Fluent design is a new UI look that’s slowly rolling out to Windows 10 users. It’s more than just a UI change thought. Until it is fully developed and rolled out the UI is all we’re going to see. In its fully developed state, Fluent design will do a lot more. In its current state, it’s just a neat transparency effect. Fluent design is already rolling out to Windows 10 users on the stable build. You can see it in the Calculator, Groove, and Maps apps. If you’re not a fan of this new design, you can disable fluent design in Windows 10 apps.
Fluent design, for now, is just a transparency effect. We’re talking about Windows 10 version 1703 build 15063. In subsequent builds, fluent design will probably take over more apps. The roll out will complete by Fall 2017 with the next major Windows 10 update. By then, it’s possible there will be no way to disable fluent design in Windows 10 apps. For now, that’s still a possibility.
Disable Fluent Design In Windows 10
Open the Settings app. Go to the Personalization group of settings. Go to the Colors tab and scroll down past the color presets. You will see a switch called ‘Transparency effects’. Turn it off to disable fluent design in Windows 10.
We tried it out on the Calculator app that already has the fluent design. Here’s what the app looks like with transparency enabled.
Here’s what it looks like with the transparency effects turned off.
A Caveat
If you turn off transparency to disable fluent design in Windows 10 apps, you will also lose the transparency effect on the Start menu, Action center, and taskbar. This is a pretty big trade-off. It’s also what leads us to believe that the same method won’t work in future stable builds of Windows 10. It doesn’t make sense to tie the transparency effect in apps to the transparency of the Start menu etc.
If you prefer a solid color on the Start Menu and the Action center, you can disable fluent design in Windows 10 apps without sacrificing much. If on the other hand you want fluent design but detest transparency on the Start menu, Action Center, and taskbar, you’re going to have to pick one over the other.
There’s only one preference that has a happy ending. If you want to disable fluent design and only want transparency on the Taskbar, you can use TranslucentTB to get a transparent or blurred taskbar. The Start Menu and Action center will be a solid color and you won’t see fluent design in any of the apps.
