Windows Classic by SimplexDesignsART

Windows Classic for Windows 8.1 Update 1

Behold, windows classic theme for windows 8.1/update 1. There have been many request for a remake of this theme for those running windows 8.1. This theme features the windows auto-coloring feature. You may choose whatever color you want for the top of the window frames. If you use a light color, use the dark theme. If you use a dark color, use the light theme. Keep in mind you will need to choose either top or bottom taskbar for your taskbar's current position. If you come across any bugs. Reply with detailed information and a picture and I will try to get back to you as soon as I can. Please read comments first to make sure that your issue has not been listed yet. Thanks!

Download: adf.ly/492375/windowsclassicv1…

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Changelog

VERSION 1.2 "REV B" 3/4/2015

Added top taskbar alternate styles.

Added top Startbuttons for SIB.

VERSION 1.0 "REV B" 3/3/2015

First release!

Based on Windows 8.1 theme file. (Fixed jumplist bug with startisback users from older version using Windows 8 theme file.)

tomasz1986 Featured By Owner Sep 23, 2016

I know this has been asked before but please consider making a version of this theme where system fonts are left unchanged. The current one not only uses different fonts for different parts of the system but also makes CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) fonts much smaller than they should be, and very difficult to read as a result. I am unable to use the theme because of this issue

computationalprince Featured By Owner Jul 16, 2016 Professional Filmographer

man i am begging you make one for win 10!

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Apr 16, 2017 Hobbyist Interface Designer

Just tried, some system elements are locked down and no longer in msstyle. Downgrading back to 8.1 XD

computationalprince Featured By Owner Jun 9, 2017 Professional Filmographer

i am still on windows 10 build 10586 (the november update) to be honest i am not upgrading any time soon also i don't think 8.1 is worth skinning anymore because people simply upgraded to windows 10 so you should make a good comeback and do some themeing for the windows that's worth the time

Tuishimi Featured By Owner Feb 2, 2016

Soooooo... I know you've said "no Windows 10!" about 100 times but... WindowBlinds 10 is out?

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Feb 2, 2016 Hobbyist Interface Designer

Waiting for it tome come out of beta to even think about theming in it XD

Tuishimi Featured By Owner Feb 3, 2016

OK.

Well I am going to watch you in the meantime.

Hidden by Commenter

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jan 26, 2016 Hobbyist Interface Designer

TheRealCuddles Featured By Owner Edited Jan 27, 2016

Then this is what I was looking for!

RMK99 Featured By Owner Jan 19, 2016

Convert this theme to Windows 10 1511.

computationalprince Featured By Owner Feb 2, 2016 Professional Filmographer

looks like we'll have to stick to Windows 10 boring default theme..

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jan 19, 2016 Hobbyist Interface Designer

sorry I will not be doing 10 themes. The updates 10 gets breaks the themes. Way to much work to have to keep them up to date.

Listogast Featured By Owner Nov 5, 2015 Student General Artist

Nice theme. I'm curious about something though, so you say that the title bar cannot be a gradient however, I found this screenshot which shows a gradient at the top. Was there a windows update that won't let it work anymore? The original page that the image was posted on doesn't exist anymore.

4.bp.blogspot.com/-1JQDDn0m4yk…

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Nov 6, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

8.1 changed something in the dwm that renders a bg color fill behind text on the titlebars. Impossible to remove unless you install the aeroglass mod. some people dont want to go that route, so i removed the gradients in the 8.1 version.

Listogast Featured By Owner Nov 6, 2015 Student General Artist

okay thanks for your reply. I was reading your post in the wayback machine and i saw that you said "this theme isn't for windows 8.1" I don't usually think of windows 8.1 as a different operating system but it is.

The only possible way I could think it would work would be to change the position of the titlebar text to the far left, and having that be a solid color and once the text stops, then the gradient can start.

Regardless of what can and can't be done, this is a great theme and I thank you for your work.

Raku-Nya Featured By Owner Oct 22, 2015

Please make the window bars gradient ( one color to another ) like the original windows 98 theme, and maybe a smaller height to match the original as well. Also the minimize/close buttons to be square & the same size as the win 98 theme. And a 3d border too around windows. Other than that, good job on making this theme! I hope a windows 10 port comes soon. What tool are you using to build the themes? Vistastylebuilder? Their beta release has windows 8/10 support now. Though im not sure how well the beta works?

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Oct 22, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

gradients wont work due to titlebar text bg color fill. Caption buttons cannot be made square. 10 support is iffy because the Taskbar is not skinnable anymore, caption buttons are large and shrink when maximized(resulting in the buttons looking odd.). 10 support will not be coming anytime soon. If anything, I may have to switch to using stardock windowblinds to do full ui skinning(when they release a 10 version).

