Guest mossywell Posted May 16, 2006 Report Share Posted May 16, 2006 I thought I'd try this quiet little corner of Modaco ;) to ask if there are any places where I can learn a bit more about homescreens, their creation etc. I've looked on the MS site. Not great. I've looked around here and can't find anything other than info about third party tools that have more plugins than a Boxing Day bathroom furniture sale (and which I'll never use in a million years). I've come from a smartphone background where my homescreens were done in XML using notepad. In WM5 on the Wizard, it seems that this is no longer possible. OK, I can use various tools such as the MS theme thingy 2.0, but I'm really after something that explains why (for axample) there's transparency on backgrounds by default, or why, when you create a theme and then ask the OS for a background, it ignores the theme's background. (I'm explaining myself badly.) I'm not after the answer to these specific questions here, but there must be a repository of "everything you wanted to know about the Today screen but were afraid to ask" type page? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest w411y Posted May 17, 2006 Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Not really what your after but.. For a good looking theme use Wisbar Advance and skin it. If you want the freedom you have on smartphones then use Desktop. Check out www.jdskins.com for some inspiration and jsut check out his work and see how it all works. Good luck ;) Sorry I couldnt be more informative Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Not really what your after but.. For a good looking theme use Wisbar Advance and skin it. If you want the freedom you have on smartphones then use Desktop. Check out www.jdskins.com for some inspiration and jsut check out his work and see how it all works. Good luck ;) Sorry I couldnt be more informative Cheers. Unfortunately, I'm not really after a bit of software that'll do the skinning, more some background info on the today screen itself - i.e. how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevawlkalone Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Cheers. Unfortunately, I'm not really after a bit of software that'll do the skinning, more some background info on the today screen itself - i.e. how it works. They dont use ..xml i think they are .tsk! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 They dont use ..xml i think they are .tsk! Indeed they do - hence my OP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevawlkalone Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Indeed they do - hence my OP. Fair enough...hadnt realised...if you change the end from .tsk to .xml *i think...i.e not to sure* you can edit them in xml..... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Fair enough...hadnt realised...if you change the end from .tsk to .xml *i think...i.e not to sure* you can edit them in xml..... ;) Almost. :P If you change the tsk to a cab, then it can be opened. There will be *.00x files (x >= 1) in there that can be renamed to jpg files for the backgounds. There is also a *.000 file that contains the main "code" and it's this that I can't get around. So far. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest drblow Posted May 19, 2006 Report Share Posted May 19, 2006 Have a look at this thread http://www.modaco.com/PPC-themes-and-today...ng-t240933.html. It might shed some light for you. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 20, 2006 Report Share Posted May 20, 2006 It might shed some light for you. :P Thanks for the URL but sadly not. ;) I think I'm just not explaining myself properly here. I don't want a skinning app, or some other app that allows me to customise my today screen. What I'm after is what's under the bonnet (hood). To use an analogy, I feel like I've asked why I cough after I get a cold, and the answer comes back: "get some cough medicine", whereas the answer I'd hope for is "because the virus kills off some of the epithelial layer in the upper respiratory tract allowing secondary bacterial infection". (Well, something like that.) I'm kind of guessing that the absence of info in the layout of the today files indicates that no one's really bothered what's inside them. I mean, who cares what the file structure of a Word document is when you've got Word to do the editing for you? Oh well... ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest w411y Posted May 22, 2006 Report Share Posted May 22, 2006 The link works fine here. Wisbar Advance, as I have said is in my eyes, vital to a good looking skin/theme w/e you wanna call them. Its not an app that skins for you... but a plugin that allows you to skin things such as the start bar and the bars at the bottom of the screen. Also allows you to change signal meter icons and much more. Oh and the link in my first reply was the wrong link... I meant Junis Skins not jdskins! oops Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 Wisbar Advance, as I have said is in my eyes, ... Does everyone on Modaco have shares in Wisbar by any chance? :P When I look at most "cool" skins, all I see is a competition to find out how much kak can be fit into an over-cluttered screen. If you want a today screen to look like the cockpit of the space shuttle, well, that's great, but I'd rather see an unobscured picture of my wife instead. ;) E.g., what's the point in showing a picture of a battery when you want to see how much battery power is left? Surely a simple number will suffice? IMHO, of course. Hmmm, I think I'll write my own - the today API looks straightforward enough. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevawlkalone Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 When I look at most "cool" skins, all I see is a competition to find out how much kak can be fit into an over-cluttered screen. If you want a today screen to look like the cockpit of the space shuttle, well, that's great, but I'd rather see an unobscured picture of my wife instead. ;) E.g., what's the point in showing a picture of a battery when you want to see how much battery power is left? Surely a simple number will suffice? IMHO, of course. Hallelujah someone else has finally noticed the daftness of cramming a PPC screen full of stuff! Its not done on Smartphones much so why do it most of the time on PPC's! Am with you mossywell! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 Am with you mossywell! I thought I was a lone voice - great to hear I'm not alone. ;) Well, in that case, I'll have my plugin publically available and you can download it (sadly, the day job has to come first so it might take some time). It'll just have the basics: network (incl. status), date, time and battery. Assuming it's possible that is! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest nevawlkalone Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 I thought I was a lone voice - great to hear I'm not alone. neva wlk alone mate lmao sadly, the day job has to come first so it might take some time).Tell me bout it Assuming it's possible that is! No reason why not if it has been done in the first place to create things like wisebar etc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted May 23, 2006 Report Share Posted May 23, 2006 neva wlk alone mate lmao :P No reason why not if it has been done in the first place to create things like wisebar etc! D'oh - Good point. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest agent.m Posted August 6, 2006 Report Share Posted August 6, 2006 I thought I was a lone voice - great to hear I'm not alone. :) Well, in that case, I'll have my plugin publically available and you can download it (sadly, the day job has to come first so it might take some time). It'll just have the basics: network (incl. status), date, time and battery. Assuming it's possible that is! you are not alone. I've had my Vario over a week and cant believe the amount of stuff so took it off. im not gonna go that route with my skins so i'll wait till i find a decent one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest w411y Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Are you writing your own plugin or did I get the wrong impression? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 Are you writing your own plugin or did I get the wrong impression? You got the right impression, but it'll take a bit of time to find the time if you know what I mean! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest w411y Posted August 8, 2006 Report Share Posted August 8, 2006 You got the right impression, but it'll take a bit of time to find the time if you know what I mean! Yeh not enough hours in the day huh? What to you attend to achieve with this plugin? Whats it going to be able to do? Or are you just going to tease us all :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mossywell Posted August 25, 2006 Report Share Posted August 25, 2006 As you can see, it takes me weeks just to reply to postings, let alone write plugins, :D I reckon it'll be really simple just displaying the bare essential (whatever they are) on one line at the top and leaving the rest of the screen for lovely pictures of... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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