I looked, but I still can't find a guide to the toolbar colors in Vista. I see green, blue, and black toolbars in the various Windows apps, but I can't tell which color to use for my app!

that's a natural appearance for microsoft Vista but microsoft vista have more appearance like Ultimate,Business style, and any more.... i tell you about more appearance of vista, look to your own professional tool in your computer you can look out there of any more appearance at this Operating System.....and judge us..

Maybe I just can't read. In the guidelines it is stated that one should use the "standard search button graphics" when implementing search boxes, but where can I find the standard search button graphics? :)

Any chance you guys could answer some of the questions in these comments? I'm really interested in guidance on the toolbar colors, and appel's question about search button graphics is really good too.

We recommend that you use the silver toolbar style in your apps. IE is a good example of how it should be done.

We are creating a zip file of Vista icons that software developers can use. I will make sure that the standard search button is included. I will post an announcement to this blog once these icons are available.

IF YOU DONT ADD FULL TOOLBAR LAYOUT CUSTOMIZABILITY AND TOOLBAR BUTTON CUSTOMIZABLILITY TO WINDOWS EXPLORER IN VISTA BY SP1, I'LL ABANDON VISTA AND MOVE BACK TO XP. WHAT RIGHT DOES YOUR TEAM GET TO TAKE AWAY UP, CUT, COPY, PASTE, UNDO, DELETE, PROPERTIES, COPY TO AND MOVE TO? DOES VISTA'S EXPLORER AT LEAST SUPPORT ADDING BUTTONS TO THE TOOLBAR USING SHELL EXTENSIONS?

everettm,

Thanks for the reply. Maybe you could elaborate on that in a future post? For example, why is silver recommended for third-party apps? What do the other colors mean? Is it ever appropriate to use a colored toolbar?

HOW CAN MICROSOFT TAKE AWAY CUSTOMIZABILITY OF A KEY APP LIKE WINDOWS EXPLORER? WHY IS MICROSOFT DECIDING WHAT IS BEST FOR USERS? MS CAN ALWAYS SHIP WITH THEIR (BAD) DEFAULTS BUT NOT ALLOWING CUSTOMIZABILITY IS GOING TO TURN MANY PEOPLE OFF. AT LEAST ME. CORRECT EXPLORER TOOLBAR LAYOUT AND BUTTON CUSTOMIZABILITY BY VISTA SP1, TILL THEN I'M ON XP. OTHERWISE MANY USERS ARE GOING TO HACK WINDOWS FILE PROTECTION AND REPLACE EXPLORER.EXE OR GOING BACK TO XP. A CHOICE I DONT WANT TO MAKE BUT I MAY BE FORCED TO DO. JUST WHAT IS MS'S REASON FOR NOT ALLOWING CUSTOMIZABILITY OF BUTTONS ON THE TOOLBAR? THAT ALL APPS SHOULD LOOK ALIKE AND IT SHOULD BE CLEAN AND SIMPLE?

The toolbar colors have the following meanings:

Blue/green blend: Windows branding, for apps associated with Windows such as Windows Explorer.

Black: Used for media-based apps such as Windows Media Player and Windows Photo Gallery.

Pure blue: Not sure…I’m looking into this one.

Silver: Neutral, can be used by any app. Used by IE.

Using a colored toolbar is a really just a branding statement (and not particularly recommended for this purpose—check the Branding guidelines). Silver is a good choice because it is neutral, looks great with glass, and allows the toolbar to be placed anywhere.