A Very Minor but attractive Windows 7 style(skin)!

[napilopez]

So I've been looking around for new visual styles for windows 7, but had yet to find anything that really attracted me. Some of them had nice ideas but weren't so cleanly executed. I also wanted to preserve the Aero feel of Windows. But today I found something I thought was nice and subtle and might please some folks here. It's a minor mod to the orignal aero theme, sharpening the glass effect and overall giving Aero a more "clean" look. It basically changes the edges and some of the lighting of the window glass effects, and though very minor, it gives a breath of fresh air to the Windows 7. I would have loved it if Microsoft would have included such a minor change to the theme. It brings something freshness while not removing the essence of Aero. It was made for RTM, so be cautioned if you have another build!

Since it took me a while to figure out how to install skins for 7, here are the instructions for those who don't know! These should work for other visual styles too.

1) Download this theme patch: Windows 7 UXtheme Patch | MyDesktop
(where it says UxStyle Core)

2) Install the 32bit or 64bit version, depending on your windows 7 installation. You shouldn't need to restart, but if you want you may do so to be sure

3) Once its done installing, download the theme by neodesktop here:
AeroLighting For Windows 7 by ~neodesktop on deviantART

4) Open the zip file. Inside, there will be an "Aero Lighting" folder. Enter this folder, and inside you will find another folder called "AeroLighting" as well as a file of the same name. These two items, you will paste to C:\Windows\Resources\Themes

5) Right click you desktop, Select personalize. Scroll down to "Installed themes", and there should be an item called Aerolighting. Click and enjoy!

 

[LFB]

Interesting...

Is the taskbar more transparent? This is very important to me...

 

[napilopez]

If by more transparent you mean with less of a blur, then no, sorry =/. In either case, i do believe the taskbars are exactly the same.

The only difference is the window frame.

What a shame.

 

[napilopez]

Ohhh I would like to point out that for some reason this skin seems to work much better with different color options than the default aero.

 

[makubex]

Honestly, I fail to see the difference :huh:

 

[Cam]

The windows are more shiny and glossy, compared to blurry.

 

[stevieray]

I'm running Firefox with YupYup's glass style, and this theme gives the glass a bluish tint.

Not bad... a pleasant change of pace. Thanks, napilopez!

 

[Zidane24]

Yes not bad indeed...this just makes my beloved Aero even better

 

[AlexT2889]

Very nice theme, to me it seems to give a "OS X" look to it.

 

[ratePV]

Its a nice theme!
Should be the default one in W7.
It has "something" that the default aero doesn't have...

 

[Cam]

I found out exactly what it does. It smooths the edges around windows, and gets rid of the white glow around them. It also takes out a tiny bit of the blurring.

 

[ratePV]

I found out exactly what it does. It smooths the edges around windows, and gets rid of the white glow around them. It also takes out a tiny bit of the blurring.

Just as Jeremy Clarkson of TopGear said: some tiny changes made a big ONE!

 

[Cam]

Yeah. I hope the same designer does something with the Taskbar.

 

[napilopez]

I'm glad you guys like it! I wish it were the default aero theme. As I mentioned I feel its the perfect minor change to really differentiate it from vista. I do hope the author does something similar with the taskbar as well though.

 

[Cam]

I'm glad you guys like it! I wish it were the default aero theme. As I mentioned I feel its the perfect minor change to really differentiate it from vista. I do hope the author does something similar with the taskbar as well though.

I'd love to see a rounded taskbar, kinda like this mockup I made: http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/2136/spaced.png

 

[Stabgotham]

hahahaha! awesome Paint work, man!

 

[smarteyeball]

Talk about subtle changes:


If there are more, I can't spot them

 

[garbanzo]

pretty basic theme. not hard to achieve. but definitely not to my tastes...

 

[Cam]

How is it not to your tastes? It's so subtle, yet it makes W7 look so much better.

I DID find a bit of an error, though. Whoever made the theme forgot to change the Taskbar Thumbnails. Perhaps someone here could improve on the theme?
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7027/lolkk.png

 

[garbanzo]

How is it not to your tastes? It's so subtle, yet it makes W7 look so much better.

the glyphs in the caption buttons are awful, the windows lack definition, and the stripes in the background are tacky. but to each his own - just like you saying "yuck" to my squared-off version of aero, which i think i pure awesomeness

I DID find a bit of an error, though. Whoever made the theme forgot to change the Taskbar Thumbnails. Perhaps someone here could improve on the theme?
http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7027/lolkk.png

that border is defined differently than other window borders - it's just one graphic in the .msstyles file, and removing the white edge would be easy to do. but... i can't do it until i get my machine back from the shop though. it's a long weekend here, so it will be monday or tuesday at the earliest...

maybe ask the author of the style to fix it?