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Just installed VS 2013 (was previously on 2010) and I deeply regret it. I'm so glad the company picked up the tab!

I've read around a bit and found that a lot of people hate the VS 2012/2013 look & feel, and there are tools and tips to bring back the 2010 look & feel in VS 2012. However I couldn't find something like that for 2013 and wondering if I missed it or it just wasn't invented yet.

Edit: Two things I did find which someone else might be interested in too:

  1. Disabling the ALL CAPS menus (this is is another SO question and found easily)
  2. Disabling the file contents expanding (this appears to be less known and god knows how this guy even found it...

Edit #2: In the end I didn't use the themes in the provided answer. It seems that the "close to 2010" theme comes built-in in 2013 under the "Blue" name. I decided not to bother with icons and colors beyond that, to try and get used to these icons. The hacks above, coupled with VSCommands proved sufficient for me.

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  • I'm not a big fan of the change either, but I figure I just have to get used to it. That's how it works with any sort of GUI change to an application you've been using for a while. The downside to reverting it back (if possible) is that if you were to go to a different work station or try to help someone with something, you're not going to be familiar with the new interface. It's sucks, but in these situations it's best to just bite the bullet and get used to it. I find, at least.
    – LuFaMa
    Commented Oct 31, 2013 at 15:37
  • The downside of reverting back is that you'd be on VS 2010, which is a significantly inferior IDE...
    – Andrew Clear
    Commented Oct 31, 2013 at 16:46
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    @AndrewClear: So far I haven't found any improvements in VS2013. The only reason I upgraded in the first place is to be able to use .NET 4.5, which has nothing to do with the IDE outside of MS' marketing strategy. The features I actually found missing in 2010 I complemented with Resharper (I come from a Java background), and they were still missing in 2013. Which meant that I was also forced to upgrade my Resharper license.
    – Amir Abiri
    Commented Oct 31, 2013 at 17:53
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    "directly involve tools used primarily for programming" - if Visual Studio doesn't qualify here then I really misunderstood the statement.
    – Amir Abiri
    Commented Nov 1, 2013 at 7:18
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    The link about disabling file contents expansion is dead. Here it is in Wayback Machine
    – Tony Pulokas
    Commented Nov 13, 2015 at 1:23

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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Here's a great tool for customizing your VS UI. It works with 2012 or 2013. There's also quite a few different themes available around the web, some of which mimic the UI of 2010.

Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Editor

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  • Thanks, that looks like it might be it - I'll give it a try and see.
    – Amir Abiri
    Commented Oct 31, 2013 at 17:54
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    @AmirAbiri Take all the time you need to check the answer. You can wait a day or two to see if other answers come along before deciding on which one is the best. You can change the accepted answer at any time.
    – Kevin Panko
    Commented Feb 27, 2014 at 17:10

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