[Info Smartphone] Align Start-Menu and MRU Background with your Homescreen - Windows Mobile Themes
This info is for smartphone (WM Standard) but some items may apply also for touch screen devices (WM professional).
Not many things can be personalized on a smartphone, but some can.
The home-screen:
each of these has XML code to define its layout, the utilized plugins, the color scheme and the home-screen background. Many have defined sophisticated home-screens or loaded them from the web.
Sadly when leaving the home-screen, only the color scheme stays, nothing else
The color-schemes may be selected independently from the home-screen and these may also contain a background picture. Selected color schemes are overwriting the relevant settings of the home-screen. Note that only the defined parts in the selected color scheme are used to overwrite previous definitions in the home-screen - so they are complementary in that regard. If a background picture is defined in the color scheme, it takes precedence over the one defined in the home-screen.
An own background picture can be forced and overwrites all above methods.
Selection of a background picture via the settings panel is only possible from the \Application Data\Home directory (where all home-screens are) while defined home-screens or color schemes can reference pictures from any location on the device (usually \windows).
Via the Pictures and Videos application or via File Explorer you can also set any picture as home-screen background. You do this via the context menu and then you are presented a work-flow consisting of selecting the area to use and the transparency level to apply for that picture. Vendor specific other procedures may apply here. Finally all these should create images like: stwater_<x-res>_<y-res>.jpg in the \windows directory and a compressed adapted home-screen in the \Application Data\Home directory.
Start Menu Background: Not often used but powerful, see here for all details: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb416463.aspx. In essence you have to add to the current entries:
Code:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Shell\Rai\:MSStart]
"BKBitmapFile"="<your picture here>"
"BKFlags"=dword:1a
"BKBitmapTransparent"=dword:00ff00ff
"BKBitmapLogPixelsY"=dword:00000083 <- your DPI here '83 = 131 for QVGA
"BKBitmapLogPixelsX"=dword:00000083 <- your DPI here '83 = 131 for QVGA
Most Recent Used Applications Background: Introduced with Sliding Panels backgrounds from WM 6.1 as there is no MRU plugin with sliding panels. Here the same logic applies as for the Startmenu, just use :MSMRULauncher instead of :MSStart
And NO - the settings panels cannot handle a background picture
So why did I tell you this? You can simply align your start menu and MRU launcher with the picture on your home-screen. No need for any offline tools or editing, just do the following:
enter the keys to the registry as given above for start menu and MRU laucher, take care to set the correct DPI. You find the right ones at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\GWE\Display in the values "LogicalPixelsX" and "LogicalPixelsY"
set both the background pictures to "\windows\stwater_<x>_<y>.jpg" so that "<x,y>" matches your resolution
With file explorer or "Pictures and Videos" seek for the BG picture of your current home-screen, usually it is either in \Application Data\Home or in \windows
Set this to be your home-screen picture, choose a value of ~30% transparency in the work-flow.
Check your home-screen and the MRU + Startmenu panels. If you have already a background active you need to restart the device to pick the new ones up.
Now you will see that the selected picture is too pale for the home-screen, so on the settings-home-screen go to the background picture selection and select "standard" again to get your original picture back there.
As long as you are not assigning a new dedicated background picture to the home-screen, the previously created stwater_x_y.jpg stays in the \windows directory and will please you as the MRU and Start menu backgrounds.
Any new background related activity will only require steps 3-7, the registry stays unchanged.
Some more
The background setting in the Shell registry hierarchy works just the same as for :MSStart also for: :MSScut (Short Dials), :MSSolitaire (Solitaire), :WCEload (when installing programs) and :SIMPinBKGround (when entering the SIM PIN).
You may not want to have backgrounds for all of the above, but to get rid of the light green background in Solitaire, set the value of BKUnselected there to something else than "00FF00" which is Green only. Sequence is RGB, so make your choice. Even simpler (and best choice here): Add BKDefaultGradient = dword:1 which gives you the standard (and altered by your color scheme) gradient color on the background.
The dialog for the SIM PIN is not transparent though, so not nice to look at.
Of course the Shell\RAI has other bitmap settings (brandings, dialog backgrounds), no need to mention that here.
Related
Change HTC apps colors
I installed Facade and chose a green theme. Anyone knows if it is possible (and how) to change the background color of HTC apps (comm manager, for example), so that they better integrate in the new theme?
Or my question how to just change them completely?!
The connection manager has a bunch of .png files in the \windows directory on the device. These should be hackable with a graphics program and be displayed after the device is reset. To customize the rest of your normal (non-HTC) WM programs, see http://www.modaco.com/content/Smartphone-General-Discussion/236832/Homescreen-guide-for-beginners/
Most of the styles are saved in XML files which you can edit with web page writing tools. As such you should be able to see the path's to the graphical files and then just change their color. Would think so, havnt looked yet but I am planning on changing my home screen to a nice blue. I like the HTC look, but a soft blue would be better than grey IMO.
Well, at last it seems it was rather simple changing the colors of my Facade theme: I've converted it from green to grey editing the xml file and modifying a few gifs with Gimp. So it's all grey now, and HTC apps are again integrated with the overall style. Thanks.
post us ur theme. would be cool
Here it is. But it's no other than the original facade style, with changed colors and a cool (I think) background... (I didn't change the profile gifs cause I don't use this plugin)
Background image problem
why i change my background image..the image color will become pale~~ can anyone fix it because i saw my friend omnia wont have this problem
Set transparency to 0% in "pictures and videos" when setting background image.... Good luck!
excuse me, where can i find the setting of it? inside which particular files?
