Tips For Would-Be Authors - from fellow authors

[+Fahim S. MVC]

or should i save up for version 7 which will take some time. Any advice from you experts out there would be appreciated but go easy on me as you have got to start somewhere.

Why not try two other packages.....

Macromedia Fireworks MX

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7

Both are very capable products for skinning.

Although Adobe would be a far richer company if everyone was using a licensed edition.... which most users aren't.... :rofl:

ONE LOVE!

[kidd0]

*closes Photoshop*

No piracy here :whistle:

[judge]

Well, I'm trying to edit a 32 bit BMP in comctrl32.dll (bitmap 124) and neither ResHacker nor ResBuilder seem to work. I've created a 32 bit BMP using photoshop and loaded it into bitmap 124 using ResHacker and I get an 'access violation' error from it. I can save it, but the bitmap is screwed and whenever I try to use ResHacker to access the bitmap I get the same error again.

I've also tried deleting the bitmap first and then adding it in again but I get the same error.

If I use ResBuilder to examine the result the BMP is reported as 32 bit but is completely transparent. If I open a file dialog the image is just displayed with a white background.

If I use ResBuilder instead to perform the whole edit, when I come to save it it tells me that there are duplicate string IDs and do I really want to save it. If I say yes the file looses about 40K in size and some applications don't work.

This is really ****ing me off. Does anyone else get this error from ResHacker?

[hav0c]

Thx for the info (Y)

[vuerro]

I found a working link for colorpad!

http://www.seniorweb.nl/experimenteer/hand...16_colorpad.htm

I do think it is a older version but it's a download :whistle:

Cha u are the ninja!

[WB Skinner]

um...hi all...fairly new here but when I saw your thread Cha I had to reply.. just want to start by saying thanks for the great tips...I've been toiling with Stylebuilder for a couple a years and you managed to teach me a few things in one post...nicely done.

I also just HAVE to say that i'm guilty of one of your cardinal theming 'rules':

- Try and make your theme unique and original but do not overdo it. Functionality is the most important thing, if it just looks cool but is not very useable then your theme will only be a novelty thing and will soon be forgotten. People who like to USE your theme regularly will remember it forever.

....yup guilty...

Ok so the one thing I want to contribute right here to the betterment of theming in general is this...don't ever let anyone else's opinion sway the general taste of your themes...if there are LEGIONS of folks who laugh at your stuff and only 10 people (including yourself) who really dig it...stick with it.

example: you make an amazing gothic skin and moody goths really dig it but desktop minimalists ABHORE it...:)

...hopefully we'll see a bunch of theming styles (and not just 2 or 3) take off with some excellent author in each gendre.

cheersWB

[Meddle]

One thing I would like to know is how to correctly make window buttons and more so that Adobe applications like Photoshop and Illustrator draw their palettes correctly. In many themes, something just isn't right. And in some other themes, which are very minimalistic or close to the original Luna or Classic do get drawn correctly. I was told by a themer that it has something to do with sizing margins, but they would not give me any more information. This is probably my biggest gripe about theming. Because if a theme doesn't work consistently, it's really difficult to use it.

[Dayle Rees]

i think the most important thing is to have fun and experiment... try new things as your working on it, tweak your initial concept to the max untill in your eyes its perfect... consider other peoples opinions... but dont let them change yours.. its a theme your creating.. and so keep it your way.

Peace.

[xVISHUx]

Hey, great advice man. I?m just starting out with .msstyles. I got Stylebuilder three days ago and I?ve gotten the hang of it. That?s a pretty good trick of taking a screenshot and going over top of the work and then implementing. I?m already very experience with Photoshop, so I don?t think there should be much problem with creating some unique visual styles. Oh, I?m also a pretty big fan of your work.

[Alan Zeino]

wow

[Alan Zeino]

wow

586131519[/snapback]

Oh yeah exactly

[xpy]

hey, nice guide, but does anyone know a nice step by step guide for Hexes? and scripts? id appreciate it, like moving your start panel 3 or 5 pixels higher, and removing drop shadow from start panel.

thanks

[cragdoo]

any opinions on using SkinStudio from stardock for making VS ?

StarDock-SkinStudio

[Cheb Tamer]

I wish to try by replacing the usual Turn Off screen from the the Style ( Royal Inspirat Mod ) i got this style and really it's very nice but i can't change the Turn Off screen and also i can't change the position of the Task Panel it's up and i want it at the left, please could you help me doing that ? i'm using StyleBuilder in editing msstyles.

Thank You

[Jamushroom Veteran]

Dude... Use some normal text, we can read it without the blue and big letters o_O

Just unlock your taskbar and drag it to the left.

For the turn off screen download Logon Loader or Logon Studio and find a nice logon screen for one of those apps.

[Tricknology]

Cool thread. I really think it's a good idea to help bods like me who regularly attend noobs anonymous. But still, all I have is a basic art prog, and I've just downloaded reshacker.

I was just looking for a way to lose the start button logo and change the text, and did that succesfully, by deleting the explorer backup in windows\system32\dllcache folder, then modifying explorer.exe using reshacker.

