The Best Home Screens Available on the Net

[Mike Temporale]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://smartphone.kleinweder.ch/downloads/' target='_blank'>http://smartphone.kleinweder.ch/downloads/</a><br /><br /></div>These are the coolest home screens I have ever seen. Since this link was sent to me, I think I have changed my home screen almost every day! Microsoft should seriously consider bundling some of these with the next Smartphone release. There are too many amazing screens to pick from, so I decided to show you the first one listed on the page. You'll have to visit the site to see them all. :D<br /> <br /><img src="http://www.smartphonethoughts.com/images/kl1wdr-Longhorn.jpg" alt="User submitted image" title="User submitted image"/> <br /><br />To view them all, make sure you set the category on the top of the page to "Smartphone 2002/2003 HomeScreens". You should find 60 different themes available for download. ENJOY! (I sure am ;) )

[possmann]

VERY COOL

I don't have my smartphone yet - am waiting for the Mpx220 - but do the fields just automatically get populated with the correct data?

How do I do stuff like this myself? Is there an applet out there?

Very good job on these themes...

[brianchris]

I don't have an MS Smartphone yet (I, as well, am waiting for a SP2003 with Bluetooth), however my wife currently owns the MPx200 and loves it. Agreed, those themes are amazing, and there's a couple she likes, however, I'm feeling quite Windows Mobile impotent (a rare feeling) as I don't know how to uplaod and change themes :oops: Anyone out there willing to give a hint, or better provide a link to a Windows Mobile Smartphone FAQ? TIA!

-Brian

UPDATE: Impotent no more....this link did the trick: http://www.mpx200.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=FAQ&file=index&myfaq=yes&id_cat=15#61

[Mike Temporale]

How do I do stuff like this myself? Is there an applet out there?

First you have to be very good with Photoshop. ;) Then you have to play with the .home.xml file to get everything just right. 8)

[smittyofdhs]

I've seen these before but can never open his archives. Using WinRAR I can open the file and see the contents of the archive but when I try to extract them I get a header corruption error from winrar and nothing will extract. ANybody else have these issues? THe one I want is called "kl1wdr-Cool"

[Jason Dunn]

Yeah, I really have to re-iterate how bloody hostile Microsoft made installing themes on the Smartphone. Ditto for ring tones... :-(

[spg]

Cool stuff, thanks for the link.

I do have to agree about installing themes though. I make alot of my own themes, and when I'm testing them out, it is extremely difficult to keep "tweaking" the theme, the install process does not work well at all.

[encece]

Definitely the coolest skins. Especially since they are all single screen.
I learned alot from kl1wdr by pulling apart his skins and tweaking them for my own use. I'll never be as good at graphics as he...but they are very easy to tweak and customize for your own needs. I especially like how he incorporates "graphic" text with the "data" text.

For those just learning...the best way to learn is to download skins that you like and modify them to suit your needs. You'll learn alot that way. I know I did.

Also...take a look at his downloads. There are usually many different images in each skin-set. Not just the one shown as example. I think there is one with 12 different options for background images. TIP: Take advantage of layers in Photoshop to do the same!

I also appreciate his taste in women! All hotties! :D

[Mike Temporale]

I've seen these before but can never open his archives. Using WinRAR I can open the file and see the contents of the archive but when I try to extract them I get a header corruption error from winrar and nothing will extract. ANybody else have these issues? THe one I want is called "kl1wdr-Cool"

I found a tool on Download.com called ExtractNow (http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=extractnow&tg=dl-2001). It's free, and it handles these files very well. Give that a try!

[smittyofdhs]

I've seen these before but can never open his archives. Using WinRAR I can open the file and see the contents of the archive but when I try to extract them I get a header corruption error from winrar and nothing will extract. ANybody else have these issues? THe one I want is called "kl1wdr-Cool"

I found a tool on Download.com called ExtractNow (http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=extractnow&tg=dl-2001). It's free, and it handles these files very well. Give that a try!


wow! very cool little app and being free even better. I'll keep that for my work as we always need zip programs to open all types of archives.

[Mike Temporale]

Some of these skins have a folder in them labeled "pix". This folder contains a handful of images like Call.gif, Contact.gif, or Volume.gif. I don't know where they should be placed. I've tried a couple different locations, but I have had no luck. Anyone know?

