How can you make a .net windows forms project look fresh?

Question

I\'m working on a visual studio 2005 vb.net windows forms project that\'s been around for several years. It\'s full of default textboxes, labels, dropdowns, datagrids, datetime

Answer 1

This isn't so much an "answer" as an opinion.

I tried to jazz up a WinForms project I created back a few years ago by giving the forms a fancy blue gradient background etc, and it looked pretty good on XP. But then on Vista it looked out of place. Taking away any custom painting and reverting the form to "battleship gray" made it look much better IMHO.

I'm seeing a lot of applications (particularly from MS) coming out with custom window chrome etc, and all it does is detract from the nice sense of consistency that Windows gives.

I guess what I'm saying is that you don't need to worry too much about making your application look fashionable. If you keep your colours based on the SystemColors enumeration then Windows can do that for you.