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Clearscreen Sharp for Windows7
by-nc-nd
Published: 2009-10-25 01:51:16 +0000 UTC; Views: 941928; Favourites: 1946; Downloads: 218440
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Description
THANKS fediaFedia FOR THE DAILY DEVIATION and I'm glad that people out there still enjoy using this theme!
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Note: For current news regarding Clearscreen Sharp for Windows 7, please view: [link]
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Hi all,
Here is the Clearscreen port for Windows 7. Much has been polished and much had to be redone, thus some things have been changed -- some compromises here as Windows 7 shares even more resources between different parts of the theme. So expect some details to be lost (like the etched look on the group sorting headers -- Windows 7 ignores the property and only allows a 1px height for the seperator), or the unique "New Application" button state for the Start Menu (that image is shared and grossly distorted in another area), amongst other things.
You may be wondering where the navigation buttons and other resources are -- I am having trouble replacing my resources in System32. Replacing Explorer.exe works fine, but as soon as I replace a .dll file, things go to crap. I had to repair my OS 8 times yesterday and don't feel like having another go for a while. I'm taking the same steps as I had on Vista x64, and I had no problem on Vista, so this is very strange. Any help is appreciated
I am working on Clearscreen Round, which shouldn't take as long, as the base that these two themes share is now complete. Won't give an ETA; it'll be done when it's done.
Known Bugs / Limitations:
- Because of the nonstandard frame and padding size (both set to 1) of this theme, you may see the frames distort in some areas... unfortunately, there's not much I can do there as Vista's default Aero also has problems when scaling it down to this size; fidelity of the edges and corners are lost. [limitation]
- Aero Wizard dialog uses the bodytext color property (which is set to black in my theme) for the titlebar text for whatever reason (coding laziness?) -- basically, black text on black shadow == difficult to read... [limitation]
Volume mixer line goes a few pixels too far -- this is because the padding size is low, which allows for more vertical and horizontal space, allowing the vertical seperator to come into view and cross the horizontal volume mixer line. [limitation]- Resource Monitor accordion text color is white and sits on a light gray background. [limitation]
- Start Menu may show up blurless near the top when you first open it, but it fixes afterwards. This is because DWM assumes that there is a solid graphic there like in the default Aero, so it doesn't blur it. Unfortunately, there is an intentional gap up there to fit the style, and I don't want to change it. It's not a big problem, but a minor annoyance for some.
Updates
- Fixed x86 white/blank graphic bug (Systray, IE8 Search)...again.
v3.2 (November 1, 2009):
- Fixed Start Menu's Userpic in Top Superbar orientation.
- Revisted the Superbar Thumbnails section, still not sure about it, but I think it looks better than it did.
- Improved Start Menu blurless area limitation (seen when you first open it, DWM fixes it afterwards) by expanding the white area (Programslist) horizontally to cover it. I can't fix the top part, unfortunately, or that would mean that there will be no gap up there, and I like the gap
- Removed Fading Animation in Explorer Documents section/template. It was an experimentation that I forgot to remove.
- Fixed Vertical taskbar graphics to stretch proportionately
v3.1 (October 31, 2009): Bug fixes & Polishing
- Fixed x86 white/blank graphic bug (Systray, IE8 Search)
- Fixed SIZINGMARGIN property for progress bar left and right edge -- edge retains fidelity when progress bar is stretched or shrunken.
v3 (October 30, 2009):
- Fixed Treeview bug (Seen in CCleaner, Regedit)
- Fixed Start Menu panels from distorting in Large Icons mode
- Fixed Shadowless frames (left and right) to match top and bottom frames
- Optimized frames for current padding/sizing border (1)
- Added a bit more contrast to highlighted text (highlighted text now set to #000000; highlight fill = #CDCDCD)
- Fixed Disabled SplitButton Dropdown graphic
- Updated Explorer.exe to current version [6.1.7600.16404] (x86 & x64) -- thanks to ~drake04 !
- Fixed Large Icons view in Start Menu from distorting the menu panels.
v2.5 (October 26, 2009):
v2 (October 25, 2009):
FAQ
- Q: Where can I get the green wallpaper in the preview?
A: Sorry, that isn't a wallpaper. It is a background made for presentation purposes. Maybe when I have the time I can create a wallpaper like it. - Q: What about the ones in Explorer? Where can I get those wallpapers?
A: I do not remember where I got them from, so out of respect to the authors I won't share them.
I think the ones in the preview came from Flickr. You may be able to find them in some of my favorite photographers galleries and shrink them down to your resolution yourself:
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
[link]
Q: Are you going to make a large triangular Start button?
