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Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Fri Nov 02, 2012 9:39 pm
by BIF
Hello!

As I have indicated in several posts throughout TR, I am having some serious difficulty with the lack of color and texture for desktop elements on Windows 8.

Look at your Windows 7 dialog and text windows. The windows themselves have thicker, shadowed borders. The scroll bars appear with thin black backgrounds, a three-grade color shading, and three small hash marks in the center of the scroll bar "handle". It is texturing such as this that makes Windows 7 very easy for me to see and use. Scroll bars are NOT just used for manipulating the screen. The scroll bar also serves as a visual indicator of my position within the scrollable window.

If you have seen a Windows 8 window, you'll see that the scroll bars are mono-colored. The default setting is light grey on white background. Scroll bars (and other screen elements too) have no texturing, no thin hash marks, and no thin border around them. This is causing me no small amount of fatigue. I am a heavy reader, so the fatigue factor is really impacting me.

I need a way to add some color or contrast to the screen elements of Windows 8 Desktop. My vision is actually very good, so I have no need for the high-contrast alternate selections, and indeed they go too far and cause headaches. I just need "a little more" help. But it is a major thing because I don't like feeling like I'm looking through a fog.

Somebody in another thread made a comment that Windows 8 is like any other OS; you configure it how you like it. Very well, but I cannot find the settings for something like this. It's as if it was completely removed from Windows 8. So here's an opportunity, if ever there were one. :)

Can anybody help me? Thanks in advance.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 3:31 pm
by danixcordova
Hey BIF.

I´m having the same issue, even with websurfing is hard to click on the bar, because as you say, there´s no indicators. So, if yu know how to fix this issue let me know, I can´t a solution trough all the web.

Thanks in advance.

Daniel

EDIT: Just found that tapping with two fingers at the same time over the pad works as a scroll bar, at least I will use less the scroll bar and clicking over a wrong spot.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2012 6:26 pm
by Chrispy_
You could always install a mod that has alternative themes. I've found one that simplifies the task manager and adds a start button to the desktop, but it has way more options and flexibility than the default Windows 8 ui.

I found it quite handy, it fixes most of the issues I have with Windows 8, and it turns off the charms and edge/corner rollover zones that really annoyed me on multi-monitor setups. I've yet to find any unwanted side effects, but these are early days....

You can get it from here.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 11:12 am
by l33t-g4m3r
You're holding using it wrong. You're supposed to be on a touch screen, not kb/m. :roll: Microsoft knows best, and there are no problems with 8's GUI. NONE WHATSOEVER. Or at least that's what you must tell the nice inspector man if you don't want any trouble. All the best reviews say it's good, so it must be so. Don't fight the change, instead lovingly embrace your chains as they protect from that scary linux monster that lives in the nearby woods. You can't possibly imagine all the horrible things it could do. (because an open platform is only limited to your imagination.)

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:33 pm
by BIF
Chrispy_ wrote:
You could always install a mod that has alternative themes. I've found one that simplifies the task manager and adds a start button to the desktop, but it has way more options and flexibility than the default Windows 8 ui.

I found it quite handy, it fixes most of the issues I have with Windows 8, and it turns off the charms and edge/corner rollover zones that really annoyed me on multi-monitor setups. I've yet to find any unwanted side effects, but these are early days....

You can get it from here.



In humor timing is everything, and your attempt unfortunately missed a beat. Poking fun here would be appreciated if squinting at this interface didn't give me real headaches (and it does), or if somebody had at least provided a workable solution and your comment was just "aftermath". THEN it would be funny. :(

Additionally, I am UNABLE to transition from Windows to Linux or some other open platform. The software I use is simply not available for Linux. Someday I will use Linux but only for certain tasks. It will probably not be able to replace Windows for me in the foreseeable future (I'm saying 10-20 years or more). So please kindly stop.

To Chrispy, Leet, and anybody else thinking that this thread was my invitation for stand-up comedy open-mic or for Linux rants, my request is a serious plea for help. Thank you for your respect and understanding.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:41 pm
by Captain Ned
You could always give Classic Shell a whirl.

http://classicshell.sourceforge.net/

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:52 pm
by BIF
I will, thanks! Do you know if it enables color selections for things like scroll bars and windows borders?

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 12:59 pm
by Captain Ned
BIF wrote:
I will, thanks! Do you know if it enables color selections for things like scroll bars and windows borders?

Not sure, but it's free, it does allow some skinning, and if it isn't what you need it uninstalls cleanly. There's a whole section on skinning on the site.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 1:03 pm
by BIF
Okay, thanks again. I think I have a day or two left on my trial. Will be worth a shot!

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 9:50 pm
by Chrispy_
I was (trying to be) humerous, but I wasn't joking.
If Windows 8 gives you headaches, eyestrain and sends you on a round-the-web trip looking for ways to make it look and work like Windows 7 again, why exactly are you so stubbornly trying to stick with 8?

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Sun Nov 11, 2012 10:45 pm
by morphine
Chrispy_ wrote:
I was (trying to be) humerous, but I wasn't joking.
If Windows 8 gives you headaches, eyestrain and sends you on a round-the-web trip looking for ways to make it look and work like Windows 7 again, why exactly are you so stubbornly trying to stick with 8?

Because it's faster and otherwise technically much improved.

I'm on the same boat as the OP. I hope that eventually WindowBlinds will deliver or a new UXTheme patch comes around.

Re: Windows 8 - I Need Help Customizing Colors & Texture

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 2012 1:48 am
by danixcordova
I just installed Pokki for Start Button, I really need it and works very good, later i will uninstall it to give a try to the new windows 8 interface, right now have lots of work and the new interface was giving me a headache.

And for the scroll bar, the two finger on pad was enough to solve the issue, now i´m going for remove only the top right corner spot that open the side menu :evil:

Thanks for all the replies.