started this tread on uncommon findings & stupid tips that almost make sense. for ppl like myself who always wish there's more to do on the theme. (sometimes to the extend of overcrowding like i did to this week's theme. )
i hope this can help a aspiring thememakers, thememakers running outta ideas, wanting to try new things.

by effort alone wouldn't be enuff to push the levels of thememaking. I NEEDED HELP. if u have any ideas or advice, feel free to post. regardless of the near insanity of it. remember, the wright brothers looked like a fool 101 years ago.

so to start off... i just noticed a few thing maybe u ppl already know :-

• the highlight bars can never reach the last row of text.
• on the 128*104 menu, there are max 6 row of text, each 16px high.
• 16*6=96. so where's the other 8px?... 4px on top and bottom!
• a row of text almost occupied not more than 10px high. means that u got 6px of space betw rows.
• so in the menu, u got 7px top & 7px bottom to play with

hope it helps

frequently, i always made the mistake of overlooking the text on the standby. including signal, batt indicator, op-logo, time & date and softkeys text.
lotsa time, time & effort is wasted when i discovered important part of my wallpaper is hidden my op-logo and/or time&date.
worse, the indicator blend in too well that it defends their purpose.

.....not anymore. now i use a 128*160px psd transparent overlay to frame my images before further action to prevent abortive works.
why didn't i tot of that earlier..... sigh...

now that is one neat trick very and one I had not thought of, I have had the same problems created the first part of a theme and then realised that I lose an important part of the wallpaper

this the psd i'm using, i crop out everything except the indicators & text. hope it's of use.

i used to always miss the loading bar colour, don't forget to change it

u r right, vince. if overlook, it'll appears as a splinter in an otherwise nice theme.

another tip - after done selecting all the xml colors, turn off "all images in theme preview". that's the last button to the right of TCP. this way, u can at once glance all the colors, easiler without the images turned on.

hope it helps.

it's best to change all the colours, even if it does have an image (well i do anyway) (basicly what very said )

thanks vince.... just wanna thank you for dropping a few tips & more....

u c, i was on the train today, just thinking bout photoshop stuff to improve on themes. & of course you ppl. these few days are rather slow action in forum esp w/ expert busy.

i always smile when i see on the front page forum, most reply r flooded with your last post. u actually spend the effort to drop a line here & there. no wonder u r our elite poster. it's ppl like you that forum exist. no one wanna login to read the same post day after day.

& worth mentioning is scuby. he's got the same style but not is "crazy"

cheers to u both!

Good idea for another helpful thread. I agree to the preview without pics so you can sort your colours... this helps preventing one of the more common mistakes... unwillingly creating a colour conflict. Too bad I didn't know this from the start....

thanx very , but i couldn't do it without you guys (and gals )

i agree with very's sentiments bout vin, scub, and special mention to evrae

back to tips/hints:
*i always use the eyedropper tool on my wallpaper to get my RGB colors and color match my oplogos and other elements on TCP

hey everyone sorry been outa the loop i've been relying alot on august to keep me posted on the new topics and such since i've been busy up the arss my girlfriend and her mom are pushing for me to work on making some movies from the pics taking from our vaca in disney world so i've not been on for a few days. i just checked the "view new posts" and i've got 3pgs worth of info i need to catch up on

@ very thx for the comment i'm not in here as much as everyone else but i do really try my hardest to drop some form of a line when i am coming on

thanx august

we're all a big happy

-----------------------------------------------

another tip is make sure you have the right sized images, i usualy make the 128*160 pic bigger (maxamized) so i get the edge to and just click on the grey pit so i get everything. When i first started sometimes i'd miss the edge and have to fill in the gap with the paintbrush or do the pic again

vince asked bout the bolts in my "nerv entry plug" theme

in photoshop :-

• draw a grey circle 6px dia
• draw a white line 2px thick across diagonally. should cut across the circle, excess is better
• magicwand, click the white line
• now u have a split circle.
• blending option > emboss, change the highlight to white. play around with the setting til u get the effect
• blending option > drop shadow, just a little.
• DONE. now copy as needed.

thanx for the tip very , now i can move up my theme making

Oooh will try that one day. doubt I'd be able to do it like you though, very

nonsense! i'm sure u can! @ vlamm.
dun ever doubt your own abilities.

