Rendering problems with title bar and tab bars (WB10, Win7/64)

from Stardock Forums

I've been having a variety of very annoying issues with various themes; what will happen is, when I apply the theme, the tab bar or menu bar will be drawn on top of the title bar on the window; in many cases this makes the minimize/maximize/close buttons (on the title bar) inaccessible.

The program that I see this most frequently in is ConEmu (a container program which lets user run multiple consoles in tabs, in one application).  However, it happens with other programs as well; It happened earlier with Windows Explorer as well, and sometimes with Firefox, and others that I don't recall at the moment.

This can occur in one of two ways...

for many themes, just applying the theme causes ConEmu's tabs to be rendered on top of the title bar.  This is true for Woody, Wood & Copper, Thredz, and several other WB themes.

However, for a couple of other themes, such as Xandro, it initially draws correctly, but I get in trouble when I try to customize my fonts, using the Windows "Advanced appearance settings" dialog, if I try to change "Active Title Bar" font, then it redraws wrong, and I cannot fix it after that except by reloading the theme.

Is there some way I can stop this from happening?? 

One thing that I can do, is exclude ConEmux64.exe from skinning, but I'd rather not, if I can find an alternative, as the unskinned program looks rather ugly!!

Any other thoughts would be very appreciated!!

My system:

Windows 7 64bit

WB 10 (010 - Windows & Edition) - 64 bit OS

 

windowblinds
12,448 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

BTW, this issue had previously been discussed by someone else, on the ConEmu support forum:
https://github.com/Maximus5/ConEmu/issues/291

The ConEmu author said:

"I consider this is a bug of Windowblinds or exact theme. Contact their authors.

Weird arguments come into WM_NCCALCSIZE while using that theme."

Unfortunately, in most cases, it's not possible to contact the theme authors...

would be nice if we could come up with a solution in WB itself...

 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

You should never use the Windows advanced theme properties to change fonts when using a WB skin.  This will confuse things.  Always use WindowBlinds settings.

All those themes sound pretty old, so that might be the issue there.  I have made a mental note to look into that for the next WB update.

TouchTasks - Access tasks with ease on Windows touchscreens.
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Thanks for the response, Neil;

I know that you'd prefer that I use Skin Studio to change fonts, rather than the Windows font properties... but the truth is, Skin Studio is a *very* difficult tool to use for this purpose!!  The Windows tool is far easier, more intuitive, and I've been using it for years for this purpose (though I know I won't have the option any more, if I'm ever forced to move to Win8 or Win10); that is why I continue to use it. 

I essentially have 4 fonts that I always have to change, every time I select a new WB theme; icon, menu, active title bar, message box. (those are Windows terms for them).

What would be cool, is if I could tell WB "don't let themes change these fonts", and specify the categories... then I'd be in hog heaven !!!

 

 

 

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Derell Licht, I think Neil meant use WindowBlinds, not SkinStudio.

Open WindowBlinds, click on modify, then fonts.

 

 

 

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Okay, I'll try that out, though it doesn't seem to offer the level of control that I enjoy with Windows...

I want to set the following (using Windows names):

icon - used for desktop icons and labels

menu - used for menus

message box - used in Thunderbird for main message listings

The others I don't care so much about.

The WB "Change style fonts" dialog only offers me a couple of font selections;

"normal text", "shadowed text", and a couple of others...

 

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

I have same issue for all themes it looks like title bar is on oryginal title bar, can anyone help me out how to fix that issue?