Select a language to translate this page!
Powered by Microsoft® Translator
In previous blog posts I’ve mentioned some of my teammates around the world, and this week I wanted to say a bit more about a few of them. Do they spend all their time working on themes? Well, actually, no – their responsibilities are much broader than that. For example, I’ve mentioned Magnus in Stockholm, the mastermind behind the Castles, Winter, Arctic, and Antarctic themes. His “day job” is to manage the Windows websites for Denmark, Norway, Finland, and Sweden. But somehow he also finds time to think of and research fantastic new theme ideas – and we have a gorgeous new 14-photo theme from Magnus this week – Lighthouses!
I haven’t introduced Yuki from Tokyo before – she is the Windows site manager for Japan. In collaboration with two Japanese artists she produced the new Calligraphy theme; I think it is one of the loveliest and most unique themes we’ve ever released. The delicate textures of handmade paper, watercolor painting, and fabric motifs in these six wallpapers beautifully complement the traditional calligraphy of kanji characters for “beauty,” “the journey,” “sincerity,” and other concepts.
Yuki also produced the Cherry Blossoms of Japan theme, which features six images of serene springtime photography.
Alessandra and Valentina, located in Milan, are the Windows site managers for Italy. Living as they do in one of the fashion capitals of the world, it’s appropriate that they’ve produced a chic new theme featuring ten of the whimsically unconventional fashion-inspired illustrations of famed Italian artist Maddalena Sisto. Try it on!
I also have some new themes that hail from the United States. Beach Sunsets features the HDR and double-exposure images of Josh Sommers, an astounding photographic and digital artist I discovered on FlickR, and with whom I hope to work on more themes in the future. Trust me – while the Beach Sunsets photography is stunning, when it comes to Josh’s art you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
City Lights features the vibrant cityscape photography of Talha Tariq, another photographer whose talent I envy. His eleven photographs of the Seattle and Vancouver waterfront and skyline included in this theme are luminously rich and intense.
And, for a total change of pace, we have another fantastic game theme! Thanks to the folks at Twisted Pixel Games and Microsoft Studios, here are six Wild West wallpapers to get you in a macabre but hilarious mood for vengeance, while you wait for the September release of The Gunstringer.
For even more adventure, mystery, and revenge, check out the Naruto Shippūden 5 theme. It features seven gripping images from Blood Prison, the most recent Naruto Shippūden film, which just opened in theaters in Japan a few days ago.
Another change on the themes gallery is a new tab featuring the 20 most popular themes, based on the top downloads worldwide. I want to say a special shout-out to the GTGraphics guys, whose space artwork theme was by far the most popular for two months running! It’s just barely getting edged out of first place now by the Transformers 3 theme.
That’s it for this week. I hope these new themes will help you keep your desktop fun and fresh this summer. For more Windows 7 themes, keep checking back on the Windows Personalization gallery. I add new ones almost every week.
Is it possible to submit a theme? I have one in mind, but I realized just now that the pictures I use in my theme aren't ones that I took. I do hope one day to try and take photos as great as the ones I found, if not better, make a theme out of them, and share them with the world.
I usually get my themes on DeviantART with custom DLLs to allow them to work. It actually changes the theme and not just the color of aero.
I personally find the best theme is to have Windows rotate my wallpaper, have an inverted mouse, and keep everything else to the OS defaults. Since I spend time on a handful of different computers, it helps when switching between them, and helps me find things when working on others computers.
Back in the Windows 9x days, the Themes application would let us choose selectively what elements of a theme to apply. We could apply only or a combination of sounds, wallpapers, screensavers and window colors. Because Microsoft removes features from Windows, today's versions no longer allow that. You can no longer apply on the wallpapers from a theme while keeping the Aero color the same, or apply just the sounds. I would like to see this back in a future version of Windows if feedback has any effect.
Though I must say Windows 7 Themes are spectacularly gorgeous.
Unfortunately people cannot submit their own themes to the official Windows 7 gallery. It will help get a lot more exposure.
For example, we created two great themes for gamers - Mafia 2 and Starcraft 2 themes:
www.7tutorials.com/download-mafia-2-theme-pack-7-tutorials
www.7tutorials.com/download-starcraft-2-theme-pack-7-tutorials
There are so many great themes in Windows 7 , I really like the nature themes.
love the themes love it if you could get themes of yr birthday sign im november scorpion of the actual meaning of yr name knw mine tara has 3 meanings rocky pinnickle mountain / its indian name aswell a star / tara king was frm a popular series avengers also still waters run deep im a water sign love vtht sayin its true im a deep secretive kind good hearted gifted lady
Hi, everyone - thanks for your comments! Conyeje2 and Carusen, your timing is great… we are actually looking into a project right now to allow users to submit their own photos and artwork to be considered for inclusion on the Personalization Gallery. However you are right that you would not be able submit someone else’s work – if we do this project, we will only consider images you created yourself. When I have more news I’ll post about it here on this blog.
@Jennifer - one other thing you should consider for your project: the possibility to upload themes which have the appropriate sharing permissions from their actual owner. For example, we started a series of articles in which we talk with less known artists, we interview them and share their work via a Windows 7 theme. We believe this is a win-win: both for the artists which get exposure from an unexpected source and us, which get to share original high quality works via Windows 7 themes.
One example is found here: www.7tutorials.com/uncovering-artists-through-windows-7-themes-georgiana-girboan
When you make this project go live, can you consider such scenarios? I would love to be able to submit our themes and help market the work of these artists. However, they won't upload themes by themselves, as they might not know how to create high quality themes, as we do. If we can upload the themes for them, and have their permission beforehand, it would be awesome.
Great themes! I love nature! This looks amazing!
Thanks Jennifer! Greetings!