Raku-Nya Featured By Owner Edited Oct 23, 2015

What about a static image that has the blue to lighter blue like the original theme? Like this theme has a static image for the title bar: www.deviantart.com/art/Resonan… Theres a theme I found called 'unity inspired 2014' that has small circular buttons about the same size as the windows 98 theme caption buttons. hamedsp.deviantart.com/art/Uni…

True, the taskbar isn't skinnable anymore in windows 10, and the caption buttons do shrink when maximized. But maybe there are different values for maximized versus the smaller window?

Thanks for mentioning that program, it looks great ^_^ Will you do a proper classic theme for windows 8/10 using stardock when it comes out?

Thanks for your reply, it's much appreciated

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Oct 24, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

10 has some wonky ass new hard codded things for the caption buttons/titlebars. Making the buttons square/small would end up messing up when maximized.(They would look even smaller). Windows 8.1 introduced a thing with dwm that renders an active/in-active bg fill behind the caption text and making an image behind it reveals the titlebar text issue. This issue is also present with windows 10. as shown here: i.imgur.com/qfZMfAJ.png I will be waiting until a proper mod comes out that fixes these issues before I even consider to skin windows 10. I dont like taking shortcuts just to get a theme out there for 10. I want it to be perfect and not have bugs. I tested a 10 port of this theme to see what would need tweaking. It just does not look right with all the things that I talked about in the first reply and this one. When I think the theme is perfect I will release it. But as of right now, I will not be making any themes for windows 10 until someone cracks all the hard coded ui elements.

Raku-Nya Featured By Owner Oct 24, 2015

Solid reply, thanks mate. Too bad windows 10 does this to the caption buttons. The bg fill is also annoying, Im not sure why microsoft would do that as it's just plain horrible. Hopefully windows blinds will fix these issues, and maybe differentiate between maximized and smaller windows caption buttons, so that you can make them the same size, maximized , or not. Your plan to wait sounds good, hopefully windows blinds will come out soon for windows 10.

computationalprince Featured By Owner Oct 14, 2015 Professional Filmographer

windows 10 port please?

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Oct 14, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

The tools I used to skin windows 8.1 dont work well on windows 10 yet. Windows 10 also has major areas that cannot be skinned via theme anymore (taskbar/modern apps) 10 Version will not be coming anytime soon. Only a chance if Stardock manages to get all elements skinnable with Windowblinds.

phly95 Featured By Owner Jan 9, 2016

Vista style builder can do some things in Windows 10, and I've seen people skin the taskbar and start menu by using Startisback.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jan 10, 2016 Hobbyist Interface Designer

i wont be skinning 10 until I fell like doing so XD Plus the taskbar is not fully customizeable which is a big turn off for me. I downgraded back to 8.1 to continue skinning.

arne1987 Featured By Owner Aug 24, 2015

Thanks for this great theme!

But: Please update it for Windows 10!

xcause Featured By Owner Aug 2, 2015 Student Artist

Windows 10 pls :c ?

CaptJosh Featured By Owner Edited Jul 6, 2015

I'm having an issue where while the taskbar clearly changes colors, it doesn't change to the classic style. And I can use Classic Shell to do a custom start button with your start button images, but it's the wrong size even though I chose the one for the thin task bar on the bottom and the color doesn't match the taskbar. Could this be related to having UxThemes installed?

EDIT: Nevermind. I missed the bit about restarting the UX Themes service and re-applying the theme. Works fine now other than the start button is still the wrong size for my small taskbar even though I chose the correct button for that height using Classic Shell

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jul 6, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

Start button is made for startisback only.

thatgosukid Featured By Owner Jun 23, 2015

This guide was good, except one thing, how to get the taskbar thin. Sure you can add the registry but you never said you had too work with the properties. To get the small ones you have too select never group and use small icons

Please redo your guide!

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jun 23, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

taskbar properties. Use small icons.

Dhillon521 Featured By Owner Jun 10, 2015

Could you give me a full tutorial I can't figure this out at all.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jun 10, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

Read the install guide included with the theme. It has a step by step proccess on getting it to work. If you can't do that, I don't think you should be messing with your system.

Dhillon521 Featured By Owner Jun 11, 2015

Okay I got most of it figured out. But could you show me how the Themes directory should look?

