Windows 7 Exe Buttons Scratch — Plus

Pixel Perfect: Recreating Windows 7 EXE Buttons from Scratch Subtitle: Reverse engineering the glass, the glow, and the 1-pixel shadow. Introduction There is a specific kind of nostalgia attached to Windows 7. Before the flat, monochromatic rectangles of Windows 10 and 11, there was Aero . The "EXE buttons" (the Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close controls in the top-right corner) were a masterpiece of skeuomorphic design. They weren't just buttons; they were liquid, glowing, glass orbs.

So, fire up your IDE. Disable the default chrome. Draw your first rectangle. And for a moment, pretend your modern SSD is running an Intel Core 2 Duo. windows 7 exe buttons scratch

Did you try to build these buttons? Share your screenshots in the comments below! Pixel Perfect: Recreating Windows 7 EXE Buttons from

// Center of button is X=11, Y=11 (in 0-index) int center = 11; int offset = 4; // Draw the '' line e.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.White, center - offset, center - offset, center + offset, center + offset); // Draw the '/' line e.Graphics.DrawLine(Pens.White, center + offset, center - offset, center - offset, center + offset); In WPF, you don't draw pixels; you draw vectors. To get that "scratch" look, you need to disable native window styling ( WindowStyle="None" ) and build the caption buttons using Path geometries. The "EXE buttons" (the Minimize, Maximize/Restore, and Close