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Windows XP visual styles

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Visual styles are a set of visual customizations of the graphical user interface for Windows XP. They are designed by Microsoft and are compatible with all Windows XP editions except for the Starter edition. Since Windows XP, themes also includes the choice of visual styles as well.[1]

Compared to the previous "Windows Classic" style used in Windows 95 to Windows Me (as well as the Desktop Themes applet in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, Windows 98 (as well as Microsoft Plus! 98) and Windows Me), the new visual styles of Windows XP have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using saturated colors[2] and bitmaps[3] throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows.[4][5]

By default, "Luna" is preinstalled on Windows XP Home Edition and Professional, while "Royale" is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and "Embedded" is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download, such as "Zune". Third parties have also released their own visual styles, however these require modification of core Windows components to work, a practice that Microsoft does not officially endorse. "Luna", "Royale", "Zune" and "Embedded" in particular are codenames of the official visual styles made by Microsoft for Windows XP.[6]

There are also some visual styles that were developed by Microsoft as placeholders before unveiling the official visual styles, which were typically used in beta versions of Windows. These include visual styles such as "Watercolor", "Mallard", "Plex", "Slate" and "Jade".

The visual styles API was substantially expanded in Windows Vista and later. Nevertheless, the API remained heavily under-documented.[7]

List of visual styles

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The following is a list of visual styles and themes offered for Windows XP and later.

Luna

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Luna, blue (default)
Luna, olive green
Luna, silver

"Luna" (the Moon in Latin and various other languages) is the codename for the default visual style of Windows XP. Officially known as "Windows XP style", it is available in three color schemes: blue (default), olive green and silver.[5][8] It features a colored plastic-styled interface, with rounded corners in the title bars as well as a green-colored Start button. The close button is colored red, while the minimize, maximize/restore buttons are colored as the same color of the theme. Other elements such as the radio buttons and scrollbars are also skinned with the Luna aesthetic.

Critics who did not like the theme nicknamed it as a "Fisher-Price interface" among others due to its perceived childish nature and design.[9][10]

Luna was retained as a placeholder theme in all pre-reset Windows Vista (Longhorn) builds alongside the Plex, Slate and Jade themes (see below), as well as the very early "Omega-13" post-reset builds 3790, 5000, 5001 and early Beta 1 builds 5048 and 5059. Luna was completely removed from all post-reset builds beginning as early as build 5098 after the unveiling of Aero in build 5048.

A variation of Luna also appeared in the Windows CE line of embedded operating systems beginning with Windows CE 5.0.

Luna Concept

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"Luna Concept" is an informal name given to Luna in its concept phase midway in the development of Windows XP in late 2000,[a] sometime after the release of Beta 1 (build 2296). It was originally designed by Frog Design, who also designed the skins used in Windows Media Player since version 7.[11] Being early in the design process, it featured a flat interface with no rounded corners, a blue gradient in the taskbar, orange gradients in Explorer windows, and a differently-shaped green-colored start button.

During conception of the Luna visual style early on in its development, there were originally plans to have two distinct visual styles for Windows XP: Luna as the consumer-oriented visual style and Mercury as the professional-oriented visual style. Luna would have used colorful, rubber-like details (which appeared similar to Mallard) while Mercury would have used monochromatic, steel-like details (which slightly resembled what the final version of Luna would ultimately look like); both themes would also have a green-colored Start button that would be featured in the final version of Luna. Both themes also had corresponding Windows Media Player skin designs made, which became "Windows XP" and "Windows Classic" respectively. Ultimately, however, Luna was the only one to be finalized outside of the concept stage, and Mercury was never fully realized.[11]

Luna Beta

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Luna Beta

"Luna Beta" is an informal name given to a near-final version of Luna that appeared in beta builds of Windows XP from builds 2428 to 2465, replacing the Watercolor and Mallard themes found in previous builds prior to build 2428. This iteration of Luna later appeared (in source code form) in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as "Whistler style", it is similar to the final Luna theme with some slight differences, such as a brighter scrollbar, differently-shaped taskbar buttons and a much shinier start button. It also lacks the two color options, namely olive green (codenamed "Homestead") and silver (codenamed "Metallic"). This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.[citation needed]

Prior to its inclusion in build 2428, an even earlier version of Luna Beta was showcased at CES 2001 following completion of the concept stage of Luna that began in late 2000, using an internal build of Windows XP that was developed for the event (build 2415).

Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP themes

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The Microsoft Plus! for Windows XP enhancement package includes four themes using the three color schemes of the Luna visual style: Aquarium, Nature, da Vinci, and Space. Aquarium uses the default (blue) Luna color scheme, Nature and da Vinci use the olive green Luna color scheme, and Space uses the silver Luna color scheme. Each theme came with its own unique set of icons, cursors, wallpapers, and screen savers.

Windows 20th Anniversary

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The "Windows 20th Anniversary" theme is a special theme released by Microsoft in 2005 that reuses the Luna visual style with additions tied to the 20th anniversary of Windows (1985–2005), which was released in a Japan-only limited-release package for Windows XP known as the 20th Anniversary edition with only 5000 units being sold.[12] Visually, the theme itself is not that different to the default theme of Windows XP aside from using a unique background, a slightly different sound scheme and some unique icons. It also contains a unique screen saver that chronicles the history of Windows from 1985 to 2001, including the then-upcoming Windows Vista, which would not be released until 2007.

Windows Classic

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Classic

"Windows Classic" is the name of a visual style that is built-in to the operating system kernel, utilizing the original look-and-feel of Windows used since Windows 95. Officially titled "Windows Classic style", it supports customization of the various elements of the Windows user interface, but does not use the visual style API that was first introduced in Windows XP. It is used by default in versions of Windows prior to Windows XP and is also used when the theme service is disabled, as well as in other certain scenarios such as Win32 console windows or when booting the system into Safe mode. Classic style widgets are also used for applications that are not theming-aware even though theming is enabled.

Compared to other visual styles, it is less CPU-intensive and offers better performance[13] (which is also why it is used by default on Windows Server 2003 through 2008 R2 for the same reason), as well as supporting greater color and font customization options. The classic style uses a beveled design, with sharp edges and 3D-styled widgets for control elements. Marlett was designed to be used for various elements of the user interface, such as the minimize, maximize, restore, and close buttons. It supports custom colors, sizes, and font styles for each elements of the user interface. Custom elements and values applied to the user interface can be saved in a preset known as a color scheme. Over time, the classic style has been updated, such as the title bar gaining support for two-tone color gradients in Windows 98 and the default color scheme was changed into a different one in Windows 2000, however the previous one was kept as one of the many built-in color schemes.

Windows XP and prior includes 22 preset color schemes for the classic style; four of them being optimized for the visually impaired.[b] "Windows Standard" was the default color scheme of Windows 2000 and Windows Me and later appeared on Windows Vista and Windows 7 (which was renamed to "Windows Classic" in the latter), while a slightly darker variant of the Standard scheme called "Windows Classic" (not to be confused with the renamed "Windows Classic" variant of "Windows Standard" in Windows 7) was the default color scheme of Windows 98 (albeit with a dark blue desktop background instead of green, which was done during the development of Windows 2000) and later appeared on Windows Vista but not Windows 7.[14][5] Other schemes appeared in previous versions of Windows.

The classic style was removed as an option from Windows Server 2012 and Windows 8 onwards; however it still exists internally for backward compatibility purposes.[citation needed]

Royale

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Beginning with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, the Royale visual style was introduced, with several variations of the visual style being developed over time such as the ones listed below.

Royale (Energy Blue)

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Royale (Energy Blue)

"Royale" (also known as Energy Blue and "Media Center style") was a visual style designed for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and later ported over to Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.[15] It is accompanied by a new wallpaper (inspired by Windows XP's iconic Bliss wallpaper). It presents a relucent, vivid and faux-reflective color scheme with intense blue and green colors, using a glossy finish. It was later made available as an optional download in December 2004.

On April 7, 2005, Microsoft New Zealand[16] had made the Royale theme and the wallpapers for the New Zealand theme available for download[17] for all editions of XP through Windows Genuine Advantage on its website, but as of 2019 it is no longer available. Because of the freeware nature of this package, it had also been available on software download websites, such as Softpedia at one time.[18] The theme package also contains a wallpaper that is different from the one included with Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.

