Tag: windows

  • Windows 8 Theme Colours Reference

    In a similar vein to my Windows System Colours Reference, I’ve compiled a Windows 8 Theme Colours Reference using the APIs I wrote about in the previous post.

  • Retrieving Windows 8 Theme Colours

    See also: Windows 8 Theme Colours Reference. Windows 8 doesn’t offer developers access to system theme colours, unlike its cousin, Windows Phone. Even for a version 1 product, this seems like a strange omission. Then again, we still don’t have a working public API for retrieving the Aero glass colour (or whatever we call it…

  • FastPictureViewer Codec Pack, Windows 8 and WPF don’t play nicely together

    Update (2012-09-06): After some trial and error, it seems the Canon Hack Development Kit (CHDK) component is causing the issue. If you’re experiencing the same problem, try removing this component. Update (2012-09-05): The FastPictureViewer support team was unable to reproduce the issue, but suggested it might have something to do with the JPEG Auto-Rotate feature.…

  • Windows 8 Release Preview Updates

    I’ve belatedly updated my Windows System Colours Reference and post about Segoe UI to reflect changes in the Windows 8 Release Preview.

  • More on Segoe UI in Windows 8

    Note: the following is based on the Windows 8 Release Preview (build 8400) and may not accurately reflect the final version of Windows 8. I’ll update this post if there are changes in future builds. Updated: The fonts have been updated in the public beta (Windows Consumer Preview) and release candidate (Windows Release Preview) and…

  • Segoe UI Light Improvements in Windows 8

    Windows 7 comes with Segoe UI Light version 5.00/0.90. Windows 8 (as of the Windows Consumer Preview) comes with version 5.15, which has been hinted at various sizes. This comes as a very welcome change, especially with Microsoft using Segoe UI Light all over the place in its latest webpage designs. I recommend grabbing the…

  • Windows System Colours Reference

    I’ve put together a reference of Windows system colours from Windows XP to the Windows Developer Preview (and I’ll update it when the Windows Consumer Preview is released in the near future). Check it out here.

  • Facebook Messenger for Windows is not just for Windows 7

    Facebook recently launched ‘Messenger for Windows’, a desktop client for Facebook chat. The Messenger for Windows help page suggests that the program requires Windows 7: What kind of computer operating system do I need in order to use Messenger for Windows? You can set up the app if you use Windows 7 on your computer.…

  • Windows 8: Bypassing the Start screen

    After using the Windows Developer Preview (that is, Windows 8 pre-beta) build for a little while, I’m not at all sold on the Start screen as a replacement for the Start menu for keyboard-and-mouse users. I’m not giving up all hope yet, though – I wasn’t overly fond of the Backstage view when I first…

  • Office 15: per application border colours?

    Winreview.ru’s latest Office 15 screenshots reveal application-specific border colours and drop-shadows. Word gets a dark blue border and shadow, Excel gets a green border and shadow, etc.: Microsoft in fact applied for a patent for per-window glass colourisation in late 2005 (‘Glass appearance window frame colorization’; discovered by Long Zheng in 2007). While there isn’t…