Dont use the 'Today' settinsg to set the image as a background as that doesn't let you change the transparency - easy mistake to make! Use File Explorer to find the image file you want to use / or the picture viewer (Pictures & Videos), then click to open the picture. When viewing the picture in the picture viewer go to Menu->Set as Today Background. When you click that you get a dialog that lets you set the transparency. Hope this helps. -FM
or instead of going to the menu for a speedy set, click and hold on the image then select set as background, set transparency to 0%
how can i change wallpaper in sony ericsson panel.
hey, how can i change that, can you give me some instruction, application that use to do that, or something that it helps, thanks in advance
not sure what you mean when you say sony ericsson panel but if you mean the 2 default html panels x1 comes with then no they don't use backgrounds at all just colours
lol those aren't colors, they are background files, either JPG or PNG. They are literally backgrounds with only 1 distinction to them, which is that each background is a specific color. These backgrounds are changeable but I don't have my X1 so I can't find the folder to replace those background files. Maybe someone can help.
It definitely works. I tried it myself. In the SE panel folder there is a subfolder "images" where the standard backgrounds are stored. They are numbered from 00 - 10 and there are two for each number (horizontal and vertical but they are always the same). What you have to do is replace the original ones with your custom images. You have to use exactly the same file name (for example 01v.jpg and 01h.jpg to replace background number 1). After doing so your desired background will be available in the SE panel menu. Unfortunately I have not found a way so far to change the description so the name of your background will still be the name of the corresponding color. But it's really easy to find out because it starts with black and the sequence of the colors corresponds with the numbers (black = 00 ...).
that's right try this goto program files> panels> sonyericsson panel> images 00v is for black vertical 00h is for black horisontal and so on myself I changed my xperia background like this I replaced 10v and 10h but remember befor you change the image you have to unselect the color I mean when you want to change the xperia you have to select another color 1st to take effect... for me I put my wedding picture in it. also remember for the H image it must be in 800x428 pixels and for V image it must be in 480x748 pixels Good luck
Theme help!
Im in the process of making my own theme but there is one part i'm stuck on. In certain places the colours are not from a png but from a registry setting i.e the list selectors in call history, or apps like Resco Explorer. I suspect it's the reg entry in tsk as below: ThemeValues"=hex:00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,FF,FF,FF,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ FF,FF,FF,00,FF,FF,FF,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,FF,FF,FF,00,FF,FF,FF,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,50,50,50,00,FF,FF,FF,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ 00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,00,FF,FF,FF,00,00,00,00,00,00,\ This gives a shade of grey but how do i edit this string to make those same selectors black? I think it is the 50,50,50 part so do i just lower those values or is there more to it?
Yep, that's the value to change. You can even achieve more complicated results like inverting the system colors (as seen in kane159 HollBlack Themes). For the selection colors you mentioned you already found the right digits, you have to change them to 00,00,00 for black. You need to understand how the hexadecimal RGB-notation works for this .
Thank you for confirming that. At least it's not going to be trial and error now
Here's a trickier one. Hopefully somebody will know the solution: When you tap and hold on an item to bring up a context menu there is the circle of dots animation. How does one modify the colour of that now? I understand that it used to be an entry in the same place as above called 40 with a Binary value. I assume as i don't have that value that the method has changed?
Look in HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Color\MultiColorTheme, there are four values (BaseColor1 through BaseColor4). The dots you mentioned get the color by somehow mixing these four values together... I have BaseColor1 and 3 set to black (simply 0) and the other two to white (FFFFFF hex), and the dots are grey. They also controll the gradient in some legacy message boxes (for example when deleting something from the file explorer).
I see what you mean! Mine are set to the same values as yours and so are obviously grey too. I want them black really so i will try it with all values set to 0. Thanks again for your help! EDIT: Well, i altered the values of all four to 0 in my tsk and re-installed my Theme. It's still grey I guess there must be more to it than this. It's not a big deal but if you have any other suggestions i'd really appreciate it.
Changing Background for Xperia Panel 1
Hello! I have a quick question for anyone who is willing to help me out here.. I have already searched and found a topic on changing the default background for the sony ericsson panel 1, which states you have to replace the 10v and 10h files in the programfiles\panels\SonyEricssonPanel\images with other jpeg images. Here's the thing: I tried and it did not work. I have backed-up my originals, took them out of that folder, and replaced them with my own jpeg files, same resolution as the originals, tried selecting another theme, tried changing panels, and tried to soft rest, and somehow, the panel still comes up with that same default background.. :-( Please someone tell me what I'm doing wrong, very much appreciated!!
I'm just a newbie, but changing the background photo on panel 1 I just opened explorer, opened up my photos folder (it works on both internal and external memory, tested right now), marked the picture, chose "set as background", set opacity and voila I have horses running! (white horses and white letters in the menus, so I changed to another theme from "settings - today" that gave black letters) (my menus are Norwegian, so I'm guessing what they would be in English)
thanks for the reply, I already tried that and it didn't work. The only place I see somewhat of the picture I chose was when I press the start menu. It's like a background for the start menu only and the panel background stays the same. Anyone else have any suggestions?
google for pocketpc theme get the tsk themes you like put the tsk files on your ppc cloose the theme in settings->today using "use this picture as the background" is not enough colours for text and bars are defined in the themes
Ahh, thanks for the help but unfortunately no one understoon my question!! I wanted to actually modify one of the existing panels. Panel 1 is not the normal today screen, it is the one that displays the clock and calendar and the quick function buttons. I wanted to find out how to get that default color-laser looking background out and replace it with my own so that way i can still have the quick function icons on the bottom, but I already figured it out. It seems you have to tap the weather information to get to the screen where you can change your background color, and that lets go of the cached background image after you've replaced the 10v and 10h files.