Related
No matter what .tsk file I use, when I use the option in the settings to display image as baccground. It's always grayed out which seriously makes the pic look crappy. I know I can just use a load of different .tsk files but I don't want to do it that way. I want to be able to change the baccgroud pic at anytime with having it smoked out with some gray transparent layer.
Is the a registry hacc I can do to stop it?
I don't know if there is a registry hack but at least, there is a workaround. Instead of using the today applet to select your background picture, you can use the Pictures & Videos app. Select the picture you like, there is a menu item to set a the selectted picture asToday background just set the transparency level at 0% and you are set
Thanks. Works perfectly.
Glad I helped, but actually you got me thinking. So, I tried to figure out if there was not a way of setting the transparency level via a registry hack as you suggested. I didn't find anything because it's not stored in registry.
What actually happens when you choose a background picture is that wm5 creates 2 pictures (stwater_240_320 and stwater_320_240) in the \windows folder. So instead of relying on the today applet or on the pictures and videos app, what you could do is delete these 2 pictures, then copy your homemade pictures in the \windows folder and rename theme to the above mentionned names. It should let us have a different image when in landscape mode instead of a cropped one. The 240_320 has to be 240x268 and the 320x240 340x188. Why 268 and 188 instead of 320 and 240 ? Because the taskbar and the menubar are 26 pixels wide and (2x26) + 268 = 340 !
Is it possible to make a full theme change for windows mobile 6? I mean not like Wisbar Apps or any other type that is similar to it. I mean changing the colors, backgrounds of the phone and any other winmo6 embedded software.
Here is an example of want i want it to do. lets say that you are changing the theme of your winmo6 to blue but you want to keep the same look and feel to it with out install a cab to change the phone the blue color in stead when you change the color to blue it will change everything on your device blue too.
thanks
Its already been done. Search on here for Shantz changer.
WB
wacky.banana said:
Its already been done. Search on here for Shantz changer.
WB
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it does not change the phone color just the today screen
There's two applications I know of - both change various aspects of your colour schemes; one is "RC Mod" (get it here) and the other is called "UI Tweaker" (from here).
Have a look, see what you think
Mark.
Mark Crouch said:
There's two applications I know of - both change various aspects of your colour schemes; one is "RC Mod" (get it here) and the other is called "UI Tweaker" (from here).
Have a look, see what you think
Mark.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
first link is uesless, it's in italian for the most part. And UI Tweaker just changes colors, not the dial pad.
Unless someone comes out with an app that lauches the color changes as well as a cab install for the phone dialer, there isn't a current app to do this. This is one of the drawbacks I have hate about WM. It was never designed to do whole system color coding, you can change the theme which does change system colors, but there is still a lot of white coloring thru out the OS and the dial pads, keyboards, etc never change color with the theme.
smittyofdhs said:
first link is uesless, it's in italian for the most part. And UI Tweaker just changes colors, not the dial pad.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I must have misunderstoof the first post incorrectly then, but I didn't see the OP ask about changing the dialer.....all of the colours on the dialer are images anyway, so it makes no difference what colour the rest of the UI gets changed to...
The first link is useless coz the attached images are dead links and the post is mostly in Italian because the author is, like, Italian....you obviously stopped reading after the first couple of words
I agree that WM 6.0 lacks any decent "UI tweaking" capabilities - hopefully MS will address that deficiency in 6.1, or 7.0, or 8.0, or........maybe not
Mark.
Since the dialer, theme and everything else is controlled by images and registry edits I believe you just have to delve in with Mortscript and learn how to script it yourself. Mortscript will then batch process it in the same way you can do it yourself manually. But once you do it'll be pretty sweet. You can have a iPhone script, a Touch script, etc. for one click overall theme change. Its just getting familiarized with Mortscript and digging into dialpad CABs to see what registry/files need to be modified/copied. Heck if you are going that route you might as well see if its possible to manually copy over some of the welcome screens as well. =P
Just curious, do you honestly switch your entire phone theme that often? And need the phone pad/dialer to be changed as well? Have you even tried installing a dialpad CAB, then another one on top of it, then another one on top of that one...just to see if it creates any corruption?
