Visual styles are a set of graphical appearance preset packages designed by Microsoft for Windows XP and later. Compared to the "Windows Classic" style used in previous versions of Windows since Windows 95, visual styles have a greater emphasis on the graphical appeal of the operating system by using saturated colors and bitmaps throughout the interface, with rounded corners for windows. Since Windows XP, themes also include the choice of visual styles as well.
Visual styles are compatible with all editions of Windows XP except for the Starter edition. The default visual style, "Luna" is preinstalled on most editions of Windows XP including Windows XP Home Edition and Professional. "Royale" is preinstalled on Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 and Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 while "Embedded" is preinstalled on Windows Embedded Standard 2009 and Windows Embedded POSReady 2009. "Luna" and "Royale" in particular are the codenames for the two visual styles offered in Windows XP.
In addition to the preinstalled visual styles, Microsoft has released additional ones for download such as "Zune". Some visual styles such as "Watercolor", "Mallard", "Plex", "Slate" and "Jade" acted as placeholders for the official visual styles which were used only in beta versions of Windows. Third parties and individuals have also released their own visual styles, however most of these require modifications of core Windows components to work which is not officially endorsed by Microsoft.
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 The concept of visual styles in themes was conceived as early as February 22, 2000 during the development of Windows XP (then codenamed "Whistler" at the time), with an internal spreadsheet discussing the inclusion of both consumer and professional oriented 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 was Watercolor, originally named Professional and internally named Business. This blue-colored, classic style-like theme was designed to improve on the look-and-feel of Windows first introduced with Windows 95 which was a conservative, less-resource-intensive theme for the operating system that intended to complement its consumer-oriented counterpart, of which only concept images for the latter exist. Watercolor officially appeared in the first public preview build of Whistler, build 2250, which released to testers on July 13, 2000, however the files for an early, incomplete version of the theme were found on build 2223 and can be accessed in the aforementioned build via modifications or third-party utilities. It was given a slight update in build 2257. Watercolor was never intended to be included in the final product; it was mainly used as a placeholder for the time being until the final visual styles were revealed.
The second theme to take advantage of the new visual style API was Mallard, officially known as Sample Test Visual Style. Designed as the consumer-oriented counterpart to Watercolor, it 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 color variations, namely Chartreuse Mongoose and Blue Lagoon (internally named Paler). This sets the theme apart from Watercolor, as it only came with one color variation. 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.
Concepts of a consumer-oriented theme were shown off at Microsoft Technical Briefing 2000 in September 2000, showcasing an early, blue-colored version of what would eventually become Mallard. At the same time, the concept also featured a set of newly-designed icons that were developed in conjunction with the new visual styles, intended to replace the existing ones that were in use up to Windows 2000 and Windows Me. The icons featured in the concept were designed by The Iconfactory, who were contracted by Microsoft to create newly-updated icons for the operating system that were more detailed than the pixelated, sprite-based icons used in early Windows versions. This early concept was shown briefly on the Taskbar Properties applet in build 2257 before officially debuting in build 2410.
Alongside Watercolor and Mallard, 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. It was created as a test to make use of some 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 both Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows Server 2003 leaked in September 2020. Candy resembled a partial reskin of Watercolor with some elements modified to make use of the Aqua aesthetic. The date modified metadata found within the files of 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 the rest of the operating system. They also wanted a new visual style that would look appealing and fresh to all users. With all of these plans in place, work on the new visual styles was underway.
Microsoft contracted Frog Design, a design firm known for designing products for companies such as Apple Inc. and NeXT in the 1980s as well as Packard Bell and Acer in the 1990s, to create and design new visual identities for the operating system, which includes a brand-new logo and visual style; Frog also helped design the skins found in Windows Media Player version 8 (as well as version 7 briefly). Initial plans called for two distinct visual styles that were aimed towards consumers and professionals, which were codenamed Luna and Mercury respectively, to replace both Mallard and Watercolor. According to concept images, Luna would have used colorful, rubber-like details similar to that of early versions of Mallard (aka Sample Test Visual Style), while Mercury would have used monochromatic, steel-like details that had elements with 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, and would have had 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 (build 2296), showing the very early progress of the theme. This early concept, known by some as "Luna Concept", featured a flat interface design with no rounded corners, a blue gradient in the taskbar, orange gradients in Explorer windows, and a differently-shaped green-colored start button. Several elements from this concept, including the blue window borders and taskbar, the red close button, and a green start button were eventually used in the final version of the theme. It also featured new icon designs that were designed by The Iconfactory, which 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. 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, showing 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. This iteration of Luna, later to be known informally 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 use of the then-current Windows logo (the build was compiled a few weeks prior to the logo change in build 2428) on the Start button. The build of Whistler that it was running on was build 2415 (lab06_N), compiled on January 2, 2001, which 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.
On February 13, 2001, Microsoft officially unveiled an improved version of the Luna theme during a press event at EMP Museum in Seattle, which was released to testers on the same day with build 2428, completely replacing the placeholder Watercolor and Mallard visual styles. 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. This early version of the theme also appeared on builds before build 2428 such as build 2423, compiled on January 21, 2001, which was featured in the Beta 2 Core Technology Guide. 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 but without the additional color variations of the finished theme. This includes changes such as the removal of the shine from the Start button as well as 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.