Old 12-27-2022, 01:46 AM   #1
modus7
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Default How to achieve a dark menubar and menus?

I'm just setting up to delve into Reaper. As I step into this endeavor I have installed a few dark themes, yet the menubar and menus remain annoyingly blazing white on Windows 11.

VSCode is a prime example of an app that has great consistently dark UI themes that include the menu system. How can the Reaper menubar and menus be make dark in Windows 11?

Can someone confirm that Stardock Windowblinds in required or that there is another way.

Thanks
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Old 12-27-2022, 03:17 AM   #2
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Reaper takes some GUI elements from the Windows theme. So, to change them you would need to use a different or modified Windows theme. But that solution does not suit everyone.
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Old 12-27-2022, 08:11 AM   #3
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You would have to use a 3rd party Windows theme This can be tricky as it would require patching the OS I currently use a theme based on Ubuntu from Cleodesktop. I get dark menus and titlebar in Reaper. But to do this I had to download and run the Ultra UX Theme Patcher then find a decent dark theme. Some people may be uncomfortable with this for obvious reasons. But it works well on my system and Reaper looks amazing with dark menus and open windows.

Last edited by emwhy; 12-27-2022 at 01:05 PM.
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Old 12-27-2022, 06:12 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by modus7 View Post
I'm just setting up to delve into Reaper. As I step into this endeavor I have installed a few dark themes, yet the menubar and menus remain annoyingly blazing white on Windows 11.

VSCode is a prime example of an app that has great consistently dark UI themes that include the menu system. How can the Reaper menubar and menus be make dark in Windows 11?

Can someone confirm that Stardock Windowblinds in required or that there is another way.

Thanks

I use Windowblinds and for me it work great. It's not prefect, but it works.

You install it any other program, apply the theme you want to use, and if you need to go back to the windows default, just apply the default theme.

Now sometimes I need to reapply the theme a few times before everything looks ok.


Below is a video of some of how the effects look now with the theme I use (Dark Mode)


If you get Windowblinds ( only $19 for 5 installs), you will only get a few downloads of themes free, so very carefully in selecting what themes you want. the trick around this is to use another PC to download the themes from Stardock.

Also do not buy anyone's made themes, get the free ones. As you will not really know what you are getting. Only get Windowblinds, their 'Object Desktop' really does provide a lot, but no benefit to reaper.




Robert
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Old 12-28-2022, 02:21 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rncwalker View Post
I use Windowblinds and for me it work great. It's not prefect, but it works.

You install it any other program, apply the theme you want to use, and if you need to go back to the windows default, just apply the default theme.

Now sometimes I need to reapply the theme a few times before everything looks ok.


Below is a video of some of how the effects look now with the theme I use (Dark Mode)


If you get Windowblinds ( only $19 for 5 installs), you will only get a few downloads of themes free, so very carefully in selecting what themes you want. the trick around this is to use another PC to download the themes from Stardock.

Also do not buy anyone's made themes, get the free ones. As you will not really know what you are getting. Only get Windowblinds, their 'Object Desktop' really does provide a lot, but no benefit to reaper.




Robert
How does Windowblinds work? Is it like UX Theme Patcher in that it, well, patches the OS? I can't seem to find this info online.

Also, what are the things that it doesn't work so well (as you mentioned it isn't perfect)?
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Old 12-28-2022, 04:06 AM   #6
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Due to my vision issues, I've been dark themeing, not sure that's a word but here is my goto list -

WindowBlinds
WinAreoTweaker
Deviant Art has a grey dark theme for free
Dark theme Windows 10 64bit and if needed high contrast in Windows

All or some should help

Kind regards,
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Old 12-28-2022, 10:25 AM   #7
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@Luiza177


With Windowblinds there is no patching of windows, UX Theme Patcher is just as it's title, you need to change replace windows drivers with there's.
To get back to the windows theme you would need to undo everything you have done.

With Windowblinds, just install the program and apply the theme you want!

Below is some Photos of what everything could look like


The Default windows theme



The 7Dusk theme


The Dark Mode Theme


The Steam System Gray Theme


The Night shine Theme


And the Fattened Theme



Here is the problem with the some Themes, sometimes not working correctly, once corrected and as long as you have reaper open, everything will stay correct.
It's only in reaper that I see if it's correct or not. Having said that, I use Windowblinds only because of reaper and nothing else.

Need to reapply to Desktop until correct!



Also Word processers and some other apps will have a dark background with dark themes




Here is where you can download some themes and find more info about Windowblinds.



https://www.wincustomize.com/explore/windowblinds



To me, this has been the easiest way of getting the windows dark in reaper.



Robert
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Old 12-28-2022, 10:35 AM   #8
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Also to add, if you do not like Windowblinds, first apply the Default theme and reboot your system. Then you can uninstall Windowblinds.

There is a trial you can try out.

Robert
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Old 12-28-2022, 11:47 AM   #9
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This seems great! Thanks for sharing the pictures!
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Old 12-28-2022, 01:49 PM   #10
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Sucks that Windows 11 still doesn't offer any retrofit to make apps like Reaper Dark-Mode-compatible.
I've been playing around with dark Windows 10 themes recently using the UXThemePatcher and random themes I've found on the web, getting mixed results.

