Windows 8 Desktop UI - Change Title Text Color?

[Tepid]

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

Ok, either I do not get what this application/reg edit is actually supposed to do, or I am not doing it properly, because it does not work.
And it makes no sense at all.

This app does nothing that is not already possible in Personalization.

In fact, I disabled the reg key, and logged off and back on, went into personalization and changed colors and the reg key automatically enabled itself.
The app does nothing different.

And this thread is about making the Text in the title bar more see-able when set to black.

Please post screen shots of actual changes that this application actually makes, Also, I watched the video on the site and it didn't really show anything different.

 

[TheGrantFitz]

???

 

[hclarkjr]

 

[Tepid]

View attachment 8613

As you can see, I did not need the app on the second page of this thread to change any colors
I can make it any color I wish, without the need of that app.

The text in the title bar is not very visible on dark colors. and there is no way at this time to change it.

 

[ribbonnah]

Nothing against you guys because it's not your fault!!

But I can't believe how ugly the GUI looks in all screenshots here.. oh my

 

[Tepid]

Going off topic on this thread for one post.

I actually love the new GUI.
Using Classic Shell I bypass the metro screen without issue and get straight to my desktop.

View attachment 8663

Att he upper right corner I have a Rainmeter Skin that I am working on to replace Applauncher Gadget and I am really liking it as well. Rainmeter, I checked it out a long time ago, but had issues with it, it seems much more stable now and there are a lot of nice skins (a lot of garbage skins too). and it's free.


Here View attachment 8664 Is my ClassicShell skin that I reconfigured to my liking.
I don't use the start button often except to use the run box. Which is still very useful.
I have the start button set to Center Click takes me to the Metro Screen, and from the desktop, the bottom left corner start hot spot is disabled, but all others are still working.


The new Explorer is actually extremely nice.

View attachment 8665

Over all, Windows 7 is great, but honestly, Win8 is a huge improvement.

With that said, I will reserve judgement on Win9 till I can play with it.

But I for one, am not at all dissatisfied with Win8.

With all the cross platform synching and integration that is coming to Windows (Xbox, Phone, Tablet, Desktop)
Not even Apple will be able to catch up to this.

People will reject the cloud without even realizing that most of what they do is cloud based to begin with.
Now with Integration of some office apps and synching with my WP7, I work with Word and One Note to create documentation among other things that I can access anywhere.

 

[13013]

Windows 8 Default Style by ~MrGRiM01 on deviantART

here is a theme that will make the title text white

 

[Tepid]

Back on topic,,,

Thanks 13013

As i suspected, the older UXtheme hacks do not work proper on Win8, or not for everyone for whatever reason.

The author of this Windows 8 Default Style by ~MrGRiM01 on deviantART is aware of an issue with the text on Explorer

But, this worked.

Go here... UxStyle - no more patching. and download the UxStyle Core Beta for windows 8 (experimental)

Install it

Download the theme above, and follow instructions on that theme site.

Go to personalize and click on Default Theme, change colors and background as you see fit

I have rebooted and there are no issues at this time. Will let you know if something happens

View attachment 8708

 

[13013]

Windows 8 Default Style by ~MrGRiM01 is working great now. so many thanks MrGRiM01. iv been looking for this function for weeks. iv got my black title bars back and am finally pretty happy with windows 8.

 

[cysm]

This is very easy using Restorator and a Hex Editor. Just follow the "luke|18 Aug" comment -- I changed mine to red

 

[natostanco]

Change the needed colors on windows 7,
save them to a theme file (extension .themepack)
apply this file to windows 8
done

 

[LiveOrDie]

For people wanting to know here it is, MrGRiM01 is unaware the text is still black in programs like 3Ds Max and i cant seem to find this text to apply it to my theme.

Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > Active
Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > DWM Window > Frames > Window > Top > Inactive

Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Frames > Window > Top > Active
Windows & Caption Buttons > Aero > Window > Frames > Window > Top > Inactive

 

[ksdixon]

As someone using Win8 on an older x86 OEM PC, how can I patch my theme files on Win8? UxStyle Core seems to only be for x64.

 

[ksdixon]

As someone using Win8 on an older x86 OEM PC, how can I patch my theme files on Win8? UxStyle Core seems to only be for x64.

SkinPack_Auto_UXThemePatcher_2.0 worked for me. I am now using Windows 8 Default Style by ~MrGRiM01 - which makes the titlebar text white and the titlebar of each window set to the color you choose in the Personalize menu, regardless if the window is active or inactive.

 

[Hopachi]

This info relates to all original built-in Win8 (AeroLite) themes.

Change title text:
It works but the fix is only known for AeroLite (original) theme versions for now.

