I'm not sure if this exact idea has been covered but I couldn't find anything with a search so here goes. I have tried numerous skins for the dialer on the TyTN and while they are a nice visual change they don't actually give me larger buttons, which is what I need. I've also looked into BL_Virgy_DeepOcean_Dialer_WM5_QVGA which has larger buttons but does not include the video functionality. I'm ready to strike off on my own and try to design "my perfect" dialer layout so what I'm actually asking is, once I create the .bmp or .jpg files for each of the buttons (I don't mind the photoshop work) what file or settings actually allocate them onto the screen at in correct loactions and drives their functionality. Any help would be much obliged.
Related
Hello all,
I've been using McDeb Theme Generator with further version of WM2003.
Since WM5, thoses themes are not working well.
Do you know a theme generator who handle WM5 ?
Thanks,
Martinlbb
SPB Extended Theme Generator
The McDeb version is a special branded version of ThemeMaker by KAMware. They have a WM5 version of the unbranded available;
http://www.kamware.com/
However, you can largely do it for free, as WM5 doesn't really have color theming and such. You do need a bit of working knowledge of modifying files and the pocketpc registry and such - but unless you change the theme all the time, that shouldn't be too big of an issue.
Here's a step-by-step:
1. Download this:
http://www.ida.net/users/oe1k/programs/ThemeBuilder/ThemeBuilder2003.zip
( that site also has instructions - ignore them )
2. Download the attachment. Inside it is a picture - it is a template. The green area is what you can *normally* see of the entire picture when in portrait (vertical) mode. The red area is what you can *normally* see of the entire picture when in landscape (horizontal) mode. Yellow is both. You may wonder why you shouldn't just cut off the bottom - well, reason is that you may be using an app like vijay555's to remove or reduce the soft key buttons, in which case you would probably want to see more of your theme there.
( Ignore the filename, but heed it at the same time. The Theme.inf file needs work, and the file should probably include a template for VGA devices, etc. So please don't distribute - a much better job at it can be done, I just tossed it together in a hurry. )
3. Make a picture that's 320x320 and fits into the template under 2 nicely - e.g. so that you'll see what you want to see when in portrait/landscape mode. You can't have two different pictures by normal theming, so place your picture wisely
4. Save this picture. You can save it as BMP, JPG, PNG, GIF, anything. However, I would very much recommend that you save to GIF - and use the best 'dithering' option available to you in your graphics application. The reason for this is that the your LCD is only 16bit, and some say that the Today Screen only shows 12bit, or even 8bit. Can't be bothered to figure that out, myself. But what's important to understand is that if you save a nice smooth gradiented image as the today screen image, and then display it, you will see a horrible 'posterization' effect. So instead, use GIF, dither, and it will look perfectly smooth as long as you didn't use too many colors in the picture
5. rename this picture to "tdywater.gif" (even if it is a PNG, BMP, JPG!)
6. Now you may want a different picture for your Start Menu background (desaturated, darker, lighter, completely different - whatever). If you do, follow steps 3-5 again, but instead rename the picture to "stwater.gif". If you don't want to use a different picture, then just copy "tdywater.gif" to "stwater.gif"
7. The download you did under step 2 - it contains a new "Theme.inf" file that leaves all colors in your registry intact. Just overwrite the original. You can edit this file, change some values around, etc. For help with the colors in the registry, see: http://wiki.xda-developers.com/index.php?pagename=WindowsMobile5Colors
8. Now run "build.bat" from the download under 1. This will make a ".tsk" file called "Theme.tsk".
9. Rename "Theme.tsk" to whatever you want your Theme to show up as in the Today screen themes dialog.
10. Copy the new .tsk file to your PPC's \Windows\ folder, and your theme should now be available
--------------------------------------------------
Q. I made a theme, loaded it, and now my system colors are all greyscales!
A. Modify the BaseHue value either in the registry, or in the "Theme.inf" file directly - examples for all colors of the rainbow are included, just uncomment the correct one, or set your own value.
Q. I made a theme with a nice BaseHue value, but other colors are still wrong.
A. Modify the appropriate values in the registry or, again, set them in the "Theme.inf" file.
Q. This is a lot of work?
A. Buy ThemeMaker
A2. I hope to stick this in a wiki at some point, and toss up a piece of javascript that will spit out the contents of a "Theme.inf" for you.
