Windows Aero
Encyclopedia
Windows Aero is the graphical user interface
and the default theme
in most editions of Windows Vista
and Windows 7, operating system
s released by Microsoft
. It is also available in Windows Server 2008, but is not enabled by default. Its name is a backronym
for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. Intended to be a cleaner, more powerful, more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing user interface than the previously used theme (Luna
), it includes new translucency, live thumbnails, live icons, animations and eye candy. Aero also encompasses a set of user interface design guidelines for Microsoft Windows
. In Windows Vista
, transparency is disabled when windows are maximized but in Windows 7, transparency is enabled unless the user disables it in personalization or chooses the basic or classic theme.
, Aero's base icons were designed by The Iconfactory
.
Until the release of Windows Vista Beta 1 in July 2005, little had been shown of Aero in public or leaked builds. Previous user interfaces were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3663-4048; Slate, which was featured in build 4042 and was available until build 4094; and Jade (builds 4074, 4083 and 4093, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds in build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Build 5270 (released in December 2005) contained an implementation of Aero which was virtually complete, according to sources at Microsoft, though a number of stylistic changes were introduced between then and the operating system's release.
Originally, Aero was to have three levels available, one code-named "To Go", which had the Desktop Window Manager
(DWM) composition engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next was to be AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. However, in December 2005, Microsoft announced that there would only be two levels available, "Windows Vista Aero" and "Windows Vista Basic", with the previous "Express" level integrated into the new "Windows Vista Aero" level. A control panel was added to enable the user to fine tune this functionality, such as being able to turn off the "glass" translucency effect. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.
Windows Aero is revised in Windows 7, with several UI changes, a more touch-friendly UI and many new visual effects and features:
For the first time since the release of Windows 95
, Microsoft has completely revised its user interface guidelines, covering aesthetics
, common controls such as buttons
and radio button
s, task dialogs, wizards
, common dialogs, control panels, icons, fonts, user notifications, and the "tone" of text used.
through to Windows Server 2003
, as well as most Microsoft products in that time frame. Aero Wizards are the replacement for Wizard 97, incorporating visual updates to match the aesthetics of the rest of Aero, as well as changing the interaction flow.
More specifically:
and known colloquially as "balloons", are similar in appearance to the speech balloon
s that are commonly seen in comics
. Balloons were often criticized in prior versions of Windows due to their intrusiveness, especially with regard to how they interacted with full-screen applications such as games (the entire application was minimized as the bubble came up). Notifications in Aero aim to be less intrusive by gradually fading in and out, and not appearing at all if a full-screen application or screensaver is being displayed – in these cases, notifications are queued until an appropriate time. Larger icons and multiple font sizes and colors are also introduced with Aero's notification windows.
typeface
is the new default font for Aero with languages that use Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets. The default font size is also increased from 8pt to 9pt to improve readability. In the Segoe UI typeface, the numeral zero ("0") is narrow, while capital letter "O" is wider, and numeral one ("1") has a top hook, while capital letter "I" has equal crown and base.
The guidelines for Vista and its applications suggest messages that present technically accurate advice concisely, objectively, and positively, and assume an intelligent user motivated to solve a particular problem. Specific advice includes the use of the second person
and the active voice (e.g. "Print the photos on your camera") and avoidance of words like "please" and "sorry".
The original .avi effects, which were simply updated or "re-skinned" with new icons with new editions of Windows, since Windows 95, for copying and deleting files, were replaced with a new animation where, upon copying files, one transparent "file" flies into view, and another "file" appears in view from the back when the first produces a hit and nova effect. When deleting a file, one transparent "file" flies up at the user, and shreds down to the bottom. Also, in the Aero UI, if an error is encountered, the green progress bar fades to bright red until the error is resolved. (In previous versions of Windows, such an error would stop the copy or deletion process completely.)
Many Aero features can be disabled by the user.
