Themes in windows Vista
The invention of graphics in computer led to attracting
many people towards computers, today. It was earlier
1990’s these technologies started to make a high
impact. The use of computers was difficult before graphics
technologies became standard. Moreover, it was often
difficult for the programmer to develop applications
which included graphics capability.
Windows Vista Desktop themes
The emergence of Windows operating environment saw
some significant development in graphics technology.
The popularity of Windows 3.1 in MS-DOS environment
encouraged Microsoft to develop a series of new generation
Windows operating systems starting from Windows 95.
It was Windows 3.1 and Windows 95 introduced many features
which are used till today. One of the interesting features
among these is the desktop themes.
Collection of visual settings
The desktop themes or just the themes, gives audio,
visual effects to the computer. A theme is basically
referred to as a collection of visual settings such
as colors, background image, screen savers, icons. It
gives different visual look for windows, icons, font
and colors. One can select a theme for decorating his/her
computer screen. It is as good as styling yourself with
powder, face creams, lipsticks etc, to appear differently.
It was actually in Windows 95, the concept of themes
got introduced. In Windows 3.1, one could only change
certain colors, screen savers, individually. One was
able to save changed colors for applying later by using
color schemes. One was able to change window background,
window title bar color, window title colors. One was
also able to change font type, font size too, desktop
wall paper and also the desktop wall color. This feature
was extended to Windows family of operating systems
later.
The desktop themes are available in different varieties
and have their own names. They are used to change color
scheme for Windows, change screen savers, change icons
which are appearing presently in the system. The main
purpose of having different themes is mainly to bring
changes in the working environment in the computer.
If this feature of themes was not introduced, then,
windows would not have been as popular as of today.
Higher graphics cards
The technological advancements related to collection
of visual settings have their influence on desktop themes.
One can enjoy high quality themes by including good
quality higher graphics cards to their computer systems.
There are many high resolution graphics cards made available
in the global market.
Windows Classic (blue)
Windows 95, 98, 2000, ME all had Windows Classic (blue)
as the default desktop theme. It had ordinary appearance.
The color blue was applied only to title bar of window
in the working environment. Rest of the window and the
task bar was decorated with medium gray color. The desktop
was decorated with blue color, if there was no background
picture selected. In windows 3.1, minimize, maximize,
and close button wore a 2D look. However, this got changed
from Windows 95, it got a new 3D look with grey colored.
The entire look of Windows was changed from Windows
95 onwards. This look remained as default till Windows
XP.
Windows XP with new theme Luna
Windows XP retained the old classic themes which came
with Windows 98, ME, 2000, introduced a new scheme called
“Luna”. The theme became the default theme
for Windows XP. The theme brought some significant changes
to the taskbar appearance and windows appearance. The
taskbar contained new design to start button, start
menu, window title bar.
Maximize, minimize and close buttons also got changed,
in the sense that, they were enlarged than before. The
color of maximize and minimize buttons got changed from
gray to blue, and a white border got surrounded the
buttons. The close button color changed from grey to
red and here too the white border surrounded the button.
Also, the buttons got changed from rectangular shape
to rounded corner rectangular shape. The introduction
of Luna theme in Windows XP was a major change from
previous windows versions.
The Luna theme continued to be a part of new version
of Windows, codenamed “Long horn” which
is now Windows Vista, till the first half of Long horn
development cycle. However, Microsoft decided to remove
the “Luna” theme. The theme was replaced
by the new “Aero” theme. It also decided
to do away with some of the color schemes also, which
was earlier a part of Windows 3.x era and also the part
till windows XP era.
Vista Aero Theme Pack
Microsoft has done major rich changes to screen enhancements
through “aero” theme. The theme is the default
theme for Windows Vista. The start button, task bar,
start menu all got different look. The color also got
changed from blue to coffee black. All Windows became
translucent with the aero theme. Maximize, minimize,
close button sizes got reduced. Some people criticize
or argue that Microsoft has copied the MAC OSX design.
