Special Themes (AeroLite and High Contrast variations)

[Hopachi]

your hc-midnight blue theme messed up my system.can't even select any options by dragging mouse to any corners.also all options were mixing up.it's a buggy theme,plz delete it.see screenshot >>

Sorry to see that.

The theme is not buggy, tested and works on multiple machines. The one after another switch between multiple high contrast themes is buggy (not all colors in the start screen will change). First try to switch back to a normal theme (no high contrast) and then select the midnight one (see here below).

I see your screenshot. I suggest you switch back to a normal theme (default Windows 8 or any other theme, AeroLite will do too), then try to reapply the midnight theme from the theme's list:

Right-click on the desktop -> personalize:
-Pick any normal/aero theme to apply it.
-look at start screen (should be good again).
-now, if you select hc-midnight-blue from the list of themes it should correctly apply it.



In case you are using third party modified themes and patched system files then I cannot help: this themes here are tested and work with original aero and aerolite themes. If you still cannot use the theme, delete it after you switch back to a normal one.

 

[Hopachi]

@Love

I've tried to apply and reapply (refresh) between many themes. I also applied your color from menu.

See my annotations in images in yellow.
Here below it's a normal theme.



You can switch between the colors but it will have no importance for high contrast: if you (re)switch to high-contrast (like midnight blue), you'll see this:


Here it looks as it should but this is where it went wrong in your case.
(keep in mind that if you use third party or any modified themes/msstyles, high contrast might not function properly there).

The background should entirely change to gray (no colors because they don't apply in high contrast).

I'm using original themes and my hc ones here but sometimes I also encounter some bad colors, that is not the theme's fault but the way it gets loaded and applied, switching to normal and back to hc mode fixes it, that's why I recommend to reapply a theme from the theme's list.

Good luck.

 

[Love]

Ok..no problem hopachi..never using it again.but when i applied normal windows 8 theme & moved my cursor to top corner can't even see options there.anyway no problem if u applied them on multiple machines.then problem may be in my side..it's ok

 

[Hopachi]

Ok..no problem hopachi..never using it again.but when i applied normal windows 8 theme & moved my cursor to top corner can't even see options there.anyway no problem if u applied them on multiple machines.then problem may be in my side..it's ok

Alright then, its ok.

If you still see some issues with other themes then the problem is somewhere else.
Some steps to consider:
-try changing and re-applying a theme multiple times as I've mentioned it above
-sometimes it's the graphics drivers causing display issues: update you graphics driver.
-go to command prompt and do a sfc/scannow to check for errors in the system files (this will restore any third party aero theme module back to the original one: do a reboot afterwards).

If the graphic driver is working properly and you have original system aero theme, all original themes (like the ones I posted here) should display fine. High Contrast is not perfect but it should work in normal cases.

Speaking of graphics,
Some users experience other weird graphic glitches like the notorious blur which has nothing to do with the themes and where a fix is hard to find/nonexistent. A theme issue is luckily easier to fix.

I'm sorry the theme didn't worked well there but I'm glad you could switch back to another theme, the most important thing is visibility on screen regardless of theme.

 

[yuricuri]

Thank you so much, I love it!

To begin, here is a theme based on high contrast black but it uses gray instead. Also there's no white background(s). The theme has been tested and uses enhancements (metrics and color specs) found in XP classic themes:

hc-midnight-v033
View attachment 22146

This is good for multimedia apps where we need to concentrate on some 3D, video editing programs, see dark GIMP, Photoshop, Blender style and where white colors would get in the way.

Note:
Browsers also look darker since the colors apply.
Firefox and affiliates look classic but a fix has been applied to integrate the looks better (color issue: fixed thanks to XP-exported metrics).

To use:
Extract the zip and double-click/apply the theme file.

 

[Hopachi]

You're welcome.

 

[Hopachi]

3D acceleration issues when using High Contrast themes

Themes work well but internally there are some slight differences noticed in some running programs.

High Contrast does seem to break something regarding 3D, more specific OpenGL BUT I'm not sure it happens in all programs to be regarded as a general issue. All the native windows (metro) apps I run up to now work well in high contrast.

On the desktop side, there are some differences in importance and demand.
There are programs that fail to display properly under High Contrast:
After Effects, Cinema 4D... (empty window instead of video / 3D content: render does work meaning the program has some issues in displaying stuff).

In a Virtualbox VM with 3D acceleration you'll get failures with guest programs requesting 3D acceleration (not found...) if the host Win8 or 8.1 uses a High Contrast theme during guest VM run.

Did someone else here noticed similar issues?
I mentioned this a while ago, hopefully these are no hallucinations (as long as other users can reproduce the issues) and we hope MS is looking at the matter.

Cheers!
Hopachi

 

[Hopachi]

Just stumbled upon a nice high-contrast-based theme to add to the collection:

Night theme by phly95 on DeviantArt:
Night by phly95 on deviantART



For those who like high contrast but need a bit more of blue touch.

 

[burtie]

Great themes guys. I know my brother will love these.

