Windows XP was the G.O.A.T along with Windows 7. It managed to preserve DOS compatibility along with the addition of the new kernel known as Windows NT. Windows NT dates back to the first NT release of Windows, named 'Windows NT 3.1', in 1993. Initially, it was designed for business professionals and later made it mainstream along with the release of XP.
Windows XP had one big new feature that took customization to a whole new level. And that is the theming engine. You can install visual styles a.k.a skins to Windows XP. Windows XP and later uses .msstyles as the file extension for storing skins. This version of skins is easily human-readable. But if you go to Windows Vista and later, these skins will be too complex and you will need a separate visual styles editor.
And note, if you want to install the third-party skins to Windows XP, you need a patched 'uxtheme.dll' or else this will not work. The patched 'uxtheme.dll' will allow all the skins that are not digitally signed by Microsoft. You can search for it in Google and get the patcher/patched file.
The Theme:
A few days ago, I made a Windows XP skin called "matrix Xpert" which is just simplified as Xpert. I took some design philosophies from the modern neumorphism, the aero frutiger style, and also the gracious 'Y2K' style. This skin contains two color schemes, mainly "Light" and "Dark". This skin was based on a Zune theme and a whole lotta bitmaps for the skin were made in both versions of Photoshop namely the current Photoshop 2022 in my host PC and the old and gold Photoshop 7.0 in my VM.
![[Image: vxWe1He.png]](https://i.imgur.com/vxWe1He.png)
![[Image: 0T7HIPy.png]](https://i.imgur.com/0T7HIPy.png)
![[Image: 88wIty7.png]](https://i.imgur.com/88wIty7.png)
![[Image: 0jp7iBS.png]](https://i.imgur.com/0jp7iBS.png)
![[Image: 6bMRTQr.png]](https://i.imgur.com/6bMRTQr.png)
![[Image: 5wX6M6H.png]](https://i.imgur.com/5wX6M6H.png)
![[Image: tJXKUlv.png]](https://i.imgur.com/tJXKUlv.png)
![[Image: 2prGlwf.png]](https://i.imgur.com/2prGlwf.png)
![[Image: 6a2QJC8.png]](https://i.imgur.com/6a2QJC8.png)
![[Image: T30rU4Q.png]](https://i.imgur.com/T30rU4Q.png)
How the theme was made:
Initially, I used 'Resource Hacker' to modify the skin but it was a bit complicated to create the color schemes in the skin. So, I ended up using StyleBuilder to create the skin and its color schemes (forget about SkinStudio as you need WindowBlinds to do this. That's why I used StyleBuilder to make skins as it could export as .mssstyles). But, it was a bit buggy, but I downloaded the latest version of the program.
The second thing I found difficult to deal with was the transparency and bitmaps. Windows XP skins don't support PNGs. Whereas, StyleBuilder does. But when compiled, all the PNGs will convert into bitmaps. They will only support 24-bit bitmaps at most. However, they can support 32-bit bitmaps with alpha transparency to an extent. So, the biggest difference between 32-bit and 24-bit is that there is an extra 8-bit channel for transparency (if you didn't know). Generally, 24-bit will have 8 bits of Red channel, Green channel, and Blue channel which range from number 0-255 respectively. But you're also adding an alpha channel into the 24-bit bitmap. So, this will add an 8-bit channel to that image. And, most of the photo viewer applications can't render properly just due to the alpha channel that is hidden. You can also check the type of bitmap before exporting them in the photoshop. There's also another variant of the 32-bit bitmap called X8 R8 G8 B8 which is basically the same bitmap but 25% of the memory will stay unused. You can learn more at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previo...p/bb153349.
24-bit (R8 G8 B8) is the most commonly used bitmap. And if I want to convert PNGs to a bitmap that supports alpha transparency, I need to use Pixelformer. Well, it was an arduous task, and some bitmaps of the skin supported and some did not. So you may see some slight inconsistency on the caption buttons (located at the right of the title bar). That's one limitation of StyleBuilder. Another thing was that StyleBuilder didn't support some properties such as MenuText to change the text color for the menu bars. But I took some properties from the preloaded themes from StyleXP and pasted them to the dark mode of my skin.
Huge theories aside, another problem that I've experienced is that you need to modify even shellstyle.dll file also. Shellstyle.dll is another file that holds all values and properties regarding the explorer. This is the hardest part of it and you need to modify the two uifiles inside. And these uifiles would be difficult to understand just because these are some names that you may not know what it is. For example, you may have come across this name called blockade which I don't even know what is that element. Another example, "expando". you may have also come across that section of the file. It refers to the whole side panel in the file explorer.