What ever the case be, Windows Vista has brought a higher
degree of changes in the User Interface design through
the aero interface. The translucent effect is new to
windows family. Translucent stands for semi transparent.
This special effect gives a chance to watch the background
of desktop through glass like window.
Vista includes three different set of themes
Windows Vista includes three different set of themes
which includes aero theme. The two themes are Old Windows
Vista basic, New Windows Vista basic. These two themes
do not give translucent effect to windows. The old theme
colored with gray. And the new theme is colored with
light blue as shown in the picture.
The aero theme is not available with Vista home basic
edition. Microsoft has committed a big blunder by not
including the theme with home basic. However, it says
that home basic is meant for home users. Most of the
home users expect their computer to have latest features.
They find no other alternative, but, made to go for
next higher edition called home premium, or the ultimate,
if they want to enjoy aero feature in their computer.
Computer with high end configuration
In order to enjoy aero theme or feature, one must have
a high end configuration in their computer system. The
high end configuration includes processor of 2 to 3
GHz speed, minimum 20 GB of Hard disk to install and
make use of Windows Vista, 1024 MB RAM, and most importantly,
a graphics card of DirectX 9.0 or higher support.
Apart from aero theme, several other themes also included
with Windows Vista. One can search for more themes online
also, and buy them, by using online transaction methods
or can purchase them in the shop in which one has purchased
the copy of windows.
In order to apply the theme to a system, he must first
download and or install the theme. The installed theme
gets displayed in the list of themes which are available
in the system.
Procedure for applying new theme
One can apply a theme by following the procedure given
as below.
- Click start button > Control Panel > Appearance
and Personalization > Personalization > Theme.
- Select the theme from the list of available themes
and click Ok to apply the theme.
For better viewing some themes requires the display
units to support higher resolutions of 1024x768 and
above. Applying such themes may result in blank screen
on a system which does not support higher resolutions.
This may cause the computer to go into a non responsive
state. One needs to be extra careful in choosing such
themes.
check for Windows Vista compatible logo
The display resolution depends on the type of display
unit, i.e. nothing but, the monitor and the graphics
card one got installed in the computer system. Additionally,
the graphics card must have Vista compatible drivers
for better accessing the features from the graphics
card. Windows XP compatible drivers may work with windows
vista, but, one may get some of the features disabled.
If one is thinking of purchasing the latest display
cards, then my advice is to check for Windows Vista
compatible logo printed on the graphic card manuals
or over the graphics card itself. The system usually
detects and installs drivers for the graphics card.
It may prompt for driver CD or DVD. Insert them when
prompted, after which the driver gets correctly installed
in the system.
One can change screen resolution and choose the best
resolution which the system can display. A word of caution
goes here. If the resolution chosen is higher than the
system capability, then the monitor screen may go blank.
If it happens, try to restore back to original resolution
as quick as possible. If the problem continues, then
you will have to boot through safe mode. If this is
also not helping, then one may have to reinstall Windows
Vista.
As said above, one can enjoy many themes, if he is
ready to spell out some amount for purchasing the themes
online. However, there may be some themes available
for free of cost.
In general, desktop theme is used to visualize desktop
items such as, task bar, start menu, start button, window
appearance. It is the Windows Vista which adds higher
degree of visualization effects to its appearance, by
introducing aero glass effects in the desktop area.
Windows Vista customers except the Home basic customers
will enjoy the major enhancement made to the new operating
system. It would have been better if, Microsoft introduce
aero effects to home basic customers too in their service
packs which will role out some time later.
You will find lot of variations in Vista themes. Some of the Windows Vista themes are listed here.
- Kol's vista theme
- Tigger themes for vista
- Dragon themes
- Bug theme
- Minimal theme
- Black themes
- Make XP look like Vista themes
- Dr Who themes
- Zlauncher theme
- 3D themes
- Inspiration theme
- Elvis desktop theme
- Maple leafs themes
- Transformers \desktop theme
- Christmas desktop themes
- Ghostrider vista theme
- Hacker theme for vista
- Mac osx theme
- PSP vista theme
- Naruto themes
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