Windows 7 Beta Theme

[Glauco Schlembach]

WindowsBasic is the main theme on Windows Vista and Windows 7 Starter edition (where Windows Aero does not exist). It may also be used when the Aero theme is not working or to provide compatibility with older programs.

The Basic theme is also utilized when the Desktop Window Manager is not present, as is the case for Windows Server Core and the Windows Preinstallation Environment from Windows 8/Windows Server 2012 onwards. The theme is also utilized in MDI child windows, and is also offered as a theme option in Windows Server 2008 and 2008 R2 as part of the optional Desktop Experience feature.

The dark theme on the Android version is been there for a long time, however, the dark theme is kinda "incomplete", which is happening on both production & beta version, you can still see a certain part of the UI keep showing light/white, like showing white background during the app startup. I switched back to Chrome just because of this UX problem. What do you guys think about this?

@chungweileong Thanks for reaching out and passing along those screenshots. To confirm, are you still experiencing this? And if so, please let us know so we can loop in the Android Team, and submit feedback through the browser if you haven't yet. (This gives the devs more detailed error logs.)

Note that this is not available via the built-in updater, nor is there a Windows Store build for this. I'm trying to get this wrapped up really fast, and both of those take a lot of time to publish through. (yes of course the final/non-beta will be published normally )

High DPI has generally worked well in Paint.NET, but in the last year or two it's become apparent that "not being totally broken" isn't a high enough bar to meet. So, I've fixed and improved a whole bunch of things. Whether it was longstanding issues that've been reported (e.g. Levels), things that nobody reported but that were completely broken (Save Palettes), or adopting to a world where 4K and 200% scaling (aka 192 DPI) are common, I've tried to nip and tuck just about everything I could find.

Dark Theme support is brand new, and took a ton of time to get right. On Windows 10, as long as you leave Paint.NET's Color Scheme setting to "Default", the app will automatically switch between Light and Dark based on the Windows 10 setting (go to Start -> search for "Theme" -> scroll to the bottom of that page). On Windows 7 and 8.1, you can choose Light or Dark in the Paint.NET settings dialog. Dark Theme will not work if you're using "Classic" theme in Windows 7.

As many of you know, Paint.NET is based on Windows Forms, which is a UI framework that dates back to 2002. And it's mostly a wrapper around ye ol' Win32 UI, which goes back more than a decade farther. And, boy, these UI frameworks are not very good with things like theming or high DPI. They try ... and fail in so many ways, and it takes a ton of nit-picky OCD work to find and fix all sorts of tiny issues that come up when attempting a project like this. I think the long-term solution will be to redo Paint.NET's UI in a totally new framework, probably a custom one, but that's a ways off (there's more important stuff to do first). For now, we still get Dark Theme and improved High DPI! Wubba lubba dub dub!

One thing to note about the Dark Theme on Windows 10 is that you also have to configure the title bar "accent colors" to get the full effect. Otherwise the title bar will still be a blindingly bright white.

Yes which is why I would have liked to download it via a windows store beta rather than having to download a separate version just to test the beta...

Also this actually fixes many of the interface bugs I have been dealing with on my 4k laptop. So this is exactly what I should use for production as it will let me work more effectively.

Windows XP visual styles are customizations of the graphical user interface of Windows XP. "Luna", "Royale", "Zune", and "Embedded" are codenames of the official visual styles designed for Windows XP by Microsoft.[1] Since Windows XP, themes include the choice of visual styles as well.[2] By default, "Luna" is preinstalled on Windows XP Home and Professional editions, "Royale" is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition and "Embedded" is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download. There were also some placeholder visual styles that Microsoft had used in beta versions of Windows before unveiling the official visual styles, such as "Watercolor" and "Mallard". Third parties have also released visual styles, though these require modification of core Windows components to work. Visual styles are compatible with all Windows XP editions except Starter Edition.