Microsoft also released a Windows Media Player visualization and skin at one time[when?]. The skin was released in Experience Pack for Tablet PC and was available for free,[19] but the installer only installed it on Windows XP Tablet PC Edition devices, for which it was licensed.

Royale Noir

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Royale Noir

"Royale Noir" is an unreleased visual style that looks like a darkened version of Royale, having a blackish and bluish to purple tint. It also has a black Start button, which changes to green when the mouse hovers over it. As Royale Noir was leaked and not finalized by Microsoft, it has been noted for some imperfections,[20] such as an excessively dark-colored title bar when the window is inactive.

Zune

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Zune

A few weeks after Royale Noir was leaked, "Zune" was officially released in a theme package to accompany the release of Microsoft's new Zune media player. In terms of style, Zune resembles Royale and Royale Noir, particularly the latter. It displays a brown to light shadow style and is the first publicly released visual style for Windows XP to include a differently colored Start button from the green XP,[21][22] which is colored orange in the Zune theme.

Embedded

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Embedded

Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009 came with a dedicated visual style called "Embedded" that is similar to Royale, Royale Noir and Zune, but featured a mix of dark blue colors. It was the second publicly released Windows XP visual style to use a differently colored Start button from the normal green color used in most Windows XP visual styles, this time in the same dark blue color as the visual style itself.

Aero

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Main article: Windows Aero

"Aero" is the codename for the default visual style, theme and design language used in Windows Vista and 7, replacing Luna from Windows XP. It presents a combination of glass and glossy elements, with an emphasis on transparency and animation effects. The glass elements can be customized to a different color, tint, or transparency. Aero makes prominent use of the Desktop Window Manager (DWM), which is only supported by certain graphics cards.

A variation of Aero that does not use DWM is known as "Windows Vista Basic", which is a non-transparent, non-glass version of Aero that uses similar window elements to Luna with some glossy elements and less emphasis on animation. It is available by default on hardware that does not support DWM (and therefore Aero), and can also be set manually by the user on hardware that supports DWM and Aero.

List of placeholder visual styles

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Early builds of Windows since Windows XP included visual styles and themes intended to be placeholders to the final themes that were developed internally before they were publicly released. The following is a list of these.

Windows XP

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Two publicly available visual styles for Windows XP during its development included "Watercolor" and "Mallard", which served as placeholders for Luna that would be officially shown publicly at CES 2001 and then later made available to testers in build 2428. "Candy" is the only visual style that was not officially available in any capacity during Windows XP's development, and its assets were later discovered in a 2020 source code leak of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003.

Watercolor

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Watercolor

"Watercolor" (internally named "Business" and codenamed "Professional") is a placeholder visual style used in early pre-release builds of Windows XP from builds 2250[c] to 2419 and later appeared (in source code form) in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as "Watercolor button style", the theme more closely resembles Windows Classic, featuring sharp edges and similar window proportions. It features a primarily blue and white style with mostly flat shading and retains certain UI elements from the Classic theme style. This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.[citation needed]

Mallard

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Blue Lagoon
Chartreuse Mongoose

"Mallard" is a placeholder visual style designed as a decoy to show to the public during the development of Beta 2 while designers privately worked on Luna.[24] It appeared in pre-release Windows XP builds from builds 2410 to 2419 and later appeared (in source code form) in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. Officially known as "Sample Test Visual Style", It featured two color schemes, Chartreuse Mongoose, which features a primarily green and orange style, and Blue Lagoon (internally named as Paler), which uses a teal and purple style. It features an orange start button with a green notification area as well as a slight curve on the left-hand side of the title bar. This theme is unofficially available as a separate theme made by enthusiasts.

Candy

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Candy

"Candy" is an unannounced and unreleased visual style that was found (in source code form) in the leaked source code of Windows XP in September 2020. It was made in-between builds 2250 and 2257, according to the dates found within the metadata of the files in the theme. Candy appears to be an imitation of Aqua, a user interface design found in earlier versions of Mac OS X (10.0 to 10.6), using Aqua-like design elements for some parts of the UI such as the buttons and scroll bars.[25] Not much is known about its purpose, however it was likely meant as a way to test the theming engine that was first available in build 2250.