The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors include the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies
, the GeForce FX
series from NVIDIA
, and even the Intel GMA
950 and 500. Intel GMA
900 theoretically supports Aero as it fulfills all hardware requirements but Intel does not offer a WDDM driver, therefore making it incompatible. Though the last driver from NVIDIA to support the GeForce FX series on Vista was 96.85, Microsoft's WDDM drivers for NVIDIA graphics continue to support the GeForce FX series; NVIDIA's current WDDM drivers support the GeForce 6 and later series. Though some of XGI Technology
's Volari GPUs supported DirectX 9, no Microsoft WDDM drivers shipped with Vista, and XGI no longer manufactures graphics cards.
Although Microsoft has listed 128 MB of Video RAM as a requirement for "Premium Ready" PCs, 128 MB of memory in an integrated graphics processor is not required: a 64 MB integrated graphics processor, combined with at least 1 GB of system memory, will be able to run Aero at certain resolutions; however, the visual effects will be slower and less smooth. A WDDM driver for Windows Vista or later for any given graphics processor is required to run the Aero glass theme.
Graphical user interface
In computing, a graphical user interface is a type of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices with images rather than text commands. GUIs can be used in computers, hand-held devices such as MP3 players, portable media players or gaming devices, household appliances and...
and the default theme
Theme (computing)
In computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customize the look and feel of an operating system, widget set or window manager....
in most editions of Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
and Windows 7, operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s released by Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
. It is also available in Windows Server 2008, but is not enabled by default. Its name is a backronym
Backronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
for Authentic, Energetic, Reflective and Open. Intended to be a cleaner, more powerful, more efficient and more aesthetically pleasing user interface than the previously used theme (Luna
Luna (theme)
Themes customize the appearance of the Windows operating system without changing its functionality ....
), it includes new translucency, live thumbnails, live icons, animations and eye candy. Aero also encompasses a set of user interface design guidelines for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
. In Windows Vista
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is an operating system released in several variations developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablet PCs, and media center PCs...
, transparency is disabled when windows are maximized but in Windows 7, transparency is enabled unless the user disables it in personalization or chooses the basic or classic theme.
History
Like Windows XPWindows XP
Windows XP is an operating system produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops and media centers. First released to computer manufacturers on August 24, 2001, it is the second most popular version of Windows, based on installed user base...
, Aero's base icons were designed by The Iconfactory
The Iconfactory
The Iconfactory is a small software and graphic design company that specializes in creating icons and software for creating and using icons. The company was founded in April 1996 by Corey Marion, Talos Tsui, and Gedeon Maheux. Lead Engineer Craig Hockenberry joined the company in 1997 and Artist...
.
Until the release of Windows Vista Beta 1 in July 2005, little had been shown of Aero in public or leaked builds. Previous user interfaces were Plex, which was featured in Longhorn builds 3663-4048; Slate, which was featured in build 4042 and was available until build 4094; and Jade (builds 4074, 4083 and 4093, actually an early preview of Aero). Microsoft started using Aero in public builds in build 5048. The first build with full-featured Aero was build 5219. Build 5270 (released in December 2005) contained an implementation of Aero which was virtually complete, according to sources at Microsoft, though a number of stylistic changes were introduced between then and the operating system's release.
Originally, Aero was to have three levels available, one code-named "To Go", which had the Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager
Desktop Window Manager is the window manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0. DWM is not included with Windows Vista Starter edition...
(DWM) composition engine (previously known as DCE) disabled. The next was to be AeroExpress, lacking many features of the highest level code-named Aero Glass. However, in December 2005, Microsoft announced that there would only be two levels available, "Windows Vista Aero" and "Windows Vista Basic", with the previous "Express" level integrated into the new "Windows Vista Aero" level. A control panel was added to enable the user to fine tune this functionality, such as being able to turn off the "glass" translucency effect. These levels are provided so that the Aero interface (to some extent) can be used with a relatively low-end graphics card.
Windows 7
- Aero Peek - hovering over a taskbar icon shows the thumbnail of that program. Hovering over the thumbnail shows a preview of that program in full view. Aero Peek also refers to the "Show desktop" button to the far right of the new taskbar.
