An app idea...about accent colors (utopic right now...) :( - Windows Phone 7 Software Development

An app idea...about accent colors (utopic right now...) :( - Windows Phone 7 Software Development

I was thinking that at the time where developers will have access to Mango accent colours, it could be a lovely idea to make an app like this:
http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Imagine a "light version" of this app for WP7 with:
1. The same access to color data (viewing of hex/rgb values)
2. A big "randomizer button" to randomly produce combinations (like the one inside the online app menu...)
3. Presets with load save
4. ..an "apply as theme colors" function (the app would map the generated colors to each of the available parts (registry keys) of the OS.
..someone could tap the randomizer button if he doesn't know about color combinations, until he finds one he likes. Then, he could manually or automatically (randomly) map colors to the appropriate areas of the OS. (I think this is about 3-4 color mappings), save the combination into a preset and apply it by adding it as an accent color in phone's theme menu.
I could definitely buy such an app, even if it was an expensive one.

i think what you are looking for is called Advanced Config

Cristi93 said:
i think what you are looking for is called Advanced Config
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Advanced Config:
1. Doesn't work properly (It closes right after I open it in Mango and I also get an error message at the start. I had it before some months and it worked...I don't know what happened)
2. It doesn't have a color scheme generator (we can just choose one color for the tiles and active fonts and that's all). So we can't change background / tile / tile font colors according to an already tested combination of colors.
3. It doesn't have a randomizer (which, if all the above existed, could modify all of the OS colors with a minimum amount of aesthetic errors. Not all combinations are suitable for every use, but at least many of them could be quickly accessible with just the press of a button and they could be even modified if the user wanted.
...for those who say that WP7 has already great colors and doesn't need apps/functionality like this I can say that the system doesn't get bloated with an advanced color customizer. It gets bloated when someone tries to radically change the style of the UI, like making the 2d icons look like "iphone 3d icons" etc...that could be bad...but having the ability to properly change tile/background/font colors, is like MS making us part of their design team.

Moved to WP7 Software development
This is not the place for a discussion about a non existent app. Please post in the correct section.
Take it easy
O_G

Sorry for the wrong thread. I hadn't noticed that section..

Related

How To: Customize the Sliding Panels Homescreen

This was from the windows mobile team blog. More to follow but wanted to post it for those who don't read that.
Original link: http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile/archive/2008/06/03/customizing-the-sliding-panel-homescreen.aspx
Customizing the Sliding Panel Homescreen
from Windows Mobile Team Blog by Jorge Peraza
Hi, my name is Jorge Peraza; I am a Developer on the Windows Mobile team that was responsible for the new “Sliding Panel” home screen in Windows Mobile 6.1.
When we were working on the visual style and functionality of the home screen we tried to make something that looked both professional and appealing while still showcasing all the information the user is going to need to know what’s important and requires attention. While I think the default design looks really cool, we added some customization features to enable users to make it their own.
Customizing the layout
The home screen layout can be modified using the same home.xml file from previous versions of WM, the schema of the file was extended to allow the customization of many of its elements, this includes the art assets that are used for most of the plug-ins.
When you open the SlidingPanel.home.xml file (inside \ApplicationData\Home) you will find the plug-in element that corresponds to the sliding panel home screen (its CLSID is {E9267CAB-02EE-4f37-8216-6BF6A8FF5A71}). All the child elements inside it are designed to tweak and customize the way the home screen will look.
The top level element is the plugins tag, this has one attribute called “Order” and it’s used to list the plug-ins that will be shown and the order they are going to be laid out on the screen.
The built in plug-in names are:
1)CClock – The big clock
2)CAppointments - The calendar plugin
3)CHome – The notifications plugin
4)CMyPhotos – The photos plugin
5)CMessage – The message center (this is off by default on all sliding panel built in layouts.
6)CMusic – The music plugin
7)Settings – The settings plug-in
8)Custom Plugin – Users can specify custom plug-ins with static content that can be displayed on the home screen.
For example, the XML snippet bellow moves the photos plug-in to the first position and enables the message center (which is turned off by default on both "Sliding Panel" and "Sliding Panel Media")
<plugin clsid="{E9267CAB-02EE-4f37-8216-6BF6A8FF5A71}" name="Bronze" height="266">
<Plugins Order="CMyPhotos;CClock;CMessage" />
</plugin>
There are many other ways of customizing the home screen using the plug-in settings like overriding the default images or even adding your own custom plug-ins that display static content, I'll post and updated entry latter on on how to do this in detail but for now, you can use the provided home.xml files to start experimenting with this.
The notifications plug-in and message center
In the sliding panel home screen, the notifications plug-in by default serves as a dual-purpose notifications/gateway to all you phone/message accounts where every page represents one account (so, if you have multiple notifications in one category they will be shown as one summary page).
There is however an alternative behavior where individual notifications are added as independent pages (Similar to what the T-Mobile shadow home screen does) and the plug-in only shows accounts that have new notifications in them. One cool feature of this alternate behavior is that each individual notification can be dismissed without having to leave the home screen.
You can enable this alternative behavior by setting the following registry key to a value other than 2 (The actual value indicates how many pages of each notification type will be added to the home screen before collapsing them into a summary page. We have tested 2 and 5 but feel free to experiment with other values)
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome\Chome]
PageCollapseThreshold: DWORD
Note that this prevents you from being able to access the email/phone account data if there are no notifications for it. If you still want to be able to do that you can always re-enable the message center as described in the previous section as a separate plug-in.
There is one more behavioral change you can make that allows you to “dock” the condensed view of the first plug-in to the top of the screen when it is not active, we added this for people like me that want to have the clock always visible. To enable just set the following registry key to “1”
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome]
DockOperatorBar: DWORD
Advanced layout modification
There are even more advanced things you can do to further tweak the look of the home screen but it is unsupported by Microsoft at this moment so you’ll have to experiment on your own J (Hint, look at the following files \windows\CHome_240x320.cpr and \windows\CHome_320x240.cpr).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thanks to djNutz for posting this information & OrganicM for his efforts.

