[Translucent Windows] Custom theme rendering does not respect exclusions, new update breaks default styles @Undisputed00x

[rodboev]

Translucent Windows 1.6.0, by @Undisputed00x, fixes some things, breaks others:

#1 - Custom theme rendering is global, exclusions not respected.

First, there is still an issue with custom theme rendering. It affects mmc.exe apps like Event Viewer and Task Scheduler. The left hand side is white and the middle and right sides are black.

Previously, this was coupled with the immersive darkmode titlebar, now it's a separate setting Either way, it does not respect exclusions, either on the mod level or global Windhawk level. Logs clearly show it's injecting into mmc.exe which may be a Windhawk bug @m417z .

#2 - Win10/EP taskbar items hard to read due to fallback to raster 8514oem font.

Second, this update introduces a new bug that removes the Segoe UI font from the Win10/ExplorerPatcher taskbar. Instead it look like a null value is causing fallback to raster, 16px high, 8514oem. That is first on the list of fonts Windows ships with. This makes basic task switching difficult because that font is so small.

This taskbar is very popular because it brings back many features that Win11 doesn't have and the taskbar mods for it are largely incomplete. Sometimes Windhawk taskbar mods have specific support for it so they work equally well on both, sometimes not. But none of those create new problems with it. This issue in particular makes basic Windows difficult to use, since the title of the window is so hard to read.

1.6.0 also adds a bevel around the button that expands the notification center. It's out of place because the taskbar is totally flat, and anyway this bevel style shows only half-way. Minor but unexpected. My guess is likely an unexpected downstream impact of the phenomenal new global UI changes.

#3 - Moving Explorer translucency features to File Explorer Styler limits customization options.

Third, while I understand the desire to separate concerns by of moving Explorer elements to File Explorer Styler, this means that the Explorer ribbon/command bar can no longer be removed when Explorer is set to translucent. I'm hesitant to combine themes that may be changing, and the Styler mod does not readily expose the JSON.

@m417z, this may be an issue with File Explorer Style, but the interdependency impacts everyone when it the Styler is required to use this theme since the command bar can't be disabled with a toggle, and so on, given that only one theme can be active. It still makes more sense keep that with Tanslucent Windows, since the Styler is more layout and functionality-related, with little or no skinning other than the Mica title bar it can add.

It's great to be able to replace ExplorerBlurMica, MicaForEveryone, DarkTitle, etc., and the system wide effect is a big deal. The new UI skinning for buttons and menus is fantastic, and while there are bugs there as well I realize it's a new feature and will take some time to flesh out.

The most glaring gaps I noticed among these are:

1. Browse dialogs have garbled buttons for forward, back, up on the left of the address bar, and the bottom area with File name, Open, Cancel being much lighter.
2. Buttons (system-wide) have a lighter color on the top left, like a thick bevel that cuts off 20% across and goes back to normal button style. Still, it's much better than not skinning them at all in 1.5.1.
3. Some title bars have black buttons for Min/Max/Close (from white), and others are still white. The white (or inverted, I suppose) provides the proper amount of contrast.

I noticed the regressions above immediately after the update since they impact existing functionality. I'm happy to provide screenshots, additional details and answer questions. If I can address some of these myself I'll put in a PR, but the Windows APIs in particular are so arbitrary, limited and unpredictable (not to mention undocumented) that it's hardly a sure thing.

Really appreciate you taking the time on this project!

[m417z]

Logs clearly show it's injecting into mmc.exe which may be a Windhawk bug

If you think there's a Windhawk bug, please create an issue here, and provide steps to reproduce the problem:
https://github.com/ramensoftware/windhawk/issues

[Undisputed00x]

1. From the start the mod inject into all the apps that windhawk allows which mmc programs are included and I haven't seen any issues with them so far. As of 1.6 I have removed setting rules for the custom painted parts of the Windows theme because of this issue

2. You're right, I modified several windows themed parts which apparently broke the things you mentioned in the EP taskbar, but I fixed those regressions and will upload a pr.

3. From what i understood your issue here is that you'd like to use 2 styler themes at the same time ? If so that's out of the scope of this mod.

Some title bars have black buttons for Min/Max/Close (from white), and others are still white. The white (or inverted, I suppose) provides the proper amount of contrast.

There are couple of 32-bit apps i know that cause this, also some system windows like this #2227. Can you tell in which programs did you see this issue ? This maybe not be easy to fix ....

[Kur0s4n]

File explore still doesnt go transparent even after following everything step by step