Dhillon521 Featured By Owner Jun 11, 2015

Nevermind I got it working

mark7886 Featured By Owner Jun 2, 2015

I've followed all of the directions and this looks and works great. Thank you. I have one issue that I have duplicated after doing a system image restore a couple of times and trying again. After installing everything, when I do a restart, it now goes to the screen where you have to select which user to log on as instead of the last logged on user (I am not auto logging on). The registry setting is still set to use the last user, so that has not changed. I am not sure which piece of the puzzle causes this. It's not a big deal, as using the shutdown command (vice restart) still retains the last logged on user and goes directly to the password entry screen. Just wondering if anyone else has this happening. FWIW, this is a very clean Windows 8.1 install and the logon screen thing worked fine (always bring up the last logged on user as default) before installing this. Oh, I am using Classic Start Menu, so I don't know if that has anything to do with it. Actually I am having a hard time understanding how any of the installed items can be causing this, but I have duplicated it 3 times.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Jun 2, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

try seeing if this method works. pcsupport.about.com/od/windows…

mark7886 Featured By Owner Jun 3, 2015

Thanks, but I do not want to log on automatically. I still want to have to enter a password. Normally it restarts with the last user already selected ready for the password. If you want, you can click the back arrow to get to the list of all users. But now it always starts with having to choose which user first. I have checked the registry setting as explained below, but it is already set for "last user". Again, not a big deal (it's only an extra click), but I am just curious as to what is causing it to always "show all users" even if set to "last user" after changing to this theme.
www.eightforums.com/tutorials/…

Purrah Featured By Owner May 23, 2015

I installed the registry borders but it still looks like this prntscr.com/78dmw7
And it dosen't change anything when i apply it in this start menu program prntscr.com/78dn1d

fjoi234 Featured By Owner May 18, 2015

can you make the gradiant color? i will use Big Muscle Aero glass

TheVistas2004 Featured By Owner Apr 26, 2015 Student Interface Designer

nice.

Robbo77 Featured By Owner Mar 31, 2015

A very nice theme indeed. Thank you for sharing.

Although I think it's a wonderful theme, I would like to suggest some changes to make it more usable, and more like the WindowsClassic Theme of Windows XP.

For this, I created three images to compare the WindowsClassic Theme of Windows XP (on the left in the images) with Windows Classic by SimplexDesignsART (Version 1.2) on Windows 8.1 Update 1 (on the right in the images).

imgbox.com/wxLExqUY
imgbox.com/9RPpBlst
imgbox.com/aJKnwKLL

Consider the arrows in the images, to be suggestions for improvement.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Apr 1, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

I can fix only a few of those such as basic controls and a few toolbars but when it comes to black menu highlight glyphs I cannot make white as windows only has just one image to skin (Black arrows/bullet points/checkmarks). Item selections have a black box around them rather than blue fill due to a issue of some windows text being black and wont change to white. This lead to me making the black box rather than a blue fill.

Robbo77 Featured By Owner Apr 1, 2015

I just compared interfaces, and had no idea about the technical limitations you run into, or the compromises you have to make.

Concerning the menu highlight which covers black arrows/bullet points/checkmarks. You might consider a little lighter blue color for the highlight, so the black arrows/bullet points/checkmarks would be better visible when covered by the highlight.

Concerning item selections that have a black box around them. You might consider a light blue fill selection. Black text covered by such a selection, will still be legible (if the blue is not too dark). In that way, you might be able to get rid of the black boxes that look rather awkward and confusing when many lines are selected (or, even worse, when some lines are selected, then one line is not selected, and then the next line is selected). -- If, for this type of item selections, sometimes the text is black, and at other times the text is white, then you might consider to look for a compromise color: a blue hue which would work reasonable well for both black and white text.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Apr 3, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

I will look into some of these things deeper. I did however manager to get the notification tray to stretch properly in the taskbar space. i.imgur.com/zOun7Sf.png

Robbo77 Featured By Owner Apr 6, 2015

It just gets better. Another observation about this theme, if I may. In this theme, some fonts in the interface are changed into an ugly font. See the text on the left ("Favorites", etc.) and bottom ("Local Disk", etc.) of the "This PC" box in your preview image. See also the text in the taskbar buttons. -- This change of font didn't happen in your earlier "Windows Classic Vs (Outdated)" theme.

SimplexDesignsART Featured By Owner Apr 6, 2015 Hobbyist Interface Designer

The font is used in the classic styles in the other versions of windows and was requested to change the font to that one, not a bug.

Robbo77 Featured By Owner Apr 7, 2015

I understand what you say. I would still suggest to treat the fonts in this theme, as you did in your "outdated" theme, because in that way the theme will be more usable, more pleasant to use. See this image: imgbox.com/Uf9SKwvQ. On the left in this image is your "Windows Classic Vs (Outdated)" theme, on the right is this theme. (For both themes in the image, ClearType is turned on, and the size of all items = Medium - 125%.)

If you want to make the theme as authentic as possible, there are still many details other than the font that could be changed. For the font, I would suggest to choose usability over authenticity.