"Per application" styles have no effect

from Stardock Forums

Hello,

I just installed WB for the first time on my Intel i7 64-bit Win10 system.  While I can get the themes to change on all my windows by selecting a style and applying it to the entire desktop, trying to select a style on a "Per application" basis has no effect.  My current desktop style is the Microsoft default theme and I've tried selecting several other themes for applications like explorer.exe, notepad++.exe, and vlc.exe, but nothing ever changes on their windows.  Am I misinterpreting what WB is actually supposed to do or am I merely failing to set something correctly?

Thanks,
Ray

windowblinds
14,456 views 10 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello, 

Sorry to hear you having issues. But, WB don't work like that. Apply Windows 10 default themes is actually disabling WB. 

You can apply any theme the whole windows. And choose other theme for different programs but the system colors will always follows the main theme applied. Those other application that using different than the main theme will have it's windows frame, buttons etc change according to that selected theme.

And there are several programs like MS office suite, several browsers and others not compatible with WB.

Hope that clearify things for you. Let us know if you still need assistance.

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Basj,

Thanks for your quick reply but I'm afraid I still don't understand.  Are you telling me that I should somehow not apply any theme globally and instead apply an individual theme to each individual application?  I have many, many applications installed on my computer and I've never seen one of them that didn't use whatever was selected as the main theme.  Examples are Wordpad, Notepad, Notepad++, TheBat!, VMWare Workstation Pro, VLC Media Player, Adobe Acrobat Pro 2017, FileZilla, HexWorkshop, EaseUS Todo, Handbrake, RegexBuddy, and on and on.  Are you telling me that WB cannot modify the appearance of the windows for any of these applications in any way?  I am primarily interested in changing the color of the title bar on a per application basis.

Thanks,
Ray

Ashes of the Singularity II
Reply #3 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting RayMitchell, reply 2

Are you telling me that I should somehow not apply any theme globally and instead apply an individual theme to each individual application? 
End of RayMitchell's quote

No, I said you need to apply a theme, any theme, you wish to use. Except Default theme, which, if you do will disable Windowblinds.

Quoting RayMitchell, reply 2

Are you telling me that WB cannot modify the appearance of the windows for any of these applications in any way?
End of RayMitchell's quote

No, It can change it. Just that if your main theme change the Windows system color, this usually happen in a dark theme, where they, the Theme Author, change the Windows Background color to black or something dark. This change system color will be used by any other program that use that Windows color. For example if the Windows background color is set to be black. Program like Excel, Word will have black background too. Which will not work for some people.

As for appearance, yes it will change those other application to any theme you wish. if you set it correctly.

Quoting RayMitchell, reply 2

I am primarily interested in changing the color of the title bar on a per application basis.
End of RayMitchell's quote

 I believe, it is possible. Refer to my s/shot below I set 3 application using 3 different theme.

 

 

 

 

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.

 

Reply #4 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Ray, Firstly, the default theme just sets windows back to it's default state, in effect, turning off windowblinds.  Go ahead and apply any theme other than default. This will be your global theme. 

Then go and apply any other themes on a per application basis, you will get the titlebar change as you wish. But the per application themes will change more than just the titlebar for that application. (scrollbars, etc.)

 

I hope this clarifies things for you.

Reply #5 from Stardock Forums Top

Excellent, and thanks to both of the previous posters for clarifying this for me.  I didn't realize that the default theme disabled everything else.  In many ways I kind of like the default theme and just want to tweak a few minor things.  I looked at all the custom themes that come with the stock version of WB but they're all quite different from the Windows 10 default.  Do you happen to know of any of the additional downloadable themes that virtually duplicate the Win10 default?  That would be a good jumping off point for making a few minor changes :-)

Reply #6 from Stardock Forums Top

Quoting RayMitchell, reply 5

Do you happen to know of any of the additional downloadable themes that virtually duplicate the Win10 default? 
End of RayMitchell's quote

Not too sure if there is something close to Win10 default since mostly people make skin to get away from Win10 look. But you can browse through and look something might be in your liking from here https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds

Thank you,

 

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant

Reply #7 from Stardock Forums Top

I have exactly the same issue and attempted to resolve the problem by saving my default theme in Win 10 and then installing it into WB. I changed file extension to the one WB recognizes,

Unfortunately, it appears, WB cannot read the format of the theme file produced by Win 10 and the import fails. 

Is is possible to import Win 10 Themes into WB? Is it possible to add such function to WB? Is a converter available? 

Ray did you find a copy of the default like Win 10 Dark Theme? 

 

EDIT: WB could even save all properties of the current Windows theme by using "Save current colour & texture as preset" option.

 

Reply #8 from Stardock Forums Top

nsdu, I'm sorry but I just found the whole thing to be more trouble than it was worth so I just uninstalled it :-(

Reply #9 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Would like to introduce to you "Curtains" which should be better suited for you. Read here for more information : https://forums.stardock.com/499487

Thank you,

Basj
Stardock Community Assistant.

Reply #10 from Stardock Forums Top

Interesting. 

I am mostly looking to skin or theme areas which W10 dark theme failed to cover. The changes can be forced through high-contrast theme facility, but that will impact all apps given global nature of the HC themes. Per application approach also affords to theme differently instances of the same app connected to different back-ends. 

Hopefully, achieving this in Curtains will be easier than in WB or reconfiguration of W10 HC themes back closer to regular looks.