I wanted to create a post with info about what the different keys do in the CHome section of the registry. So, I'll start with a brand new one, that I bet nobody knows about....
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome\Chome]
PageCollapseThreshold: 2 or 5 (DWORD Value)
This will collapse your Notifications panel to only show active notifications. You can enable this alternative behavior by setting the following registry key to a value other than 2 (The actual value indicates how many pages of each notification type will be added to the home screen before collapsing them into a summary page. 2 and 5 were tested and work pretty well.
More to come of course....

should this change be made to the security section too, or does that matter? actually, do changes to the security section ever matter, cause they seem to apply even when you only edit the software section.
p.s.
i'm pretty sure people are gonna ask, so maybe i'll save some trouble instead of looking like an ass by answering preemptively. This DWORD value must be created with your registry editor, it's not already there, at least on ricky v24.
2 = default or normal (i assume cause it looks the same as before) and 5 = condensed.

But for the rest of us who don't have the time to be on every WM blog and forum at once here's my favorite:
To “dock” the condensed view of the first plug-in to the top of the screen when it is not active, set the following registry key to “1”
[HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Chome]
DockOperatorBar: DWORD
This is so you can have the clock always visible, no matter which panel you're on. You could also set it so that CHome Weather's compact view is always on top. Whatever plugin is first on the list.

More info from MS coming down the pipe:
We can get the day of the week on the clock plugin at the top of CHome by doing this:
Replace this portion...
<!-- Date --> <Text ID="Date" Left="180" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
With this!
<!-- Date -->
<Text ID="Date" Left="180" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Left" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
<Text ID="Day of Week" Left="65" Top="83" Width="110" Height="19" FontFamily="Segoe Condensed" FontSize="9" FontStyle="Bold" Wrap="False" HorizontalAlignment="Right" Trimming="EllipsisCharacter"></Text>
I will incorporate this in Chome Weather fore sure!

Here you go, the first is my Home
2nd is Scroll Down once
3rd is Scroll Down twice
4th is Scroll Down Thrice
heh
Edit: Tried Month in cpr, no luck.
will keep trying

I'm glad people are finally getting this information out. It makes customization that much easier. I'm adding the tips to the wiki as well, as they come out.

How to Reload the Homescreen
I have two questions:
1. After editing my CHome cpr file, how do I reload the homescreen without having to reboot the device?
2. How can I show any text on the clock panel? Regular text is defined by Text ID = "xxxxx", where xxxxx is something like Time, Network Name, etc. However, suppose I want to have the text "Knowledge Rules", how do I set it up in XML?
I have very little programming and Excalibur experience. So, I apologize if these questions are too naive or have been answered before.
Thanks a lot in advance.

you can use this if you dont use OrganicM Chome Weather

I don't think Microsoft has put out much documentation on the sliding panels plugin yet. Most of the CHome configurations use
Code:
TextID="text 1"
as the delimiter for static text. But that's not to say that the clock plugin will recognize that as a valid section. Could work. Could make your phone useless.

beartard said:
I don't think Microsoft has put out much documentation on the sliding panels plugin yet. Most of the CHome configurations use
Code:
TextID="text 1"
as the delimiter for static text. But that's not to say that the clock plugin will recognize that as a valid section. Could work. Could make your phone useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I do not understand. How do I make the phone know that:
text 1 = Knowledge Rules?
Typical syntax seems to be Text ID = "xxxx", where xxxx is a variable name, which is recognized by the device. If Text 1 is a valid variable for the device, how do I assign it a value? Am I rambling here?