Shantz is great cause it does exactly what it needs to do on changing the theme or background and he even has an option to allow you to run an external program (mortscript) so that it can copy the background onto other programs such as S2U2 and WAD (and in the future...possibly PointUI Home background).
So if you are willing to give up on the idea of installing a dialpad CAB (perhaps install a neutral gray or black one), the task will be a lot easier with Shantz and a little bit of Mortscript coding.
Nyditot
NYDITOT
This software is not to change colors, but it has a theme modifier feature that changes the color of that ugly scroll bar on right today screen, and the default buttons etc. Very fun! There is a trial version on website.
TEST IT
Have a look at this program:
http://www.codeppc.com/telechargements/themegence/themegence.htm
it can create new themes or modify an existing one (you can copy the existing one from your windows directory)....
cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
??????
Great Idea. I like claunch because of its small siZe, but I don't use it because of the small Icons. Tried the prog and it doesn't work. Icons remain at 32 even after I resized them. I can tell they are larger because it only shows a portion of it. Is there a setting somewhere that I'm missing?
Got IT
OOPs figured it out. Works Great. Thanks
_craig said:
cLaunch is GREAT, but unfortunately it doesn't handle icons larger than 32x32 pixels all that well. I wanted to create a bunch of big 48px photo shortcuts (32 was just too small!). However, even with a 48px bitmap, cLaunch just crops to 32px and scales up to 48px. Results are not what I wanted, and ugly.
So I created a hacked up version of cLaunch (based on version 12.04, 11 Jan 2008) and I called it cLaunch_48px. It works just like the normal cLaunch does... The only difference is apparent if...
you set the icon size to 48 AND
have a 48px bitmap file as the icon
...it WILL show the entire 48px bitmap, without distortion. Your icon size should be set to exactly 48px in cLaunch, otherwise you will see the regular cLaunch behavior. Note: You can still use any size icons you want, you'll just get the default behavior. For example, I have one tab with 32px icons and another with 48px.
To use: download the CAB and install as normal. It can even coexist with an existing cLaunch installation. This version will share settings with any existing cLaunch installation so you won't need to do anything special to import. You do not need to remove your existing cLaunch, if you have it installed already. Use at your own risk so backup your \Windows\cLaunch.dat file just to be safe.
To hack--experts only: Source code included as zip (project/solution file is VStudio 2008). The only file changed from the original is main.cpp, included in zip (other than vstudio project files). FYI: If you want, you could create an even bigger version (such as 64px) modeled after this version (diff main.cpp with the original cLaunch 12.04 version)... I didn't do that here for two reasons (1) I didn't want 64px icons and (2) supporting both 48px AND 64px icons would use up too much memory.
If I get a chance sometime, I might actually provide a screenshot, but it won't look much different than a typical cLaunch screenshot, expect for nice and clear 48px icons.
Works great with go2contact (created by me).
Also, SUPER THANKS to the creators of cLaunch!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi craig,
good job. Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
cheers
kuifje
kuifje_xda-developers said:
Would you by any chance have an idea why claunch 1204 would show only a quarter of the icons (and what's worse, only a quarter of the setup menus) on VGA (x51v)?
Do you think there's anything to be done about it? I like claunch 1203 but there the icons are shown with pixel doubling and therefor very coarse.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't know much about 12.03 and what changed with 12.04. However, with 12.04, from what I could tell by the code: it's best to use 16 and/or 32 px icons/bitmaps (or 48 if you're running cLaunch_48px) and show them at their native size. Otherwise, scaling/cropping will occur.
craig,
I am only using this for shortcuts to regular apps with their own built-in icons. I suppose they are 32*32.
When I set the icon size to 16*16, i see the icon in normal resolution but only the upper left quarter of it.
When I set the icon size to 32*32 I still see only a quarter, but now with pixel doubling, instead of the whole icon in normal resolution. When I set the icon size to 64*64 I see the entire icon, with pixel doubling, but distorted at the bottom.
