of. It is not an official theme, as the empty folders for the Luna color schemes were still there. That is not the case in the officially released .msstyles file for Royale. If Microsoft had released a theme with only one color scheme, they would have done so following suit of Royale.

What I think was the case, is someone pretended to "discover" a theme (that he/she made) was an "official" theme, and spread this rumor around the internet. I think we have all been duped by creativity.

So following that we don't have unofficial themes on here, I think it would be wise to remove the part on Royale Noir. (Joanna.Licata not signed in) 72.230.176.190 (talk) 17:48, 26 April 2008 (UTC)

Royale Noir was made by Microsoft. You'll notice it has been signed by Microsoft and works without hacked a UxTheme.dll library. But Microsoft didn't actually release Royale Noir, it was leaked. W3bbo (talk) 12:14, 4 May 2008 (UTC)

what you are finding as evidance that it is not from microsoft is stuff that would have been cleaned up like Royal,Zune and Luna if Microsoft had decided to release it however they decided to tweeke Noir and turn it into zune and then release it. ( or start over and scrap Luna and the artist want his work shown) but Microsoft Signature is there and that is only coming from one place —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.70.31.100 (talk) 03:30, 13 May 2008 (UTC)

Requested move

Energy Blue → Royale (theme) — Based on my understanding, Royale was the development name of these themes. Since the article mentions a number of themes including non-blue Royale themes, "Royale (theme)" is more appropriate. The "Royale (theme)" name is also more consistent with Luna (theme). — Voidvector (talk) 01:37, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

Merged Luna (theme) and Royale (theme) →Windows XP themes Sonixrulerz (talk) 09:16, 19 September 2010 (UTC)

Performance Issue-Discuss

There is a link on the main article to here, to discuss the performance issues with changing styles. If you select Computer -> Manage -> System Properties -> Performance Options -> Adjust for best performance, it turns off all the visual styles new to the Luna interface, and 'Adjust for best performance' isnt that self documenting? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.174.157.126 (talk) 01:59, 20 November 2008 (UTC)

resolved this by removing the old "dubious" (idiotic, IMHO) and "discuss" (what to discuss here?) with a couple of refs to data showing that *disabling luna IS a way of improving performance* (it was indeed considered eye-candy even by M$), which is true, not only by a common knowledge, but also by any mean of scientific research (using bitmaps instead of WinAPI user32 line-drawing can only reduce performance, parsing CSS is not a way of speeding anything up etc).Vaxquis (talk) 21:02, 25 January 2009 (UTC)

Images

I realize that they are supposed to be low res, but I personally believe that they are TOO low res. I am having some trouble telling the difference between them (besides the very basic colour differences) 99.255.58.85 (talk) 10:30, 27 November 2010 (UTC)

XP & Vista/7 Disabled Visual Themes

How does the themes that are used when visual themes are set as disabled (like in "Safe Mode") in XP and Vista/7 are called? (It's not "Windows Classic")

Screenshots: XP: [1] Vista/7: [2]

Galzigler (talk) 15:42, 14 February 2012 (UTC)

Most likely just Classic; they are only stretched. -Mardus (talk) 21:24, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Microsoft's official position on 3rd party themes; licensing

The article text currently states that Microsoft has not sanctioned 3rd party themes (by way of only MS signing themes for Windows, and of an unofficial fix required for unsigned themes), despite a KB article that acknowledges the practice of using 3rd party unsigned themes and the unofficial fix, too.

The question is also whether patching uxtheme.dll can void the various Windows EULAs, or is it more akin to an earlier practice during the Windows 9x period when many software vendors would willfully change some system DLL's in order to make their programs work, thereby causing DLL Hell? -Mardus (talk) 21:39, 30 April 2012 (UTC)

Why do this topic exist?