No, you're not rambling. As far as the information coming from Microsoft and disseminated here on this site goes, it's a best guess right now.

someone at msdn blog asked the same question.
Someone at msdn blog asked the same question. Let's wait to see if we get an answer from there...
From http://blogs.msdn.com/windowsmobile...ustomizing-the-sliding-panel-homescreen.aspx:
"Jorgeba, thanks for taking the time to educate your user. I have some questions.
How do you change the text in the condense clock? The .cpr file has Text ID="Text 1". How is "Text 1" define? I would love to add the date to the condense layout.
The ActionURL and Softkey2 URL in the Appointments plug-in always open calendar in the today view. Is there a way to make one of the button opens calendar in the month view? Setting the default view for calendar does not help."

Easy as pie......
If you know what you are doing.
If you have any xml experience,then you'll know how to adjust x and y values to position things in different places. Yes, you can do that. Just change x=whatever and y=whatever to where you would like them to be. Just know this means that it will start on the left and move x pixels over and y pixels down. If you put in negative values, it will shift them in the opposite direction.
Eg. x=-whatever will move it to the left vs a + value which will move it to the right. Same for y=
Also, you can adjust the valignment and halignment to center, left, or right.
Have fun with these. They apply to everything in your cpr (That's the layout for your homescreen.It's in your \Windows directory on your phone).I mean everything, from where your network displays, right down to your pictures.
That's it. Have fun!
jaymit said:
Hi,
Sorry Im kind of a newbie :s, is it possible to edit home screen panels? I wanted to change the layout and look of the clock plugin.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Does anybody know how to change font color for certain panels or certain lines of text in the panel? Is it only possible for the whole homescreen?

As far as I know even as far as old xml coding works, you can only change a font color for a selected word or unselected word. Meaning, if you have the old 6.0 your plugins that are selected could have a different color, but unselected could be another color. This applied to the entire homescreen. I have not seen different colors for different plugins, since each panel style is basically its own plugin (each has its own unique GUID), then I doubt you can change font color for each plugin. You can more than likely only change the active selected panel and inactive panel fonts. I am not sure what their titles are in the cpr, but I know that in the old 6.0, the homecolor was one of the fonts colors and the other was called something else.
Eventhough this is 6.1, it doesn't look like much has changed as far as the fonts color goes. You could, however, always try adding a "fontcolor=" command in the cpr and a hex code and try it, to see if it works.
Hope this helps.

Edit your registry or get CHome Config
Both do the same thing. You want to change the plugin order for CHome. It's located in HKLM\Security\CHome\Default Settings and in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\CHome. Edit the order you want your plugins to go. Reboot your phone and the new edits should be reflected in your homescreen layout. If you are having trouble cause this is new. Just search this thread for CHome Configurator. It's stickied at the top of this forum. Download it and it will let you select the order in a much easier way. Make sure you reboot, though, or else your changes won't show. Hope this fixes your problem. Later.
tae-xda said:
How to change the default location for where the CMyPhotos plugin
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

rollingondubs1 said:
I have that already, All my games are under a folder which i cant make it as a action url
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try this
"ACTIONURL" = "\Windows\Start Menu\Games\xxxxx xxxx.lnk
or this
"ACTIONURL" = "\windows\fexplore.exe; \windows\start menu\games"

Yes you can
One last time, I think I've figured out how to help you.
1. Open Chome Config.
2. Scroll to MyApplication and select it with your center button.
3. Scroll to any page you want to edit. Then scroll down to where it says ActionURL. Press menu.
4. Once in the menu select the "1 Change URL" item.
5. Once you have selected that it will take you to a file explorer. Go to \Windows\Start Menu\Games. This is where your games should be. If not, then wherever you store, your games, navigate yourself to that folder and select the file you want.
I think this should cover it. Hope this solved your problem. HOLLA!!!!
rollingondubs1 said:
I have that already, All my games are under a folder which i cant make it as a action url
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

How to change the location of CMyPhoto to \Storage Card\My Documents\My Picturs

NRG Weather 3.0 - "The pretty version..."