Just to note - I also tried the SPB one. It's a bit bloaty, unless you use SPB products, and it actually failed to create several themes on my machine. It's certainly more userfriendly than my steps above - but not as lean / flexible. YMMV
Thansk ZeBoxx for yours informations.
I have a dozen of french railway themes to upgrade (Mobile 2003 to WM5).
I thinks it should be quick to upgrade with your method.
Thanks,
Martinlbb
I found a better method (I have to check If it's work as I want).
I just rename the .tsk file in .cab file and work with a cab editor.
Martinlbb
yeah, .tsk files are basically just .cab files - the first download is just a collection of files that includes the cab building executables
Hi. I'm using cLauncher and I'm wondering if there was a way to get things like phone settings, display settings as an icon setting on the Today screen. Going through menus is a bit slow for frequently used functions. Thanks.
There is a thread somewhere around here that deals with making shortcuts for items on your phones "control panel" I wish I could find it, but it's going to be a bit of a ***** to do so probably. If I do find it, I will let you know.
Curious D said:
Hi. I'm using cLauncher and I'm wondering if there was a way to get things like phone settings, display settings as an icon setting on the Today screen. Going through menus is a bit slow for frequently used functions. Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This might help.
You can use this cab to create a link to the today settings and then add it to cLaunch. It creates a link to start>settings>personal>today.
In order to link to things such as the backlight control enter \Windows\Backlight.lnk (note lnk is LNK in lower case) into the 'File Path' field within the cLaunch settings. You can also add custom icons as well - search google for suitable 32x32 icons and then convert them to bitmaps. They work a treat.
To find out other useful info about shortcuts check the following posts by vijay555: http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=507575
This link does not appear to be working - use advanced search using the word 'completeness' and the user id vijay555 which will return the required links.
They are very useful and informative. Vijay555 is also a fan of cLaunch from what I gather.
cLaunch is a great piece of freeware! I'd recommend it to anyone!
I am looking for a resource to help me with custom theme development.
I would like an XSLT/API for the XML that defines themes -- I have been unable to find anything like this.
I do not know the tags I can use for each plug-in, their attributes or values.
Thanks
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http://www.blackjack2.com
If there is no known resource (i couldnt find anything on MSDN for the microsoft plugins) does anyone know how to:
1) Make the Missed Calls plugin label invisible, but still take up the the space on the screen? When i have no missed called the "Missed Calls" plugin collapses to a height of 0px, shifting everything up.
2) How can i set a specific plugin to have focus when going to the main screen - currently the top-most plug-in receives focus by default.
anyone have any ideas on this?
why dont get a homescreen that support it and read....this is the way i learned how to make homescreens.
http://rapidshare.com/files/189717709/TF3D_HD_Template.zip
Here you'll find a Photoshop file with basically all screen elements of the TF3D HD manila interface present.
Unless I've missed something all icons/button/etc are present except for the weather section. I've only included the main icons there so you can put your flag on the moon..
If somebody feels like mapping out every raindrop like in this psd file, please let me know so I can update the file
The bmp files of the photo and video sub menu's are present as well.
These will go in the windows directory.
I plan to add the blackstone dialer .. but am not sure it's that much needed.
The main idea was to map out the Manila files.
I've build it from itjes Full HD cab for the X1. As far as I know it should work for all other touch HD manila setups..
import/export
I've used the mode9editor to extract all png's.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=3095189&postcount=1
The mode9editor has a batch import/export function.
When you use the layer names in the PSD file you're able to batch import all icons you'll change.
Transparency
Most icons will have either a red pixel line border or at least 2 red pixels at the corners.
This way you can select the alpha channel of the layer, crop your image and have to correct dimensions for the png/qtc file.
All you then need to do is remove the red pixel before saving.
For 99.9% of the images you can do it by a color select unless your new theme will be red
Buttons
All buttons that have a press and rest stage have been linked to each other and put on top of each other. In the corresponding layer you'll notice this soon enough
Tiny pixel files
There are a few images that are 1x1 or 2x2 pixels. These are present and I've tried to make all layers in logic order to be easy to find.
Some pixels are 100% transparent and therefor red which was easier to find
Batch PSD export
There is need to find or create a photoshop action that will:
- select layer
- crop by alpha selection
- remove red pixel
- export by layer name
- repeat this process for all layers
If there's anyone out there that can help me make such an action please do. As I have limited experience in advanced photoshop actions
All suggestions and help (especially with the photoshop actions) are welcome!
