Database Develop

change menus from White on Black to Black on White?

Many of the default Android menus are white text on a black background. Not only do I find these visually unappealing, they are actually counter productive given how poorly dark themes read in sunlight.
Can these be changed to black text on a white background (or light background) instead? Does anyone have a theme they can share to accomplish this? Thank you.

OK, I guess this is not possible. It's a shame because I find Android's list based menus awfully plain and unaesthetic. White text on a black background with little visual art...it really looks like a plain vanilla terminal of yesteryear. While I love Android's openness, customization, and tweaker-friendly platform, it really needs a major overhaul in terms of looks and user friendliness. In short, the GUI needs some polish and consistency.

It would appear that Android has built-in "themes" for apps to use. If none is specified, then the dark or black theme is used. I wonder if there is a way to force apps to use the "light" theme even if specified otherwise. Perhaps a custom ROM could be created to always use the light theme.
http://www.anddev.org/tutorial_ui_themes-t4367.html

i know this thread is old enogh, but i'm searching for a answer to this question too.

Same here, I´m looking for a solution to this problem
For me is near impossible to read white letters on black background, and i have a new ZTE Blade that can´t use because this
If someone have a solution, please !!!
Thanks!

Recently this has been bugging me as well. I wish there was a very simple way to perhaps tweak the framework and systemui so that black on white can become a reality...

This is totally feasible. You would have to do a bunch of XML edits in your framework-res.apk and declare everything correctly.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Changing the theme style in styles.xml should work I guess... if I have little to do I can take a look
Sent from my Hero using XDA App

Okay, I've done it, just gotta see if I've caused any bugs and write a how to
Edit: Bah, it's hard, the whole system and lots of apps are based on how it is now, changing it causes lots of trouble. Don't know if I'll make it :/

Btw, I did it in my cm7 theme. You can see it in my signature
Sent from my Hero using XDA

AWESOME. There are some issues though, such as black text on dark backgrounds in the music app, which I'm guessing would take more than some xml editing to fix. But other than that it's GREAT!

EnMod said:
AWESOME. There are some issues though, such as black text on dark backgrounds in the music app, which I'm guessing would take more than some xml editing to fix. But other than that it's GREAT!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks I have fixed most of these issues I think, but one of the issues was kind of tricky, cause when I fix them, I create others :/ and I don't have the stock music app installed atm, I will install it and see the issue myeself

Habarug said:
Thanks I have fixed most of these issues I think, but one of the issues was kind of tricky, cause when I fix them, I create others :/ and I don't have the stock music app installed atm, I will install it and see the issue myeself
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't see that theme anymore in your signature. Would it be possible for you to share it? I'm still in search of a way to get Android to be a bit lighter (outside of going with MIUI), which I find far more visually appealing.

a cyan theme for CM6 RC1?

I want a theme that's black/cyan for my aria. It's running RC1 [from the RC1 thread], and I've already changed all the text colors to a cyan that matches the original cyano mod power strip/bar. but there are plenty other colors floating around (lockscreen, incoming call, battery icon, etc).
I'm a noob at fiddling around with actual the actual files (apks, jars), and I'm scared of installing a theme that's not meant for this rom (will it even boot? i got stuck in boot loop when i tried a cm6 theme >.<). I like a clean look like the glass themes (can't post links.. urg) but in cyan (and able to run on this rom/phone). Metamorph won't run on this phone. Is there a way to flash a MM theme without it (guess not?)?
..is there a black/cyan theme floating around that'll work for the aria rc1?

Im not sure if its exactly what you're looking for but if you search "CyanogenMod ADW Theme" in the market place there is a theme that sounds like what you're looking for. And its meant to work with ADW which is the launcher that comes preinstalled with CM6.

lol I remember seeing that one, but it looks like someone puked cyan all over the screen >_<
Also, I'm looking for more of a simple rom theme, and not so much actually changing icons/buttons.
In fact, if anyone can teach me how to change colors (lock screen, battery icon--so it's cyan and not green, incoming/ongoing call screen, other notification bar icons--alarm/wifi/mobile network/signal strength/etc, menu/setting font colors, icon highlight color, etc) manually, I'd be just as happy to go through the labor myself (..i think). A point to a tutorial would help too
EDIT: nevermind. I found some tutorials and stuff in the theme forums. I'll just read up there and figure it out.

Help creating a pure white theme

My idea is to create a high contrast white theme, with pure white notification bar and pure white menu popup, and all pure black icons. (i got inspired by HerrKuk's screenshot)
The reason for this is that we're on an lcd device (and black doesn't get black).
When being on the amoled nexus one, there was a strong urge to get everything as black as possible, where as on the O2x, white would be the most battery friendly..
Stock android 2.2 is leaning towards that, but i just do not like the greyishness of stock.
Try SiMi clock with black text and white background and you'll get an idea of the final look that I'm after..
But, the framework needs black text on notification bar to get this theme on stock or paul's rom. I do not know how to do that.
I guess from vanilla rom it would be a walk in the park because it would only need the gray png's tweaked to white, but the handy power widget control for the notification area is not in vanilla android, and I cannot live without it.
Can anybody help me out by either porting power control to vanilla rom, or by changing the framework text on paul's rom to black?