A: Sure, when I get the time. The reason for its current absence is because the triangular Start button is shared in all four Superbar orientations.
Q: Help! I can't make out the text in X program!
A: Programs that rely on their own graphics or font colors along with resources from the theme (colors, font, images) for their GUI will often have usability issues (black font on black background, for example). This is unfortunately out of my hands. Programmers design their program around the default Aero theme as that's what the overwhelming majority would use.
Related content
Comments: 708
Wowza! Gorgeous theme.
The only messed up thing is that bug in x86.
I really hope thats fixed ASAP!
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Brilliant theme, it looks really good. One problem though, once I replaced the original explorer.exe with the one you supplied, my virus scanner, Avast!, complained of a rootkit found in explorer.exe (through some heuristic scan). Is this just a false positive due to the fact it's been modified?
Cheers.
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There's nothing wrong here, trust me.
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How can i replace the explorer.exe? Windows just doesnt allow it, neither in safety mode
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I think you should improve the text shadows so the text look smooth. (Please refer to the link). [link]
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Hi, are you talking about the black shadow and black text up there?
That is something that I cannot fix with this theme, unfortunately. Microsoft uses black text there and I can't change it
The Aero variation that I will make later will fix this, but the text will be black and it will have a white glow... but everything should be visible then
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I have searching trough google and find this. this might help you installing themes [link] you need to patch several file system in 7 so you can install themes
cheers
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The only thing I've noticed so far is that it raises hell with the fonts in CCleaner. Otherwise, I love it. I see more attention to detail every day I used it. Microsoft could learn from your example.
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Are you using the latest version? I thought I got that fixed
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Oh...nope. My bad. Sorry.
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No problem. I'm relieved, because it was fixed on mine
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Nice! I liked this on Vista, but I think it's even better on 7 (it actually makes the thick taskbar look great). Definitely the best theme on 7 right now.
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Thats all I want.
Finally the first descent VS for w7.
Ty.
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I found an issue with the start menu, when you open it for the first time (after booting) or after changing from small icons to large icons and viceversa.
[link]
It dissapears afterwards, it's quite hard to notice.
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Yeah, I noticed this 
Thanks for the report and the help
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Really good VS !
I like everything in the style (except the square borders as I'(ve said before), your start orbs (big and small) are great. Everything is greatly done and better than the default style.
At least now I'll have to be careful not to copy things for my Soft7 style ^^
Keep up the good work !!!
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Thank you. It's always good to take some inspiration, but I think each of us strives to be unique, ya know? I dunno, maybe it's just me but I like saying that everything in the preview and theme was created by me (well, except for the wallpaper photo's)... a guess it's a sense of pride for me, lol. That's why I said no kindly when people asked if they could port my theme. Anyway, Windows 7 is more restricted, so I don't mind if we cross-pollinate ideas... that's how the scene grows, imo
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Yes, they are quite different and I don't think my next release will look like yours. But yes it gives me some inspiration, not that I could make the same things but maybe some sort of a same logic (I don't know if I'm clear ^^).
By watching different themes I see different ways to change the way some details looks so it makes me see that things could be different and I try a totally different way myself, that's how I use the things I see.
I understand the "pride" you could have ^^, I also spend a lot of time on my work and it's hard to give this to others for free...
I think that everyone could take the work from others and change it the way they like, as it should be better afterwards.
But for me, when I take someone else's work to change it I make sure that the result will undoubtedly be better and different, I mean original, instead it will looks like a copy and I totally don't want it. People should never do a "new" things that is already existed.
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Kudos to you my friend, this theme is majorly impressive! It's a huge step in the right direction for the Aero UI. I always thought that the default Win7 theme was a little too light, airy, and too much like Vistaβs. Whereas this is much more stylish, elegant and kinda βgrown-upβ.
To Microsoft: Employ this guy to design the UI in Windows 8, seriously.
I am with you on the caption/close buttons. Itβd probably look a little better if you made them look more like the default Win7 ones. However, make the close button dark black on the βun-hoverβ, rather than red.
I love the triangular start menu orb thingy, and canβt wait for the large version of it.
BTW, I am using Win7 Ultimate x64. Clearscreen Sharp works flawlessly.
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Woot, faved instantly, this suits all my current needs. having a theme thats minimalistic, but yet still shows a bit of attitude. you hit the nail on the head. well done !