- Aero Shake - Shaking (quickly dragging back and forth) a window minimizes all other windows. Shaking it again brings them back.
- Aero Snap - Clicking and dragging a window to the right or left side of the desktop causes the window to fill the respective half of the screen. Snapping a window to the top of the desktop maximizes it. Resizing a window to touch the top or bottom edge of the screen maximizes the window to full height, whilst retaining its width; these windows will then slide horizontally if moved by the title bar, or can be pulled off, which returns the window to its original height.
- Jump ListJumplistJumplist was a term used in the early years of the world wide web to describe a collection of links, which were individually referred to as jumps. The Jumplist database-driven web service was developed by i/us Corp. and launched in 1998 at jumplist.com...
- Right clicking on or clicking and dragging upwards an icon on the taskbar enables several options, including pinning and displaying recent documents. Program-specific options, such as opening a new window in a browser, are included if supported by the program. - Touch UI - Windows Aero was revised to be more touch-friendly. For example, the title bar buttons are now slightly bigger.
- Maximized windows remain transparent instead of becoming opaque.
- When hovering over the taskbar button for a running program, the button glows the dominant RGB color of its icon. Also, a shiny effect follows the mouse as it moves across the icon of active programs.
- When moving windows, the CPU and GPU load is reduced by limiting the frame rate that the Aero part is rendered in order to provide better performance to applications and programs.
- The blur effect in Aero on Windows 7 now has more even blending than Aero in Windows Vista.
- It is now possible to turn off window shadows.
- The cyan outline on the right and bottom side of focused windows has been changed to white in Windows 7.
- Progress bars can be used in the program's taskbar buttons. If a program is executing a process which takes significant time, its taskbar button will act as a progress bar by filling up with green as the operation progresses.
User interface
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 |
 |
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For the first time since the release of Windows 95
Windows 95
Windows 95 is a consumer-oriented graphical user interface-based operating system. It was released on August 24, 1995 by Microsoft, and was a significant progression from the company's previous Windows products...
, Microsoft has completely revised its user interface guidelines, covering aesthetics
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
, common controls such as buttons
Button (computing)
In computing, a button is a user interface element that provides the user a simple way to trigger an event, like searching for a query at a search engine, or to interact with dialog boxes, like confirming an action.-Description:A typical button is a rectangle or rounded rectangle, wider than it is...
and radio button
Radio button
A radio button or option button is a type of graphical user interface element that allows the user to choose only one of a predefined set of options....
s, task dialogs, wizards
Wizard (software)
A software wizard or setup assistant is a user interface type that presents a user with a sequence of dialog boxes that lead the user through a series of well-defined steps. Tasks that are complex, infrequently performed, or unfamiliar may be easier to perform using a wizard...
, common dialogs, control panels, icons, fonts, user notifications, and the "tone" of text used.
Aero Wizards
Wizard 97 had been the prevailing standard for wizard design, visual layout, and functionality used in Windows 98Windows 98
Windows 98 is a graphical operating system by Microsoft. It is the second major release in the Windows 9x line of operating systems. It was released to manufacturing on 15 May 1998 and to retail on 25 June 1998. Windows 98 is the successor to Windows 95. Like its predecessor, it is a hybrid...
through to Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003
Windows Server 2003 is a server operating system produced by Microsoft, introduced on 24 April 2003. An updated version, Windows Server 2003 R2, was released to manufacturing on 6 December 2005...
, as well as most Microsoft products in that time frame. Aero Wizards are the replacement for Wizard 97, incorporating visual updates to match the aesthetics of the rest of Aero, as well as changing the interaction flow.
More specifically:
- To increase the efficiency of the wizard, The "Welcome" pages in Wizard 97 are no longer used. (A precursor to this change was implied in a number of wizards in products such as SQL Server 2005Microsoft SQL ServerMicrosoft SQL Server is a relational database server, developed by Microsoft: It is a software product whose primary function is to store and retrieve data as requested by other software applications, be it those on the same computer or those running on another computer across a network...
where a check-box was added to welcome pages, allowing a user to disable the welcome page in future uses of the wizard.) - Aero Wizards can be resized, whereas the Wizard 97 guidelines defined exact sizes for wizard window and content sizes.
