I do presentations at user groups and I have a dark theme that just doesn't work with a projector. I don't like the default white. What is a good dark theme for visual stusio that works well with projectors? These are VGA projectors, not HD.
The lighting is generally not that bright directly in front of the screen, but it's isnt that dark in the room either.
Here are several that work in VS2008/VS2010
Scott Hanselman's ComputerZen
or StudioStyles
Here are some more
Studio Styles
I personally like
Coding Instinct
although I have not experienced it with a projector.
Related
I recently migrated from visual studio code to visual studio (because vsc and unity wouldn't be friends), and my only gripe is minor, yet a major annoyance: Despite all other text looking fine and crisp, collapsed region headers are so blurry they border on unreadable on my small screen (See image).
I can't find any applicable settings or previous threads. I'm working from a mac, have yet to add any extensions, and use only default settings (except for dark mode ofc). Any ideas for causes or solutions would be greatly appreciated :)
Edit:
Am I just looking in the wrong place for my settings? Is Apple hiding stuff from me again?:
Here's a recurring problem I've had.
I love using a dark theme for my Windows 7 computer. Unfortunately, the only way to get a really dark theme is by choosing the "High Contrast Black" color style, even though I don't really want high contrast, just darkness.
My theme works great, except that once in a while, there's an app that shows terrible colors because of it. Chrome is one example. I managed to fight that off using the Forced Colors setting, but that setting may be removed in the future, and then I'll be in a big problem.
I'm guessing that each app has some kind of API to ask the operating system about the theme colors. Is there any way to intercept that call and change the data, so specific apps will think that I'm on a non-high contrast theme?
Other ideas and solutions would also be interesting to hear.
How does exactly work themes switching in application? What if I override the default styles? Can I also define different styles for light and dark themes separately? Why the icons colos get changed - i.e. the black background of icons changes into white if the theme is set to Dark. Will it also be changed to white if I override the background style of application bar to white explicitly? How can I make sure nothing gets changed and my app looks the same in Light and Dark themes?
Have you seen these?
Theme Overview for Windows Phone
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/ff402557(v=vs.105).aspx
Theme Resources for Windows Phone
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/ff769552(v=vs.105).aspx
How to: Apply Theme Resources for Windows Phone
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windowsphone/develop/ff769545(v=vs.105).aspx
I personally use PhoneThemeManager from Jeff Wilcox for theme overriding works!
Of course, it is better to have the same UX across all the Windows Phone application when it comes to light/dark theme support, but I agree that sometimes it is really needed to override the theme.
You can probably find more information in this thread: How to override WindowsPhone dark theme by light
and also previously I was using this tutorial to customize light and dark themes:
http://blog.richardszalay.com/2011/06/11/practical-support-for-light-dark-themes-on-windows-phone-7/
In my Windows Phone 7 app, I want to use the light theme, no matter what theme the user sets in the phone. How to do that ?
Do I need to custom the style or theme ? I just want the default light theme.
Thanks
Jeff Wilcox offers a good way to do this using a theme manager he developed.
http://www.jeff.wilcox.name/2012/01/phonethememanager/
There is a nice way of replacing the default brushes. Saves you setting Forecolor everywhere.
http://www.designersilverlight.com/2011/01/17/theme-forcing-for-windows-phone-7-silverlight/
You'll still need to set the background of the main layout node to the default background brush.
Background="{StaticResource PhoneBackgroundBrush}"
There is no way to force an app to use a specific theme.
The best you can do is create your own style for every control you use and mimic the light theme in your styles.
Beware, this can be a time consuming and tedious task. Be sure to test all pages and all controls in all states when both the light and dark themes have been specified by the user.
I've had to do this (but for the dark theme) and it's not something I'd do again out of choice.
There are a few tips on doing this from one of the PDC sessions on optimising performance http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_phone/b/wpdev/archive/2010/10/28/pdc-live-optimizing-performance-for-silverlight-windows-phone-7-applications.aspx
This is a very bad idea.
Windows Phones use OLED displays - the pixels generate light directly, they are not backlit. Power consumption is therefore highest for white pixels. This is why Microsoft is suddenly obsessed with light text on dark backgrounds. It's not a back-to-the-seventies thing.
If you do this you will cause ridiculous power consumption.
For the benefit of the jerk who voted down a factually correct answer, I quote page 63 of the Windows Phone 7 UI Design and Interaction Guide published in July 2010 by Microsoft.
Avoid using too much white in
applications, such as white
backgrounds, as this may have an
impact on battery life for devices
that have organic LED displays.
If you're wondering why Microsoft included a "light background" theme option, so am I.
Like many SO people, I'm in front of a computer almost all day. I like having a dark theme for Visual Studio (easier on the eyes), but since the rest of Windows and apps (explorer, dialogs, Outlook), have the full white background, it's even harder to switch between nice dark VS and sunshine bright Windows.
I tried a UXTheme.dll patch but couldn't find any dark themes that worked across Visual Studio and Windows apps in general. Any suggestions?
Edit: To be clear, I'd like no or almost no white. No scrollbars, menus, etc.
I don't think you're going to find a Windows theme that can accomplish your task. Many software applications do not adhere to colors specified in Windows preferences and are not at all customizable--Notepad, for example, is black text on a white background, end of story.
For themes in general, Microsoft has released two official XP themes within the last year that may be worth looking at:
Zune
Embedded
If you are planning on using a modified uxtheme.dll file, you can check out Luna Element Black, which is one I have used for well over a year now.
If you are this passionate about not having white areas visible in some of the programs you use, perhaps you need to find new applications that provide similar features but also offer customization in terms of fonts and colors--for example, using Notepad++ instead of Notepad, which gives you an almost exhaustive amount of customization possibilities.
May be not exactly what you are looking for, but this is a dark color scheme for visual Studio (2005 or 2008) you may use in complement of UXTheme.
Off course, they are other dar color schemes for Visual studio, like this one (Jeff has one also).
But I am not sure there is one tool that applies to all windows, including Visual Studio.