Then i started toying with reshacker in msstyles files. I copied a theme (panther) and it's folders, renamed the folder, theme file, and msstyles file, 'repointed' the theme to the new folder and msstyles file, and opened up the msstyles file in reshacker. I found the start button logo which was a bitmap containing three pictures. (The end result is that the picture changes when you click the start button.) However, when I saved the file and activated the the theme, the picture returned to the original!? :blink:

Any ideas how I can make my work of art stay as part of the theme?

If I can get round this one, I've no doubt I'll be diving into themes in a big way.... :cool:

[OmegApeX]

Over the last couple of years I've received many emails from wanna-be themers asking for general advice to help them get started...so I thought I'd start a thread dedicated to all those would-be themers out there where authors can share the knowledge they have gained through their own experiences in the field.

We're all here to use good themes and the more the merrier I say! Hopefully this will help newbie authors get a good start and an idea as to what being a dedicated themer entails. Soon we'll all be able to enjoy better themes.

I encourage all you experienced authors (basically any of the thread starters in the "Completed Visual Styles" section) to add something to this thread that you think would be helpful. I don't mean detailed tutorials or walkthroughs but just general tips, design philosophies, routines, best practices, etc, etc.

I'll get the ball rolling......

These are the main applications I use....

- StyleBuilder (www.tgtsoft.com): for making the Visual Styles

- Adobe Photoshop 7: for editing and creating the images

- Corel Xara X: for creating images, this program is great for creating vector graphics which look very good when you have to enlarge or shrink an image, can also export to many formats. (I used this for

creating the BlockOS icons)

- GIF Movie Gear for Icons: I use this as a utility for converting graphics from one format to another....extremely useful.

- ColorPad: This is a handy utility for getting color codes from pictures quickly.

- Axialis IconWorkshop 5.03: for making XP icon sets

- ResHacker or Restorator: for hacking windows DLL files and editing the shellstyle.dll for themes.

- Swish 2.0: for making animations e.g. Copy, Move Delete animations (with this app you can export to AVI)

- And more recently I have started using Cinema 4D XL 8 for making 3D graphics and CursorXP for compiling alpha-blended animated cursors.

I know that thats a lot of programs but you really don't need all of them. For Visual Styles, which is where I began, all I used was Photoshop and StyleBuilder. The rest are mostly for accessories.

Here are some tips from my own personal experiences (in no specific order)......

- Love your computer! Because you'll need to spend a lot of time on it.

- Do not be lazy because that is the #1 Theme Author killer in the world!

- Every author/artist needs inspiration, it could be anything...movies, games, family, cars, animals, weed, etc etc. Find out what really inspires you and be true to it. Let it motivate you.

- Play around with all the programs that you need to use EXTENSIVELY. Know exactly what you can do with them and what you can't.

- Think carefully about what you want your theme to look like, keeping in mind what the possibilities and limitations of StyleBuilder and msstyles are.

- Take a screenshot of desktop including start menu and import into Photoshop and start designing on top of that picture in layers. Design first, implement later.

- There are SO MANY resources and tutorials on the internet to help you but don't try and learn everything out there because it is way too much and it can discourage you. You must figure out exactly what you want to do then search for those specific answers. Theme related forums and

bulletin boards (like this one) are extremely helpful for this.

- Use the Search function in forums to locate answers to your problems. If you find nothing then make a post.

- Always encourage feedback! Ask strangers and friends constantly for feedback and suggestions.

- You must learn to tell what is good advice and what is bad advice. If you know for a fact the person has bad taste, kindly and politely disregard ;)

- Don't try and do what everyone asks, you can never satisfy everyone.

- Try and make your theme unique and original but do not overdo it. Functionality is the most important thing, if it just looks cool but is not very useable then your theme will only be a novelty thing and will soon be forgotten. People who like to USE your theme regularly will remember it forever.

- Use criticism to your advantage, never take negative things that people say to heart, even if it is very insulting. This is hard to do!

- There is something to gain from every piece of feedback (except maybe for those "nice" comments ;)

- Do not try to compete with other authors because then you start to subconciously copy them. Rather try and learn from other authors techniques and use those techniques to do your own thing, but don't ever just copy. That is being lazy.

- Use StyleBuilder to "import" other author's themes if it has something you like, and learn how they did that.

- You must always compete with yourself....always try to do something better than what you did the last time, otherwise no point in doing it.

- Don't rush anything, and don't make anything final unless you are 100% sure there is nothing more you can do to improve it. Many authors rush their work to make a "Final" release because other users pressure them, but don't listen to them, take your time and work at your own pace. None of my themes are final and I am always trying to improve them.

- Make regular backups after every significant change.

- Organize your files in a logical, easy-to-refer-to manner, I cannot stress the importance of this.

- Never give up, if you get stuck, find a solution or find a way to work around the problem. Persist! Persist! Persist!

Well thats all I can come up with now, but I'll be sure to add more tips in the future. Hope it was helpful and really hope to read many more tips from other authors.

Urm Moderators....any chance you could make this thread sticky?

Regards everyone and happy theming!!!

:ninja:

Hello :)

i'm new to Neowin

liked your TUT

Is there a way to get StyleBuilder FULLversion?

Can you send me any links to it?

Thank you :D

[bgjerlow]

You have to pay for Windows/Vista Style Builder. You can purchase it here: http://vistastylebuilder.com/windows7.html

This is not the same developer who made the style builder for XP though, it's another guy. But it's the only style builder that works on Vista and 7 as far as I know.