Lastly, I was able to complete the skin, but a few inconsistencies were there especially in the control panel if you've used the light theme some are fixable and some are not due to the limitations of the skin. You have to set some by yourself in the advanced properties in the Appearance section of the Display Settings.
But still, I will be able to update the skin in the meantime. As of now, you can download the skin and enjoy it!!
Windows XP had one big new feature that took customization to a whole new level. And that is the theming engine. You can install visual styles a.k.a skins to Windows XP. Windows XP and later uses .msstyles as the file extension for storing skins. This version of skins is easily human-readable. But if you go to Windows Vista and later, these skins will be too complex and you will need a separate visual styles editor.
And note, if you want to install the third-party skins to Windows XP, you need a patched 'uxtheme.dll' or else this will not work. The patched 'uxtheme.dll' will allow all the skins that are not digitally signed by Microsoft. You can search for it in Google and get the patcher/patched file.
The Theme:
A few days ago, I made a Windows XP skin called "matrix Xpert" which is just simplified as Xpert. I took some design philosophies from the modern neumorphism, the aero frutiger style, and also the gracious 'Y2K' style. This skin contains two color schemes, mainly "Light" and "Dark". This skin was based on a Zune theme and a whole lotta bitmaps for the skin were made in both versions of Photoshop namely the current Photoshop 2022 in my host PC and the old and gold Photoshop 7.0 in my VM.
How the theme was made:
Initially, I used 'Resource Hacker' to modify the skin but it was a bit complicated to create the color schemes in the skin. So, I ended up using StyleBuilder to create the skin and its color schemes (forget about SkinStudio as you need WindowBlinds to do this. That's why I used StyleBuilder to make skins as it could export as .mssstyles). But, it was a bit buggy, but I downloaded the latest version of the program.
The second thing I found difficult to deal with was the transparency and bitmaps. Windows XP skins don't support PNGs. Whereas, StyleBuilder does. But when compiled, all the PNGs will convert into bitmaps. They will only support 24-bit bitmaps at most. However, they can support 32-bit bitmaps with alpha transparency to an extent. So, the biggest difference between 32-bit and 24-bit is that there is an extra 8-bit channel for transparency (if you didn't know). Generally, 24-bit will have 8 bits of Red channel, Green channel, and Blue channel which range from number 0-255 respectively. But you're also adding an alpha channel into the 24-bit bitmap. So, this will add an 8-bit channel to that image. And, most of the photo viewer applications can't render properly just due to the alpha channel that is hidden. You can also check the type of bitmap before exporting them in the photoshop. There's also another variant of the 32-bit bitmap called X8 R8 G8 B8 which is basically the same bitmap but 25% of the memory will stay unused. You can learn more at https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/previo...p/bb153349.
24-bit (R8 G8 B8) is the most commonly used bitmap. And if I want to convert PNGs to a bitmap that supports alpha transparency, I need to use Pixelformer. Well, it was an arduous task, and some bitmaps of the skin supported and some did not. So you may see some slight inconsistency on the caption buttons (located at the right of the title bar). That's one limitation of StyleBuilder. Another thing was that StyleBuilder didn't support some properties such as MenuText to change the text color for the menu bars. But I took some properties from the preloaded themes from StyleXP and pasted them to the dark mode of my skin.
Huge theories aside, another problem that I've experienced is that you need to modify even shellstyle.dll file also. Shellstyle.dll is another file that holds all values and properties regarding the explorer. This is the hardest part of it and you need to modify the two uifiles inside. And these uifiles would be difficult to understand just because these are some names that you may not know what it is. For example, you may have come across this name called blockade which I don't even know what is that element. Another example, "expando". you may have also come across that section of the file. It refers to the whole side panel in the file explorer.
Lastly, I was able to complete the skin, but a few inconsistencies were there especially in the control panel if you've used the light theme some are fixable and some are not due to the limitations of the skin. You have to set some by yourself in the advanced properties in the Appearance section of the Display Settings.
But still, I will be able to update the skin in the meantime. As of now, you can download the skin and enjoy it!!
![[-]](https://forums.mfgg.net/images/emerald/collapse.png)
![[Image: CourseClear.gif]](https://dl.dropbox.com/s/d5mcpm4nmt0gd14/CourseClear.gif)
![[Image: pEWZjsg.png]](https://i.imgur.com/pEWZjsg.png)
![[Image: LBpgMzY.png]](https://i.imgur.com/LBpgMzY.png)