Windows XP visual styles
Visual styles are a set of visual customizations of the graphical user interface for Windows XP and later. They are designed by Microsoft and are compatible with all Windows XP editions except for the Starter edition. Since Windows XP, themes also includes the choice of visual styles as well.
Compared to the previous "Windows Classic" style used in Windows 95 to Windows Me, the new visual styles of Windows XP have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system, using saturated colors and bitmaps throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows.
By default, "Luna" is preinstalled on Windows XP Home Edition and Professional, while "Royale" is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and "Embedded" is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download, such as "Zune". "Luna", "Royale", "Zune" and "Embedded" in particular are codenames of the official visual styles made by Microsoft for Windows XP. Third parties and individuals have also released their own visual styles, however these require modifications of core Windows components to work, a practice that is not officially endorsed by Microsoft.
Some visual styles were developed by Microsoft as placeholders before unveiling the official visual styles, which were used in beta versions of Windows. These include "Watercolor", "Mallard", "Plex", "Slate" and "Jade".
The visual styles API was substantially expanded in Windows Vista and later. Nevertheless, the API remained heavily under-documented.
Development history
Early to late-2000: Watercolor, Mallard, Candy
In 2000, during the development of Windows XP, the concept of visual styles in themes was conceived as early as February 22, 2000 in an internal spreadsheet discussing the inclusion of both consumer and professional themes in the final product, with plans to complete the looks of each theme by April 28, 2000.The first theme to take advantage of the new visual style API in themes was Watercolor, initially named as Professional and internally named Business. This blue-colored, classic style-like theme was designed to improve the look-and-feel of Windows first introduced with Windows 95, being a less resource-intensive, professional-oriented theme for the operating system alongside a consumer-oriented counterpart that was intended to complement Watercolor, of which only concept images exist. It first made its inclusion as a hidden, incomplete feature in build 2223 of Whistler, and was finalized by the time the first public preview build of Whistler, build 2250, was officially released by Microsoft on July 13, 2000, with a much more polished design, and can be accessed through normal means via the Display Properties applet. It was given a slight update in build 2257. Watercolor was never intended to be included in the final product, and was mainly used as a placeholder for the time being until the final visual style was revealed.
The second theme to take advantage of the new visual style API was Mallard, also known as Sample Test Visual Style. This theme was designed as the consumer-oriented counterpart to Watercolor, and made use of certain elements of the visual style API, such as the taskbar and title bar using various design elements including a half semicircle on the left-hand side of the title bar. It also came with two colors variations, namely Chartreuse Mongoose and Blue Lagoon, which differed from Watercolor as said theme only came with one color variation. Concepts for a consumer-oriented theme were shown off at Microsoft Technical Briefing 2000 on September 2000, showcasing an early, blue-colored version of what would eventually become Mallard. This early version was also shown on the Taskbar Properties applet in build 2257 before officially debuting in build 2410. According to Microsoft developer Raymond Chen, Mallard was created by Microsoft as a decoy for testers to use until they were ready to showcase their new finalized visual style, Luna.
Alongside the concepts for the consumer-oriented theme, a set of redesigned icons were developed in conjunction with the new visual styles to replace the existing ones that were in use up to Windows 2000 and Windows Me, which were designed by The Iconfactory. These icons were more detailed and are of higher resolution and color depth than the low resolution pixel art, sprite-based icons used in early Windows versions.
There was also another theme that took advantage of the visual style API in its early stages of development known as Candy, which was designed to mimic the Aqua interface of Apple's then-relatively new Mac OS X operating system. The theme was created as a test to take advantage of the new features of the visual style API but was never known to be included in any other builds of Whistler, and only resurfaced when the source code for Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 were leaked online in September 2020. Candy appeared to be nothing more than a reskin of Watercolor, with only some elements being modified to make use of the Aqua aesthetic. The date modified metadata for the visual styles themselves suggests that it was developed between builds 2250 and 2257.
