The display appearance and video settings have a major impact on the look and feel of the Windows 8 desktop and its graphical elements. Appearance options control window, button, color, and font settings. Video settings control screen resolution, color quality, refresh frequency, hardware acceleration, and color management.
1. Configuring Window Color and Appearance
Windows Aero is an
enhanced interface that provides features such as the transparent
taskbar background, live previews, smoother window dragging, animated
window closing and opening, and more. As part of the setup process,
Windows 8 runs a performance test and checks the computer to see whether
it meets the basic requirements for Windows Aero, which include:
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Support for Windows Display Driver Model (WDDM). WDDM 1.0 was introduced with Windows Vista. In Windows 7 or later versions of Windows, display
drivers that support WDDM 1.1 will offer improved performance while
also reducing the per-window memory usage by up to 50 percent.
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Support for DirectX implemented in a graphics
processing unit (GPU) with at least 128 MB of graphics memory. WDDM 1.1
supports DirectX 11. DirectX 11 offers enhancements and performance improvements over its predecessors.
Note
REAL WORLD You can quickly determine how much graphics memory is available and whether a computer’s display adapter supports WDDM by using Performance
Information And Tools. In Control Panel, in the View By options, tap or
click either Small Icons or Large Icons to open All Control Panel
Items, tap or click Performance Information And Tools, and then tap or
click the View And Print Detailed Performance And System Information
link. In the Component list, under Graphics, you’ll see the display
adapter type and the level of WDDM support. In the expanded list under
Graphics, you’ll see additional details, including the amount of
dedicated graphics memory and the DirectX version supported.
On compliant systems, Windows 8 uses the Aero desktop by default to
enable advanced display features and options, including Snap, which
allows you to arrange windows side by side, and Shake, which allows you
to temporarily hide all open windows except the one you are working
with. To snap an active window to the side of the desktop using the
keyboard, press either the Windows key + Left Arrow or Windows key +
Right Arrow. To shake, drag the title bar of the window you want to keep
open back and forth quickly and then to restore the minimized windows,
shake the open window again.
To configure color options for the display, follow these steps:
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Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize.
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Tap or click the Color link to display the Color And Appearance page, as shown in Figure 1.
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Change the color of windows by tapping or clicking one of the
available colors. To make your own color, tap or click Show Color Mixer,
and then use the Hue, Saturation, and Brightness sliders to create a
custom color.
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Use the Color Intensity slider to set the strength of the color and the level of transparency.
Increase the intensity to make the color stronger and to reduce the
transparency. Reduce the intensity to make the color dimmer and the
transparency greater.
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Tap or click Save Changes.
To better support the visually impaired, Windows 8 includes several Ease
Of Access themes, including High Contrast #1, High Contrast #2, High
Contrast White, and High Contrast Black. When you use these themes, the
options of the Color And Appearance page change, and you can override
the default color settings for individual graphical elements, such as
the window background color, text color, and active window color. To do
this, follow these steps:
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Press and hold or right-click an open area of the desktop, and then tap or click Personalize.
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Tap or click the Color link and then set the color to use for
interface elements. For example, with active windows titles, you can set
foreground and background colors.
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Tap or click OK, and then tap or click Save Changes.