You can get rid of the white colors using custom themes, Problem is very often some of the standard assets (checkboxes, radio buttons, etc.) are ignored by the themes at some zoom levels. Plus most of the old software is absolutely not compatible with the dark colors from custom themes.

I'm using windows 150% enlargement setting together with the PureDark theme from niivu. Here's a link to his/her github account, lots of Win10, but also Win 11 themes.
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Old 12-28-2022, 03:44 PM   #11
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The problem is with Windows and apps that are built by their standards.

Here is the the problems that I have found:

1) Not all text can be the same color, because not all backgrounds are the same color.

So, in some windows you would not see your text.

Another problem is this:

2) some Text and Buttons or header, dialog or whatever may share the same color, change the text color and everything sharing that color is changed.


With Windowblinds, I'm slowly changing the theme I use, to hopefully overcome some of these limitations.

Try windows own 'Hi contrast theme' and you will see some of their problems, and understand that it's not a quick fix. it looks real bad.

I did tried the 'UXThemePatcher', and I did not like the results.

To anyone wanting to darken the some of the parts of Reaper, until the developers provides us with a way to darken Reaper completely, you need to try what's available now, and hopefully find something that works for you.

Whatever you try has it's own Pros & Cons. You need to decide what works best for you.


Robert
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Old 12-28-2022, 06:01 PM   #12
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I am trying Windowblinds but it is frustrating to have to do this on my holidays.

The 7dusk theme Robert so kindly provided a screenshot for is what I am looking for.

All I want is to make the Reaper tilebar and it's menus dark so I can read them without experiencing pain everytime I open them!

The 7dusk theme is not in the Windowblinds apps list but I did find it online and downloaded it.

Where does Windowblinds keep its themes so I can manually install the 7dusk theme and then remove all other themes and get on with my life

Last edited by modus7; 12-28-2022 at 06:04 PM. Reason: Add line breaks
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Old 12-28-2022, 08:46 PM   #13
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Install Windowblinds and then, Just double click the '7Dusk Theme' file you downloaded and it will install it self.

It will not look 100% like mine, because there are some tweaks I've done to Reaper and the Windowblinds theme.
You will get about 99.9 % like you see in the screen shot.

Robert

Last edited by rncwalker; 12-28-2022 at 08:51 PM.
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Old 12-28-2022, 10:48 PM   #14
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After the double click on the downloaded 7dusk theme and then an apply step within the WindowBlinds app its working.

It is okay but if you know how to get the text in the dark menus a shade or two whiter that would be most appreciated.

Just for starters I've used the Blackmore Reaper theme. I'm going to try a few more dark Reaper themes in combo with the WindowBlinds 7dusk theme.

Hopefully I can find a Reaper theme that also has more organized titlebar menus. They do seem rather haphazard to me as a graphic UI designer.

Thanks for your help in getting a reasonable UI experience setup!
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Old 12-29-2022, 12:07 AM   #15
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After trying Reaper themes I'm down to Hydra and Blackmore.

Blackmore won out between the two when viewed on my new 32" monitor.

The WindowBlinds 7dusk titlebar and menus also look great on the monitor.

The menu font, size and readability is good and now a joyous experience.

Due to this I'm also okay with the menu structure as it is.

I can just move a few menus up or down and assign keys to them as desired.

Best and thanks for your help :-)
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Old 12-29-2022, 05:08 PM   #16
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Just some tips to help you along (Knowing now that you are a "graphic UI designer", tells me that you know your away round a PC.
So here we go.

SkinStudio is included with Windowblinds (If you purchase it), with it you can change some of the colors.

In Reaper you can also darken the Reaper theme by:

1) Theme Tweak



Here is one of the areas that Windowblinds causes (I can live with it, because I do not use it much)



2) Theme Adjuster (Is another place that you can change areas)





I start out changing WT Imperial theme





After 7 years of slowly changing it to what I want, while at the same time of being able to use it. (Not for the faint of heart).

Here's what it looks like now





Here is White Ties website to look at Imperial

https://www.houseofwhitetie.com/reap..._imperial.html

Theme in reaper only effects the MCP, TCP, Transport, MIDI Editor & some Toolbars.
The other areas that do not change I use Windowblinds for.


Robert

Last edited by rncwalker; 12-29-2022 at 05:15 PM.
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Old 12-30-2022, 03:39 AM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rncwalker View Post
Just some tips to help you along (Knowing now that you are a "graphic UI designer", tells me that you know your away round a PC.
So here we go.

SkinStudio is included with Windowblinds (If you purchase it), with it you can change some of the colors.

In Reaper you can also darken the Reaper theme by:

1) Theme Tweak



Here is one of the areas that Windowblinds causes (I can live with it, because I do not use it much)



2) Theme Adjuster (Is another place that you can change areas)





I start out changing WT Imperial theme





After 7 years of slowly changing it to what I want, while at the same time of being able to use it. (Not for the faint of heart).