According to some publicly available screenshots, only some UI elements have been reskinned to resemble Aqua; the majority of the theme still retains elements of the Watercolor theme (as well as the Classic theme) due to its incompleteness. It also contains a unique start button image that contains the Windows logo without the word "start" next to it on a pin-striped background with a small curved corner at the top-left; this design mimics the Apple menu which had a singular Apple logo, the curved corners are a nod to the menu bar on Classic Mac OS and early versions of Mac OS X, which had curved corners on both sides, and the pin-stripes are an obvious nod to Aqua itself.

Windows Vista

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Three visual styles were available during the pre-reset phase of Windows Vista's development, back when it was known as its codename "Longhorn" (or "Windows Longhorn"). These include "Plex", "Slate" and "Jade". The Luna visual style from Windows XP was also carried over into all pre-reset builds and some post-reset builds. All of these visual styles served as placeholders for Aero, which would be publicly shown in post-reset build 5048.

Plex

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"Plex" is a placeholder visual style used in Longhorn builds 3683 to 4042 (main). It more closely resembles Luna but predominately uses a blue color throughout the interface, using different shades of blue. It uses similar window proportions to Luna, including the use of rounded corners.

Slate

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"Slate" is one of the two placeholder visual styles used in Longhorn prior to the development reset in builds 4042 (Lab06) to 4093. Like the Plex theme, it resembles Luna using similar window proportions but with a slate gray color scheme, and also features a grey start button that changes to dark green when hovered over or clicked on.

Jade

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"Jade" is one of the two placeholder visual styles used in Longhorn prior to the development reset in builds 4066 to 4093. Like the Plex and Slate themes, it resembles Luna using similar window proportions but with a light gray and white color scheme. It also features a differently-styled start menu reminiscent of that of the final version of Windows Vista. It uses Segoe UI as the typeface for the user interface.

Third-party visual styles

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Windows only loads a visual style that bears a valid Microsoft digital certificate.[26] As such, third-party visual styles can only be used if one of the Windows files called uxtheme.dll is altered to allow unsigned visual styles.[27][28] Microsoft is aware of such a practice and suggests obtaining a newer revision of the patched uxtheme.dll file in case problems occur after Microsoft's own updates to the file have been applied (typically through an OS service pack).[29]

Application support

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Third-party applications can be configured to work with visual styles. By default, the title bar and the window borders of Windows Forms-based applications are rendered using the user's preferred visual style, while the rest of the application's graphical user interface (GUI) is rendered in the Classic style.[30] This is because these two different parts of the GUI are rendered using two different software libraries: the title bar and the window borders ("non-client area" or "user controls") use Windows USER, and the remaining controls ("client area" or "common controls") use version 5.8 of the Common Controls Library.[31] Version 6.0 of the Common Controls Library contains both the user controls and the common controls, and developers may configure the application's user interface to be displayed in the user's currently-selected visual style by forcing it to be rendered using version 6.0 of the library.[32][33]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Misattributed as 1999 according to the date modified metadata in the sample files provided in the concept image
  2. ^ These are known as "High Contrast #1", "High Contrast #2", "High Contrast White" and "High Contrast Black" respectively.
  3. ^ The theme first appeared in an inaccessible form in build 2223, as an early, unfinished form of the theme that appeared in build 2250.[23]

