Complete Newbie with Home Screen Creation

[Guest lufcfan]

Hi,

If anyone can help me with these questions, I would be most grateful...

1. I downloaded the Microsoft Theme Generator and the standard layout gets in the way of my background picture. I downloaded an .HME file which wouldn't and intended to put my own background in, however when I tried to open it I get the error message.: 'An Error Occured While Loading The Theme'

How can I get around this??? V2 gives me an error during the install so I can't use that either. What can I do?

2. I have Dreamweaver MX. Can I create custom XML Home Screens in Design View instead of Code View?

3. Is there any good tutorials on how to create Custom Home Screens? The MSDN tutorial is FAR too confusing to me - any easier ones? The on on CoolSmartPhone.com is not much use to anyone really - it doesn't tell you much!

4. Is there any type of Home Screen Editor where you could just edit an existing HME file? I downloaded Theme Editor 4.6 and it doesn't fit on the screen (PC) very well. The layout is poor - you can't see anything...

I think that's about it - Yeah. Thanks a lot for any help you can offer - My SPV arrives in a few days and I would like to have a few decent Jenny Frost screens ready to upload to it...

Thanks once again...

LUFCfan :)

[Guest Machineman]

Hi there welcome,

The best thing to do is getting an existing homescreen and open the xml file in note pad and see how that works.

I made an overview about the colors see the topic:

http://smartphone.modaco.com/viewtopic.php...ighlight=colors

The most down picture.

Hope it works 4 you it did 4 me!!

CU m8 :wink:

[Guest lufcfan]

Thanks a lot - You have been most helpful :)

LUFCfan ;)

[Guest Disco Stu]

Hi mate

I trust you'll be doing a Leeds skin when you're done with Ms Frost !

[Guest lufcfan]

Guess what - YOU'RE RIGHT!!!

I have added my Leeds Skin - I did it with the Microsoft Theme Generator. Unzip it to your PC and then transfer the .HME file to your phone. I don't have my SPV yet, it's coming in a few days so if someone would like to test it - That would be great!

lufc.zip

[Guest Machineman]

Nice work 4 your 1st skin m8!!

CU :)

[Guest lufcfan]

Cheers! Can't wait to see it myself!

Going to put up some Jenny Frost ones soon - maybe 5 minutes or so!

[Guest Machineman]

Ok I'll see that if you post it. :) ;) :D

[Guest lufcfan]

OK, here are the Jenny Frost skins - honest opinions now... LOL!

jennyfrost1.zip

[Guest lufcfan]

and the second...

jennyfrost2.zip

[Guest Machineman]

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I think I like the second one the most :wink: :wink: :wink: ha ha ha

To make it more advanced there is a topic about celeb skins

you can download it and adjust it in the way you want would be nice :wink:

CU M8

[Guest Disco Stu]

Absolutely fantastic LUFC skin my friend.

Now, could you explain to this old geezer who exactly is Jenny Frost ?........ :? :wink:

[Guest lufcfan]

Jenny Frost is the Tall, Blonde singer from the UK pop group Atomic Kitten.

[Guest drblow]

I have Dreamweaver MX. Can I create custom XML Home Screens in Design View instead of Code View?

Unfortunately not m8! I was asking the very same question when I first started looking into xml. There was a rumour a while ago about someone bringing out a homescreen editor which would allow editing in a 'design' framework as opposed to 'code' view - but havent heard anything more about it.

But if you are even vaguely familiar with html code - then xml will not freak you out too much! Seriously, just find skins you like, extract the xml to your PC & open it with notepad. You will quickly start to see all the relevant plugins & colour codes & if you spend a while just messing with stuff to see what happens (change plugin height, 'x' & 'y' values to move stuff around the screen, etc), you'll get the idea!

Oh yeah, & the V2 of the MS theme generator I think is more designed for PDA than smartphone. Anyway, once you understand the colour schemes in the xml you won't need it. It's OK for beginners, but there are several colours that the theme generator does not include, which will then default to black on your phone - so it's best just to set your colour scheme from the xml. There is a recent post with a diagram of all the screen colours & their names.

Good luck!

Excfellent work for your first few skins tho - keep on at it!!