substyle not working and how to choose substyles per application

from Stardock Forums

Dear All, 

I've downloaded the most popular theme, the dark theme and i am happy to use it. 

the windows black ground is black and using this in ms word 2010 which i have gives a black background in ms word, the only problem is that if there is an table in ms workd you can't see it as the table is drawn in black. 

If i update the black background to blue it's fine but all aps have a black background, i only want to change the one in ms word.

 

the second questions i have is this...

when i modify the windows background color to black i save this in a preset, let's call it black theme with black background

When i modify the windows blackground color to blue i save this is also in a preset let's call it black theme with blue background

Now when i open these substyles and try to swap between them with applying to desktop this doesn't work 

am i doing something wrong ? 

 

Thanks for your reply in advance

windowblinds
6,033 views 6 replies
Reply #1 from Stardock Forums Top

BTW swapping between the 'factory' substyles does work , i can see the difference between dark and dark (7)

 

So the problem is with saving the use defined substyle. 

So just to be clear i modified my style , applied to desktop and then saved it as a preset, this doesn't seem to work 

Reply #2 from Stardock Forums Top

Hello,

Sorry to hear you are having issues.


If i update the black background to blue it's fine but all aps have a black background, i only want to change the one in ms word.
End of quote

As far as I know, if you change the system color. It will effect the whole Windows system. Which include MS Word. There is a way just to make Windows Explorer to have dark background while keeping the Windows system color light. I am sure someone with more knowledge and good way to explain it will come along and explain it to you.

Meanwhile you can download some dark theme from Masters like LightStar and others, who have those nice dark and light substyle themes. And learn from it.

Thanks

Basj,

Stardock Community Assistant.

Fences - Organize your desktop icons today!
Reply #3 from WinCustomize Forums Top

There are "Presets" and there are "Substyles", the two are not the same.  Presets are for the general adjustments you make in WB such as the general color shifts, the transparency adjustments, and the texture additions.  They are changes made "on top of" a substyle (for lack of a better description).  When you change a system color, even within WB, you are editing the actual substyle, which is why it persists every time you change it and create a new Preset.

You would want to use SkinStudio to create a new substyle.  You should be able to download it from your Stardock downloads page.

Once in SkinStudio, open the skin you're wanting to change with the command "File/Open skin for editing" or "File/Open current WindowBlinds skin" if you have the skin loaded.  Once the skin is opened, use "File/Substyle Management to add a new substyle based on the existing one.  Once you've done that and closed the Substyle Management window, it should prompt you to save changes and pick the substyle you want to edit.  You can then either change the system color on the new substyle within SkinStudio ("Change skin colors"), or "File/close" the skin and change the system color on the new substyle within WB as you have been doing.

I realize those instructions lack some details but I hope that gets you there.  Things can get pretty wordy.

Reply #4 from Stardock Forums Top

Both thanks for the quick reply. 

I've done a bit of testing and my understanding is that as Basj pointed out it's not possible to have two difffent window background colors at the same time is that correct ? 

In my testing i saw that the windows background is always going to the last one applied, even if the application is excluded or has assigned a different style 

IF this is true then there is no point for exclusions except if for some other paramters the exception does work. But i am mostly after the windows background. 

There is no workaround for that even with skinstudio ? 
i mean for ms word i told it to work with the corporate theme  by exclusions but tthis didn't work
Windows background color goes always to the last one applied.  

 

 

Reply #5 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting avis71, reply 4

it's not possible to have two difffent window background colors at the same time is that correct ? 
End of avis71's quote

yes

Quoting avis71, reply 4

IF this is true then there is no point for exclusions except if for some other paramters the exception does work. But i am mostly after the windows background. 

There is no workaround for that even with skinstudio ? 
End of avis71's quote

Correct.  The system colors are used even if a program is excluded, and there is only one set of system colors used at a time.  Excluding a program can be useful though, unfortunately it doesn't do what you're wanting.

Reply #6 from WinCustomize Forums Top

Quoting DaveRI, reply 5

Quoting avis71, reply 4
it's not possible to have two difffent window background colors at the same time is that correct ? 
yes
End of DaveRI's quote

I should clarify that, as Basj said, you can specify a different window background color for Windows Explorer.  I get the impression that's not what you're trying to accomplish, but it can be done.  I realized I created something of a contradiction while I was going in another direction.