Invert Skin

Here’s a rarity – A light-colored Steam skin. Invert, created by users 2SeeKU and Ult1m4t3 is just that. The idea behind the theme is actually to simply invert (hence the name!) the original Steam interface. An interesting idea, but does it work?

Colors & Design

As already established, this is an inverted version of the standard Steam skin. So where everything used to be black, it’s now an off-white/gray. Text that used to be black is now white. Headings that used to be blue are now dark green and so on.
Aside from the flipping of colors, nothing else has been changed. The layout of the interface is the same as the standard Steam interface.

Legibility

Usually, flipping the colors on an interface won’t harm readability. However, there are sometimes some exceptions. The problem with a light skin such as Invert is that, depending on an individual user’s quality of monitor or calibration, skins like this can look terrible – usually because of contrast.
It’s pleasing then that legibility has been maintained, even in potential problems areas, such as uninstalled games in the games list clashing with the now bright gray background.

Usability

As the layout hasn’t been changed and there aren’t any legibility issues, Invert is just as usable as the standard Steam interface. The big picture mode icon is in its proper place, and there are no bugs or gremlins that break any of the interface elements.

Verdict

It’s an interesting idea. With some interfaces, flipping the colors in this way works really well. Is Steam one of those? Not quite. Too much white becomes a problem far quicker than having too much black, and this is the primary issue. The skin is really bright, the flat, uniform light color doesn’t come across too well, and the black glow around the Steam section headers doesn’t look good.

Screenshots

Changelogs

Version 3.45

• IMPROVEMENT: Updated files modified by the latest steam update.
• REMOVAL: Removed glow for the new friendslist button.

A small update that makes this skin usable after the latest update, however, the new friendslist has not yet been modified. That should happen in the next update.

Version 3.42

• Updated files modified by a steam update.
• Friends list window now has the same background colors as the main steam window.
• Inactive window title bar is no longer that dark.
• Added and removed some inverted image files.

Installation Instructions

1. Download the skin file below, you should get an archive with the “.zip” or “.rar” extension.
2. Extract the ZIP or RAR and move the folder to:
   • Windows: C:/Program Files (x86)/Steam/skins
   • MAC OS X: Press Cmd+Shift+G in Finder and type ~/Library/Application Support/Steam/Steam.AppBundle/Steam/Contents/MacOS/skins
   • Linux: ~/.local/share/Steam/skins/
3. Open the Steam interface and in top tab, click on “Steam” / “Settings”.
4. Then open the Interface section.
5. Find the option “Select the skin you wish Steam to use (requires Steam to restart)” and choose the skin that you want.
6. Completely shut down and restart Steam.
7. That was all; now you must have another interface.

Disable/Uninstall

• v1: Only go back to the Interface tab in Steam’s Settings and select a different skin.
• v2: Delete the skin folder from /Steam/skins.

The chat and friends UI doesn't load? Then you have to disable the new UI for them. We posted a guide on how to do this, take a look here.