Windows 8 Desktop UI - Change Title Text Color?

[tacohammer]

Anybody have any idea how to change the title text color on windows. The fact that it's always black makes it pretty useless on any dark colored theme... I would have thought they would have programmed this in. I thought wrong...

imgur: the simple image sharer

On vista/7 Aero put a 'glow' around the letters so it would always show, now that glow is gone, and dark themes are useless.

 

[Tepid]

interesting, looks like MS forgot something. Wooppss.
I can't find it either. Still searching.

 

[HansPeterinDC]

Nope — not yet, anyway. By the time of the public release in October hackers and customization utility publishers may have figured it out. Presumably Stardock's WindowsBlinds will present a version for 8 that solves this problem.

The many features of Windows in version 8 that have been removed sometimes makes it seem as though Microsoft is deliberately sabotaging the Desktop in favor of Metro. Happily, for those who want them, the Start button is back (with nearly direct booting into the 'legacy' Desktop), as is Sidebar (64-bit version), Window border control, etc. In the end, even if Surface rules, we Desktop denizens will win. Be patient!

 

[Brink]

The color of items is located at the registry location below, and the data values use R G B binaries. For example: 0 0 0 = black, 255 255 255 = white

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\Colors

The problem is that setting these values, log off/on or restarting, no longer seem to have any affect in Windows 8. Could be due to no Windows Classic theme in Windows 8??

 

[Tepid]

Brink I read somewhere that those work under High Contrast Theme, i have not tested it though.

 

[Brink]

I tested it using High Contrast themes, and it doesn't seem to do anything either.

 

[Tepid]

Bummer

 

[CB]

Been trying too with no avails.

I think MS disabled the text color scheme as we can freely set the transparencies until the dark background allows the tittle text appear (with tiny bright shadows around the text).

Kevin

 

[luke7]

You can try out this theme
Nighthawk-F22 on deviantART

 

[Tepid]

This is an at your own Risk tutorial
Create a Restore Point

Then, go here

Dark theme for Windows8 RTM by ~Nighthawk-F22 on deviantART

Then you will also need this,,

Homepage M. Hoefs - Software

Run the UXTheme Patcher

Will patch the following files and append .backup to the originals...

uxinit.dll
uxtheme.dll
themeui.dll

If you uninstall UXThemePatcher it is supposed to replace the original files back.

Then try to copy the files from the Visual Style in the first link (I used Theme Without Thin White Inline Frame)
to
C:\Windows\Resources\Themes

And overwrite the files.

If you have to take Ownership of the Themes folder, that is fine and then give Full Admin Rights to it and child objects.
DO NOT TAKE OWNERSHIP OF THE SYSTEM32 FOLDER as a whole, or even your C: drive.
ONLY the Themes folder.
You have been warned.

You may have to reboot a couple of times, Also, when you change themes the first time, Windows may freak out, but just reboot and it should be OK.
Otherwise, you may have to do a restore and try again.

 

[Tepid]

Follow up...

I did the above, but I had also tried doing everything manually, which did work, for a short time
then when trying to login, the system would just flash on a black screen, Had to do a system restore

I don't recommend trying the above at this time.

Wait for something more official and possibly more stable, such as Stardock WindowsBlinds

 

[Tepid]

Another follow up, I had tried this on my desktop and had the same results as above.

 

[Brink]

Well, that stinks. Hopefully a 3rd party app will be out soon that will have this option.

 

[Tepid]

I am wondering if it has to do with the 3 hacked
uxinit.dll
uxtheme.dll
themeui.dll

Maybe these are for Vista/7 and changes were made to the originals in 8 that make the hacked ones not compatible?
I don't know, i have tried UXTheming in the past and had odd results that just were not stable, so I stopped trying. So, maybe it is that method over all. May be that Stardock is the best option to try. That's not an endorsement or promotion, just an observation.
they have not released a version for 8 yet.

 

[luke7]

Hi Tepid

Are you using the en-US windows 8 Pro 64 bit ?
I can use it without any issue, and do not need to patch anything.
I only take Owvership of Themes folder + all subfolders and files. (C:\Windows\Resources\Themes)
Then I change the read and write permission (The Themes folder+subfolders and files) full control, modify etc. (all of them) in security for system, Administrator and my user.
After this, I rename Themes to Themes1, and copied the modify Themes folder in place.

Regards Luke7

 

[Tepid]

Ok revisiting this and trying as Luke suggested
I am not using the uxtheme patching.

How ever, I am having the same problem. So it may be the theme I have is corrupt or something.

Still Testing and looking for an alternative theme to do so. I will report back if I find out.

Luckily I am dual booting and can fix things from 7 side.

 

[luke7]

Hi again Tepid

You should download the latest version of the dark theme.
It has beed updated 10 hours ago
Nighthawk-F22 on deviantART

 

[Tepid]

I did. got the latest. same problem

 

[hclarkjr]

How To Set Different Colors For Taskbar & Window Borders In Windows 8

How To Set Different Colors For Taskbar & Window Borders In Windows 8

Just like its predecessor Windows 7, Windows 8 also lets you set your own color for window borders and taskbar. Microsoft has even introduced automatic color feature in Windows 8 which automatically changes the color of the taskbar and window borders to match the wallpaper color.

In addition to these features, in the Release Preview edition of Windows 8, one could set different colors for taskbar and window borders. For some reason, Microsoft has removed this little feature from the final release (RTM). Fortunately, a small registry tweak enables you set different colors for taskbar and window borders in Windows 8 RTM.

NOTE: This trick automatically sets white color to window borders and doesn’t enable you set a custom color to window borders. For example, you can’t use this trick to set green color to the taskbar and blue to window borders.

Simply follow the given below instructions to enable the feature and then set different colors to window border and taskbar in Windows 8.

Method 1
Step 1: Download Aero8Tuner from this place. Extract the zip file to get Aero8Tuner.

Step 2: Run the tool, disable Enable Window Colorization option to set white color to window borders.

Method 2
Step 1: Open Registry Editor. To do this, simultaneously press Windows + R keys to bring up the Run dialog, type Regedit.exe in the box and press enter key. Click Yes for the UAC prompt.

Step 2: Once the Registry Editor launched, navigate to the following key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\DWM


Step 3: On the right-side, double-click on EnableWindowColorization and change the default value data to 1. Close Registry Editor.

Step 4: To see different colors on taskbar and window borders, you need to restart the Desktop Window Manager (DWM). To do that, open Task Manager, click More details to see all running processes, right-click on Desktop Window Manager , click End task.

Step 5: You will see the confirmation dialog. Enable Abandon unsaved data and shut down option (worry not, it won’t shut down or restart your PC) and then click Shut down button to restart Desktop Window Manager. You are done! You should now see white color for window borders.

 

[hclarkjr]

i tried it and it does work. i now have dark red\maroon title bar to match my favorite football team