Here's Chome Weather 3.0 with a 10 day forecast. Download the cab and enjoy.
1) Install the cab in the link at the bottom of the post.
2) It should ask to reboot ! Press "Ok"
3) Go to your Start Menu and find "Weather Options", or go down to the Settings slide on your homescreen and the second slide will be the CHome Weather options slide.
Set your Zip / Location Code to your zip code if you're in the US or a "location code" if you're anywhere else (ex: ROXX003 for Bucharest). More info on finding your specific code is here http://developer.yahoo.com/weather/#req . Set the "Fahrenheit / Celsius" option. This will only affect the reading of the current conditions panels, not the text descriptions in the forecast panels. Those will always be in Fahrenheit.
Specify whether you would like the application to attempt to connect your default GPRS connection first, before updating. If you have a constant data connection on, leave this on "N". Finally you can turn off the autoupdate feature with the last option #7.
4) Now it might be a good idea to go to Start and find "Update Weather" and run it to update the weather data! Alternatively you can click the center button while you're on any of the forecast panels.
5) The cab should set your Home Screen to "Sliding Panel + Weather!" automatically.
6) Enjoy and report any bugs you might encounter, please.
New features:
- New 6 day forecast layout (layout #7)
- Autoupdate using Yahoo's server time. No manual control over update interval anymore.
- Revised layouts to ensure correct wrapping
- HomeScreen update feature. No need to reboot to see forecast or layout changes. This option is turned off by default because it doesn't work for everybody. If you turn it on and you see problems with your phone's radio turning off, phone becoming very slow etc... turn it off. (it's option #10)
- Added new panel to the Settings panel at the bottom for easy access to the weather updates and settings.
- "Stardock icons" are default for forecast and regular panels.
Screenshot descriptions:
1- IPhone Layout (this is the default layout)
2- Forecast Panels screenshot
3- Slim Panels Layout with the background options enabled
4- HTC Slim Layout while updating
5- HTC Slim Layout in normal mode
6- The HomeScreen with the weather plugin in its "condensed" state at the bottom, showing current conditions
7- Regular Panel Layout with no background.
8- IPhone Slim Layout
Download link > http://www.sendspace.com/file/4mh11j
Vox Version (Currently still at 3.0.1) > http://www.sendspace.com/file/0bie7d
Current Version: 3.1
Changes in 3.1
- Rearranged the order the various subroutines run.
- Fixed autoupdate issue.
- Removed HTC icons and background PNGs from the cab. Please download them separately from the addons post if you plan to use those layouts.
- Added option to show extended forecast panels on the homescreen or not.
- Added detection routine to detect if your phone's keypad is locked and NOT to update the homescreen is that's the case. Should help with the "Phone - Incoming" message problem that's been reported
- Edited some CPRs for better alignment
- More verbose status messages
- Etc...
More to come soon. The next version will update your clock panel with current conditions info. Just wanted to get this update out of the way first.
Changes in 3.0.1:
- Added 6 day forecast layout.
- Autoupdate feature based on Yahoo server's time.
- Small bugfixes, revised Options panel.
- Compressed PNGs.
- Complete portrait support for the new 6 day layout.
- Background used in screenshots included in .cab.
Changes to 2.0.3:
- completely redesigned Options panel. Hopefully things will be easier to get around. Now it tell you what the current layout used is.
- Fixed HTC Layout (5) text not wrapping down issue.
- Added option NOT to check for internet connection before connecting.
- Options panel keeps track of what layout you're running.
- added blue, purple, WM7 style or original glass panel selection to options panel.
- updated portrait CPRs.
- forecast panels should now display "N/A" icons when a forecast is not available instead of a red x.
- ability to choose between european ("rest of the world pretty much...) or american style dates on the forecast panels.
If you like this application and feel the need to support my work, here's a link to donate to me via PayPal.
PayPal Donate Link
DO NOT install this to the storage card. It will not work that way!
p.s. Portrait support is included for the new 6 day layout.
p.s.s. The cab seems to take a few minutes to install, especially if you're installing over 2.0.3. So just be patient I guess...

Update to 3.1
Only install this if you have 3.0.1 or 3.0.2 installed. Otherwise, download the cab in the sendspace link above and install the whole app.

