Microsoft Will Ship a new Light Theme With the Next Version of Windows 10

While all eyes may have been on the company for shipping 1809 this week, Microsoft is pushing out a new build of Windows 10 to Insiders and it includes several large updates. Most notably, there is a new light them in this release.

The build number is 18282 and is available in the Fast ring.

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The new light theme is one of the first major changes to Windows 10’s appearance since the OS shipped more than three years ago. While you could always change the color, white was not an option for changing the taskbar and Start menu; that changes with this release.

In addition, it is now easier to select a system-wide theme with the options to choose a light or dark theme. Along with the new theme, there is an updated default wallpaper as well that you can see at the top of this post.

With this release, Microsoft is adding the ability to snip a window as a default option with the snipping tool.

Windows Update options have been improved with the ability to pause updates being easier to discover and Active Hours is now becoming ‘Intelligent’. The idea is that Windows can tell when you are actually active and adjust Active Hours based on your usage.

There are a bunch of other improvements like updates to the modern printing experiencing, updates for narrator, and your brightness setting will now be remembered when moving from a plugged into the unplugged state for laptops.

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Conversation 35 comments

  • eeisner

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 1:38 pm

    <p>I kind of laughed when I saw the headline, but this theme actually has potential to be fairly pretty. Still rather MSFT focus on fixing all of the UI inconsistencies rather than add new UI themes…</p>

  • jimchamplin

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 1:44 pm

    <p>Why wasn’t this available from day 1? Microsoft acts like the most basic things are difficult. They’re flailing around with pitiful execution like those idiots at Twitter who are now “considering” an edit button.</p><p><br></p><p><em>Hard computer science problems indeed.</em></p>

    • Kevin Costa

      14 November, 2018 - 6:09 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#366885">In reply to jimchamplin:</a></em></blockquote><p>The correct headline should be</p><p><br></p><h1>Microsoft Will Ship a new Light Taskbar and Start Menu With the Next Version of Windows 10</h1><p><br></p>

  • matsan

    14 November, 2018 - 1:46 pm

    <p>How about implementing the dark theme throughout the entire OS (like on mac os) first, before adding a light one?</p>

  • Kudupa

    14 November, 2018 - 2:03 pm

    <p>Microsoft and its 95% completion rate keeps chugging along. They haven't even finished the dark theme properly but already running behind lite theme..</p><p>Microsoft a 95% complete company.</p>

    • christian.hvid

      14 November, 2018 - 2:54 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#366892">In reply to Kudupa:</a></em></blockquote><p>Little known fact: Windows 10 was originally meant to be called Windows 95%. But they decided against it for compatibility reasons.</p>

  • shmuelie

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 2:09 pm

    <p>No link to the blog post?</p>

  • waethorn

    14 November, 2018 - 2:14 pm

    <p>Why a light theme when they can't even finish the dark one?</p>

  • RM

    14 November, 2018 - 2:19 pm

    <p>Funny, lets not finish the dark theme, let's add a light theme so they will forget about the dark theme . . . Well, I have no interest in a light theme, so I will not forget the sad state of the dark theme.</p>

  • RM

    14 November, 2018 - 2:22 pm

    <p> I personally feel the area used for tiles on the start menu should be usable for tiles or shortcuts (icons). That area should become the desktop since it would be easier to get to.</p>

  • FalseAgent

    14 November, 2018 - 2:43 pm

    <p>It looks very pretty, I'm very excited to try this out. </p>

  • hrlngrv

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 2:46 pm

    <p>I've wasted more than my share of time on Windows themes and a decade ago on LiteStep and BBWin, so maybe I'm hopelessly way different than typical, but when will Windows regain the user customization capabilities it had in Windows 95? 2 decades ago it used to be possible to set different colors for all UI components. That disappeared between Windows 7 and Windows 10. Why? As long as Windows includes a few bundled themes with MSFT's tested color schemes so that users could revert to one of them, why not allow users to customize to their hearts' contents?</p>

  • Illusive_Man

    14 November, 2018 - 3:11 pm

    <p>Thank goodness for Classi. shell</p>

  • glenn8878

    14 November, 2018 - 4:47 pm

    <p>I prefer a light theme over the dark theme. Better for my eyes. But I really hope they will work on a Touch theme. Their Touch&nbsp;UI is just terribly inaccurate.</p>

  • Winner

    14 November, 2018 - 5:51 pm

    <p>Ahhh, some deck chairs being moved again on the Titanic.</p>

  • MattHewitt

    Premium Member
    14 November, 2018 - 7:11 pm

    <p>Jesus, could they like finish one single thing (dark mode) before moving on to the next thing (new light mode.) My three year old is more focused than these people. </p>

  • Bats

    14 November, 2018 - 9:54 pm

    <p>I actually like this. I might even consider resetting my computers to a clean slate for this.</p>

  • Ron Diaz

    14 November, 2018 - 11:03 pm

    <p>Which mode deletes your data?</p>

    • irfaanwahid

      15 November, 2018 - 12:58 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#367131">In reply to Hypnotoad:</a></em></blockquote><p>1809 mode!!!</p>

  • Fuller1754

    16 May, 2019 - 11:47 pm

    <p>I've been asking for this for a long time (via feedback hub). Looks like "Windows 10 was my idea."</p>

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