I know it must be possible because there is a whole subforum dedicated to the subject (Themes), but for the life of me I can't figure out how to just change the "overall" color scheme of DOpus.
DOpus always looks so ugly and out of place on my customized Aero background, but I can't figure out how to change it. (Is there a step-by-step guide somewhere that addresses this specific color change? I mean, after all these years, I still don't have a clue how to create a theme in general much less make this specific customization.)
Note: This "ugliness" is true for most if not all pre-Vista designed applications, but unlike those applications, I'm pretty sure I can fix the problem in DOpus. I just don't know how.
^ first sentence, detected should read dedicated. (No need to comment, but I'm going to say again how I hate this Draconian rule about not being able to edit our own messages.)
You could, for example, change the images in -> settings -> preferences -> display -> images, where you can change it for tool bars, file display, tree & others.
Not sure what you mean by "pre-Vista designed applications" as the screenshot you posted shows Opus rendering the toolbar using the Vista/Aero toolbar background theme. That's how toolbars are supposed to look by default on Vista.
Anyway, near the top of the FAQ list, under Cosmetics, there's a FAQ called "Understand and configure background images" that should tell you what you need to know to change the background images.
Well, most applications won´t allow you to even do that. You can create a "blank" image, maybe with a slight tone in it & easily use that. It hasn´t to be a texture.
And we hate people constantly complaining about it, unable to accept that there are good reasons for the way things are -- described in detail in the FAQ on why posts can't be edited -- and that things are not going to change.
We've tried changing back twice and it was a disaster both times. The odd typo is a non-issue compared to threads which are made completely unreadable because of editing (something that still happens occasionally in the other parts of the forum where edits are allowed, BTW, but on balance we let that happen as those areas have a different purpose/focus).
Sorry to be so blunt but... gah. It's just something people have to live with because the alternative is worse. Trust us, it's worse. We've tried it. Even if you don't believe us that it was worse, it's not gonna change. There are plenty of other forums and methods of communication that don't let people edit their posts either. I don't get why only this one gets so many complaints about it.
You can assign solid colours without creating an image file, if you just want a solid colour instead of the toolbar background image from the Windows theme, but Opus isn't able to generate arbitrary textures for you. (Not sure what you really want there, though. Maybe I've misunderstood?)
There are a bunch of background images which people have posted in the Backgrounds part of the forum if you want some pre-defined image files that might look nice.
Left side is Aero (blue tint menu and toolbars); Right side is DOpus (bluish-gray tint.. distinctly different).
Using a "background image" to specify a simple color change is not exactly intuitive. I am not saying it's bad--it's a lot more powerful--but I guess that's why I never understood how to simply change the color. Thanks for pointing me to right place.
The left side looks like an Office 2007 app. Office uses a completely non-standard look & feel and ignores the OS theme for its main windows. It's notorious for it.
The right side is Firefox which looks like Opus because it uses the Windows theme.
You don't have to use a background image to specify a solid colour, so that's okay.
Well, obviously, that's the first place I looked. But no change I made in there affected the color of the menus and toolbars.
How about telling me specifically which entry in the list I need to change because, so far, none have changed the background color of my menus or toolbars. (Perhaps there is another DOpus setting that's overriding it? Like that Toolbar style (Standard/Office 2003) setting, for instance?)
Well, obviously, that's the first place I looked. But no change I made in there affected the color of the menus and toolbars.
How about telling me specifically which entry in the list I need to change because, so far, none have changed the background color of my menus or toolbars. (Perhaps there is another DOpus setting that's overriding it? Like that Toolbar style (Standard/Office 2003) setting, for instance?)[/quote]
It's just the "Standard toolbar" colour, as shown below. (It's the only item under Colors & Fonts with "toolbar" in its name.) That colour will be used for any toolbar which doesn't have an image defined and which hasn't had its colour overridden.
(Individual toolbar colours can be overridden via the method shown in Christiaan's post. The setting shown in my screenshot below changes the colour that all toolbars use by default. i.e. The method I'm showing should change all your toolbars at once, unless they override the colour individually.)
I have a similar problem. I'm using Windows XP and lately updated to Opus 9.5.
Now the Menus - when dropped down - have a gray bar and a white background. I would prefer the previous, simple grey design (I know, I'm a bit conservative).
Is it - easy - possible to change it or do I have to go with the time :s
Settings > preferences > display > toolbars > toolbar style > Standard
And / or turn off Use visual style for toolbar buttons
And / or turn on or off Windows style highlighting
But I can have, in the context menu and toolbar, the same style of Windows 7 ?
Same colors and vertical and horizontal lines and the same style of the selection.
I tried several options but is never the same.
I just don't know how. 
But no change I made in there affected the color of the menus and toolbars.
But no change I made in there affected the color of the menus and toolbars.