This is the "addons" post.
Added "NRG Power Key..... .cab This will add three options to the menu that comes up when you hit the power key on the side of your Excalibur. "Power off", "Reboot" and "Weather Update". I hope they're self explanatory Have fun. Take note your wireless manager might be gone, or might act erracticaly. If you have problems, just install the cab. Don't post in the thread about it, there's nothing I can do about it.
Download the Calibri font mod if you want your system font to look like the one in the screenshots.
The Yahoo, Spil, Novaweather and 7Degree icon sets are alternative icons sets for most of your layouts and extended forecast panels
Most of the icons sets install as a one time installation application. Which means you will not see it in the "uninstallable" list of program under "Settings". Once you run the cab, it will overwrite whatever icons are installed and that's it...

Reserved... the last one.. I promise

Looks niiice i will be testing on Portrait (tornado)
Good Job

So far so good on my Q9c. Last version had to be uninstalled due to a couple of crashes. The worst being when I plugged into the computer the home screen crashed and would not recover after a reboot.
Like the new layout.

Formatting on QVGA
Incredible progress!
I've attached two SS's from my QVGA, using your layout #9 (Standard 6 day which is only 4 day by the way). As you can see, the bottom Temps are not lined up in either F or C and I looked at the CPR, but it is like Greek to me... I see "Bottom Temps" but fiddling and restarting gives me either to the Right or Left - I don't suppose there is a GUI for modding these CPRs is there?
Can you assist in getting it all lined up?
Thanks and keep up the GREAT work! Expect some more PayPal coming your way!

The new layout looks beautiful. The one thing i might suggest: You may want to add an option in advanced options to turn off the 10 day forecast. Since it appears that im going to be using this 6 day testpluginui ( and several others will be too) they may not want or need the additional 10 day forecast panel.
I personally know how to disable it via the registry, but others may not. Secondly, If that option is de-selected, if you can also put in the weather.mscr file to not update that panel, so that way the weather updater runs a little faster.
Edit: I also think that today's Hi/Lo under the city needs to be removed. Its kind of redundant info, since the same info is located in the 6 day forecast located in the first day of the 6 day forecast.
This will also allow more room for lengthier weather condition names.

Damn,
Free service is at full capacity, hope someone can mirror it later.....
I'm anxious to try it

I installed on my Q9c and I still get that font issue with large text boxes in PIE, however, I'm willing to put up with it at this point since the 6-day layout means I don't have to reboot the phone to see the latest forecast.
Any idea what might be causing the font issue? Since this weather panel is basically just scripts reading XML files and making registry changes, I can't imagine that it'd be too hard to figure out what's causing the PIE font issue. The font issue isn't a huge deal and I'd completely ignore it if it weren't for the fact that the digital font makes no differentiation between upper and lower case and many special characters just show up as boxes.
I dumped the 10-day panel and added a link to the Weather Update in my links panel if I ever decide to manually update the weather.

Dees_Troy said:
I installed on my Q9c and I still get that font issue with large text boxes in PIE, however, I'm willing to put up with it at this point since the 6-day layout means I don't have to reboot the phone to see the latest forecast.
Any idea what might be causing the font issue? Since this weather panel is basically just scripts reading XML files and making registry changes, I can't imagine that it'd be too hard to figure out what's causing the PIE font issue. The font issue isn't a huge deal and I'd completely ignore it if it weren't for the fact that the digital font makes no differentiation between upper and lower case and many special characters just show up as boxes.
I dumped the 10-day panel and added a link to the Weather Update in my links panel if I ever decide to manually update the weather.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It may be the chome_320X240.cpr file in your /windows directory. When you load a layout. his program pulls .cprs from the chomeweather directory and replaces your original chome_320X240.cpr file ... you may uninstall. copy over your chome320X240.cpr file do your PC's desktop and open it and whatever .cpr file you use for the weather layout and compare the differences.

Glad you guys like it. I'm sorry the portrait guys are still experiencing issues, like the misalignment of the bottom temps. However, the issue needs to be taken care of in the weather.mscr file, not the cpr file. I think I will switch to png rendering of the bottom temps instead of relying on text handled by the plugin. It's just not reliable at all and the temps are always a little misaligned....
Look for 3.0.1 at the end of the day... LOL

pudgedaddy said:
The new layout looks beautiful. The one thing i might suggest: You may want to add an option in advanced options to turn off the 10 day forecast. Since it appears that im going to be using this 6 day testpluginui ( and several others will be too) they may not want or need the additional 10 day forecast panel.
I personally know how to disable it via the registry, but others may not. Secondly, If that option is de-selected, if you can also put in the weather.mscr file to not update that panel, so that way the weather updater runs a little faster.
Edit: I also think that today's Hi/Lo under the city needs to be removed. Its kind of redundant info, since the same info is located in the 6 day forecast located in the first day of the 6 day forecast.
This will also allow more room for lengthier weather condition names.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was gonna say EXACTLY what you just said. lol.

