'Windows Standard' was the default color scheme of Windows 2000 and Windows Me and later appeared on Windows Vista and Windows 7, although in the latter it was renamed 'Windows Classic'. Windows XP includes 22 preset color schemes for the classic style, with four of them being optimized for the visually impaired. It is less CPU-intensive and offers better performance, due to which it is also used by default on Windows Server 2003 through 2008 R2.Ĭompared to other visual styles, it supports greater color and font customization options. Classic style widgets are also used for applications that are not theming-aware even though theming is enabled. It is used when the theme service is disabled and in certain other scenarios, such as Win32 console windows or booting the system in Safe mode. Officially titled 'Windows Classic style', this is the built-in look and feel of Windows that was used in previous versions of Windows prior to Windows XP. Nevertheless, the API remained heavily underdocumented. The visual styles API was substantially expanded in Windows Vista and later. Visual styles are compatible with all Windows XP editions except Starter Edition.Ĭompared to Desktop Themes in previous versions of Windows such as Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95, Windows 98, and Windows Me, the new visual styles have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using saturated colors and bitmaps throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows. Third parties have also released visual styles, though these require modification of core Windows components to work. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download. By default, 'Luna' is preinstalled on Windows XP Home and Professional editions, 'Royale' is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition and 'Embedded' is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. Since Windows XP, themes include the choice of visual styles as well. 'Luna', 'Royale', 'Zune', and 'Embedded' are codenames of the official visual styles designed for Windows XP by Microsoft. Windows XP visual styles are customizations of the graphical user interface of Windows XP.

Customizations of the user interface of Windows XP

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