Is there any value of knowing about windows themes? 178.120.163.27 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 20:20, 18 January 2013 (UTC)

Yes, readers do look for this information on Wikipedia. Wikipedia isn't a paper encyclopedia and this is a notable topic, so why not?--Jasper Deng (talk) 01:32, 19 January 2013 (UTC)

Themes vs. Visual Styles

Part of the article is about themes, but the majority really is about visual styles (and for the record, these are really different things - see Microsoft's website) - Things like Luna and Royale are visual styles. Themes specify the visual styles, wallpaper, screensaver and mouse pointers configured for the user. Perhaps the title of this article should be "Visual Styles (or Themes, or perhaps Visual Styles and Themes) in Microsoft Windows"? Or perhaps it will be better off in the Windows XP article (take a look at Windows Vista, section "Visual styles").Thomas J. S. Greenfield (talk) 12:10, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Hi. I think you are right. Should we rename?

Best regards, Codename Lisa (talk) 13:19, 16 May 2014 (UTC)

Perhaps we should reconstruct this article as "Themes and Visual Styles in Microsoft Windows"?Thomas J. S. Greenfield (talk) 03:24, 14 June 2014 (UTC)

I can't a significant mention of themes in it. I am going WP:BOLD.

Best regards,

Codename Lisa (talk) 13:15, 15 June 2014 (UTC)

External links modified

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This article uses too many non-free screenshots.

I tagged this article with Template:non-free. Maybe someone can merge them into one picture. --dqwyy (talk) _{from zhwiki} 10:48, 3 April 2018 (UTC)

Removed. See edit summary. startTerminal (haha wow talk page) 00:46, 8 April 2018 (UTC)

Link rot

You need to inspect the links in the references for link rot. 216.145.88.103 (talk) 02:10, 20 January 2019 (UTC)

Windows Classic theme

Maybe the Windows Classic theme should receive its own article, as it's no exclusive feature of XP.

• Basically, the Windows Classic theme as it is understood today involves design features originally introduced and found in the Windows 9x versions, that is in Windows 95, Windows 98, up until Windows ME.
• Windows 2000 started a new line of design that is today primarily associated with XP and it its Luna/Royale themes. From Windows 2000 up until Windows 7, the Classic theme was still included in Windows as an optional legacy theme.
• Windows 8 and higher did away with native support for the Classic theme.

Today, there are entire forums dedicated to the Classic theme[3], as well as programs such as Classic Shell, its modern fork Open Shell, and StartIsBack that are used to port the Classic theme and its design elements found from Windows 95 up until Windows ME to Windows 8 and higher. There's an entire movement of users, coders, and programmers that design plug-ins, apps, tools, and themes to make Windows 8 and Windows 10 resemble older versions in looks, which is about equally divided between people who prefer a.) the look of Windows 7 (which basically grew out of XP's Royale Noir/Zune theme), b.) the Luna/Royale look of XP, and c.) the look of the Classic theme.

However, as during XP's lifetime, the Classic theme was so popular already that many people think it would be the native look of XP, many people confuse the Classic theme for XP itself and either name their plug-ins/apps/tools/themes "XP" in the name, YouTube videos on what to download to re-create the Classic theme are named "XP"-something, or they request an "XP" look on forums and are then confused when they get the Luna/Royale theme. --2003:EF:13DB:3B04:D177:A72E:B542:6736 (talk) 13:18, 2 February 2020 (UTC)

To further elaborate, there were basically four different versions of the Classic theme with minor differences between them:

• Windows Chicago Build 58s, released August 10, 1993 (also used in Windows 95, Windows 95Plus, and Windows NT 4.0, and mainly known as the Windows 95 theme today),
• Windows 98 (also used in Windoes 98SE),
• Windows ME,
• and the most elaborate legacy version that combined the best and most advanced features of it, first introduced under the Classic theme name with Windows 2000 and retained through XP, Fundamentals, Server, Vista, and 7 (the last of which, Windows Server 2008 R2 Itanium-Based, supported up until July 10, 2018).

So the Windows Classic theme basically existed as an official Windows theme from summer 1993 up until summer 2018, an entire quarter of a century, which should establish notablity for an own article. If we add its native support in the oddity of Windows Thin PC, which has an extended support up until mid-October 2021, its official Microsoft support will even last for close to 28 years. Additionally, there is its continued official support as default theme in the related ReactOS OS, with its latest version to-date released in September 2019. --2003:EF:13DB:3B77:2144:F0CA:C4C8:1859 (talk) 22:43, 2 February 2020 (UTC)