Late-2000 to August 2001: Luna
During the final months of 2000, the two visual styles were starting to look out of place with the rest of the operating system, and so Microsoft decided to replace them with new ones that would look and remain consistent with rest of the operating system. They also wanted a new visual style that would look appealing and fresh to users, and so work on the new visual styles was underway.Microsoft contracted design firm Frog Design, known for designing products for Apple Inc. and NeXT in the 1980s and 1990s as well as Packard Bell from 1994 to 1997, to create the new visual style and theme; the company also helped designed the skins used in Windows Media Player since version 7. Initial plans were to have two distinct visual styles named Luna and Mercury, the consumer and professional-oriented themes of the new visual styles respectively to replace both Mallard and Watercolor. Luna would have used colorful, rubber-like details, looking similar to early versions of Mallard in design and appearance, while Mercury would have used monochromatic, steel-like details, with elements that appeared to have similar design features to what the final version of Luna would look like; both themes would also have a green-colored Start button that would be featured in the final version of Luna. Both themes would also have corresponding Windows Media Player skin designs made, which presumably became "Windows XP" for Luna and "Windows Classic" for Mercury respectively. Ultimately, however, due to time constraints, Luna was the only one to be finalized outside of the concept stage while Mercury was never fully realized.
The first concept images of what would eventually become the Luna theme were created in late 2000, sometime after the release of Beta 1, showing the very early progress of the theme. This early concept, known under its informal name of "Luna Concept", featured a flat interface with no rounded corners, a blue gradient in the taskbar, orange gradients in Explorer windows, and a differently-shaped green-colored start button. It also featured new icon designs designed by The Iconfactory that were more reminiscent of the ones included in the final product; these were eventually included in build 2410, replacing several icons from Windows 2000 and prior. Several elements from this concept, including the blue window borders and taskbar, a red close button, a green start button, and a dark blue background were eventually used in the final version of the theme. While most developers privately worked on Luna at that time, Watercolor and Mallard were still included as the default visual styles in most publicly released preview builds of Whistler from late 2000 and early 2001 as they were not ready to introduce the new visual style to the operating system yet.
At the Consumer Electronics Show on January 6, 2001, Microsoft dedicated a portion of its event to Whistler, and showed off a much more refined, yet still very early version of Luna to the public for the very first time, showcasing the progress made after its initial conception in late 2000. The build of Whistler that it was running on was build 2415, compiled on January 2, 2001. This iteration of Luna, later to be informally known as "Luna Beta", is more detailed than its early concept phases, and looked similar to what would eventually be included in later builds such as build 2428, albeit with some differences such as the use of a larger font for window captions, a different design for the Start menu with a blue-white gradient background for the righthand pane, a blue Log Off button, and the older Windows flag. The build also featured the now-iconic Bliss wallpaper that would eventually be included in build 2419 alongside other wallpapers that would be available in the final product.
The first sightings of the new Luna theme as featured in build 2428 was in the Beta 2 Core Technology Guide; the build in question was build 2423, compiled on January 21, 2001. This iteration of Luna, also known as "Luna Beta", began to look closer to its final appearance with some differences, such as a brighter scrollbar, differently-shaped taskbar buttons and a much shinier start button. The build also featured Red Moon Desert as the default wallpaper instead of Bliss from build 2415 or the Whistler default wallpaper from builds 2410 to 2419, which remained in later builds up to build 2465. It was officially introduced to testers on February 13, 2001 with the release of the aforementioned build 2428, completely replacing the placeholder Watercolor and Mallard visual styles. The assets for the now-scrapped themes remained intact in the source code tree for Windows XP up to Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003, however, and were subsequently discovered in 2020 when the source code for both operating systems was leaked.
The first available build of Whistler to identify itself as Windows XP, build 2465, released to testers on April 26, 2001, brought the Luna theme closer to its finalized look, albeit without the additional color variations of the finished theme. This includes the removal of the shine from the Start button, and other changes such as the different scrollbar and taskbar button designs. The build also had Bliss set as the default wallpaper for the first time as the previous one, Red Moon Desert was no longer set as the default wallpaper due to testers comparing it to buttocks.
At the Windows XP Expert Zone briefing on May 2001, Luna was updated to add two additional color variations for Luna, "Homestead" and "Metallic", which were later renamed as "Olive Green" and "Silver" respectively. The build shown at the briefing was a Lab06_N compile of build 2474. These additional color variations were officially released to testers on June 6, 2001 with build 2481. The final version of the Luna visual style and theme as well as the visual style API arrived with build 2600 of Windows XP on August 24, 2001 for manufacturers, which was then released on October 25, 2001 for the general public. The assets of an early version of Luna from build 2428 also remained in the source code tree after the theme was redesigned and was subsequently leaked in September 2020 alongside the Watercolor, Mallard and Candy themes.