pudgedaddy said:
The new layout looks beautiful. The one thing i might suggest: You may want to add an option in advanced options to turn off the 10 day forecast. Since it appears that im going to be using this 6 day testpluginui ( and several others will be too) they may not want or need the additional 10 day forecast panel.
I personally know how to disable it via the registry, but others may not. Secondly, If that option is de-selected, if you can also put in the weather.mscr file to not update that panel, so that way the weather updater runs a little faster.
Edit: I also think that today's Hi/Lo under the city needs to be removed. Its kind of redundant info, since the same info is located in the 6 day forecast located in the first day of the 6 day forecast.
This will also allow more room for lengthier weather condition names.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that, the testui pluig in is enough for me, I already remove the welcome center because is no need to get it on the screen, anyway it looks besutiful, great work......

Great work as always, man. Amazing how you fit so much information in such a small place.
Personally, I'm sticking with the NRG Slim layout for now. Going for the "less is more" effect

Whats Vox version and how do i get my NRG Colored panels with the 5 day forcast like on PIcture 4?

pudgedaddy said:
The new layout looks beautiful. The one thing i might suggest: You may want to add an option in advanced options to turn off the 10 day forecast. Since it appears that im going to be using this 6 day testpluginui ( and several others will be too) they may not want or need the additional 10 day forecast panel.
I personally know how to disable it via the registry, but others may not. Secondly, If that option is de-selected, if you can also put in the weather.mscr file to not update that panel, so that way the weather updater runs a little faster.
Edit: I also think that today's Hi/Lo under the city needs to be removed. Its kind of redundant info, since the same info is located in the 6 day forecast located in the first day of the 6 day forecast.
This will also allow more room for lengthier weather condition names.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Point taken. I will remove the "hi -lo" in the top left corner and make enabling the welcome center an option

Excuse me for the question, but will this app work on regular WM6, or it only works with WM 6.1 Chome?
No chances to have a version for WM6?

luckyland said:
Excuse me for the question, but will this app work on regular WM6, or it only works with WM 6.1 Chome?
No chances to have a version for WM6?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this app is specifically written for the sliding panel homescreen. The sliding panel homescreen is only available on the WM 6.1 platform. So no. it does not and will not work on the WM6 interface

I've got the shakes...
Oh man... I SO wanna download this and "finagle" while I'm here at work, but I'll need to edit my cpr and it's too cumbersome trying to do it from the phone (instead of on my PC desktop). Blast! My love for boldened titles hinders me from enjoying this .cab this instant! lol

Folder Background Colors

Does anyone know how i can changed the color of my folders in WM6 to any other color instead of white? i would like to change it to something like this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=334781&page=3
i also attached a picture so that you can see what it looks like.

use this software:
http://freewareppc.com/utilities/uitweaker.shtml
i've been using it for quite some time now. it's quite stable but changing the background colors takes some effort....not to mention a number of soft resets.
the app has like 4 sections:
pt explorer - not really used
tdyscheme changer - for changing your today scheme fonts, colors, etc
syscolor change - * this is the one you need *
wm5 color change - you can also use this. don't worry about the wm5 tag. i use wm6 and it still works fine
when opening the system color change tab, you can scan around the drop down menus to change whatever section you want. example, if you want to change the windows color, just drop to that menu and thus make the necessary changes.
it takes some getting used to as well but it works just fine. oh, and when you're done changing it'll ask to soft reset to enable the said changes.

{Team Rejectz} THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET{moved to theme sec sorry} {Still Working On}

