Will Windows 9 reintroduce the classic theme?

By bulldows95
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

 Share

Recommended Posts

Grand Master

redfish

Posted
Posted

The the base fallback "classic" is missing major and large parts of the GUI elements used in modern windows, resulting in those just being white areas.

 

The classic interface doesn't even look good mixed with the modern / XP era GUI elements that... in order for it to look good, they'd have to redesign everything for it. Until then, its just a weird Frankenstein interface and I can't imagine why it appeals to anyone.

Grand Master

redfish

Posted
Posted

there's a game that I haven't heard of in ages... I remember how "risque" that game was considered in the day

 

I was reading that the old time fans of the series were upset by the newer games made with 'Larry Lovage', the original character's nephew, because they found them smutty instead of just being risqu?.

Grand Master

xrobwx71

Posted
Posted

Absolutely... not.

That avatar looks like a schoolbus with a giant blue tire..  :)  :shifty:

  • 4 weeks later...
Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

No, I don't think that Microsoft will bring back the Classic theme. This article explains why Microsoft made the decision to keep the Desktop Window Manager enabled at all times in Windows 8. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/hh848042%28v=vs.85%29.aspx

It is possible to use Classic theme without disabling the DWM via hacking:

http://web.archive.org/web/20140819031246/http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?f=67&t=113024

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

Classic is what you normally see in Enterprise, and it gives Windows a bad, ugly perception.

Classic theme has the best look, the most clear look and it is the most space-efficient.

 

With Windows 8, they eliminated the ugly basic battleship grey and Windows 7 gradient heavy, washed out colored basic themes.

 

One can set the classic theme to any color they prefer, it is the most customizable theme.

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

Why? What benefit does it have on any computer in use today?

For instance to have a standardized look. Now every new Windows version has its own theme which may be not liked by somebody or which can be incompatible with sortware or which may confuse people. There should be one standard thing.

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

That's not how it works.

 

when you have some education and experience in high level developement of OS software you can talk about what keeping and adding elements affects and costs.  As I said just the QnA for having it there doubles. of course since the classic isn't technically in windows and isn't used except for fallback it isn't required for full testing. a basic skin would require to be tested in EVERY POSSIBLE use case test scenario along with the normal skin. 

Microsoft introduce a new skin in every new version of Windows now. And admittedly all themes are more buggy than Classic starting with XP. Win2000 had no theme bugs, Win7 has a LOT.

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

The classic interface doesn't even look good mixed with the modern / XP era GUI elements that... in order for it to look good, they'd have to redesign everything for it. Until then, its just a weird Frankenstein interface and I can't imagine why it appeals to anyone.

If an element does not respect theming and designed for only one theme, it is a badly written element.

Collaborator

mkeallison

Posted
Posted

For instance to have a standardized look. Now every new Windows version has its own theme which may be not liked by somebody or which can be incompatible with sortware or which may confuse people. There should be one standard thing.

Not really. Every Two versions have their own theme. E,g Vista and 7. 8 and 8.1 all share similar themes

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
Posted

Classic theme has the best look, the most clear look and it is the most space-efficient.

 

One can set the classic theme to any color they prefer, it is the most customizable theme.

 

The Classic theme suffered from being too bland. It's a classic 90's look that just doesn't really need to come back. Plus, I can change colors in Windows Vista, 7, 8.1, and 10. So, I'm not really sure what point you're making there. Aero and Metro are both as space efficient.

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted

The Classic theme suffered from being too bland. It's a classic 90's look that just doesn't really need to come back.

Win8 theme is more like the '80s.

 

Plus, I can change colors in Windows Vista, 7, 8.1, and 10. So, I'm not really sure what point you're making there.

 

U cannot change the colors as u wish, nor the size of the elements.

 

Aero and Metro are both as space efficient.

 

Incorrect. WinClassic is the most dense theme.

Grand Master

Dot Matrix

Posted
Posted

U cannot change the colors as u wish, nor the size of the elements.

Of course you can. Search for "Display", and you have options to change the sizes of screen elements there.

 

 

Incorrect. WinClassic is the most dense theme.

That's not always a good thing. A good UI makes proper use of whitespace. The classic UI has too many elements that just didn't need to be there, creating a busy UI. Plus, the classic theme doesn't scale. What are you going to do when you get a high resolution monitor? It would be all but impossible to see what's on your screen.

The classic theme also does not fit in with Microsoft's 'modern' marketing scheme.

Apprentice

Anixx

Posted
Posted
Of course you can. Search for "Display", and you have options to change the sizes of screen elements there.

 

In Windows 7 there is no such option for non-classic themes. Also there is no option to change the colors of elements (such as selection color), except editiong the .msstyle file with a resource hacker.

 

 

Plus, the classic theme doesn't scale. What are you going to do when you get a high resolution monitor? It would be all but impossible to see what's on your screen.

 

In Classic theme u can adjust the size of the elements and fonts. But honestly I never had a monitor with which I would want to make the elements bigger, I currently have a 1920x1200 monitor and my only concern is how to make the elements smaller and desier.

The classic theme also does not fit in with Microsoft's 'modern' marketing scheme.

