windows 7 custom/dark aero theme?

thomasp

having recently been alerted to a workaround to performance problems i've experienced in running marmoset and photoshop on my trusty windows classic themed setup, i switched to the default aero theme for now and to my delight found the performance problems solved.

however, now my eyes are bleeding, this theme is just awful to look at.
after a bit of googling it appears one cannot simply alter aero theme colors or behaviour in any way and installing custom themes requires patching windows with a tool? most of this information seems years old - is this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/28377-theme-how-apply-custom-themes.html still the way to go with a recent windows patch level in 2015?
and will it carry over across system updates or does it have to be re-applied all the time?

i'm asking here since i assume there will be people working in this field who don't accept glaring white UI and annoying window animations all over the place. :*

EarthQuake

I haven't found a decent windows-classic-ish aero theme yet, but you can tweak the window color in Win 7 pretty easily.

Right click desktop-> personalize
Window Color-> Show color mixer, pick the color you want there

Pedro Amorim

wait wait wait

EarthQuake

get out of here pedro u numbjaw who even let u be a mod?

Pedro Amorim

Screw aero, classic is where it's at!

http://www.edgesize.com/crap/Dark_Theme.themepack

Pedro Amorim

In hindsight I probably should have read the entire thread before replying  
At least now if any one wants they can use that theme. 
Win7 for life

throttlekitty

@thomasp yep, that's still the method, Win7 won't load custom themes otherwise. I actually sat down a couple of months ago to make my own dark, readable, minimal theme... and kind of stopped. I really ought to pick it back up again, shit's complicated and I hate learning a bunch of stuff just to stop halfway through. Pedro's theme ain't bad, but lacks a little separation for my taste. (them buttons is ugly tho, is that a mod thing?)

http://neiio.deviantart.com/art/APPOWS-157033415
This one is kind of pretty, but still either too damn dark or too contrasty like most out there.

thomasp

ok, that looks like i will have to try custom themes indeed. i'll need something that matches about the medium-dark photoshop interface, 3ds max or similar so not pitch black and definitely not dark window frames with white text boxes/content. also super narrow/non existent window borders like they are hip now on mac and modern linux themes are not cool for working either.

bah, why did they make it that non-accessible and not ship an editor? windows classic let you set most you could have wanted (and i went in with a text editor and tweaked some colors not accessible from the interface). all you can change now is the window frame color. made it pink for now. fits with the rest of this suckage.

Pedro Amorim

no mod there. Just classic theme with custom colors. Good for the eyes though.

thomasp

yes pedro but the classic mode has those toolbag/photoshop performance issues for me. i also now notice how much more responsive my multi screen setup has become in general for things like dragging windows around and generally working on the secondary screen.

throttlekitty

That's completely backward.

leleuxart

I usually set up a custom theme, dock, and a few other visual tweaks whenever I get a fresh OS. My only issue with a lot of the custom themes is that they usually have an issue with the programs we use, whether it's the font colors being too similar to the background or some of the buttons overlapping. It might be worth testing the theme in a few different programs, before you're in the middle of work and can't hit a button 

thomasp

i've settled now on a theme called 'pre black' (can be found on deviant art) that - with a few mods under 'advanced appearance settings' (really the ages-old windows color mod dialog, only partly relevant to aero, wtf...) to font and content-window colors works out alright. the main gripe is now the windowframe/titlebar/taskbar which is too bright still and apparently can no longer be customized/made transparent.
will have to investigate what can be done there, i don't feel exactly comfortable with stuff like replacing explorer.exe with something from the web.

leleuxart: when you mention the dock, do you refer to the taskbar?


 

Noors

I'm looking into windowBlinds. Seems pretty powerful and not too hacky. It's 10 bucks..
Haven't seen any decent sober grey skin tho. Wonder why people making skins always have horrible cheesy taste.

thomasp

window blinds! now that's a trip down memory lane! i think i last saw this when i was running windows NT4...
did not realise this was still around. would definitely love to hear how it works out and if you encounter any performance or compatibility issues.

and yes, 10 bucks would be a no brainer. modifying aero themes is a time consuming hassle.
also, a word of warning to anyone installing custom themes - and i'm probably the last person on earth to realise this - but there can be viruses hidden in those. i found what my anti-virus claims was a keylogger in some theme from deviant-art.