Example of WHITE title text,
Add this to the saved *.theme file:

[Control Panel\Colors]
TitleText=255 255 255
InactiveTitleText=255 255 255

Unfortunately it doesn't work on the standard Aero theme.

There are more paremeters in the same list for changing other things like menu colors and stuff, I just figured this out.

To use AeroLite, edit the *.theme file and replace "Aero.msstyles" with "AeroLite.msstyles"

Info regarding AeroLite:
The clock text will turn to BLACK and will be quasi invisible on dark themes.
AeroLite also drives the High Contrast Modes and these themes seem to use slightly different AeroLite settings.
For instance, clock and text colors are the same parameter on hi-contrast but NOT on normal mode.

In short, this should be it for using original themes.

 

[darkskypoet]

Hi there... I too wanted to change this. And So i did.

First thing, there seem to be two classes of themes defined by msstyle files in Windows 8

aero.msstyles ---> Not our old hero Aero, and none of the .theme files include Color information like we are used to in Windows 7, i suspect this is all to enable the ability to do the random background matching metro "one color" nastyness. This would, in a lazy implementation, require dynamic settings for most colored non-text things, with fixed text colors. Thus no text color switching.

Reg entries do nothing to modify these in meaningful (towards our purpose) ways.

These are stored in C:\Windows\Resources\Themes

-----> but never fear!!!

aerolite.msstyles ---> Apparently something familiar from Windows 7, honestly not to sure if its exactly the same as Windows 7 Aero Lite But doesn't matter for our case. The only thing that matters is that these are kept in a different repository C:\Windows\Resources\Ease of Access Themes, have boatloads of color settings defined in the .theme files and text / etc RESPONDS to these settings!!



SO: to change the text, I found it easiest to create a new .theme file out of the color settings from one of the high contrast files, and the majority of the aero.theme file. Going through and comparing the two as I went, and rectifying anything that seemed wrong. Then, simply go through and define your color settings as you see fit.

(NOTE: I didn't have a ready to hand windows 7 theme to grab and compare. it is possible that a favorite windows 7 theme can simply donate its color settings into a modified aero.theme or hc1,hc2,hcwhite.theme.

If taking aero.theme ---> change aero.msstyles ref to aerolite.msstyles

If going from hcwhite.theme file, probably a good idea to change the highcontrast=1 to highcontrast=0, and please for the love of Pete change the colors of the rest of the crap. (this seemed to be simplest)

NOTE 2...
I really only started working on this tonight. I was upset by the fact that I couldn't have white text. SO at this point there is one Caveat to this process. For some reason, Windows explorer (computer) windows, seem to keep their text black. However, in HCWHITE.THEME it is in fact white as it should be. I am working on this on my end, but if someone with more knowledge knows of a difference between that title text, and the other windows title text... let me know.

Hope this helps.

 

[Hopachi]

Hello darkskypoet, welcome to the forums.

Nice post!
I did what you describe with highcontrast=3 the dark version and there all text is white.

I'm no expert here but I've noticed some differences between: Aero (the one theme that's default), AeroLite (looks close to Aero but without transparency) and HiContrast (this is AeroLite but looks more like windows-classic theme).

The problem with HiContrtast is that it look more like the old classic-look and less Aero. It uses AeroLite but not in the default mode: notice the "show desktop" button on the (right corner of) taskbar.
But with Aero enabled, none of the custom settings seem to work. The registry parameters are the default ones but I thing they work on AeroLite or Classic (HiContrast) but I didn't tested this.

You don't really need Win7 themes to get the parameters:
-apply just a line or two from what I said in my previous post (http://www.eightforums.com/customiz...-ui-change-title-text-color-4.html#post147866)
-then (export) save theme for sharing and then import (use) it
-export the saved theme again and open the *.theme

You'll see that all parameters are there.
Here is what I mean:

;created by the built in theme selector after a few extra clicks
;most of items here affect only clasic (theme-looking) elements
[Control Panel\Colors]
;the title text on the top window border
InactiveTitleText=8 64 128
TitleText=16 255 255


ActiveTitle=153 180 209
InactiveTitle=191 205 219


;this border appears on some programs around tabs and content
ActiveBorder=180 180 180
InactiveBorder=128 128 128


;scrollbar color
Scrollbar=180 180 180


;not sure what background
Background=0 0 0


Menu=180 180 180


Window=192 192 192
WindowFrame=100 100 100


MenuText=0 0 0


;text in notepad and favorites explorer
WindowText=0 0 0


AppWorkspace=171 171 171


Hilight=51 153 255
HilightText=255 255 255


;inactive elements text
GrayText=109 109 109


ButtonFace=192 192 192
ButtonShadow=160 160 160
ButtonText=0 0 0
ButtonHilight=255 255 255
ButtonDkShadow=105 105 105
ButtonLight=227 227 227
ButtonAlternateFace=0 0 0


InfoText=0 0 0
InfoWindow=192 192 192


HotTrackingColor=0 102 204


GradientActiveTitle=185 209 234
GradientInactiveTitle=215 228 242


MenuHilight=51 153 255
MenuBar=210 210 210

Just added some comments to "deciphered" items and slightly modified some backgrounds.