This first post is about using Adobe Illustrator
I figured I would share a little knowlege of my designing and how when i came to android it helped out in making theming my rom so much quicker
ATTACHED AT THE BOTTOM IS A STARTER LAYOUT TO HELP MAKE LIFE EASIER FOR YOU!!!!!! :fingers-crossed:
THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET
INDEX1. Tools..........................................................................
2. Begin.........................................................
3. The Setup...........................................
4. The Artboards.........................................................
5. Adding And Modifying Multiple Artboards.....................
6. Saving your Icons.................................
7. Layers, Colors, And Strokes................................................
8. SELECTING MULTIPLE LAYERS AND ICONS TO CHANGE COLOR AT ONCE.
9. TRACING TOOL...................................................
10. Keyboard shortcuts coming soon
1.TOOLS
First remove Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks from your playlist. To me these tools are crap or for short cuts. lol but short cuts coming soon
"Adobe Illustrator" and some quick learning or know how.
I'm not going to go over every single tool because if anyone knows illustrator lol its just way to many. Im just going to get to the main ones in this case in point.
2. BEGIN
Adobe Illustrator is one of the best graphic design tool I've ever used Ever. Your images would no longer start of as just a pic anymore. Now its time to learn vector.
Vector graphics is the use of geometrical primitives such as points, lines, curves, and shapes or polygon(s), which are all based on mathematical expressions, to represent images in computer graphics. "Vector", in this context, implies more than a straight line.
Vector graphics is based on images made up of vectors (also called paths, or strokes) which lead through locations called control points. Each of these points has a definite position on the x and y axes of the work plan. Each point, as well, is a variety of database, including the location of the point in the work space and the direction of the vector (which is what defines the direction of the track). Each track can be assigned a color, a shape, a thickness and also a fill. This does not affect the size of the files in a substantial way because all information resides in the structure; it describes how to draw the vector.
WIKI^^^^^ thanks
In short this means that all the res you would lose resizing images in Photoshop or Fireworks wouldn't be lost in Adobe illustrator because it use the vector format
When designing in vector you have so many capabilities that any format doesn't, like proper shading, 3D effects and the easiest way to change the color of multiple vec's at once on the same artboard.
The art board is the space and area in which your design would be held on. It's the only part that would be use to create the png, jpeg, etc. Anything on the edge or off of the artboard wouldn't come up at all in the image. This is convenient to me because I like to have almost the entire framework or system res themed perfectly. Meaning all color and tints and shade all match to the T. You also can line up anything to the artboard or to an object perfectly, so no more miss shaped png's lol.
There's also some tools there that you also seen in Photoshop and Fireworks.
My favorite part of adobe illustrator is the Effects section. This is how to avoid messing up when trying to make your own shading, shadows, 3D effects, glows and more. Trust me, when you get a taste of the effects your going to be trying anything!!!!!!
3. THE SETUP
Now it's time to prepare.
First you need to start a new project. Go to file and select new. Give your project a name. i prefer the name of the rom.
New documents profile - Don't change this because it going to change to custom by itself.
Number Of Art Boards - Keep this at 1 (im going to tell you how to add more)
Size - don't touch anything after size, just make sure Units Say Pixels
Advanced(drop down the menu) - There are 2 color mode RGB - and CMYK. Rgb modes give your stage for the artboards a white background as if it was on paper. Cmyk leave it empty or transparent like in a PNG. It's your choice on which you want.
Raster Effects - Make sure it's at High 300 PPI
4. THE ARTBOARDS
THERE IS A STARTER KIT FOR ARTBOARDS ATTACHED
The Artboard is pretty much a stage. This is where all the magic happens.
Now when your designing any icon you should make sure you know the sizes. Knowing all the sizes can be a hassle right, but this is where it gets really easy. Say you have 30 icons that are 72x72 if you have a project set up with multiple art boards you would be fine. because once you have made all the icons the save size is just a drag and click away.
5. ADDING AND MODIFYING MULTIPLE ART BOARDS
If you noticed which I'm sure everyone has, that some images match the size of other. This is where it gets very easy to make save and do it in a quick fashion.
Go to "File", scroll down to Document Setup and click on it. A window will appear don' worry about anything it the window unless you want to change things yourself. Just go to Edit artboard. You will notice that the screen has turned grey and now you artboard is the only thing thats white. If you hover over the grey you will see that your drag symbol has turned into a square. Us this to add more artboards. Click and hold on to the grey area and drag your mouse. You will see that you just added another artboard. To resize the artboard the Width which is labeled W and the Height which is labeled H will be in the upper right hand corner. Click on the artboard you want and start to reshape it according to the size you need. You can also drag the artboards to which ever place you want it to sit. Once done just click on the mouse pointer icon on the right and everything will be back to normal.
6. SAVING YOUR ICONS
When saving your icons make sure that where ever your project is you have it as the target location when saving. On your first save you should locate the folder and where the original file is and replace and save it. No need to type in the name. If you know where it is alphabetically, then just scroll to it, click on it and the name should appear in the File name box. If it tell you the file already exist, Do you want to replace? click Yes, but make sure you have a backup copy of the folder just in case. Also make sure you are on the right art board when saving. All it takes is a click on the artboard and you would be just fine.
7. ANCHORS, LAYERS, COLORS, AND STROKES
You ever find it a very long task to make all your icons the same or correct color. Or in short make them match. Well in vector format you can change all of the icons color at once. It has to be selected though. I know you wondered what the white arrow was for, well wonder no more. The white arrow it to select a layer, stroke, or any anchor on the vector image.
ANCHOR - this is single or multiple dots on a vector image that controls the path, line and/or stroke.
Layer is a section of the image thats either below, side by side, or on top of another image. You can change positions by right clicking on the image and use arrange to move its position.
Colors well you know what these are, But Illustrator has three different kind Grey Scale, RGB and CMYK (will be explained later)
Strokes are pretty much a line. It can be around the image, by itself or combined to create an image.( Will Be explained on how to manipulate a stroke in a image.)
To make it short grab the white pointer and have at it lol.
8. SELECTING MULTIPLE LAYERS AND ICONS TO CHANGE COLOR AT ONCE.
We all know images have layers but say you have several vector images that are 2 colored icons or more colors just stick with 2 for a sec. If you go to the image with the white pointer, You can click on the one color on the image and change it without making a mistake and turning the whole icon one color. Now to select more than one of the icons, say all of them where blue and green. Click on the green part of the icon. Now go to the top and click on "Select" scroll down to same. When the menu pop out, you will see that there are many ways to select multiple types of images. For right now click the one that says "Fill Color". All of the icons will be selected that has that same shade or ton of green. (note you must have them already colored in to match in order to select same). Now when you change the color they all will adjust together to make them Perfect.
9. TRACING TOOL.
This tool i would recommend that you stay away from and just design your stuff from scratch. Now I'm about to contradict myself lol but this tool is so f'ing handy if used right.
When tracing and image your pretty much turning it into a vector image with paths, strokes, and anchors. Its pretty much a conversion tool but difficult to use. If you have a colorful image that's when it gets hard. But if you have like a solid color shape its kinda easy.
Say like you have a picture of a solid black triangle in .png and .jpeg because you didn't feel like drawing one. Drag it to the artboard. You will see a button up top that wasn't there b4 called "Live Trace". Click on it and you will see your triangle go from a rough .png/.jpeg image to a smooth vector format triangle.
Now it gets hard.
If you have a multiple color image there are ways to trace it to a vector but not all get it the way you want. Just play around with it a little and you will see what i mean. The traces I'm talking about are in the drop down menu right next to the "Live Trace" button. You will see a slim button with a down pointing arrow.
10. Keyboard short Cuts(coming Soon)
To Be Continued - meaning im Sleepy lol