Thanks for sharing

 

[monkeylove]

Thanks for the themes! Is there one that uses the regular Windows 8 theme but changes the window background color of all applications (including the windows or file explorer) to light grey?

 

[Hopachi]

Thanks.

Is there one that uses the regular Windows 8 theme but changes the window background color of all applications (including the windows or file explorer) to light grey?

No, the themes posted in this thread are not using modified system theme files, hence only High Contrast themes allow color changes. You cannot change the window background color of the regular theme, using the same method as for HC themes unfortunately.

Since the regular theme doesn't allow color modification of the background, people often create customized versions that are pre-modified but using those requires modification of system files (which is beyond the scope of this thread).
For an example of those user custom themes, see here.

Cheers!

 

[Hopachi]

Trying to use the experience gained in making previous themes, here's another one:

HC-Daybreak
(based on Crux-Daybreak theme I've made for the GIMP)

Theme is HC-Daybreak (zipped) packed as a deskthemepack.

Specs:
-high-contrast based theme
-cursor is red (see info below)
-included desktop wallpaper
-no sounds
-no screensavers active



Again, with some orange looks, it should represent the early sunrise (hence daybreak), or late sunset, you name it... but also with a matching dark background.
The purpose of this theme is to keep it low on the light backgrounds and clear with some shiny text and active windows/items that are really seen as active. Inactive text/items don't need to draw attentiion so they are definitely kept dark and in the background.

For wallpaper we all choose what we like. For instance I've provided one that matches the style the theme pack:



Mouse cursor (optional) can of course be changed: the one used by the theme is the classic-based red-yellow-binary.
So if the cursor is installed, the theme will use those pointers by default.

Further (optional) customisations can be done for the folder icon displayed in File Explorer, using something that matches the theme main colors:



I use a red folder for the default state, the hi-light, for selected items, is a yellow folder.

Link to the tutorial for changing the default folder icon:
Folder Icon - Change Windows 7 Default Folder Icon - Windows 7 Help Forums

The used folder icon(s) are included below.
The icons should be placed in a safe location (for example the Windows folder) , we don't want the icons to get removed if they are being used.

That's all you need for a nice theme: combine and apply info from multiple customisation tutorials.
You don't need to patch system dlls, just use high contrast which allows color customisation.

Cheers!
Hopachi

 

[Hopachi]

Didn't realize there is a download link in each post for the actual theme.

GREAT JOB MAN! THANK YOU!

Thanks.
:thumb:
Glad you found those!
Yeah, links are not always evenly visible.

 

[Rearview]

I tired your gold theme and had problem with not all web pics displaying. Only have this problem with any high contrast theme. Yahoo.com is my test bed. Any suggestions?

 

[Hopachi]

I tired your gold theme and had problem with not all web pics displaying. Only have this problem with any high contrast theme. Yahoo.com is my test bed. Any suggestions?

Hi,

What browser do you use?
If the browser switches to high contrast then colors and backgrounds of websites also change. This is the case for IE and Firefox. Chrome seems to ask for HC extras but if you ignore them, you can still enjoy the sites in their original color even if you're on high contrast for the rest. Disabling HC in other browsers still needs to be investigated, if possible or not.

Check the full answer in your thread here.

I'm afraid those are some of the drawbacks of high contrast currently.

To narrow it down:

   Information

HC themes display issues

The image issue on the yahoo site happens here as well but not on Chrome, not saying that Chrome is better but because it can be fooled in displaying the site normally when still in high contrast. if some things still fail to display properly than its most likely because Windows renders things differently when high contrast is enabled.

Cheers!

 

[Hopachi]

Note: night mode uses pure red: rgb (255, 0, 0).
A pure blue theme is rgb(0, 0, 255) seen in preview below.

Hey man, can you make the exact same theme but using blue instead of red? I'd really appreciate it

Sure thing!

Made a test.
IMO blue is less visible than red in this case.
It might look different in a lighter blue. But OK.

Preview:


Plus blue radiation at night...

Info about night mode display light:
Redshift | jonls devblog
https://justgetflux.com/


But yeah, the theme looks pretty special and it's added to the collection.

The theme is attached in zip.

Cheers!

 

[Hopachi]

Glad you like it!

 

[TemiVec]

Hello, I have created a high-contrast theme, with dark blue background of the windows, but during shutdown of the PC, the
"shutting down" message remains dark, and barely legible, how I can change its color?

 

[Hopachi]

Hello, I have created a high-contrast theme, with dark blue background of the windows, but during shutdown of the PC, the
"shutting down" message remains dark, and barely legible, how I can change its color?

Hi there,

I don't know the colors by heart.
But I'm pretty sure some of my themes have that issue too.

Can you post the theme file to test it out?

Cheers!
Hopachi

 

[TemiVec]

I also did one green and one red, probably with the red is where gets harder to read the message. I noticed that the same happens with the restart screen.
I have yet to test it during the windows updating process...

View attachment HC - Dark Themes - Blue - Red - Green.zip