Am I right in saying that the PopUp window will always say 'More'?
This leaves alot of room to design around that title

hey! u r so right! thanks for the tip, a rare tip indeed.
i'll watch out for your popup on your next theme.

I had a crack at the bolt using my Serif Software

i feel so helpless i'm a themer and i don't have any secret asian monk secret to help others out. you all have covered it and i've not figured any out yet thx alot for all the little snippets

u do have! @scuby. it's in your sub-conscience. i m sure if i sit beside u while u make a theme, i can learn a couple.
oh. i wished i can sit beside every thememaker while they work. it's a neat way to learn.
@evrae. that's very nice! wish i have a bigger screen like the p900. cos at 5px diameter, it's hard to bring the effect out. one thing to note, evrae, it the direction of light & shadow casting. the C shape highlight & the darker tone at the edge shouldn't be on the same side..... hmm...maybe i m wrong.
can i sit beside u while u draw?

Corse you can Very, Im sure you can squeeze in between hubby and me

The shadow is a deliberate mistake

this is i apologize but does anyone know where i can find software program to transfer data via usb data cable? i just recieved my data cable today but i don't have the software for transferring the data. i installed the driver and everything but i need the software can anyone help?

oh man, scoob, this post is hopelessly lost. try posting in the "general forum" anyhoo, since e**** is down, google search: "christersson's sendfile"

Should have got a dongler

wow photoshops well cool look what i made out of a blue backgtound that's it just pressed ctrl+n then filled the background and used some filters

there's a blcak spaceship in there to, if you can see it? it looks lighter in photoshop?

very nice vinn i'm still playing around with my data cable. my phone isn't being detected

By the way, I know this has been asked by vince before, but I couldn't possibly locate that topic about photoshop, how do I remove that grey colored squares on the upper left of an image in photoshop? I accidentally clicked on something and now I could remove that annoying grey thing. Pls help me...

got view>>>show>>> and click slices

Hope this helps

Finally got rid of it! Thanks a bunch vince!

no prob

it does... but not any longer than 4 character words (in english)

HOWEVER...... I have Dutch language on my phone and 'Add' in Dutch is "Toevoegen"..... see my problem??

that is a problem for you vlamm

just to illustrate that other ppl might have unexpected 'problems' when dlding a theme

i overlook that problem. forgotten bout the language barrier. know that i did? took a screenshot of the "more" popup. open in PS7, array the word all over, fade.
looks cool...... was writting a mms, to my horror, it says "add".
so a popup wasted. but a lesson learnt

Hi guys, I need help

for which? popup title? on your screen shots the dimension is for popup highlight, which i dun think is the one u wanted since the popup is a flat color.

if it's the popup title, (we r talking in relation to the wallpaper at 128*127), it's starts 12px from top & ends 35px from top. offset 5px from left & right.

if the above is not what u wanted to know, drop a post again. i'll be here for you.

oh is that what you meant you re right verysoon... in my heaheahhead, in my heaheaheahead (singing to Cranberries tune here)

& u help me discovered that. (the popup location, this is. Not what's in your head! i dun usually going around messing ppl's head)

Im a nerd.....

when's the last time u check the cookbook ?

I rarely use photoshop, not what I wanted but sorted now. Just had to remember

write it down, save a file. but then, u still have to remember where u keep them.

i remember all of them, from doing it so much, i know i did have problems with the highlighs, but now i remember all of them

128*14
128*127
128*19
128*23
128*104
123*16
118*23
113*16

i think that's all of them, it's easier when your making the theme

I preset my crops so i can get themes out quicker, instead of working out how many pixels down to pop title or menu I thought someone would have it somewhere. I spend alot of time messing about with making own pics to be taking 14 from 160 then another 19 and so on. I did do a giant piece on my problem that I had, but obviously with me using different software I do things strange