Also, the upper left corner of the icons is shown in the setup screen, and of the settings and options dialog (and ONLY those), only the upper left corner is shown (this makes it impossible to configure the settings, but I can still do that through claunch 1203 which I have installed also.
can you see anything VGA-related in the code?
Kuifje
I have installed the CAB file but when I go to change the icon size to 48, the icons appears tiled on my today screen. The icons are 32*32 and tiled in the allowed 48 icon size. Do I need to make changes to additional settings??
Hi,
I have a freshly purchased Ipaq 214, and i use to use Claunch on my Asus620.
the Ipaq is VGA, and i have same behaviour you mention, ie can only see quater of the configuration menu... which does not really allow to tweak the interface, and finally makes it unusable!
not to be too particular, but 48 point is too large. can you hackup another version that accept 36-40 pixel? thank you so much if you could.
cLaunch Settings
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
vincej said:
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem and I'm pretty sure that it's the touch pro has the TFT 480 x 640 px and the Mogul was 240 x 320 px (Half) I don't know much but I'm sure thats the problem. I'm having this same issue with a few of my old apps (Skyfire, Music ID, Claunch) I'm bummed Can anyone offer a tweak or solution?
bump please make a vga version
Pls a VGA Version.
It don´t runs in my new HTC TOUCH HD
Many thanks,
Omnia qvga it does not work
It looks nice, but when I set the setting for icons to 48 icons are tiled. It does not show the full 48x48 icon when set to smaller size. I have not the tools to do it myself. Thanks for any help.
vincej said:
I am a little slow on how these things work outside of loading them and adjusting the settings so this could be me being dense, but I am hoping someone can help.
I just went from a Touch to a Touch Pro and when I loaded cLaunch it is tiny on the screen. When I go into the settings the left side of the screen has some info, and on the right some of the tabs are there but cut off, and I can't get to the other ones.
I have tried the version above as well as 12.03 (which says it is not a valid pocket pc app and can't be loaded) and 12.04. I have loaded cLaunch.dat into the windows folder and see my shortcuts on the screen but they are very, very small.
Is this a setting I need to change? I have been through all the settings I can think of. I love this app and would appreciate any help anyone can give me to make this work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hello
I'm new on this forum and would like to confirm exactly the same problems on my HTC Touch HD.
I've been using this software for years on my old MIO, but I must now move to another soft for my HTC.
Like other people in this thread, I really would like to come back to Claunch.
Any chance to get it upgraded ?
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
I would like to have Claunch size 64
Hi,
I am very happy with Claunch size 48, but it would be better en size 64 : the friend of my mother had an AVC and he can't speak.
I put pics and shortcut to .mp3 : when he clic on one pic, the pocket PC read a little sentence.
He can use it in size 48, but it would be easier in size 64.
Many thanks for that wonderfull software.
Excuse my bad english, I am french....
Chantal
vga screen
it doesn't work with vga screen .. ie v900
it would be kind if it was possible to make it working for vga screen
many thanks
plus 1 on this if anyone can make a higher res icon version for wvga
would like to try this on the HD2 but icons are only a quater size with this version.
Can you get exe instead of today's plug in?
What i mean can we also jave claunch.exe which can be excuted from PPC as stand alon application instaed of today's plugin
I found this great program online a few days ago thats very good for (especially for noobys) at allowing you to customize icons right on your ppc. Ive tried it extensivley with .png icons that is use for my iFonz screen. All you need to do is copy and paste the icon you want to customize into My Documents/My Pictures, and bring up the PaintApp. You can zoom in to single block view which in my opinion makes customizing extremely easy. It also has a feature which alows you to resize your icons simply by entering in the size desired. If your creative enough, choose your size, and make one from scratch. This program is also just fun to use. Below is the .cab file for the program. This is great for people who have no experience making icons.
Tip, use something simple like a blank calendar or calculator icon as your base if you want to make a completley new icon. It makes it easier to know the outline of what you want.
