Will Windows 9 reintroduce the classic theme?

By bulldows95
in Tips, Tweaks & Customization

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Grand Master

Ian W

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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

I didn't say it wasn't possible . . . Anyway, what you posted is an unofficial workaround, and so is technically not supported by Microsoft.

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?

Care to elaborate?

 

Everything regressed in quality in Windows starting from Win2000

Maybe for you, yes, but not for others. For example, I quite enjoy the Windows Aero UI present in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

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Anixx

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Maybe for you, yes, but not for others. For example, I quite enjoy the Windows Aero UI present in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

Can u name at least 1 bug in Win2000, especially UI-related? I cannot. I know not a single bug in Win2000 at all and definitely none affected me even though I worked with the system for years.

In Win XP there were about 10-12 or so bugs and glitchess, mostly appearance-related. In Win7 there are tens, and may be hundreds, glitches and bugs are everywhere, it looks like beta software.

 

For example, I quite enjoy the Windows Aero UI present in Windows Vista and Windows 7.

 

...which is quite buggy. For instance, Clear type not working in the taskbar (works only in Classic theme). Window maximize animations are absent. And a lot of other bugs.

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Grand Master

adrynalyne

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Can u name at least 1 bug in Win2000, especially UI-related? I cannot. I know no bugs in Win2000 at all and definitely none affected me.

In Win XP there were about 10-12 or so bugs and glitchess, mostly appearance-related. In Win7 there are tens, and may be hundreds, glitches and bugs are everywhere, it looks like beta software.

 

...which is quite buggy. For instance, Clear type not working in the taskbar (works only in Classic theme). Window maximize animations are absent. And a lot of other bugs.

Examples?  Otherwise those are empty claims.

 

Cleartype might work on classic, but it ahs tearing when moving windows.  So you call it a bug, I believe that was probably a design decision that someone forgot to take out of classic.

 

As for broken animations this (rather crappy) video is calling you out:

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Grand Master

Ian W

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Can u name at least 1 bug in Win2000, especially UI-related?

I can give you a list of bugs. Mind you, they were fixed in Service Pack 4, but they still existed at one point or another.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/327194

 

I know not a single bug in Win2000 at all and definitely none affected me even though I worked with the system for years.

Doesn't mean they did not (and do not) exist.

For instance, Clear type not working in the taskbar (works only in Classic theme). Window maximize animations are absent. And a lot of other bugs.

What purpose would maximize window animations serve? The minimize animations are to help the user discover where the window is located on the taskbar.

Do the window tearing and redrawing errors present in Windows Classic / Luna count as a 'bug' to you? http://blogs.msdn.com/b/greg_schechter/archive/2006/03/05/544314.aspx

LYdOcGH.jpg Q0sNTP2.png

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DrainTheSw4mp

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OMG please yes. Or no, better yet, include a better UXtheme engine so we can customize it as much as we'd like. I loved using Luna, Classic and Vista Aero themes on Windows 7 from time to time.

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Lirodon

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Care to elaborate?

On Vista/7, a lot of the new UI elements (such as the new Windows Explorer design and taskbar) don't tend to look as elegant as they do in the Aero themes. It was becoming clear that trying to adapt the Aero HIG to work in Classic was going to look unpolished.

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Anixx

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Cleartype might work on classic, but it ahs tearing when moving windows.

 

Yes. And under Win200/XP I had no tearing in 2D. There was a checkbox in Nvidia control panel.

 

So you call it a bug, I believe that was probably a design decision that someone forgot to take out of classic.

 

Design deccision? Classic theme respects font settings (Subpixel/grayscale/no smoothing), in Aero the taskbar, menu and other elements do not. By hacking the theme file one can disable the smoothing in the taskbar, otherwise u always get grayscale irrespective of system settings. There is no possibility to enable ClearType on the taskbar other than using Classic theme.

As for broken animations this (rather crappy) video is calling you out:

 

I am not about animation speed. There is jus NO animation of maximizing and restoring(from max) a window under Aero.

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Anixx

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What purpose would maximize window animations serve? The minimize animations are to help the user discover where the window is located on the taskbar.

 

Okay. There is no restore from max animation either. It can help to locate the application's window. But the point is that the interface is totally inconsistent and unfinished.

 

Do the window tearing and redrawing errors present in Windows Classic / Luna count as a 'bug' to you

 

I w2as asking about Windows 2000. I know that XP is more buggy than Win 2000, especially UI and theme-wise.

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Anixx

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OMG please yes. Or no, better yet, include a better UXtheme engine so we can customize it as much as we'd like. I loved using Luna, Classic and Vista Aero themes on Windows 7 from time to time.

It seems that current enguine used in Windows 8 had been designed for just one theme and not to be changed. That's perhaps the reason why they so much simplified the theme in W8: they wanted a new theme, but this flat design is maximum that they could get out of the very regid engine.

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Grand Master

MtnDewCodeRedFreak

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Ugh - classic theme is hideous.

 

And, off-topic, but LOL at Andrea Borman's video. Oh God, the horrible memories from August 2012!

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Anixx

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On Vista/7, a lot of the new UI elements (such as the new Windows Explorer design and taskbar) don't tend to look as elegant as they do in the Aero themes. It was becoming clear that trying to adapt the Aero HIG to work in Classic was going to look unpolished.