Without one of the HiContrast modes just like default mode here:

[VisualStyles]
Path=%SystemRoot%\resources\themes\Aero\AeroLite.msstyles
ColorStyle=NormalColor
Size=NormalSize
ColorizationColor=0XC2204B54
Transparency=0
Composition=1
VisualStyleVersion=10
AutoColorization=0

...not all parameters have effect, exactly what you noticed with Explorer windows STILL being in black text.

As I noted in comment text, you're right about the HiContrast option because not all options have effect on Aero or AeroLite normal.

I didn't know AeroLite existed in Win7... where?

But anyway regarding Win8 themes:
We still need to figure some things out but I'm glad we've got something here.
You can see more of the modification I've described here:
http://www.eightforums.com/customization/13957-change-taskbar-opacity.html#post148419

Cheers
Hopachi

 

[darkskypoet]

I noticed you used hc3, however if you change the highcontrast=3 to 0, it still honors the color codes for 'normal' windows. The danger in using highcontrast=x where x>0, is you will run into apps and browsers that honor hc when rendering style sheets. Not pretty.

As to explorer, I'd imagine there is a special setting for it somewhere. Also, I believe aerolite was in win7, and was used when your 3d hardware did not match a predefined level of performance. Thus no 3d, no transparency, no modern gpu acceleration.

In reading the Aero spec from MS, even utilizing Aero.msstyles with defined colors in your themename.theme is supposed to override defaults. The change is that it doesnt go to the registry for those defaults, it goes to aero.msstyles for them, thus why modifying the reg is useless.

I could not find a document with all the acceptable definitions for aerolite, only aero. MS seems to gloss over the usage of aerolite, as it's hc style... Usually only ever referring to them as high contrast styles.

I would imagine the real win would be to modify the appropriate msstyles file, to get at the rest of the settings we wish to change. Else, we're needing to find all the definitions we have to override in the theme file with spotty documentation.

 

[Hopachi]

Thanks for posting.

I noticed you used hc3, however if you change the highcontrast=3 to 0, it still honors the color codes for 'normal' windows. The danger in using highcontrast=x where x>0, is you will run into apps and browsers that honor hc when rendering style sheets. Not pretty.

Thanks. That's good to know. But look at the "show desktop" and see if it's classic (not pretty) or not.
EDIT: yes, works better and the show desktop button looks normal.
Use aerolite without any highcontrast and that's what I look for.

As to explorer, I'd imagine there is a special setting for it somewhere. Also, I believe aerolite was in win7, and was used when your 3d hardware did not match a predefined level of performance. Thus no 3d, no transparency, no modern gpu acceleration.

The one in Win7 is Basic and it's still included in Aero.msstyles. AeroLite seems to be an independent *.msstyles file.

In reading the Aero spec from MS, even utilizing Aero.msstyles with defined colors in your themename.theme is supposed to override defaults. The change is that it doesnt go to the registry for those defaults, it goes to aero.msstyles for them, thus why modifying the reg is useless.

Where do you find the Aero specs?

I could not find a document with all the acceptable definitions for aerolite, only aero. MS seems to gloss over the usage of aerolite, as it's hc style... Usually only ever referring to them as high contrast styles.

Maybe the same applyes to AeroLite since they are look-alikes.

I would imagine the real win would be to modify the appropriate msstyles file, to get at the rest of the settings we wish to change. Else, we're needing to find all the definitions we have to override in the theme file with spotty documentation.

Modifying the msstyles is risky and you'll lose the MS signature. Not recommended.
By the way, all those guys releasing custom themes use basically the SAME file over and over again, it's just modified for a new look. It's always a 32bit file but the MS *.msstyles on x64 are 64bit as they should be. No offence, custom files work, I've used some in the past, but now I try to use only the original Aero and see what there can be done with it.

I'll have to look at the specs myself to be convinced but one way or another we'll have to override settings without modifying the original files, if possible.

I found some Aero info dating back form Longhorn:
http://www.google.be/url?sa=t&rct=j...n4D4BQ&usg=AFQjCNFZ9buPS72vLHtyIH9WpeGq3mtLKA
Seems to be a wizard window.

 

[Hopachi]

I'm using hi-contrast set to 0 and it's better.

Now other parts are changed but others are still to figure out.