- The purpose of any given Aero Wizard page is more clearly stated at the top.
- A new kind of control called a "Command link" provides a single-click operation to choose from a short list of options.
- The notion of "Commit pages" is introduced, where it is made clear that the next step will be the actual process that the wizard is being used to enact. If no follow-up information needs to be communicated, these are the last pages in a wizard. Typically a commit page has a button at the bottom-right that is labeled with the action to be taken, such as "Create account".
- The "Back" button has moved to the top-left corner of the wizard window and matches the visual style of the back button in other Vista applications. This is done to give more focus to the commit choices. The "Next" button is only shown on pages where it is necessary.
- At the end of a wizard, a "Follow-up page" can be used to direct the user to related tasks that they may be interested in immediately after completing the wizard. For example, a follow-up for a CD burning wizard may present options like "Duplicate this disk" and "Make a disk label".
Notifications
Notifications allow an application or operating system component with an icon in the notification area to create a pop-up window with some information about an event or problem. These windows, first introduced in Windows 2000Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, business desktops, laptops, and servers. Windows 2000 was released to manufacturing on 15 December 1999 and launched to retail on 17 February 2000. It is the successor to Windows NT 4.0, and is the...
and known colloquially as "balloons", are similar in appearance to the speech balloon
Speech balloon
Speech balloons are a graphic convention used most commonly in comic books, comic strips and cartoons to allow words to be understood as representing the speech or thoughts of a given character in the comic...
s that are commonly seen in comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
. Balloons were often criticized in prior versions of Windows due to their intrusiveness, especially with regard to how they interacted with full-screen applications such as games (the entire application was minimized as the bubble came up). Notifications in Aero aim to be less intrusive by gradually fading in and out, and not appearing at all if a full-screen application or screensaver is being displayed – in these cases, notifications are queued until an appropriate time. Larger icons and multiple font sizes and colors are also introduced with Aero's notification windows.
Font
The Segoe UISegoe UI
Segoe is a Humanist typeface family that is best known for its usage by Microsoft. The company uses Segoe in their online and printed marketing materials, including recent logos for a number of products...
typeface
Computer font
A computer font is an electronic data file containing a set of glyphs, characters, or symbols such as dingbats. Although the term font first referred to a set of metal type sorts in one style and size, since the 1990s it is generally used to refer to a scalable set of digital shapes that may be...
is the new default font for Aero with languages that use Latin, Greek, and Cyrillic character sets. The default font size is also increased from 8pt to 9pt to improve readability. In the Segoe UI typeface, the numeral zero ("0") is narrow, while capital letter "O" is wider, and numeral one ("1") has a top hook, while capital letter "I" has equal crown and base.
Phrasing tone
The Vista User Experience Guidelines also address the issue of "tone" in the writing of text used with the Aero user interface. Prior design guidelines from Microsoft had not done much to address the issue of how user interface text is phrased, and as such, the way that information and requests are presented to the user had not been consistent between parts of the operating system.The guidelines for Vista and its applications suggest messages that present technically accurate advice concisely, objectively, and positively, and assume an intelligent user motivated to solve a particular problem. Specific advice includes the use of the second person
Grammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
and the active voice (e.g. "Print the photos on your camera") and avoidance of words like "please" and "sorry".
