Tuesday, 17 December 2013
A theme is
a collection of customizations that pertain to Windows as a whole. For example,
changing system sounds away from the default or adding unique images as the
desktop wallpaper results in a custom theme. You can then save this theme or
share it with others.
Changes to a theme involve the desktop background, taskbar and window colors,
sounds, and the screen saver. Make changes to any of these categories and save
the theme. You can make more than one custom theme and then switch between them
as you wish with super ease.
We’ll look at how to adjust these
sections of a Windows theme below. Doing it in Windows 8 is exactly how one
used do it in Windows 7. So for those who have already tried it in the earlier
version of the OS, these steps should look familiar.
How to Create a Custom Windows 8 Theme
Right-click anywhere on the desktop
and choose Personalize.
Choose Desktop Background for
the background settings.
It’s here we can change the wallpaper images. Either select
one of the solid colors, for a plain background, or choose a dropdown that
facilities images.
If Pictures Library is
chosen, we can select a folder full of images to be used.
Select one or more of these pictures to be used in the slideshow
of the background. You
can also adjust the slideshow settings to your desire: change the position of
the images, the delay of transitions, as well as whether or not to shuffle the
wallpapers.
Choose the Color item back on the Personalization page to change the color of the taskbar and borders of
windows. The first option, like what we’ve selected below, is an automatically
selected color that best matches the desktop wallpaper.
Choose the Screen Saver item to change these settings.
When all the changes have been set, save the theme. Do this
by clicking Save theme and
giving it an appropriate name.
Any change you make to any theme will split it from the
original and show as an unsaved theme. You can then make new themes from other
custom ones or even the preset ones. Rename each accordingly to you can easily
switch between them knowing what properties they hold.
Removing and
Sharing Themes
You can only delete a theme you’re not currently using. If
you only have one custom theme and you want to remove it, you must select a Windows Default Theme and then right-click the custom one to
remove it, like so:
Share any theme by right-clicking it and choosing Save
theme for sharing.
You’ll be prompted to save it to a recognizable location,
like this:
You can then share the Deskthemepack file with anyone so they can use your
theme.
Making a custom theme is very straightforward. But while
it is simple and easy to follow, you
can make your Windows 8 quite a bit different than other people’s themes by
simply following these above steps.