Hope you enjoy this. I do.
it looks great
thank you so much for bringing this nice prog here
cheers
TweakMan said:
I found this great program online a few days ago thats very good for (especially for noobys) at allowing you to customize icons right on your ppc. Ive tried it extensivley with .png icons that is use for my iFonz screen. All you need to do is copy and paste the icon you want to customize into My Documents/My Pictures, and bring up the PaintApp. You can zoom in to single block view which in my opinion makes customizing extremely easy. It also has a feature which alows you to resize your icons simply by entering in the size desired. If your creative enough, choose your size, and make one from scratch. This program is also just fun to use. Below is the .cab file for the program. This is great for people who have no experience making icons.
Tip, use something simple like a blank calendar or calculator icon as your base if you want to make a completley new icon. It makes it easier to know the outline of what you want.
Hope you enjoy this. I do.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you go into detail on what you do to customize your icons? I use iFonz also and I would Love to fix my own iPhone icons to work with iFonz...
Details
Here's some details like you asked for in the second reply. Im just going to tell you what I use it for. First, to make changes to an icon, copy it to My Pictures located in My Documents. That's the only folder it reads. When you install the app the first time you run it, it will give you an option 4 a tutorial mode. Do it. Anyway.. Once you bring up whatever icon you chose, you have all sorts of options. You can change the color , the size, everything . Then save it. Go bak and copy/paste it back 2 the original folder or wherever you want and there you go. Also , my favorite, you can create your own icon from scratch. Just select the option to create a new file or image, whatever its called. Then choose the option to chae the size. Set it to whatever size you want, 44x44 , 42x42, and have at it. Just mess around and you'll figure out how to make them rounded like the default icons. Now here's a tip to make this easier. If you want to make you own custom icon, copy and paste a realy simple, almost blank default icon, like the calendar icon or the stock lines icon to My Pictures. open it up in the program. use your zoom feature too zoom in pretty close. Select the paintbrush, use white and erase everything inside the icon except the Main outline. This way you have a border to go by and keep it the same shape and size. That's what I do and it works great. Another great feature is being able to cut and paste images from one to another. Just take any image, ( I used a Yahoo! image from the web) , save it to My Pictures , and open it in the program. Change the size to 1 less or the same as the icons your using. Then select the cut option , outline the image the select the 'cut to clipboard' option. Next choose the open option, (dont save chaes when it asks), open the icon you want to use as an outline, or whatever icon you want to put the image on. Paste the image to the icon and then zoom in and use your tools to touch it up. I've made google,yahoo msn, hundred icons that look great! Its really simple. You've just got to play around. Its just a paint app like on you desktop, on your ppc! Its zoom feature just makes it so easy to work on icons. Im posting this from my vogue, so sorry if spelling and puctuation aren't perfect. Ill post some of my icons tomorrow for u to check out. hope you enjoy. and post any icons you come up with guys!
Thanks! ima give it a try =)
General
After Reading through the posts of some of the great minds in this area I have come to conclusion that this cool little application can be greatly improved. Want to know how? Download and unrar the archives link below in the release section. READ UNTILL THE END OF THE POST BEFORE YOU DO SO.
Credits
I have taken the following ideas on board and would like to proposed a more radical customization efforts:
greatbal - creator some of the most fantastic theme around. Read about his work http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=424479.
MikiBest - creator of Customisation Scripts. Read about his work and download http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=424933.
Thedumbkid - creator of spbwatcher.cab. Read about this and download http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2028191&postcount=11.
Note: Please inform me if you find your works are used in this effort. I will give you the proper credits. If you find your works here and they are not freeware, please inform me so that I would remove it from this package. Thanks.
My proposal
1. Replace today screen completely with Spb Mobile Shell. This is not exactly a mandatory.
2. Make Spb Mobile Shell as customizable as possible. Users can select their own combinations to make up a theme they like.
a. Language - During first install only. (currently only english read below in collaboration section)
b. Layout
c. Buttons icons
d. Background
e. Analog/Digital Clock icons
f. Weather icons
g. Status3. Anybody who would like to make customisation can focus on the specific area where they want to change.
4. With multitude of customizations available, user can choose which combination they want to use and thus make it more usable.
5. This eliminate the need to make multiple themes with slight variations.
6. There seem a need for standardization for customization. I will propose it later after all potential problems has been identified.