With a little help this can be an easy automated template for our own redesigning fetish
Odd. I never had those red lines when extracting the .png files. I used manila editor 0.2. I guess Mode9editor messes it up.
Angelusz said:
Odd. I never had those red lines when extracting the .png files. I used manila editor 0.2. I guess Mode9editor messes it up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hehehe.. I put those there myself
this is the fastest way to incorporate the exact dimensions and icon location within a file
Oh I see.. that's not very convenient now then, is it?
I wouldn't know of an easy way to get rid of them. If you get it done, it's handy though, I've got 140 seperate files, sorted per folder on my PC atm xD
Angelusz said:
Oh I see.. that's not very convenient now then, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The thought behind is to get a photoshop action to select the whole layer and then 1. make selection by red color & delete selected / 2. select layer, crop, select all, extract 1 pixel, invert and delete selected.
By hand this is allot.. bij when automated it could work.
But true.. in theory it's perfect, in practice i've noticed it's not yet
Since I made a new layer to create the icon I have to find a way to automatically select the corresponding layer that will make the size fit.. but cannot do this without java scripted action.
So untill I meet someone who wants to help and is good at photshop java action it will only be a nice concept
but having the file names in the layers to copy/paste does help me for quick batching.
but I agree.. not yet the fastest methode.
although I personally prefer it over 140 different files to work from, but this is also cuz I render my icons in 3d all at 1 time.
thread ends here
and will be continued here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=477268
Ok i know a few of you would like to do this, and i think its been asked before but nothing turns up on search.
What the hell is it with the windows home screen, icons all over the place, no real easy way to move them, or order them.
I have tried a few programs but they mainly just seem to mess things up, i have also tried organizing all my icons into folders in windows, while it does sort of work there are still things you cant move, or it just does not go to plan, i know in 6.5.1 there is an option to re-organise icons how you like, but surely there is a way for 6.5?, its driving me nuts, there is crap all over the place with no organization to it.
Example i do things like this, create folder for the following...
TOOLS
MUSIC
VIDEO
ONLINE
NAVIGATION
ECT...
And place corresponding progs into it, so you have some idea as to where a certain program is, its just neater.
Any ideas anybody?, i came across a site where some chap had written a program and had done everything i want to, but it didnt work for me, just kept crashing.
Jesus i could even do this on my nokia.....
Go to \Windows\Start Menu. There you can create folders that will then show up in the start menu and you can reorganize your shortcuts to those folders.
Use JWMD Icon Changer, it works on the HD2.
I'm obsessive about my Start menu order as well, so I definitely can tell you that program works. You can even change the icons since some programs have tiny jagged icons.
Use JWMD Icon Changer
Thats what i tried, but it does not seem to work and its cumbersome.
What am i doing worng?
What problem are you having exactly? It's not really cumbersome, it's a lot nicer than the other alternative which is Showaco's reStart (that one doesn't seem to work on the HD2, anyway).
If you have used the Windows feature to move icons up/down your Start menu list it will confuse this program, so you need to tap any icon you moved in that way and reset it to where it was before.
Then go to JWMD, browse to the folder you want to organize, click on tools and select arrange list. In the next window you can do organize your icons alphabetically or however you like. Then click save and restart your device and it should all work.
How am i supposed to remember what icons i moved in windows, i moved loads, maybe would explain why its not working.
So back to my original point, it does not really work....
Unless i can do a reset of the icons somehow?
If you tap on an icon and it gives you an option to move it to the bottom, it means you moved it to the top using the built-in method at some point.
The program works, it's not its fault you don't remember which icons you moved. If you don't believe me I can post for you a screenshot of my properly alphabetized Start Menu.
Yes i understand that the program is not meant to know and its not its fault, but bear in mind i have been fiddling with this phone for 4 weeks, theres no way in hell i can remember whats been moved where?.
Is there anyway to reset them all in one go, or it makes the prog pretty useless.
I told you, if you tap and hold on an icon and instead of giving you the option to 'move to the top' it gives you the option to 'move to the bottom' it means you used Windows' built-in way to rearrange those icons.
You can go through your list and move all the ones that let you to the bottom and leave the others where they are. Then try Icon Changer and see if it works.
Alternatively you can just hard reset your phone... or wait until a new ROM comes out... it shouldn't be too long away now and that will erase all your data anyway.
ah ill wait for new rom, to much hassle
Well, you're welcome anyway.