TC 9.50 - Dark Mode

[petermad]

How do you I activate "dark mode" for TC? (whick menu?)

"Configuration" -> "Options..." -> "Color" -> "Dark mode" -> "Always enabled" or "Only when enabled for Windows 10 apps"

Or use one of these internal commands: cm_SwitchDarkmode (on and off) or cm_EnableDarkmode (on) or cm_DisableDarkmode (off)

[dr1]

Dark mode looks nice!
Thank you for implementing this!

[IMG]https://thumbs2.imgbox.com/a7/c1/SoAnJBdS_t.png[/IMG]

[matixx]

2dr1
Looks nice!
Would you please share your color settings from wincmd.ini?

[ianl8888]

While I have no need of Dark Mode, I wish to add my respect for Mr Ghisler for constant upgrading of the best file management programme ever offered to the public. I bought a licence for TC quite a few years ago - it was extremely good value for a very reasonable price then. With constant annual upgrades at no additional cost to us clients, it is now beyond comparison.

Thank you Mr Ghisler

[dr1]

2dr1
Looks nice!
Would you please share your color settings from wincmd.ini?

Which are the settings for these colors there?
Would be good to have an export / import functionality for Color settings in TC to have something like Themes, without publishing personal data.

[DarkRuleR]

2dr1
Looks nice!
Would you please share your color settings from wincmd.ini?

Which are the settings for these colors there?
Would be good to have an export / import functionality for Color settings in TC to have something like Themes, without publishing personal data.

It's under the [Colors] section in the wincmd.ini file.

[dr1]

2dr1
Looks nice!
Would you please share your color settings from wincmd.ini?

Which are the settings for these colors there?
Would be good to have an export / import functionality for Color settings in TC to have something like Themes, without publishing personal data.

It's under the [Colors] section in the wincmd.ini file.

There is no [Colors] section, only a [ColorsDark] section:
[ColorsDark]
InverseCursor=0
ThemedCursor=1
InverseSelection=0
BackColor=2959395
BackColor2=3288360
ForeColor=13216662
MarkColor=33023
CursorColor=-1
CursorText=-1
DarkForeground=13216662
DarkBackground=2959395
DarkHighlight=3288104
ActiveTitleText=2433313
ActiveTitle=33023

But I changed a lot of other things like fonts and spaces and other colors too.

[TRX450]

Dark Mode is an awesome and long awaited addition to TC. However as others pointed out, the white borders and lines do a serious damage to its overall visual appeal. In fact they totally ruin it. Mr. Ghisler says it's done by Windows and there's nothing you can do about it. What i believe is that it's somehow inherited from the ancient WIN95 code base where buttons, forms and dialogs all had a horrendous, thick 3D border. Today's modern GUI design tools (QT, WPF in visual studio, etc.) are all capable of putting out a seamless and fully configurable dark interface. So the question is, does it make sense (or pay off) to do some refactoring and put the existing code behind a GUI that's redesigned from scratch? A new and improved TC that adheres to WPF standards would be the awesomest thing in existence. I'm not sure how much effort it'd involve.

[DarkRuleR]

I just noticed that the background for the Directory hotlist and history menu's aren't converted to Dark Mode.

[ghisler(Author)]

You can reduce the number of borders in the main window via wincmd.ini
Under section [Layout] please put
DarkListBorders=0

[TRX450]

You can reduce the number of borders in the main window via wincmd.ini
Under section [Layout] please put
DarkListBorders=0

Thank you, i just did that, and the white lines are indeed reduced but not gone. Overall it's a very little improvement. What i actually mean is a sleek UI that can be easily themed, similar to apps like VS Code or Thunderbird. Is it something that we can hope for in the foreseeable future? I'd contribute a few bucks to the cause if that's what it takes. TC has been with us for ages but the look & feel changed very little over the decades.

[Horst.Epp]

You can reduce the number of borders in the main window via wincmd.ini
Under section [Layout] please put
DarkListBorders=0

Thank you, i just did that, and the white lines are indeed reduced but not gone. Overall it's a very little improvement. What i actually mean is a sleek UI that can be easily themed, similar to apps like VS Code or Thunderbird. Is it something that we can hope for in the foreseeable future? I'd contribute a few bucks to the cause if that's what it takes. TC has been with us for ages but the look & feel changed very little over the decades.

The look and feel for an file manager is for me at no importance at all.
The amount of work which has been spend for Dark theme for example is for me of no big value.
There are many other topics which are much more related to the basic functions.

[TRX450]

The look and feel for an file manager is for me at no importance at all.
The amount of work which has been spend for Dark theme for example is for me of no big value.
There are many other topics which are much more related to the basic functions.

Good for you. Now we all know what matters to you. Perhaps there are other users out there with slightly different priorities and expectations? And btw functionality and good UI are not mutually exclusive.

[dr1]

Dark Mode is an awesome and long awaited addition to TC. However as others pointed out, the white borders and lines do a serious damage to its overall visual appeal. In fact they totally ruin it. Mr. Ghisler says it's done by Windows and there's nothing you can do about it. What i believe is that it's somehow inherited from the ancient WIN95 code base where buttons, forms and dialogs all had a horrendous, thick 3D border. Today's modern GUI design tools (QT, WPF in visual studio, etc.) are all capable of putting out a seamless and fully configurable dark interface. So the question is, does it make sense (or pay off) to do some refactoring and put the existing code behind a GUI that's redesigned from scratch? A new and improved TC that adheres to WPF standards would be the awesomest thing in existence. I'm not sure how much effort it'd involve.

I guess TC is a good ol' Win32 program. That's why it's running fast even on old machines.
But I'm with you. Its GUI is looking very old compared to the polished UIs of modern applications and web-apps. I guess all depends on the fact how good UI and core functionality are seperated in the TC code . We (developers) all know how software quality can degrade when it grows over so many years.
But a TC with a modern WPF/Electron UI would be AWESOME!

[mnerec]

Thank you Christian for doing the work on the Dark Mode!
While I'd like better borders in Dark Mode, I really, really don't want a WPF version of Total Commander!

I've been using Total Commander (née Windows Commander) on every single Windows machine ever, since I switched from Amiga. What I enjoy about the program is that it's FAST and not bogged down by heavy frameworks. Frameworks that tend to get deprecated as Microsoft decides it wants to reinvent everything once more.

A plain old Win32 (Delphi!) application that just works!