I will start this effort. Hopefully we can have something usable by next week. Anyone who would like to joint this effort can contact me at [email protected] or [email protected]. I would love very much for the three name mentioned above to joint me. I think we have something good here that can be fully optimized.
Screen Shots
These are screen shots from my pda. Five pages of the Tabs...
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
1. Launcher
2. Contacts
3. Now/Lockscreen... Sorry I am Arsenal freak.
4. Diary
5. Undecided ... I will think of something for now it is just a copy of the Original Launcher. If you have any idea please tell me.
I will make a layout that only contain 4 tabs. Removing a copy of Laucher.
This is how I change Launcher buttons nows...
1. Goto Launcher
2. Goto Tools
3. Goto Spb Skins
4. Goto Extra Options... here is the differents now you are presented with choices instead of what you want to change.
5. Goto Buttons
6. Selection Screen... select iphone..
7. Now you have new Laucher buttons.. Imagine doing this with background, clocks, layouts, Weather, Status...
Released
1. Beta Released. 22/09/2008 - Discontinued.
2. Beta 1 Release. 24/09/2008 - Still available.
3. Beta 2 Release. 26/09/2008 - Latest.
a. Diff Files. Replace Old files only. 15MB (Unzip, Copy ShellSkins over old ShellSkins)
b. Complete Package. 22MB4. Beta 2 Release. 11/10/2008 - Projected date.
Note: If you download the package please give feedback.
Instructions
1. Disable spbwatcher. Very important! if your mobile shell cannot load your pda will try it in endless loop (he he he hapen to me). if you have Spb pocket tools maybe you can start in safe mode. If not (like me), Use activesync, copy original mobile shell to installed folder and soft reset. Just like the "old way" mobile shell customization step.
2. Extract the files and copy to any extra/external storage you have. Don't copy to the internal ram. well you can but space is limited might as well free it for your running apps.
3. If you have run Mortscript before skip this step. If not just click on Mortscript.exe to activate it once.
4. Click at Install_ShellSkins - this script will do the everything or you. And you are done.
5. Open Mobile Shell. Goto Tools->Spb Skins, All available functions are there. Enjoy.
Collaboration
I need help in language translation. If you download this package. And you customize it for your own language please send a copy of the language files to me. I will include it in the package and mentione your name in the credits.
If you have idea you can tell me in this thread.
If you have any part of the Mobile Shell such as layout, buttons, background anything at all also send it to me and this package can be much better.
I know some of the material in the package was originally done by someone. Due to the huge number of meterial in it, I could not properly credits all of you. Tell you what. If you change your material to suit my framework and resend it to me, I will definitely mention your name here.
Finally, Thank you very much for reading, hope your enjoy the download and farewell.
18-09-2008
Finally, all possible categories of custimization is sorted into their own folders. This effort would make easy it for the user but definitely makes life a bit problematic for the developers/theme maker. Why, there is some standard that must be followed. Theme maker could not just add functions such as buttons or any other visual item by replacing the original files. This would make our effort useless. There will be new upgrades by the Spb MS makers and with such upgrades we would lost our customization after the file being replace with new files that is not yet customize.
Example. We customize layout by changing qa_layouts, inside it we refer to our new 5 tabs instead of 4 tabs by manufacturer. We also change the bitmap icon to add new tab icon in q*_bkg_now ( * = a/p/l ). If this file got replaced, we lost all our layouts. Instead, we create new files q*_bkg_now# ( * = a/p/l, # = 1/2/3/.. ) and refer it to our new layout. Even if the upgrade replace the old files, it won't touch or customization files. If you need to add new functions. Don't do it to original files but use extension files instead.
20-09-2008
Everything is taking shape. It is working but a bit funny. Like navigation button appear all over the place. Lanscape mode not displaying right. And many other discrepancies. The background and layout downloaded from MikiBest only have potrait view files. Decided to make new layout concepts as follows:
Original - 3 Tabs/1 Close button
3 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
3 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
3 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
3 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
4 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
4 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
4 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
4 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
5 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
5 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask
5 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
5 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
21-09-2008
Created Arsenal Theme.