 

 

 

What do u mean? If u mean the "modern" applications, they do not fit with ANY desktop theme, including Aero.

Experienced

Lirodon

Posted
Posted

post-417173-0-15133400-1318097695.jpg

 

This is why.

 

(Yes, I'm bringing her back, mainly because this kinda reminds me of it)

 

Classic mode has regressed in quality ever since Windows Vista. It's shocking that they managed to make its UI changes work on the Aero UI layout, but what would you rather do? Shed legacy components, or keep trying to adapt ancient paradigms on modern systems?

Grand Master

+Frank B. Subscriber²

Posted
  • Subscriber²
Posted

post-417173-0-15133400-1318097695.jpg

 

This is why.

 

(Yes, I'm bringing her back, mainly because this kinda reminds me of it)

 

Classic mode has regressed in quality ever since Windows Vista. It's shocking that they managed to make its UI changes work on the Aero UI layout, but what would you rather do? Shed legacy components, or keep trying to adapt ancient paradigms on modern systems?

I lol'd at the screenshot. Who knows where the accursed one is these days...

 

Edit: For your viewing pleasure:

 

Grand Master

Anibal P

Posted
Posted

I'm glad classic is dead, good riddance 

 

At work we have moved to 7/8 and at first a few fools complained that it "looks different" unlike some I never mentioned the classic theme in 7, guess what, all the whinging like a baby stopped once they started USING windows 7/8, hell there was more useless crying over the XP-7 change than the 7-8 changes 

 

Moral of the story, suck it up and get over it, the new UIs are just better in every way 

This topic is now closed to further replies.
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.

  • Posts

    • Salesforce to acquire Fin, formerly Intercom, for over $3 billion

      By David Uzondu · Posted

      Salesforce to acquire Fin, formerly Intercom, for over $3 billion by David Uzondu Image via DepositPhotos.com Salesforce today announced that it has reached an agreement with customer support software company Fin to buy the company for around $3.6 billion. Salesforce expects the transaction to close in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2027, and the acquisition will not change its financial guidance previously announced on May 27. Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, in its press release, claimed that acquiring the startup gives Salesforce an immediate AI agent that resolves support tickets across email, WhatsApp, SMS, and Slack: You might know Fin by its former name, Intercom. If you have ever been on a website or inside a mobile app and noticed a little chat bubble widget floating in the bottom right corner of your screen, often featuring a friendly face and a message like, "Hi! How can we help you today?" you were almost certainly looking at Intercom. Intercom became Fin just last month, transforming itself into an "AI-first" platform that handles customer issues with little need for humans to intervene. The new name originates from the company's highly successful AI customer service agent, which it launched way back in 2023. This digital assistant supposedly resolves about 76% of customer service volume end-to-end on its own, so the business rebranded to match its primary software tool. Fin's new owners, Salesforce, went on an acquisition spree over the last few years, and some of them you might recognize, like its 2020 $27.7 Billion acquisition of Slack. The last few months saw the enterprise giant buy several startups, including m3ter, Momentum, Cimulate, and Contentful. Salesforce said that when the Fin deal pulls through, customers will "deploy AI agents across" various service operations, which will complement Agentforce, the platform that enables businesses to deploy customizable autonomous digital workers.
    • Politically funny images of the World

      By +primortal · Posted

    • The official Funny Pictures thread

      By +primortal · Posted

    • Politically funny images of the World

      By +primortal · Posted

    • Microsoft now allows you to tweak Visual Studio to new extremes

      By Usama Jawad96 · Posted

      Microsoft now allows you to tweak Visual Studio to new extremes by Usama Jawad Visual Studio 2026 recently netted a powerful feature that finally allows developers to review Git Pull Requests (PRs) directly in the integrated development environment (IDE), without needing to switch to the browser. However, that's not all that Microsoft introduced in the latest version, as it also offered a useful way to customize the IDE to their heart's content. Although Visual Studio 2026 already provides lots of stock themes based on Fluent Design principles, Microsoft understands that people still want to customize them further according to their preferences. The IDE now offers a new configuration page for themes under Tools > Options > Environment > Visual Experience > Theme colors. This allows you to set hex color codes for accent colors, hover states, and more, and apply them without requiring a restart. The Redmond tech giant further says that: Microsoft is also offering granular color tokens that allow you to customize various UX elements like the tab header without impacting the rest of the shell chrome. Your themes are also stored in JSON format in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Microsoft\VisualStudio\18.0_xxxxxxxx\ColorThemes, which basically enables you to share it with others or override existing themes. This is a major improvement in terms of the user experience powering these customization capabilities. This is because extensions were required to replace the theme, and it was not very easy to make minor adjustments. This theme configuration UX solves this problem and is available in Visual Studio 2026 version 18.7, available here.

  • Recent Achievements

    • Week One Done
      Jeroen Wilms earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • Week One Done
      rolfus earned a badge
      Week One Done
    • One Month Later
      Leroy Jethro Gibbs earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Conversation Starter
      flexorcist earned a badge
      Conversation Starter
    • One Month Later
      AndreaB earned a badge
      One Month Later

  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      503
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      201
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      127
    4. 4
      Steven P.
      82
    5. 5
      ATLien_0
      76
    Show More

  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!