Photoshop Short Cuts
Photoshop Short Cuts

Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts
Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts

Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs
Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs

lorjay589 said:
Using Adobe Flash To Make Bootanimations, Banners, and Sigs
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Click to collapse
This is damn near the best post for theming I've ever seen! Simply awesome!. Please put this in the theming section for other young devs and themers alike. This should be a sticky!

{Team Rejectz} THEME/DESIGN CHEAT SHEET {Still Working On}

Photoshop Short Cuts
Photoshop Shortcuts
Index
1. .9 shortcuts Without Decompressed png
2. Batch File Opperation

Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts
Adobe Fireworks Shortcuts

even more

My biggest problem would be the dreaded 9patch
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium

gtuansdiamm said:
My biggest problem would be the dreaded 9patch
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
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Click to collapse
dreaded 9patch? what is so hard about .9's

rujelus22 said:
dreaded 9patch? what is so hard about .9's
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol yea thats the same thing i was thinking but, Im going to put a short cut for .9 patches for people who don't know how to do it. For Photoshop and Fireworks. But im not going to go into full details because there are post on here with that. Im just going to explain a quick way without decompressing a .9 png

Dude, this rocks. I will be using this like crazy for sure.

hi, I'm interested in learning how to theme, but I must admit, teaching me may be a pretty big project since the extent of my experience is making themes in UOT Kitchen.
would this tool be a good place to start?

mjs2011 said:
hi, I'm interested in learning how to theme, but I must admit, teaching me may be a pretty big project since the extent of my experience is making themes in UOT Kitchen.
would this tool be a good place to start?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes sir this is the perfect place, while not done, im going to apply all of my knowledge of design to help out

Thanks! I may reach out to you privately as well, because I'd really be starting from scratch.

What would be killer is if we had a reference guide for the names for certain harder to find pngs. Background files and such.

Develop Bugs

welcome