That would be awesome
Sent from my Optimus 2X using XDA App

Eddiemc said:
My idea is to create a high contrast white theme, with pure white notification bar and pure white menu popup, and all pure black icons. (i got inspired by HerrKuk's screenshot)
The reason for this is that we're on an lcd device (and black doesn't get black).
When being on the amoled nexus one, there was a strong urge to get everything as black as possible, where as on the O2x, white would be the most battery friendly..
Stock android 2.2 is leaning towards that, but i just do not like the greyishness of stock.
Try SiMi clock with black text and white background and you'll get an idea of the final look that I'm after..
But, the framework needs black text on notification bar to get this theme on stock or paul's rom. I do not know how to do that.
I guess from vanilla rom it would be a walk in the park because it would only need the gray png's tweaked to white, but the handy power widget control for the notification area is not in vanilla android, and I cannot live without it.
Can anybody help me out by either porting power control to vanilla rom, or by changing the framework text on paul's rom to black?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol, 18 months ago we were working out how to change the text to white to use with black notification bars on stock Android...
It can be done, you need to make changes in framework-res.apk xml and services.jar code.
Know how to use apktool (here and here) and smali/baksmali (here)? That's where you need to start.
Once you've got that I can show you where... you'll need these skills if you want to do deep theming anyway.

Sounds great!
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App

djmcnz said:
It can be done, you need to make changes in framework-res.apk xml and services.jar code.... you'll need these skills if you want to do deep theming anyway.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Cheers mate, I'll look into it and see if I can get my head around it..
I would like those skills, I just need the time to learn them..
Since I'm impatient I will do up an simple version based off the vanilla rom to start with, and then see if I can do the xml and jar edits for the black bar later

[Q] MIUI skinning question

Hi All,
I have been looking for the past weeks for the following.
Nobody really replied but Vukandric, who is really busy.
Even on the Miui dev board no answer.
And I cant imagined this has not been asked before.
I am running the black (or dark as it is called) theme for MIUI.
Great, but for me 2 apps which are involving daily activities are still white.
The email-app en the calendar-app (not widget) are still white.
The calendar is white backgroud with black text, even worse, email is white back with lightgrey text.
I would like to get both apps in black background with white text.
Is this impossible? I have not seen a theme yet with this layout.
Or doesn't anybody want this.
I sure could use dome help in achieving this. What files do I need to change and where can these files be found.
Thanx to anyone trying to help in advance.
EJ

depending on whether the backgrounds are images or .xml values(?), you'd have to open up the .apk for the relevant program, find the images you wish to modify, modify them, and add them to the relevant theme.
The text however can be modified with a themes_value.xml in the relevant theme, but I know /little/ in regards to what wording is required, other than the colour being specified as #FFFFFFFF.

[Q] CM11 Theming Help

I'm still rocking KitKat 4.4.4 on my Moto X 1Gen because I prefer my Xposed modules over Lollipop. That being said, thanks to a combination of CM11 themes and some Xposed modules, I've given my phone a personalized near-Lollipop look. There are, however, a couple of things I need help with, if anyone is willing.
I'm using a theme called L Style White, which was included in a 2-in-1 theme apk called KitKat White, which has since been removed from the Play Store for having "KitKat" in its name. Since it's no longer available, I've cracked it open several times and made some adjustments and changes, for my own personal use. I have no intentions of sharing/uploading a mod of someone else's initial work on the Play Store. I just made it for myself. I've added a lot of Lollipop elements from other CM11 themes that I liked. But there are two things I can't figure out how to theme on my own, and I was hoping someone more skillful with creating themes would be willing to help me out.
The first thing is the Google "Ears" sound search widget. I'd like to theme it to have a white background and dark text (so it will be visible on the white background). This one seems simple enough, but I can't seem to work it out on my own. Hopefully someone here can.
The second thing is the Reboot dialog, or really any dialog, I guess. I want to remove the white line under the title. This seems to exist on pretty much all dialogs that use the native framework, not JUST the advanced reboot menu. As you can see, it's already themed somewhat in the LiquidSmooth 4.4.4 ROM I'm using. I'd just like to make it more Lollipop style by removing that line. (On holo-light dialog popups, it's a dark line instead). I'm fine with the colors and everything on this; just want to make it more Lollipop style in its overall look. I've included a screenshot of an app that uses the style I'm wanting. Again, I don't care about changing the colors, just the layout of the title and stuff.
So there. Sorry that was so long. Hopefully someone took the time to read it anyway. If I need to, I can share the apk of the theme I'm using, but I'd rather do so privately, since it wasn't my work to begin with. I really just need whatever files/resources/xmls I can drop into the appropriate folder in the 'Overlays' section of the theme apk. Any help would be greatly appreciated, and would also help me learn more by example.