References

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  1. ^ "Visual Styles Overview (Windows)". MSDN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2012-10-23. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  2. ^ Kumar, Anil (2010-12-27). Scudder, Rebecca (ed.). "Windows 7 Themes for XP from Deviant Art". Bright Hub. Archived from the original on 2013-10-16. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  3. ^ Sinchak, Steve (2010-05-21). "Customizing the Appearance of the Windows Interface". Windows 8 Tweaks. John Wiley & Sons. p. 118. ISBN 978-1-118-26459-1.
  4. ^ Mendelson, Edward (2001-10-30). "Interface - The New Windows - Great XPectations". PC Magazine. Ziff Davis. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  5. ^ a b c Nadeau, David Robert (2010-05-09). "Java tip: SystemColors for Windows XP user interface themes". Nadeau Software Consulting. Archived from the original on 2014-02-13. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  6. ^ US patent 7752631, Dorn, Karlheinz; Plendl, Mario; Scharf, Christian; von Stockhausen, Hans-Martin, "Device and method for a graphical user interface", issued 2010-07-06, assigned to Siemens 
  7. ^ "Custom Controls in Win32 API: Visual Styles". 21 July 2013.
  8. ^ "ThemeColor Enumeration". MSDN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  9. ^ Manes, Stephen (2004-08-26). "Full Disclosure: Your Take on Windows' Worst Irritations". PCWorld. IDG. Archived from the original on 2009-10-08.
  10. ^ Bright, Peter (2014-04-10). "Memory lane: Before everyone loved Windows XP, they hated it". Ars Technica. Condé Nast. Archived from the original on 2014-04-24. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  11. ^ a b "Luna". BetaWiki. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  12. ^ "Microsoft Windows - Microsoft Windows 20 周年特別記念パッケージ". Archived from the original on 2006-06-10. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  13. ^ "Tweak Windows XP :: Disabling Themes". TechReviewer.com. Archived from the original on 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-05-26.
  14. ^ Thurrott, Paul (2008-08-25). "Windows Vista Feature Focus: Windows Vista Standard User Interface". SuperSite for Windows. Penton Media. Archived from the original on 2010-05-22. Retrieved 2009-04-28.
  15. ^ Thurrott, Paul (2005-05-08). "Microsoft Gives Royale Theme to All Windows XP Users". Windows IT Pro. Penton Media. Archived from the original on 2014-06-16. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  16. ^ "Desktop Backgrounds for Windows Genuine Windows download". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2006-02-07.
  17. ^ "Royale Theme". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2005-11-28.
  18. ^ "Royale Theme". Archived from the original on 2006-04-07.
  19. ^ Kendrick, James (2005-07-23). "I hate Outlook with the Energy Blue theme". Gigaom. GigaOmniMedia. Archived from the original on 2014-06-20. Retrieved 2014-06-20.
  20. ^ Zheng, Long (2006-10-29). "Royale Noir: secret XP theme uncovered". istartedsomething. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  21. ^ Katta, Sahas (2006-11-05). "Windows XP – Zune Theme". Skatter Tech. Archived from the original on 2014-06-17. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  22. ^ Carter, Ryan (2006-11-03). "Windows XP Zune theme". Download Squad. AOL. Archived from the original on 2012-12-26. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  23. ^ "Watercolor". BetaWiki. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
  24. ^ "The decoy visual style". 11 January 2006.
  25. ^ Warren, Tom (Sep 26, 2020). "Microsoft had a secret Windows XP theme that made it look like a Mac". The Verge. Retrieved Oct 6, 2020.
  26. ^ Orlowski, Andrew (2001-02-16). "Compatibility woes derail Windows XP Visual Styles". The Register. Situation Publishing. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  27. ^ Jijau, Dragos (2007-01-18). ""Hack" Windows XP Visual Styles". Softpedia. SoftNews NET. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  28. ^ Fitzpatrick, Jason (2008-09-30). "How to Use Custom Windows Visual Styles". Lifehacker. Gawker Media. Retrieved 2014-06-16.
  29. ^ "Third-party themes programs may not work as expected after you install Windows XP Service Pack 3". Microsoft Support. Microsoft. 2008-05-06. Retrieved 2012-04-30.
  30. ^ Prabhu, Raghavendra (2003-09-28). "Application.EnableVisualStyles - Cool Client Stuff". MSDN Blogs. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2014-05-09. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  31. ^ Grossman, Seth (January 2001). "Using Windows XP Visual Styles With Controls on Windows Forms". MSDN. Microsoft. Archived from the original on 2013-09-28. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
  32. ^ "Enabling Visual Styles". MSDN. Microsoft. 2012-10-27. Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2014-06-17.
  33. ^ MacDonald, Matthew (2002). "Forms". User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls. Apress. p. 158. doi:10.1007/978-1-4302-0844-0_5. ISBN 978-1-4302-0844-0.
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