Msstyle "hardcoding"

I'd like to ask wich files (.dll, .exe, .xml, .css,.....) containing information on the classic windows gui.

I ask that because I think if we could change these settigs/looks of the simple windows gui, we will be

able to bypass the limitations of the skinned ( "msstyled") gui.

What are these limitations:

1#: combo/list boxes look great in OSX (great backgrounds) but in XP's msstyles they look quite poor!

2#: menu backgounds: only colored flat noothing in XP

3#: colored balls, from the right to the left (without any additional app....)

4#: window backgoungs, tree wiew bgrnd.... etc.

IF WE ARE ABOUT TO MAKE A REAL AQUA-LIKE USER INTERFACE, WE'LL HAVE TO

GET OVER THESE LIMITATIONS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SO, HELP PLEASE! THX.

#16886

Default\classic is not a theme it's the absense of a theme. It contains no images. Things such as the close, min and max glyphs are contained in the font marlett.ttf. It doesn't use any images for the rest either. Even check, scrollbar arrow glyphs, and borders for groups are contained in the marlette.ttf.

The classic layout cannot be changed. It's literally hardcoded into GDI. You'd need access to the windows source code I'd bet. The reason why window changers can change the layout is because they use completely different buttons which are bitmaps those bitmaps just happen to be able to have windows functions attached to them. They don't actually move the real windows buttons just replace them completely. When making msstyles MS just decided upon the layout and hardcoded that into the themes service.

I repeat, the themes service is still an additional app over classic.

The way all windows changers and this includes ms styles work is they intercept the GDI and instead of drawing the hardcoded things (marlett.ttf and simple lines and gradients) it does the window using bitmaps.

In order to change this you'd need to rewrite GDI, win32 and update all your apps to use this new version.

#16898

If you right, that means the coser look we can get is Icemans vs?

Example:

Is it possible to get better/closer look of our gui to the OSX.

Look the pic below...........

Is it ossible to change the look of the combo/list boxes???????

#16917

Yes I'm afraid so, on all flavors of windows you have to use some kind of theme such as a visual style to skin the interface because the default one doesn't use bitmaps at all and can't be replaced, it can only be overridden (like with the themes service).

On OSX there are 2 types of combo boxes or list boxes. One that you can type in and one that you can't. It has a seperate look for each. On windows there seems to be only one look which is used for both.

That's the older version of OSX but they changed the bitmaps, not the controls themselves. Since the combo box one looks more like the one in win, I think we should use that.

#16957

Thanks Smoke!

Could you post a better quality picture?!

Cause I am writing my own msstyle file based on Iceman's theme,

And I could use these combo boxes.

THX..

#17005