- Royale (theme)
Royale (also known as "Media Center style" and the blue version is also known as "Energy Blue") is a
GUI art concept produced byMicrosoft and introduced in2004 directed forWindows Media Center desktops andWindows XP Tablet PC Edition Tablet PC s. It is composed of a newwallpaper (inspired by Windows XP Bliss), adesktop theme and skins. The concept presents brilliant and relucentblue andgreen colors.Availability
The Energy Blue theme was made available in December 2004 and is available for everyone. However, it has a limitation that can only be installed on a Windows Media Center computer. It is possible to install it on non-Media Center Editions of Windows XP by manually expanding the installation cabinet file. It can also be used using a patched uxtheme.dll. In
2005 the download was made only available forWindows Genuine Advantage users. Due to thefreeware nature of this package it is being delivered on popular download websites already hacked, such as [http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/Royale-Theme-for-WinXP.shtml Softpedia] . However, onApril 7 2005, Microsoft New Zealand made the visual style available to the general public from [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=15373C73-D5F6-4AF0-B583-D633CB021612&displaylang=en this page] , along with some other related resources. (It now appears to be removed from the list of available items to download, at least for some users.)The theme Royale, which is designed for Windows XP, is very similar; the shell-style is slightly different. The wallpapers for the New Zealand theme are available for download through Windows Genuine Advantage [http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=15373C73-D5F6-4AF0-B583-D633CB021612&displaylang=en on the Microsoft website] .All Energy Blue resources were incorporated in Windows Media Center 2005 edition. Due to the introduction of the Aero interface design in
Windows Vista , it is unlikely that this theme will be incorporated in future Windows versions.Appearance
Also known as "Royale" or "Media Center style", the new theme is a redesign of the original "Luna" with the brilliant and relucent concept. It features a mix of dark blue colors combined with the new wallpaper.
The new "Energy Bliss" wallpaper is heavily inspired by the original Bliss but now is generated artificially with
computer graphics (CG)rendering . It features a vivid, faux-reflective color scheme with intense blues and greens.Microsoft released a
Windows Media Player visualization and skin. The visualization is available for free at [http://www.wmplugins.com/ItemDetail.aspx?ItemID=509 WMPlugins.com] and is specifically for version 10.0. The skin was released in "Experience Pack for Tablet PC" and is available for [http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/tabletpc/experiencepack/default.mspx free] but has aclosed-install forWindows CE devices. It is also possible tohack the cabinets and get it running forWindows XP .The skins, like all msstyles skins, use
CSS for layout.Royale Noir / Zune theme
The Royale Noir and Royale Zune themes are two similar themes by Microsoft that appear to be based on the Energy Blue theme.
Both look like darkened versions of Energy Blue. The Zune theme was the first to include a different colour start button other than the green XP one or the original grey one from the Classic theme. As Royale Noir was leaked (as it is noted for some imperfections [cite press release
url=http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir/
title=Royale Noir: secret XP theme uncovered (download) - istartedsomething
date=October 29 ,2006
accessdate=2008-08-22] ) and was not finalized by Microsoft a few weeks later it was officially released as a new desktop theme to accompany the release of its newZune media player. Instead of having a blackish and bluish to purple tint, Royale Zune displayed a brown to light shadow style. Each theme has a slightly different colour scheme. For example, Noir has a black start button, which changes to green when the mouse hovers over it, and Zune has an orange start button.It is not known whether or not Royale Noir was a beta for Royale Zune. However, this is most likely not be the case, since it can be said that Luna is the inspiration (beta-like) for Royale/ Energy Blue.
The initial release of the Zune theme had a problem with file allocation in its shell theme which resulted in a false colouring in the task pane on the left hand side of
Windows Explorer . Royale Noir doesn't suffer from this problem. This issue has apparently been resolved in later distributions of the theme.ee also
* Luna
External links
* [http://www.softpedia.com/get/Desktop-Enhancements/Themes/Royale-Theme-for-WinXP.shtml Royale theme download] at
Softpedia
* [http://www.istartedsomething.com/20061029/royale-noir Royale Noir theme download] at Long Zheng's Windows blog
* [http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=75078 Zune theme download] -Windows Installer file
* [http://www.cuvou.com/?p=metacity A clone of Zune for Metacity]
* [http://www.askvg.com/vista-blue-refresh-theme-for-windows-vista/ Royale Blue theme for Windows Vista]
* [http://oddbasket.deviantart.com/art/Royale-Remixed-44294818 Royale Remixed by oddbasket(Edited/Fixed versions of all three themes)]References
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