Aero animation
When the full version of Aero is enabled, Aero uses animations to give an interactive experience to the user. For instance, upon minimizing a window to the taskbar, the window scales down to the size of the button in the taskbar; when restoring a window, it scales back to its original size from the button in the taskbar. Also, when a maximized windows is closed, the window will appear to be falling down. Furthermore, all windows, including dialog boxes, now contain a zoom-in effect on appearance and zoom-out effect on close, as if to suggest they were coming from the active window or the desktop. Additionally, dialog buttons in Aero pulse slowly at the user. Buttons in titlebars now quickly glow or fade when the mouse moves over or away from them, respectively. Aero also acts as if progress bars are being pushed forward by a small aura of light when completing a task to give an illusion of forward motion. This functionality is included in the Windows Explorer address bar for loading contents or searching in the active window; Windows 7 further enhanced this feature by allowing buttons in the Superbar to have a similar effect. When Windows Flip 3D is activated with the Win+Tab keys, windows and a miniature version of the desktop appear as if they are being flipped through, similar to cards. Also unique to Windows Aero is a display of instantaneous audio volume in the volume control in the taskbar, in addition to the user setting.The original .avi effects, which were simply updated or "re-skinned" with new icons with new editions of Windows, since Windows 95, for copying and deleting files, were replaced with a new animation where, upon copying files, one transparent "file" flies into view, and another "file" appears in view from the back when the first produces a hit and nova effect. When deleting a file, one transparent "file" flies up at the user, and shreds down to the bottom. Also, in the Aero UI, if an error is encountered, the green progress bar fades to bright red until the error is resolved. (In previous versions of Windows, such an error would stop the copy or deletion process completely.)
Many Aero features can be disabled by the user.
Requirements
Microsoft has listed the following requirements for what they call a Vista Premium Ready PC. A PC that meets or exceeds these requirements will be able to use the new Aero technologies.- Windows 7 Home Premium, Windows 7 Professional, Windows 7 Ultimate, Windows 7 Enterprise, Windows Vista Home Premium, Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Ultimate, Windows Vista Enterprise. Aero is not available by default in Windows Vista Home Basic, Windows 7 Starter and Windows 7 Home Basic, although a workaround has been discovered allowing Vista Basic users to have transparency and blur effects, provided that their system meets the recommended hardware requirements.
- a 1 GHzGHZGHZ or GHz may refer to:# Gigahertz .# Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger state — a quantum entanglement of three particles.# Galactic Habitable Zone — the region of a galaxy that is favorable to the formation of life....
32-bit32-bitThe range of integer values that can be stored in 32 bits is 0 through 4,294,967,295. Hence, a processor with 32-bit memory addresses can directly access 4 GB of byte-addressable memory....
(x86) or 64-bit64-bit64-bit is a word size that defines certain classes of computer architecture, buses, memory and CPUs, and by extension the software that runs on them. 64-bit CPUs have existed in supercomputers since the 1970s and in RISC-based workstations and servers since the early 1990s...
(x64X86-64x86-64 is an extension of the x86 instruction set. It supports vastly larger virtual and physical address spaces than are possible on x86, thereby allowing programmers to conveniently work with much larger data sets. x86-64 also provides 64-bit general purpose registers and numerous other...
) processorMicroprocessorA microprocessor incorporates the functions of a computer's central processing unit on a single integrated circuit, or at most a few integrated circuits. It is a multipurpose, programmable device that accepts digital data as input, processes it according to instructions stored in its memory, and... - 1 GB of system memory
- a DirectXDirectXMicrosoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay,...
9 compatible graphics processor with a Windows Display Driver ModelWindows Display Driver ModelWindows Display Driver Model is the graphic driver architecture for video card drivers running Microsoft Windows versions beginning with Windows Vista....
(WDDM) driver, Pixel shader 2.0 in hardware, and a minimum of 128 MB of Video RAM - 32 bits per pixel
- 40 GB hard drive with 15 GB free space
- DVD-ROM Drive (only for installation of Windows Vista or 7 through a DVD)
- Audio output and Internet access (preferably broadband)
The minimum requirements for graphics cards from the major vendors include the Radeon 9500 from ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies
ATI Technologies Inc. was a semiconductor technology corporation based in Markham, Ontario, Canada, that specialized in the development of graphics processing units and chipsets. Founded in 1985 as Array Technologies Inc., the company was listed publicly in 1993 and was acquired by Advanced Micro...