Here's what it looks like now





Here is White Ties website to look at Imperial

https://www.houseofwhitetie.com/reap..._imperial.html

Theme in reaper only effects the MCP, TCP, Transport, MIDI Editor & some Toolbars.
The other areas that do not change I use Windowblinds for.


Robert

That's beautiful Robert!

I've been using the Pro Tools dark theme via reaper.fm for a few weeks now. It's really nice as well.
George
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Old 12-30-2022, 09:35 PM   #18
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The Windowblinds / UX Theme Patcher approaches are all hacky. Happy for the users that are fine with them and happy that the OP found an appropriate solution to their needs.

Nonetheless, it's a pity that one has to rely on all kinds of dirty workarounds to have (still imperfect) design consistency in Reaper on Windows.

Granted, not bringing anything practical to the table, just voicing an opinion that has been plaguing many users on Windows for a while now.
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Old 12-31-2022, 07:29 AM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wave View Post
The Windowblinds / UX Theme Patcher approaches are all hacky.
To me, it's not hack, but a 3 parity solution to the problem.

The OS maker, in this case is Microsoft, need to make a good dark theme that users can change to there liking.


Robert
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Old 12-31-2022, 09:30 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rncwalker View Post
To me, it's not hack, but a 3 parity solution to the problem.

The OS maker, in this case is Microsoft, need to make a good dark theme that users can change to there liking.


Robert
For some of us, our preference is to work in a lighter theme OS while at the same time work in a darker theme while using Reaper. That scenario seems unachievable. So I'm in agreement this is a hack type of work around which only provides a 6 of 1 or 1/2 dozen of the other solution.
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Old 12-31-2022, 01:07 PM   #21
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I Aggree with both Rednroll's and Wave's thoughts, I just think that Hack means changing the code (weather "OS" or the "Program" you are using), and many times an update will break it. Also it's usually not recognized by the Developer of such methods.

Windowblinds has never broke because of an OS update.

I also look for the day Cockos provides the entire Repaper theme-able and not just a dark one.
That way users can make it dark or light to how they want it.

Like I said, both Windowblinds / UX Theme Patchier have there Pros and Cons.

I choose to use Windowblinds until I no longer need it. fortunately I have other PC's that I can use when I do not want a dark mode OS.


Robert

Last edited by rncwalker; 12-31-2022 at 02:49 PM.
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Old 01-02-2023, 12:32 PM   #22
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Yes, "hack" in my previous post refers to the fact that both UX Theme Patcher / Windowblinds and all similar solutions basically change system files in ways they aren't meant to be changed. Doesn't mean they'll break after every OS update (although the probability isn't 0), fortunately.

But in addition to the reliability issue and to the use case Rednroll mentioned, I'd argue there is a strong point to be made about the design consistency.
Third party theming solutions bring yet another design language to the underlying Windows OS (which isn't fully themeable either) and to Reaper, which already suffers from a lot of visual inconsistencies due to mixing OS UI widgets with REAPER-native PNG files.
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Old 01-02-2023, 04:58 PM   #23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rednroll View Post
For some of us, our preference is to work in a lighter theme OS while at the same time work in a darker theme while using Reaper. That scenario seems unachievable. So I'm in agreement this is a hack type of work around which only provides a 6 of 1 or 1/2 dozen of the other solution.
I had downloaded the demo of Windowblinds and noticed that there was an option to override the chosen theme at an executable level (so each executable could have it's own theme, in theory). I couldn't get that to work, though. Maybe it was because of the demo, but perhaps rncwalker knows if that works? If that worked as I thought it was supposed to, you could have whatever theme you want for your OS theme, then just have dark mode for Reaper.

It would be nice if we could change the look within Reaper, but that doesn't look like it's happening (at least not any time soon), and I'm not a fan of having to use Windowblinds or another 3rd party tool to this either, though... but just saying, it sounds like it can maybe do what you're wanting??
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Old 01-02-2023, 09:00 PM   #24
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nait View Post
I had downloaded the demo of Windowblinds and noticed that there was an option to override the chosen theme at an executable level (so each executable could have it's own theme, in theory). I couldn't get that to work, though. Maybe it was because of the demo, but perhaps rncwalker knows if that works? If that worked as I thought it was supposed to, you could have whatever theme you want for your OS theme, then just have dark mode for Reaper.

It would be nice if we could change the look within Reaper, but that doesn't look like it's happening (at least not any time soon), and I'm not a fan of having to use Windowblinds or another 3rd party tool to this either, though... but just saying, it sounds like it can maybe do what you're wanting??

I believe the override is to not have some apps skinned. and that does not work very well!
I wanted to just skin Reaper and not my other apps, but the other apps look good without doing this.

The only apps that give me a problem is any type of word processor, instead of white paper its dark blue/grey.

The PC is only for DAW use and I have another PC for everything else.

Robert
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Old 01-02-2023, 10:35 PM   #25
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I use SecureUx Themer with fluent night mode theme in win 10 and have no problems.
It always stays dark. also after updates.
Link https://drive.google.com/drive/folde...usp=share_link
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Old 08-13-2023, 07:41 AM   #26
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https://forum.cockos.com/showpost.ph...8&postcount=89
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