22-09-2008
5 Tabs series created.
Beta Available.
23-09-2008
Some display bugs. Need to correct.
24-09-2008
4 Pages series finished.
5 Pages display bug corrected.
Standardization of backrgound started. For those that want to know how the standard is implemented. Go to Original or Arsenal in Commons/Background/Original or Commons/Background/Arsenal directory after you unrar it. Each background theme must have qp_bkg_now, qp_bkg_now1, ql_bkg_now and ql_bkg_now1 files. If you have square screen. Rename qp_bkg_now and qp_bkg_now to qs_bkg_now and qs_bkg_now1 respectively. If it doesn't work tell me.
Notes: Do not add any new buttons or background image to the archives. Just replace the images and icons in there to suite your theme.
Old Icons and Backgrounds from MikiBest download will not work correctly. If you happens to change any of the old files in the background directory to follow new standard please send it to me. I will include it in future release.
Connectivity buttons like in the MikiBest download is not yet implemented. They disrupt the skins layout. Buttons go all over the place. Like I said standardization is required.
Beta 1 Released. See first post for downloads and instructions.
New Packaging concept started for next release.
26-09-2008
New layouts. I have merged the layout new and old into the following list:
3 Tabs Now/Contact/Spb Menu
3 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
3 Tabs/No Background/No Grid - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
3 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
3 Tabs/Normal Background/No Grid - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
3 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
3 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
4 Tabs Calendar/Now/Contact/Spb Menu
4 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
4 Tabs/No Background/No Grid - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
4 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
4 Tabs/Normal Background/No Grid - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
4 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
4 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
4 Tabs Original Menu/Calendar/Now/Contact/Spb Menu
5 Tabs/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
5 Tabs/No Background/No Grid - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
5 Tabs/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask
5 Tabs/Normal Background/No Grid - Show Background BMP and it Mask
5 Tabs/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
5 Tabs/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
Actually 5 Tabs Now/Speeddail1/Speeddail2/Speeddail3/Spb Menu
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/No Background - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/No Background/No Grid - Doesn't matter what background you pick it will not show Only theme color will show.
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/Normal Background - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/Normal Background/No Grid - Show Background BMP and it Mask.
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/Saparator Background - Show Hacked Saparator Background, Most background from Mikibest can be applied. Landscape view need to be corrected.
3 Tabs/3 Speeddial/Saparator Background/No Grid - Show Hacked Saparator Background but without grid.
I will not be making any new layouts. I think this should satisfied most everyone needs for layout selection. If there is somethine new that I can think of I will put it here. I am also thinking of replace tab1 in 5 tabs layout. Not sure what to put in there yet.
I have corrected the backgrounds and buttons from the original package by MikiBest. It is now okay to work within my package. I cheated abit though. Because I don't have the time neither the capability to make varieties of tab buttons. I copied them all over the bacgrounds. Sorry guys I am sure someone will replace them with something more interesting soon. And if you did please pass it back to me. So everybody else can enjoy it too.
New packaging is in progress. By the way. People who downloaded the packages please give feedbacks. It would be nice to hear how you guys like it.
07-10-2008
Sorry guys.. I had flue for about a week. It has been a terrible week for me. I have not yet finish repackaging the app. I just started to look at it again. I think I fell sick because of the lack of sleep and tiredness. so, my body defenses against microbs was not functioning well. I am much better not. Hopefully I can get it done soon.
Next Relase date 11/10/2008.
hm..not to be stomping out your good intentions and all..but you evidently didn't read all the forums about SPB. There's already a little program called "SPB Switcher" or something along those lines that changes the themes of SPB quickly. When tweaked correctly you can add your own custom theme to it too.
This Z an idea , every 1 LKNG 4 it .
but we hv 2 consider the fact that the themz dn by scanerz contian >> bkgroundz + icons + pagez + clock + otherz
with the relation between them z diff between a them & another .
so , its fair NOW 2 hv just a simple program 2 make the chanc n changng between diff themz eazy .
jackljane said:
Finally, all possible categories of custimization is sorted into their own folders. This effort would make easy it for the user but definitely makes life a bit problematic for the developers/theme maker. Why, there is some standard that must be followed. Theme maker could not just add functions such as buttons or any other visual item by replacing the original files. This would make our effort useless. There will be new upgrades by the Spb MS makers and with such upgrades we would lost our customization after the file being replace with new files that is not yet customize.
