Windows 7 Accessible Aero theme

1 June 2010, 20:32

Hello, friends!

I am a happy Windows 7 x64 user since 1st of January 2010. Although, since day one I wasn't happy about the default Aero theme, because it is too transparent and the titlebars texts are not visible on dark wallpapers and such. So, last week I thought of doing something different. Here's a Windows accessible Aero theme done by me, based on the default Aero theme. I just changed what I thought it lacks contrast. I've searched online for such themes, but I liked none of them. As such, I publish this theme for others who might need such a theme.  

For easeness, I prepared several screenshots portraying the difference between my theme (Accessible Aero) and the default Aero theme. These screenshots are a mashup of different Windows elements, in Basic and Aero modes.

 

 

 

If you like what you see, download the Accessible Aero theme here.

Here is a round-up of what this theme features:

• considerably less transparent glass, dark glass
• white text title bars with black glows, so they are readable irrespective of the background of the window
• increased contrast in the title bars for the Basic mode, when not using Aero and I also adjusted the caption buttons accordingly by enhancing the contrast between the glyphs and the buttons
• a much darker taskbar in Basic mode, making the clock and popup titles of the applications running much more readable
• a darker Start menu in Basic mode
• increased contrast for the Alt-Tab application switcher in Basic mode
• added a strong white glow to Alt-Tab app switcher to make the the title visible
• made text fields slightly more visible
• defined a clear difference between active and inactive text fields, making the borders thicker
• a more visible highlighting color for menus, popups menus, while trying to maintain the default look
• file column headers in Explorer or other applications, are enhanced as well; more visible and a more clear border between them
• changed the gray text color of tooltips to black for increased readability
• added dark glow to application titles in task bar and in the thumbnails to avoid situations when the titles are unreadable
• made the address bar, search field and the whole breadcrumb much more readable; brighter background and darker texts
• more visible separator in unlocked taskbar and other types of separators or window resize grippers
• bigger close button in taskbar pop-up thumbnails
• made the taskbar icons less wide, more ergonomic, both in Basic and Aero modes
• made more visible the MDI window buttons: close, minimize and restore/maximize
• restyled the whole taskbar to my personal taste

  By now, it is clear what is my main purpose with this theme: readability, accessibility, hence the title. So, it is not about eye-candy, fancy designs, or not even originality. I also published this theme on deviantart.com, for those using dA.

Feel free to send me comments to improve this theme.

Published in: aero, interfaces, themes, windows.

New works

26 November 2008, 12:22

Coucou à tous!

I forgot to post last time my new works and I just mentioned the small tid bits behind the hood of maintaining a site. Yesterday, I realised I have quite many new works unpublished.

Three new logos: Fast Travel agency - late september. Webicina - early july, and the biology 2008 olympiad logo, in february.

 

I also decided to list the interfaces I did for our projects, Paint.Web and the SVG + Voice game tutorial (done in april 2007), in the interfaces category. This is just so you can have a better view of my works.

Next, in november I've done a few motion planning illustrations for my older brother and a fake diploma for fun - this one is published under the Scraps category.

I hope you guys like my new stuff.

I'm working on two new covers and, still on my 3D image, but currently I am on hold 'till I finish these two.

Auf wiedersehen, playas. :)

Published in: 2d, illustrations, interfaces, logos.

Summer 2008 updates

5 July 2008, 03:08

It's almost mid summer now and I haven't updated my site since spring. Since then, I've made a catalogue and a web site interface for the upcoming new site of CTCNVK.

Published in: 2d, interfaces, logos.

Site updates

3 February 2008, 08:19

I finally had the time to update the site. I added some new content and we updated several pages.

My latest work is "Love bites". The first WIP saw the light in early November 2007, but I wasn't in the mood to finish it until yesterday - 3rd of February 2008. Take it as an image for Saint Valentine's Day, but I didn't intend it to be so.

In early November 2007, I was asked to make a new logo and a new site interface for Ovidiu Bosancu. In two weeks my work was finished. This is with what I came up with:

The organizers of the "Music and Poetry Festival" from Arad, Romania, asked me to design the calendar for 2008 and the cover for the next book of this festival. I am really content how these two works turned out. Again, all this happened in late September and in November 2007.

In January 2008, I was contacted by the web designer behind Foundation Recordings, asking me for the permission to use the image Old Radio. I ended up, not only allowing him to use it, but also doing two 3D objects for the site design. A mixing box and a disco ball. Hope you like them.

And, in other news... I am proud to announce that in October 2007, "The wind of change" image appeared in the "Best of Cinema 4D" gallery of the 3D Attack magazine. That's not all: the same image became the front cover in November 2007 issue, which also featured a four pages interview with me :). It was my first interview of any kind.

In conclusion... November was the most active month since august 2007. :)

Published in: book covers, interfaces, logos, valentine's day.

Content updates

17 September 2007, 10:13

I've decided to publish the interpretation of my last artistical work I've published. Thus, in this post I want to inform my readers that in the "Making of" page for the project "Wind of Change", you can now find the complete interpretation. You may get to know exactly what each element is meant to symbolize. As a side note: all the impressions expressed in the text are purely subjective at the given time, thus they are subject to change over time.

I also published an application interface I made for VegaWeb Solutions and a CD/DVD cover for the same project. I hope you like it.

And, finally, I have decided to publish in the Scraps page, a poster-like image I've done several years ago. I very much like the colors :).

Published in: 3d, interfaces, making of.

Cinema 4D colour theme

23 March 2007, 03:03

Hello!

Incredible, but this post is in english ;).

I've decided to publish the colour theme I made for Cinema 4D R10. I didn't like the default one because the colours were too dark for my taste and the overall scheme lacked good contrast between the elements (checkboxes, buttons, little switches, etc). For this theme I've changed some buttons to fit with my colours. As you noticed, I am fond of the Windows's colours, so I want my applications to have a consistency in the interface. Most importantly, perhaps, it's that I changed the little tiny dots in the Object Manager. I've made the different states on/off/default very clear and easy to remember.

Hope you like it.

If you like the screenshot, you may click here to download the file (RAR). Just extract the files in your \%Cinema 4D installation folder%\resource\schemes\ and run C4D R10 :).  

P.S. Don't worry about the french GUI.

Published in: 3d, cinema 4d, interfaces, themes.

The new site

18 February 2007, 06:42

This is the new ROBO Design web site. Thank you for visiting my blog.

With this new site we made sure that we can keep in-touch with the public more easier. Expect from now on more often updates. Feel free to navigate the simple interface :).

New content on the site:

• one new sketch-like image: Romania in E.U.
• five new logos: Xeloda, Oscir, R.R., LibTom Crypt v2, DSCMJ
• four new web sites: Sava Brancovici School, Henri Coanda High School, Scoala Generala nr. 5, CIA 2007
• two new icon packs: Cadastrul Apelor [19 icons], Salarizare Personal [74 icons]
• one new fancy book cover: LibTom Crypt Developer Manual
• ... and many new pages.

... after all... 2006 was highly active.

About the site

I've been told that the interface design is not good. The ROBO Design logo is too retro, the colour theme is too brown and... last, but not least the navigation system is not good. Well the reasoning behind this interface was to make a simple, clean one. Nothing too fancy. The colour theme is inspired by the Ubuntu Linux distro, besides this we didn't want to stick to the blue colour. As for the navigation system, it's clear that by having so many menus, we would have cluttered the whole site. We wanted both to have our own pages, our own sort of site. Thus, the decision was to hide the menus under these two named parts/sides.

Published in: book covers, icons, illustrations, interfaces, logos.