Theme Template Q&A
 

I was initially planning to make this a little workshop, where I would step by step go through the sections of the theme template. But I'm a little short on time at the moment, so for now I will focus on answering questions. Hopefully this can serve as a reference for some proper documentation in the future, but for now the templates are still a bit volatile, so I do not suggest to move information from this thread to a static place.

If you'd like to have a section of the template explained or clarified, please post a screenshot, ideally with arrows and labels describing exactly what you want to know. :) Especially in the beginning, it is perfectly okay if your questions are very vague though (e.g. "what is all that stuff in that area").

I cannot explain details of the Icons template yet, but as I do some work on Theme Maker, I hope to make that one easier to understand too.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Perhaps we should make pictures with 2 screenshots side by side, other highlights the part of the template with red and the other one highlights the part in the Fremantle User Interface.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

That's really not as easy as it sounds, thus this thread. If we can assemble a library of instructional screenshots, that's even better.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

I'm doing a theme now that has numbers on the template and when you load the theme you will see the number on the element on the theme. So you see a button you want to change and use number on theme to find right button on template.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

GENIUS. I can't wait to try that! I've been dying to build my own theme!

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Aw, cmon, maemo 5 template is much easier to understand and it's well commented. What problems can you have with it?

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

None, but some people might need some additional guidance. For me it was only like building a few themes and learning the layout positions that way.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

There are many many details in the template that are unfortunately very hard to get right without proper guidance. Also there is still a very large section of legacy widgets, which are rarely to never used anymore and thus very hard to test for.

I'm surprised there haven't been any questions yet. :) Hopefully there will be more interest in themeing once the process becomes more user friendly.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Perhaps it's just a good thing that you need proper skills to theme something. If theming process is too easy, you'll start seeing a lot of low-quality bulk themes that have only a "fancy" wallpaper and the rest is just generic template widgets.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

lol, I think it's better to ensure that people can get right into it. I'm going to spend some time this weekend to see if I can put together something a bit more organized in the PSD.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

If I create some mock ups at 800 x 480 and provide psds can someone put together a theme for me?

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

I can't speak for anyone else, but I have more than enough ideas for themes and not enough time to work on them... Sorry, but I'm not too keen on devoting many hours of work to implementing someone else's mock-ups.

It's kind of labor-intensive to make a complete theme, but it's really not rocket surgery. The template is pretty straightforward - most elements have descriptive labels, and there are several of us here who are ready and willing to answer questions if you get stuck.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

http://www.maemo-guru.com/wp-content.../messaging.jpg

Okay cool, the new im/sms buttons, what do i edit on the psd for those?

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

I think those are generic dialog buttons (just to the right of the color palette in the template). I didn't actually build a new theme to test that, but I'm pretty sure.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

OKay, found that, I see the first state is "up" second state is "pressed" what's the third state?

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Disabled state.


It's really not that hard :P

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Thanks for the help:) That extra comment was a bit unnecessary.

Also, for the disabled, is there a reason why the bottom is larger than the top?

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Because I'm not a Photoshop Master like you.

Because the designer felt it needed an elaborate effect like that.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Sorry dude, your comment kind of urked me, I take it back. Thanks for the help.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Wait, don't guess too much!! :) I told you it can be tricky, and I will try to answer every question ASAP.

The buttons at the top of the messaging window are not Dialog Buttons. Dialog Buttons are the action buttons that are to the right of dialogs and usually ask you to confirm your input. You will see that they have a different look to normal push buttons.

The buttons on the messaging window are "FingerButtons" and they are the most common type find in the UI. Normal buttons are typically either:

- StylusButtons, these are actually generic and used whenever no fixed size is used. We also have a special accented version of these in case two different shades of buttons are wanted (only used by the calculator UI so far).
- FingerButtons, which are exactly 70px in height.
- ThumbButtons, which are exactly 135px in height (you can see them when your alarm goes off, but they are not that frequently used).

The above mentioned are the most important, but in addition there are a whole slew of special case buttons, like the fixed-height portrait mode buttons, buttons for the virtual keyboard, buttons for the call UI.

Re: Theme Template Q&A
 

Thanks, I made some dope looking buttons, but now I see I did them for the wrong section :@. This is why I was asking ofr a screen shot / comparison/legend. It would make it easier for folks to get into it.