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 Post subject: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Wed May 02, 2018 6:48 am 
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Currently working on updating some of my old skins and creating new ones. Have encountered a few problems, some due to changes in the way some things work, others due to the lack of a theme builder and not knowing my way around everything in the config files or even what I'm looking for and need to change. (Once upon a yesteryear we used to have theme building as part of an appearance tab/applet in the prefs....) (I do have the WS 9.5 Manual but alas it's not very helpful as it refers to the config panel that we no longer have.)

I have config files for all skinnable modules for some of my older themes, but some of them need to be changed. Sadly, I don't remember how I set up the modules under NS3.x/WS2.x, and I don't have the time ATM to set that up (or anything else!) on the WinXP sys so I might work it out from there.

In all the mods that can have text, how do I change the font, size, normal/italic/bold, and colour, and finally the position of the text? How do I remove a given displayed text that I may not want in another theme?

In one mod, the RAM one, I have both a histogram and horizontal bar. How could I a), remove the bar, b) add it to the CPU or NET mod? (This assumes identical bitmaps of course.)

With the NET mod, I currently only have a single Net In part with Histo bitmaps and 'Net In - n bytes text. How could I add a Net Out display, a) doubling up with identical bitmaps below the Net In part, but change the text to 'Net Out....', and b) dividing the existing bitmaps in half, position both In and Out Histos and respective text in the same bitmap side by side, or if not possible, use two split-off halves as separate bitmaps side by side and set the positions?

The real biggy is the (in Shelf/dock) Recycler mod. Previously, it would seem we just had the separate animation .ico files in the theme folder - I found them to be still there and also came across some old screen grabs that showed it (it's easily identifiable as my files are exact, gamma-corrected original Next alphas converted to icons and are quite different and also larger than the default as the overall size is 64 pixels (icon size in shelf is set to 48 but it worked) - and Workshelf did the rest? Now of course it expects a wsTrashAni.png strip, but there seems to be no way of telling WS it's there, and it doesn't work here. I've tried both a strip of the 64 pixel icons and also one using reduced ones, first by cropping the alpha to the edges of the image and then reducing the whole to 48 pixels. (I also intend to do one of the ancient original 'Black Hole' recycler alphas, though those would look far too small reduced to 48 as the images extend right to the edges of the alphas.)

As an aside, after changing to a number of other themes the other day, the default recycler anim no longer works, no matter what I do. Could copying a .wsr file from before that date (I'm reluctant to do a WS restore from backup as other things changed in the theme that I don't really want to do all over again if possible, before I noticed the problem) work and solve this?

Another spot of trouble is the Battery mod. (The Battery is scaled to 70%.) No matter what or how, it just won't accept the background bitmap. Also, even though I haven't touched any colourisation settings, it turned monochrome shortly after activating it.

There are a few other lesser problems that I seem to have with other things in a theme, but I'll try and somehow sort those myself with sheer bloody-mindedly persistent trial and error if I can. As it is, all the above seems a lot anyway, but regrettably I need some serious help to keep progessing with new themes, sorry. :(

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 2:44 am 
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Oh boy, we really need at least a detailed manual on skinning, esp. in re: the mods anyway, really badly!

Comparing config files, I can work out some of the X,Y coordinates, they're fairly obvious and simple enough to understand, do. re: font/bold/italic, but e.g. colours are impossible to work out as they're neither RGB values nor hex ones.

Something inside my head is steaming.... ;)

Seeing how tricky it would be to construct and config a brand new theme from scratch since the demise of the prefs skinning applet, it's sadly not too surprising that there are so few new themes coming along other than perhaps Nexus only ones, which any fool can easily work out. We need Theme Builder really, that IMO really ought to be No.1 priority to get more new 'all in' themes. To think, once upon a yesteryear we used to get sometimes dozens of themes a week - granted, that was when the whole skinning scene was alive and vibrantly at its zenith. :(

Sticking with mods, I see from their config file stubs that full theming is in prep for the MP, Battery and Calender mods - sweet! :) (That was on my wish list that I'm preparing.)

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 11:33 am 
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nexter wrote:
Comparing config files, I can work out some of the X,Y coordinates, they're fairly obvious and simple enough to understand, do. re: font/bold/italic, but e.g. colours are impossible to work out as they're neither RGB values nor hex ones.


