Telegram themes – innovations for desktop versions

The latest Telegram desktop version update for Mac, Windows and Linux is characterized by several interesting innovations. Probably, the most important one includes a possibility of installing various themes for Telegram. Now a user can change the look of the user interface by selecting a background, the color of elements and design of buttons as he or she wishes.

How to install a new theme

All themes are represented as files having the .tdesktop-theme extension. In order to update the telegram interface on your PC, it is necessary to carry out several easy steps:

1. Find the @Themes contact in a desktop version. You will find a great variety of themes for Telegram with setup files.

   

    

2. Tap on the variant you liked in order to download it.
3. After a download is finished, tap on this file one more time and you will see a window where you need to tap on the «Apply this theme» button located on the bottom right side of the screen.
4. If you are satisfied with the updated look of your user interface, you need to adopt changes for 15 seconds. For doing this, give a positive answer «Keep changes» to the question «Keep this color theme?».

If you wait for expiration of time without carrying out any manipulations or select the «Revert» option, the look of the messenger will be the same as the one of the previous version.

Besides, before downloading and installing a new theme, you may take a look at its rating. Affirmative and negative votes following a screenshot allow drawing conclusion of the popularity of the given design among the Telegram users.

How to create a theme for Telegram by yourself

As we know, Pavel Durovʼs service differs from other messengers by providing wide possibilities for outside programmers which can introduce changes by means of an open API. Moreover, the creation of an individual theme does not refer to an exclusive prerogative of the application’s developers. If you are not comfortable with the provided color scheme, you can develop your own variant at any time. In order to do this, carry out the following steps:

1. Create the color.tdesktop-theme file containing color parameters and the theme configuration.
2. Find an appropriate image for a background with the .jpgor . extension and call it background.jpg (background.png) or tiled.jpg (tiled.png). In the former case, an image is stretched to full screen, and in the latter one the tile effect is realized.
3. Zip these files (color.tdesktop-theme andbackground.jpg).
4. Change the extension from .zipto .tdesktop-theme.

   

    

For installing the theme you’ve created, go to your account setting (the service button with three lines) and select the «Choose from file» option in the «Chat background» section. After doing this, specify the path for your file.

An ordinary user may consider such algorithm to be too complicated, especially when it comes to the color configuration development. However, there is no alternative possibility for creating individual themes in Telegram currently.

Anyway, new themes for Telegram interface are regularly added to telegram.me/Themes, so it is highly likely that you will find the optimal color scheme. In addition, the developers offer prospects of adding several tools which will make the process of creating themes easier for ordinary users.

Return to a default version

When a novelty effect calms down, a user frequently starts thinking that a default interface version was actually not too shabby. So, what should you do in order to start using it again? It is not rocket science:

1. Tap on the service button located on the top left side of the screen.
2. Select the «Settings» option in the appeared menu.
3. Scroll a page until you find the «Chat background».
4. Tap on the «Usedefault color theme» button.
5. Adopt changes for 15 seconds.

It is reasonable to clarify that manipulations with themes can be only carried out in desktop programs starting from the 1.0 version. If you want to know which Telegram version is used, go to your account settings and find related information in the «General» section.