Example. We customize layout by changing qa_layouts, inside it we refer to our new 5 tabs instead of 4 tabs by manufacturer. we also change the bitmap icon to add new tab icon in q*_bkg_now (* = a/p/l ). This file got replaced and we lost all our layouts. instead we can create a new file qz_bkg_now and refer it to our new layout. even if the upgrade replace the old files, it won't touch or customization files. If you need to add new functions. don't do it to common/original files but use extension files instead.
p/s: I made great progress. But can anybody explain to me why my icons and background got messed up after i edited it with Photoshop? The graphics just not showing right. greatbal? Anyone, help please?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is messed up because the bmp is a 16bit file. You need to save them as R5 G6 B5 format. When saving, you will need to select the Advanced Mode and save as per above format.
Your icons will look nice after that.
Hope this helps, and looking forward to your program.
Edit: Refer to this post. Luiggi had done up an icons tutorial.
Looking forward to this. It would be great to have an app like the HTC Home customizer was for Mobile Shell. I'm not sure what app JokeZony0u is referring to when he says something already exists.
What SPB Switcher EXIST?
JokeZony0u said:
hm..not to be stomping out your good intentions and all..but you evidently didn't read all the forums about SPB. There's already a little program called "SPB Switcher" or something along those lines that changes the themes of SPB quickly. When tweaked correctly you can add your own custom theme to it too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have been spending a huge amount of time on this when I read you post. Are you sure about this? Can you provide a link to it? I will be searching for this app before making decission to continuing my effort. If anybody else have seen it please tell us. I don't want to put off too long if there isn't any such thing as I also fail to find it.
I think there's a difference between theme switcher, that just switches between completely defined themes, and a program that allows me to customize a theme myself. So the idea still stands good imho. If I can help with my little perl skills, let me know
g00ndu said:
It is messed up because the bmp is a 16bit file. You need to save them as R5 G6 B5 format. When saving, you will need to select the Advanced Mode and save as per above format.
Your icons will look nice after that.
Hope this helps, and looking forward to your program.
Edit: Refer to this post. Luiggi had done up an icons tutorial.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you so much. I am more code kinda of guy not really good in graphics. I am going to try it now.
just found this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=424933
crispyj said:
just found this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=424933
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yup, this idea is based on the original ide by MikiBest. But trying to mix and match between options is still not possible. By the way the original idea would be to merged the two concept together. And by sharing informations. A better solutions will emerge.
The program by MikiBest gives you so many options already that I cant see how you are going to make anything that will make it better. One issue is stability and if you have thousands of options its more likely to crash or have other issues. If you check out MikiBests web site you will see how proffesional the approach to the software is and the effort put into the program.
Good luck but for me I already have way to many options to play around with in MikiBests program. If you want to use any of my icons in your work then let me know - made a set up for MikiBest of my Iphone Silver icons and they look great in his program.
scorpion66 said:
The program by MikiBest gives you so many options already that I cant see how you are going to make anything that will make it better. One issue is stability and if you have thousands of options its more likely to crash or have other issues. If you check out MikiBests web site you will see how proffesional the approach to the software is and the effort put into the program.
Good luck but for me I already have way to many options to play around with in MikiBests program. If you want to use any of my icons in your work then let me know - made a set up for MikiBest of my Iphone Silver icons and they look great in his program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For 1, replacing the default home screen with the SPB is one good reason.
scorpion66 said:
The program by MikiBest gives you so many options already that I cant see how you are going to make anything that will make it better. One issue is stability and if you have thousands of options its more likely to crash or have other issues. If you check out MikiBests web site you will see how proffesional the approach to the software is and the effort put into the program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ha ha ha... Yup, you are right. I don't dispute that MikiBest has done great job with the initial idea and provide us with a great tool. I want to improve on that idea and share with everybody (Including MikiBest). It is a reengineering his effort and reshare. If you love the tools by Miki, by all means use his. If you want to try mine it is okay too.