I don't have time to explain everything, Ric, especially the new modules. With the Theme Manager everything would be self-explanatory, of course, so I guess we will have to wait for that.

As for the colors, use the &H prefix for the hexadecimal version, like this:

Color1 = &H23FF01

Just keep in mind that the format is &HBBGGRR (BGR), not &HRRGGBB (RGB)

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 8:39 pm 
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winstep wrote:
nexter wrote:
Comparing config files, I can work out some of the X,Y coordinates, they're fairly obvious and simple enough to understand, do. re: font/bold/italic, but e.g. colours are impossible to work out as they're neither RGB values nor hex ones.


I don't have time to explain everything, Ric, especially the new modules. With the Theme Manager everything would be self-explanatory, of course, so I guess we will have to wait for that.

As for the colors, use the &H prefix for the hexadecimal version, like this:

Color1 = &H23FF01

Just keep in mind that the format is &HBBGGRR (BGR), not &HRRGGBB (RGB)


Understood Jorge, no problem. :) Hmm, and how long shall we have to wait for that to build new themes properly? (I don't think I need emphasize how vital that is and new themes are. Oh and I'd gladly beta test or even alpha test it.) Maybe in the meantime I can find the time to sort out XP and run NS3.41/WS1.9, at least that'll sort out skinning the mods for now, after all I did them there before.

Ah, now that makes sense re: the colours, thx Jorge.

Encountered a little prob with changing the running app indicator for Nexus. The 'Open Folder' option doesn't let me open my file in the theme folder. However, for now I have just copied the file to \Nexus\Indicators folder and selected it from there. Is it a 'bug' of some sort, or just not fully implemented yet?

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Thu May 03, 2018 10:32 pm 
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nexter wrote:
Encountered a little prob with changing the running app indicator for Nexus. The 'Open Folder' option doesn't let me open my file in the theme folder. However, for now I have just copied the file to \Nexus\Indicators folder and selected it from there. Is it a 'bug' of some sort, or just not fully implemented yet?


That's by design. Running indicators are theme independent (user selectable only), which is why you have to select your own bitmap of choice from inside the Indicators folder (which will then be used regardless of the current dock theme).

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 2:42 am 
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winstep wrote:
nexter wrote:
Encountered a little prob with changing the running app indicator for Nexus. The 'Open Folder' option doesn't let me open my file in the theme folder. However, for now I have just copied the file to \Nexus\Indicators folder and selected it from there. Is it a 'bug' of some sort, or just not fully implemented yet?


That's by design. Running indicators are theme independent (user selectable only), which is why you have to select your own bitmap of choice from inside the Indicators folder (which will then be used regardless of the current dock theme).

Ouch. :( In that case, why have the 'Open Folder' option in the first place? Couldn't we have a compromise - keep it user-selectable but let skinners save a theme-specific default with their theme? Some themes just don't look right with the current defaults, and besides there's not exactly a great variety available. (If of interest I could probably put together a collection of different ones to contribute.)

Meanwhile, have one updated theme just about as ready as can be in the absence of a Theme Builder or detailed manual, now also complete with all skinnable mods and custom sub-dock indicators. And several new ones and another updated one near complete. :)

There's something odd going on with the tasklist here. As you may remember, the tiles tiles in one theme were a whole lot larger than the 64 pixels of the bitmap, correctly displayed in Nexus, and had to set the icons to 42 pixels for the size to come right. Well, not only does it also happen with the Win display setting at 100% which I have reverted to (and where necessary us the on-screen magnifier), but it actually varies from theme to theme - some themes it works just as with mine, others I have to re-set the icon size to the original 48. Weird huh?

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 Post subject: Re: Theme Building Woes
PostPosted: Fri May 04, 2018 11:08 pm 
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Well, I'm pretty much stuck. I can see from the .wsr config file that there are settings for the no. of frames and frame rate, but not sure what a correct setting for the latter should be. Tried a variety of rates but no luck. Also, I suspect there's something else I need to set. (I don't mean the obvious 'Enable Custom Animation'.)

So, without the recycler working, it's a definite no-go for any themes that use the anim. :/

Also of course I can't skin the NS Taskbar etc., nor the 'new' (to me anyway) mods, nor substantially change any existing mod skins I have (to adapt to new themes), and whatever else I may have left out. :/ So, in limbo really with new skins. All I can do is prepare/do all the basics as far as possible.

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