Compared to Desktop Themes in previous versions of Windows such as Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, the new visual styles have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using saturated colors[3] and bitmaps[4] throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows.[5][6]

"Luna" (the Moon in Latin and various other languages) is the codename for the default visual style of Windows XP. Officially known as "Windows XP style", it is available in three color schemes: blue (default), olive green, and silver.[6][8] Critics who did not like the theme characterized it as a "Fisher-Price interface" among other names, due to its perceived childish nature and design.[9][10]

Luna was also present as a placeholder theme in all pre-reset Windows Vista (Longhorn) builds alongside the Plex, Slate and Jade themes, as well as the very early "Omega-13" post-reset builds 3790, 5000, 5001, and early Beta 1 builds 5048 and 5059. It was absent from all post-reset builds starting with build 5098 after the unveiling of Aero in build 5048.

Luna Beta is an earlier version of the Luna theme that was first previewed at CES 2001 and included in beta builds from builds 2428 to 2465, and later appeared in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as "Whistler style", it is mostly similar to the final Luna theme, with some slight differences (such as the scrollbar being brighter, the taskbar buttons having a different shape, as well as a shinier start button). This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

Officially titled "Windows Classic style", this is the built-in look and feel of Windows that was used in previous versions of Windows prior to Windows XP. It is used when the theme service is disabled and in certain other scenarios, such as Win32 console windows or booting the system in Safe mode. Classic style widgets are also used for applications that are not theming-aware even though theming is enabled. It is less CPU-intensive and offers better performance,[11] due to which it is also used by default on Windows Server 2003 through 2008 R2.

Compared to other visual styles, it supports greater color and font customization options. Windows XP includes 22 preset color schemes for the classic style, with four of them[12] being optimized for the visually impaired. "Windows Standard" was the default color scheme of Windows 2000 and Windows Me and later appeared on Windows Vista and Windows 7, although in the latter it was renamed "Windows Classic". A slightly darker variant of the Standard scheme, called "Windows Classic", was the default color scheme of Windows 98 (albeit with a dark blue desktop background instead of green, much like the pre-release versions of Windows 2000) and appeared on Windows Vista but not Windows 7.[13][6] Other schemes appeared in previous versions of Windows.

Royale (also known as Energy Blue and Media Center style) was originally designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, and was ported to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.[14] It is accompanied by a new wallpaper (inspired by Windows XP Bliss). It presents a relucent, vivid and faux-reflective color scheme with intense blue and green colors.

Royale was originally made available in December 2004. On April 7, 2005, Microsoft New Zealand[15] had made the Royale theme and the wallpapers for the New Zealand theme available for download[16] for all editions of XP through Windows Genuine Advantage on its website but no longer exists in 2019. Because of the freeware nature of this package, it had also been available on software download websites, such as Softpedia at one time.[17]

Microsoft did also release a Windows Media Player visualization and skin at one time. The skin was released in Experience Pack for Tablet PC and was available for free,[18] but the installer only installed it on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition devices, for which it was licensed.

Royale Noir looks like a darkened version of Royale, having a blackish and bluish to purple tint. Royale Noir has a black Start button, which changes to green when the mouse hovers over it. As Royale Noir was leaked and not finalized by Microsoft, it has been noted for some imperfections,[19] such as the title bar becoming too dark when the window is inactive.

A few weeks after Royale Noir was leaked, Zune was officially released in a theme package to accompany the release of Microsoft's new Zune media player. In terms of style, Zune resembles Royale and Royale Noir, particularly the latter. It displays a brown to light shadow style and is the first publicly released visual style for Windows XP to include a differently colored Start button from the green XP,[20][21] which is colored orange in the Zune theme.

Watercolor (internally named "Business" and codenamed "Professional") is a placeholder theme present in pre-release builds prior to Beta 2, and later appeared in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as "Watercolor button style", The theme more closely resembles Windows Classic, featuring sharp edges and similar window proportions. It features a primarily blue and white style with mostly flat shading and retains certain UI elements from the Classic theme style. This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

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