, the GeForce FX
GeForce FX
The GeForce FX or "GeForce 5" series is a line of graphics processing units from the manufacturer NVIDIA.-Overview:...
series from NVIDIA
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
, and even the Intel GMA
Intel GMA
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is a series of Intel integrated graphics processors built into various motherboard chipsets....
950 and 500. Intel GMA
Intel GMA
The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator, or GMA, is a series of Intel integrated graphics processors built into various motherboard chipsets....
900 theoretically supports Aero as it fulfills all hardware requirements but Intel does not offer a WDDM driver, therefore making it incompatible. Though the last driver from NVIDIA to support the GeForce FX series on Vista was 96.85, Microsoft's WDDM drivers for NVIDIA graphics continue to support the GeForce FX series; NVIDIA's current WDDM drivers support the GeForce 6 and later series. Though some of XGI Technology
XGI Technology
XGI Technology Inc. is based upon the old graphics division of SiS spun off as a separate company, and the graphics assets of Trident Microsystems.-History:...
's Volari GPUs supported DirectX 9, no Microsoft WDDM drivers shipped with Vista, and XGI no longer manufactures graphics cards.
Although Microsoft has listed 128 MB of Video RAM as a requirement for "Premium Ready" PCs, 128 MB of memory in an integrated graphics processor is not required: a 64 MB integrated graphics processor, combined with at least 1 GB of system memory, will be able to run Aero at certain resolutions; however, the visual effects will be slower and less smooth. A WDDM driver for Windows Vista or later for any given graphics processor is required to run the Aero glass theme.
See also
- Features new to Windows 7Features new to Windows 7Some of the new features included in Windows 7 are advancements in touch, speech, and handwriting recognition, support for virtual hard disks, support for additional file formats, improved performance on multi-core processors, improved boot performance, and kernel improvements.-Shell and user...
- Development of Windows 7Development of Windows 7Development of Windows 7 began when Windows Vista was released. Milestone 1, Milestone 2, and Milestone 3 were sent to Microsoft's partners in 2008...
- Features new to Windows VistaFeatures new to Windows VistaWindows Vista has many new features compared with previous Microsoft Windows versions, covering most aspects of the operating system.This article discusses the changes most likely to be of interest to non-technical users...
- Development of Windows VistaDevelopment of Windows VistaDevelopment of Windows Vista occurred over the span of five and a half years, starting in earnest in May 2001, prior to the release of Microsoft's Windows XP operating system, and continuing until November 2006....
- Desktop Window ManagerDesktop Window ManagerDesktop Window Manager is the window manager in Windows Vista and Windows 7 that enables the Windows Aero graphical user interface and visual theme. The Desktop Window Manager requires video cards supporting DirectX 9.0 and Shader Model 2.0. DWM is not included with Windows Vista Starter edition...
- Windows Vista hardware requirements
- Compositing window managerCompositing window managerA compositing window manager is a type of window manager. A window manager is software that draws a graphical user interface on a computer display – it positions windows, draws additional elements on windows , and controls how windows interact with each other, and with the rest of the desktop...
- AquaAqua (user interface)Aqua is the GUI and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests, with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects...
- CompizCompizCompiz is one of the first compositing window managers for the X Window System that uses 3D graphics hardware to create fast compositing desktop effects for window management. The effects, such as a minimization effect and a cube workspace are implemented as loadable plugins...
- KwinKWinKWin is a window manager for the X Window System. It is an integral part of the KDE Software Compilation, although it can be used on its own or with other desktop environments.- History :- Look and feel :...
- Metro Design LanguageMetro Design LanguageMetro is an internal code name for a typography-based design language created by Microsoft, originally for use in Windows Phone 7. Early uses of the Metro principles, such as the typography, began as early as Microsoft Encarta 95, and later evolved into products such as Windows Media Center and Zune...
External links
- Windows Vista Aero User Experience
- 64 MB RAM supports Aero with up to 1,310,720 total pixels (1280 × 1024) but is not Premium Ready
- Microsoft Security Advisory (2028859), Vulnerability in Canonical Display Driver Could Allow Remote Code Execution