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It looks great,I like it very much.
but coreldraw x4 looks strange under this theme.οΌMenu BarοΌselected itemsοΌsidebarοΌ
sorry for my poor English
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Hi,
Programs that provide their own graphics usually don't mix well with custom themes, because they also often pull text color, selected color, etc. from the theme file.
My theme changes a lot of things, so some things might not mix well and thus become unusable. It's inevitable. Sorry
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This theme is good for Windows 7 Home Premium?, Where do I put the theme folder?
x64 is the 64bit?
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Yes, it works for Windows 7 Home Premium.
Place clsSharp.theme file into "C:\windows\Resources\Themes"
Place clsSharp folder into "C:\windows\Resources\Themes"
The Resources folder has explorer.exe. It is optional. This file is used to change the Start button. In Windows 7, the Start button is now inside Explorer.exe instead of the MSSTYLES file.
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With the 7 to change also pulzante START must replace explorer.exe? and how? and this practice applies to all themes?
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Hey this is an awesome VS and I really like the buttons and stuff so I was thinking of making this skin for True Transparency but I don't really have that much time - So I have 2 suggestions
1. Can you make a TT skin?
or
2. I'll make it but I was wondering if you could tell me all the images I need to use in the .msstyle (the image numbers: )
Of course I would need your permission to use your resources too
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1. Sorry, I don't know what TT is and I'm not interested.
2. I don't have the numbers at hand. I used VSB program to make my theme instead of a resource hacking application.
If you credit me via a link to [link] I will grant you permission to create a TT skin for non-commercial purposes.
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alrite no problem - if I do decide to make it, I'll definitely credit you
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srry for double post internet was kinda messed u cna just delete this message
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This is an awesome visual style and I especially like the buttons so I was wondering if I could have permission to use your resources to make a TrueTransparency skin. I don't have a lot of time on my hands so I was wondering if you could tell me which images (the numbers) I would need to make a TT skin - so I would need the window frames and all the button states
Here's a pic of what I mean when I say I need the numbers: [link]
Also it would be cool if you could make it for TT but if you don't have time or don't know how to, I'll do it
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wow, perfect.
please fix the systray bug soon!
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cant figure out how to change the windows orb ?
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Nice
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awesome theme. first one that i like now
please release these wallpapers showed in screen.. and the green main one also. thanks
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This is great. I loved the Vista version!
But if I may offer an opinion, those start buttons don't go with the VS much. They don't look like they belong there...
Either way, good job
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This looks very nice but it doesn't work for me.
I've extracted the ZIP into Windows\Resources\Themes, double-clicked the .theme file and nothing changes at all. Explorer acts as if a new theme is loading, but there are no changes. Uninstalled and reinstalled the theme and still no go.
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Forgot the mention that I'm currently using 7600 x64.
Thanks!
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Make sure you have patched your system files (uxtheme) before applying custom visual styles.
Do a Google search for "uxtheme patch". Make sure it is for Windows 7, and make sure you know what you're doing.
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Worth the wait, this is incredible. Takes Win7 to a whole new level of awesomeness. Thanks!
Mind sharing the wallpapers shown in the screen? There are some pretty nice ones in there
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I agree with you, I want those wallpapers too
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Fabulous! But if I may...
1. Try to make the shadow behind titlebar text a little less obstrusive -lessen it till it's just makes white text visible, or make it so it looks like dark panel rather than a cloud. Right now it seems to be messing up stuff (one of the reasons I don't use the Vista ver. of this theme...).
2. I would try to make the stream and start menu/titlebar the same darkness - once again it seems like something broke
3. If you still using the same images as you previously did for the hover states of the windows control buttons, could you consider sharper corners and a more glassy look?
That's all I suppose. I've been using cls.round for two months now and can't change to anything. Now I can't wait for my copy of win 7 to get here!!
Thanks for your dedication to this project. Long live Clearscreen!
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Very, very cool. . . Hope for an early to solve that bug. . .
Two observations: 1. Taskbar transparency can be bigger. . This will be easier with wallpaper looks more beautiful. There is also a all fonts can be amended as Microsoft elegant black font, because many foreign fonts in your fonts will provide that long ugly. . . For instance I am a Chinese, you that the default font is really a bit not pretty. . . However. . You do already fantastic. . Little advice. . English is poor. I hope you understand what I mean
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So good. I just got Win7 and was sad that I would have to leave your awesome Vista themes behind...guess I don't have to worry about that now
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how do I use your vs ? I click the .theme file and nothing happen
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Make sure you have patched your system files (uxtheme) before applying custom visual styles.
Do a Google search for "uxtheme patch". Make sure it is for Windows 7, and make sure you know what you're doing.
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