I agree with this. Also they introduced some other bugs to the Classic theme. Black point on the first tab in the tabbed dialogs, wrong shadow on the slider, no 3D (and any other) borders around icon views in Explorer, too thick Command Bar buttons, different styles of pressed and not pressed combo box in Explorer's address bar (and doubbled 3D borders when pressed), garbage on the taskbar buttons during the windows restore animations, the distance to the taskbar handle grows if to switch themes and then return to Classic, the appearance colors dialog becomes smaller each time one changes the window buttons size so at one point even the OK button becomes unaccessible (maybe this happens in Aero as well), different fonts in different dialogs  etc.

 

But still. I consider the Aero bugs more visible (no Clear type here and there, missing animations, some dialogs appearing in Classic theme, even system ones, white point in the desktop's corner). So that actually any theme under Win7 is buggy.

 

There are also theme-independent bugs, like corrupted icons, inscriptions not fitting in their space etc.

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Grand Master

Ian W

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Okay. There is no restore from max animation either. It can help to locate the application's window. But the point is that the interface is totally inconsistent and unfinished.

Might I suggest that the only reason the UI in Windows 2000 is consistent is because it is literally built on Microsoft's previous UI efforts; icons from Windows 95 don't conflict with the theme in Windows 2000, for example. The same is not true with older icons and Windows XP, which is supposed to be bright, cheerful, and colorful.

I w2as asking about Windows 2000. I know that XP is more buggy than Win 2000, especially UI and theme-wise.

These visual artifacts also occur in Windows 2000. This is because the operating system does not have a compositing window manager (present in Windows Vista and later).

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Anixx

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icons from Windows 95 don't conflict with the theme in Windows 2000, for example.

 

Win95 used different icons than Win2000. I like the icons from MS Plus for Win95 the most of all till this day, but the default W95 icons the least. The WinXP used the cartoonish style I (moderately) disliked. But a glitch with Win XP was that it still used the Luna artword in Classic theme (those green round buttons in the Explorer, for instance), this is not directly related to the file icon theme, which was more or less compatible with the Classic theme though.

These visual artifacts also occur in Windows 2000.

 

What exactly artifacts do u mean? There was no screen tearing (everywhere, including when moving Windows) at least when using Win2000/XP with Nvidia+D-Sub connector (as opposed to DVI). It seems Microsoft removed this feature from Win7 so to force everybody who dislikes tearing to Aero. Four years ago when I was using XP I had no tearing. Then I switched to Linux briefly, and now I use Win7 with Classic theme and have heavy tearing.

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Grand Master

Dot Matrix

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and now I use Win7 with Classic theme and have heavy tearing.

You realize you're hurting your system performance by doing that, right?

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Anixx

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You realize you're hurting your system performance by doing that, right?

It is quite doubtful. Anyway I know no way to enable the DWM while remaining under Classic theme in Win7. There are Aero themes that emulate the Classic theme, but so far the disadvantages and bugs in Aero (lack of customizability, not working ClearType in Explorer etc) outweigh the advantage of no tearing. On the other hand, it is possible to use Classic theme without quitting DWM under Windows 8 via a hack, but this has its own disadwantages. That's why my next OS most likely will be Win 2000.

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Grand Master

Ian W

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Win95 used different icons than Win2000.

I'm well aware of that. My point was that they do not conflict with the style set forth by Windows 2000; everything is classic. Not that there is anything wrong with that, mind you.

 

What exactly artifacts do u mean? There was no screen tearing (everywhere, including when moving Windows) at least when using Win2000/XP with Nvidia+D-Sub connector (as opposed to DVI). It seems Microsoft removed this feature from Win7 so to force everybody who dislikes tearing to Aero. Four years ago when I was using XP I had no tearing. Then I switched to Linux briefly, and now I use Win7 with Classic theme and have heavy tearing.

I am referring to the artifacts present in the images that I previously posted. It is bizarre that in your previous post you indirectly used the artifacts to support your belief that Windows XP is 'buggy,' yet you later state that you did not experience them at all while using Windows XP.

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Anixx

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I am referring to the artifacts present in the images that I previously posted. It is bizarre that in your previous post you indirectly used the artifacts to support your belief that Windows XP is 'buggy,' yet you later state that you did not experience them at all while using Windows XP.

Where I said XP had tearing? Where I said so "indirectly"? I was referring to a lot of other bugs and glitches.

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Grand Master

Ian W

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Where I said XP had tearing? Where I said so "indirectly"? I was referring to a lot of other bugs and glitches.

I did not state that you wrote about tearing in Windows XP. It was my assumption that you used the tearing as an example of 'bugs and glitches' present in Windows XP, because when I mentioned the tearing, you wrote . . .

 

I w2as asking about Windows 2000. I know that XP is more buggy than Win 2000, especially UI and theme-wise.

And then when I mentioned the artifacts (tearing) in Windows 2000 . . .

 

What exactly artifacts do u mean? There was no screen tearing (everywhere, including when moving Windows) at least when using Win2000/XP with Nvidia+D-Sub connector (as opposed to DVI). It seems Microsoft removed this feature from Win7 so to force everybody who dislikes tearing to Aero. Four years ago when I was using XP I had no tearing. Then I switched to Linux briefly, and now I use Win7 with Classic theme and have heavy tearing.

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Grand Master

Seahorsepip Veteran

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OMG please yes. Or no, better yet, include a better UXtheme engine so we can customize it as much as we'd like. I loved using Luna, Classic and Vista Aero themes on Windows 7 from time to time.

Theming of windows 8 is easier then 7, we can enable aero and enable/disable blur, make the border width very small etc.

It's just a matter of using the right software and themes.

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