- Microsoft has unveiled a new feature for its Store in Windows 11
- It is a hub full of featured or popular themes that can be applied to the desktop
- There are over 400 themes in total, including 35 new efforts
Microsoft wants to make it easier for you to quickly personalize your Windows 11 desktop, and to that end, we’ve introduced a curated theme section to the Microsoft Store.
Windows Central reports that Microsoft announced the move in a blog post, noting that the new ‘Themes’ hub in the Store is now rolling out.
Microsoft enthuses: “We’ve heard from so many of you that you want your PC to feel like your own. Maybe you’re a gamer who wants to celebrate the latest release, a fan who finds joy in seeing beloved characters every morning, a designer looking for an artfully composed background that sparks creativity every time you log in, or someone who simply wants a fresh and uplifting desktop.”
The concept is a showcase of curated themes – wallpapers and accent colors – based on whatever your particular preference may be, and also trending themes. Find one you like and it can be applied to your Windows 11 desktop with a single click.
Microsoft tells us that there are over 400 themes in total, and that 35 of them are new. Some of the choices include a Sea of Thieves theme, a collection of warships, and one that explores the world’s national parks.
Analysis: Theme sea
This is a neat addition to the Microsoft Store to make it more useful and to help you choose a theme based on either your interests or what’s popular at the time (or possibly both of the above). In the past, finding themes in the store was a bit of a frustrating and unnecessarily difficult task as they were all over the place.
Microsoft is obviously hoping this move will drive more traffic to the store, something it’s been trying to do with various improvements for a while now. That includes modernizing the interface and boosting overall performance across a number of fronts, as well as trying to entice more developers to get their apps on the store.
If you’re eager to browse Microsoft’s collection of themes, keep in mind that you may not see the hub yet—it’s just starting to roll out. That said, it shouldn’t take long to arrive for most people, I’m guessing, and the themes (or most of them) are still in the store even if you don’t have the hub – as mentioned, it’s about better organizing the themes, not introducing them to the store.
We can expect more enhancements to Windows 11’s customization options in the pipeline, as Microsoft says, “The new theme department is just the beginning to make each device a true reflection of its owner.”
Now – what’s the betting that AI is going to come into this somewhere?
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