WB 10 does not skin Excel 2016 properly

from Stardock Forums

So, I went into Settings/Per application and selected Add. T

Then I browsed to the Excel.exe and selected it. When a workbook was open, the title bar wasn't skinned with the skin I had selected in Styles.

Instead, the grid area had been "skinned" with the main color of the skin.

 

Add Edit: I tried a few more skins , and nothing changed in Excel.

 

On a side note:

When I try to create/Edit a texture for the Start menu, WB crashes.

 

 

 

windowblinds
9,039 views 9 replies
Reply #1 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Can you take a screenshot of Excel 2016, upload it somewhere, and then post the link here?

Start11 - Customize the Start Menu and Taskbar in Windows 10/11.
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

I find it does this for all of the applications for office 2013 also.  It appears to always override any themes, just like modern apps for me.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Ok, so I figured out why WB10 crashes when I try to skin the start menu.

Apparently, you need to buy Start 10 in order to skin it.

If I recall, previous versions of WB didn't require the purchase of a 2nd program to make it fully featured.

Yea, it's only $5, but I think SD should have been more up-front about it.

Also, I can completely understand WB not being able to skin every 3rd party program out there, but it should be able to skin ALL Microsoft products.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Borg999, reply 4

Ok, so I figured out why WB10 crashes when I try to skin the start menu.

Apparently, you need to buy Start 10 in order to skin it.

If I recall, previous versions of WB didn't require the purchase of a 2nd program to make it fully featured.

Yea, it's only $5, but I think SD should have been more up-front about it.

Also, I can completely understand WB not being able to skin every 3rd party program out there, but it should be able to skin ALL Microsoft products.
End of Borg999's quote

Microsoft Office is a third party product.  It does not skin because it does not use OS titlebars.  It has its own look.  You would need to complain directly to Microsoft about that.

Regarding the skinning of the start menu, Windows 10 does not have a skinnable Start menu so WB cannot skin it.  Start10 offers a Windows 7 style menu and is theme aware and thus gets skinned.  On Windows 7 the OS does have a theme aware start menu and so gets skinned.  On Windows 8 the OS lacks a theme aware start menu and thus you need Start8.  This was the case with WB8 too.

Nothing should crash without Start10/8, it will simply not skin those parts as there is nothing to skin.  If Microsoft added theme support to the existing start menu then WB would skin it.

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting Neil, reply 5


Quoting Borg999,
reply 4

Ok, so I figured out why WB10 crashes when I try to skin the start menu.

Apparently, you need to buy Start 10 in order to skin it.

If I recall, previous versions of WB didn't require the purchase of a 2nd program to make it fully featured.

Yea, it's only $5, but I think SD should have been more up-front about it.

Also, I can completely understand WB not being able to skin every 3rd party program out there, but it should be able to skin ALL Microsoft products.



Microsoft Office is a third party product.  It does not skin because it does not use OS titlebars.  It has its own look.  You would need to complain directly to Microsoft about that.

Regarding the skinning of the start menu, Windows 10 does not have a skinnable Start menu so WB cannot skin it.  Start10 offers a Windows 7 style menu and is theme aware and thus gets skinned.  On Windows 7 the OS does have a theme aware start menu and so gets skinned.  On Windows 8 the OS lacks a theme aware start menu and thus you need Start8.  This was the case with WB8 too.

Nothing should crash without Start10/8, it will simply not skin those parts as there is nothing to skin.  If Microsoft added theme support to the existing start menu then WB would skin it.

End of Neil's quote

 

Well I skipped Win 8, so I wasn't aware of the start 8 requirement.

And if Office can't be skinned, why was I asked for a screen shot? Why not just tell me upfront about the OS title bar issue?

Also, Office is made by MS, so it's not a 3rd party product from the perspective of MS, and WB is made specifically to skin MS products, so it is not unreasonable for a non tech person to expect Office to be skinnable.

Perhaps a disclaimer should be included with the marketing copy listing the major software products that are not skinnable.

 

 

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top
Quoting Borg999, reply 6
Quoting Neil Banfield,
reply 5






Quoting Borg999,

reply 4


Ok, so I figured out why WB10 crashes when I try to skin the start menu.

Apparently, you need to buy Start 10 in order to skin it.

If I recall, previous versions of WB didn't require the purchase of a 2nd program to make it fully featured.

Yea, it's only $5, but I think SD should have been more up-front about it.

Also, I can completely understand WB not being able to skin every 3rd party program out there, but it should be able to skin ALL Microsoft products.



Microsoft Office is a third party product.  It does not skin because it does not use OS titlebars.  It has its own look.  You would need to complain directly to Microsoft about that.

Regarding the skinning of the start menu, Windows 10 does not have a skinnable Start menu so WB cannot skin it.  Start10 offers a Windows 7 style menu and is theme aware and thus gets skinned.  On Windows 7 the OS does have a theme aware start menu and so gets skinned.  On Windows 8 the OS lacks a theme aware start menu and thus you need Start8.  This was the case with WB8 too.

Nothing should crash without Start10/8, it will simply not skin those parts as there is nothing to skin.  If Microsoft added theme support to the existing start menu then WB would skin it.



 

Well I skipped Win 8, so I wasn't aware of the start 8 requirement.

And if Office can't be skinned, why was I asked for a screen shot? Why not just tell me upfront about the OS title bar issue?

Also, Office is made by MS, so it's not a 3rd party product from the perspective of MS, and WB is made specifically to skin MS products, so it is not unreasonable for a non tech person to expect Office to be skinnable.

Perhaps a disclaimer should be included with the marketing copy listing the major software products that are not skinnable.

 

 

End of Borg999's quote

I am afraid I cannot answer about the screenshot question as I did not ask you.

My comment about office being third party is that it is third party to us.  If we did not write it we can hardly promise how it will skin.  WindowBlinds skins standard OS features, if apps choose not to avail themselves of those features then it is on them.

We offer a 30 day trial and would encourage users to try that first.

Reply #8 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting Borg999, reply 6

And if Office can't be skinned, why was I asked for a screen shot? Why not just tell me upfront about the OS title bar issue?
End of Borg999's quote

I wanted to be sure we were talking about the same thing before responding so there could be no misunderstanding.

Thanks for the image. 

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Neil and Zuba, thanks for your replies. I purchased Start 10 and just about everything is working fine.

 

I would like to bring up one of my original issues as an FYI to WB skin makers.

It seems that many skins will cause the grid section of Excel 2016 (and I believe Word too) to change from it's standard white background to one of the colors used by the skin. (see link in reply #2)

I believe I've discovered the cause of this (from a non tech, end user perspective).

Skins that have a white background in a window do not cause the change in color, and those with a non white background do.

Also note that including Excel.exe as an excluded app doesn't resolve the issue.

I understand that 95% of the skins available haven't been updated since Win 8 (and will probably never be), but for those who are updating their skins for Win 10, it's something to consider.

When I get home today, I'll be able to provide the names of some skins that are causing the color change.