Applying a 'style' or 'theme' to a winforms app

[RTaulbee]

Is there a way to apply a theme or style to a winforms app? Something to make it look really sharp, like Microsoft Money looks, etc.. Here's a screenshot of the app as it stands now. I added some icons and that kind of thing, but I'd like to see if there's anything else I could do. thanks

 

[jmcilhinney]

It really depends on how far you want to go. You can make simple changes like colours and fonts using properties of .NET objects but anything more fancy requires various more advanced techniques, like Platform Invoke (API calls) and drawing your own controls. I think that it's significant that it's always people with a low post count that ask about tarting up their UI. There's nothing wrong with it specifically but in my opinion your time would probably better spent solidifying your grasp of the basics. Many people, myself included, just find non-standard interfaces annoying. If you do want to proceed then the "User Interface" section of this page has some examples of making an interface mimic some well known applications. Once you know the principles you can create your own look and feel if you want.