scorpion66 said:
Good luck but for me I already have way to many options to play around with in MikiBests program. If you want to use any of my icons in your work then let me know - made a set up for MikiBest of my Iphone Silver icons and they look great in his program.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would love to use your icons sets. I am very bad at graphics. I will contact you later when it is time. For now I am just scrapping from everywhere. And doesn't really has any clear theme that really represent a theme.. wa ha ha.. You know what, if you can, look at my Arsenal theme in the first post. Tabs icons can be better represented by
1. Launcher - Whistle
2. Contacts - Players Jersy
3. Home - Emerite stadium/or Arsenal Logo
4. Diary - Game Schedule
5. Don't know what to put here yet. But I you can propose...
Guys,
I have two pda Dopod and Omnia, different screens sizes. So I guess I have to make the theme/customization that would work for both type of screen QVGA and WQVGA. This is good news for those who want to use MikiBest tools but don't have Omnia.
I have made a theme called Arsenal. Customize the original layout file by SPB to include all possible screen sizes. Most of the theme created is very selective for their owner screen size . Yup, why bother waste effort for something that you are not using unless you got paid. Lucky for you, I use both sizes... well for square guys (240x240 screen), I have no way of testing it. If you want to try go a head and tell me how it looks.
Updated... 22/09/2008
Sorry guys, Files upload problem. Let me sort it out first. I will try to store it somewhere first and link from this page. Please be patient. I also need some sleep. wa ha ha ha... can't open my eyes now... too tired..
Update - 23/09/2008
1. What are done so far. Scripts are getting there. Need fine tuning and cleaning up.
a. Install skin - done
b. Change Button - done
c. Change background - done
d. Change digital clock (classic view) - done
e. Change analog clock (classic view) - done
f. Change weather - done
f. Change layout - done
2. Need reengineering for layout and tab buttons for all other template created previously by our good friends. This requirements needs a framework and for a layout to be presented correctly after every change it has to follow this frame work. Otherwise the files will overwrite each other and not useable for the specific layouts. Or some layout might be missing icons or wierd graphics. . I will come up with some sort of standard to follow so anybody interested to creat just button set or just layout or any other option can follow. Now you see, we can have thousands of themplate. once this is done.
3. Skin develop by some of our good friends need to be rebuilt to fit the new framework as well, especially the layout part and tab buttons. Rightnow, I avoid using those layout until i can port it into current framework.
4. Well as I mentioned above, I need help. If any of you have spare time please lend a hand. So that we can profit together.
p/s: I am uploading the file to mediafire... once finish I will update the first post of this thread to include the link.
well the switcher that they found was what I referring to, sorry for the confusion! I misinterpreted your intentions! Sorry I haven't kept up with this thread either!
This seems like one of the best places to ask this...
Do any of you know if there is a way to have SPB Mobile Shell show a different alarm such as G-Alarm instead of the SPB Time alarm on the Now screen?
Jye75 said:
This seems like one of the best places to ask this...
Do any of you know if there is a way to have SPB Mobile Shell show a different alarm such as G-Alarm instead of the SPB Time alarm on the Now screen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well Jye, I am investigating this myself. For the moment, my answer is, what can be shown inside mobile shell are only the functionalities already builtin within mobile shell. You can add links and stuff to external stuff and represent it with icons. But never to loading external function within mobile shell. If I ever found out more about this I will post it here.
Guys, Yes..... I finally manage to upload it. Read the first post (http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2653709&postcount=1) for download link and instruction.
TauTau said:
I think there's a difference between theme switcher, that just switches between completely defined themes, and a program that allows me to customize a theme myself. So the idea still stands good imho. If I can help with my little perl skills, let me know
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TauTau,
I need all the help I can get. Download the first Beta. Try it and see how you can make it better. I need different perspective. My brain slow down after 5 day doing this... .
Beta 1 is now available... goto first post for information, download and instructions. Enjoy.