[smittyofdhs]

Some of these skins have a folder in them labeled "pix". This folder contains a handful of images like Call.gif, Contact.gif, or Volume.gif. I don't know where they should be placed. I've tried a couple different locations, but I have had no luck. Anyone know?


you call place them anywhere but you have to modify the registry to point to where the images are.

[skyeoctober]

Hi there - I have a mpx200 and I can't figure out how to download these skins. I have tried to change the extension to .home.xml, but I get an error when I try to run this on my phone.

Please help, this skin is killer.


Kelley

[smittyofdhs]

Hi there - I have a mpx200 and I can't figure out how to download these skins. I have tried to change the extension to .home.xml, but I get an error when I try to run this on my phone.

Please help, this skin is killer.


Kelley

the files you download are archives, like a zip file. You need to unzip the files first, then move them to your mpx. download the program mentioned earlier in this thread, the software is called ExtractALL.

[Mike Temporale]

.rar files are compressed. They are similair to ZIP files. Download the ExtractAll program I mentioned on page 1 of this thread, unpack the skin, and copy the 2 files (.jpg & .home.xml) to /Storage/Application Data/Home.

Then from your phone press Start / 8 Settings / 4 Home Screen. Change Home Screen Layout to the name of the skin you just copied over. And change background-image to the name of the jpg you copied.

That should do it. :way to go:

[skyeoctober]

That worked! Killer skin.

[sams]

I can use one of the home screen layouts, the one titled "kl1wdr.simple.home.xml", but when I try to change to any other home screen layout I downloaded, I get an error message telling me "No home screen layout can be found. Install a valid home screen layout and then select it using the Home Screen item in Settings." I can see the home screen layouts in the list of options on the phone, but they don't work. Any ideas? No problems with the images, they all work fine. I am using the Samsung i-600 with the 2002 OS.

--Sam

[Mike Temporale]

Where did you put the files? Are they in the /Storage/Application Data/Home folder?

[sams]

I put them in \IPSM\Application Data\Home. My phone did not have a \Storage folder.

[sams]

I do have a \Storage Card folder, but that's all I see with that name in it. Once I opened the \IPSM folder, I saw the subfolders there. That is where the one Home Screen view that does work also is stored.

[Mike Temporale]

I've downloaded that skin, and it has about 17 different background images. The XML file is looking for kl1wdr-Minimalistic.gif Did you copy that image to the device? If you want to use another background image you will need to A) modify the XML to point to the correct filename, or B) rename the background name to the correct name.

HTH

[sams]

That did it--thanks! Now I see why others said making these changes is not very easy or intuitive...

[Mike Temporale]

That did it--thanks! Now I see why others said making these changes is not very easy or intuitive...

No Problem. I really hope that the next version addresses these issues. People really like to customize their home screen, and unfortunatly it's not very easy to do with the Smartphone. All they really need is a little app that would display the installed themes and allow you to select which one you want to use. That small change would be a major improvement in this area.

[Santa Fe]

This is supposed to be a theme changer. I have not tried it myself.
http://homepages.inspire.net.nz/~gambit/

[gambit]

I have tried it - its amazing, it changed my life, made me lose weight, get more girls, and increase my net worth!*

*Disclaimer: results may vary**

**Disclaimer: I wrote it

riki

[ChemNerd]

Some of these skins have a folder in them labeled "pix". This folder contains a handful of images like Call.gif, Contact.gif, or Volume.gif. I don't know where they should be placed. I've tried a couple different locations, but I have had no luck. Anyone know?


you call place them anywhere but you have to modify the registry to point to where the images are.

What registry thing do I need to edit to get this. I'm a little supprised I'm the only one to ask this. Either I'm a moron or no one cares.

[arcmetal]

free to try ~ $12 to buy, well worth it.

[windmiller]

Is there anyway to have the Missed Calls viewed on the Homescreen with any of these screens? Thanks!

[little john]

Here is the XML code for displaying the missed call on the Hone screen.

HTH,
~lj


&lt;!-- Missed Calls Plugin -->

&lt;plugin clsid="{0BA8ABB8-1F1D-417f-88C6-DA8530E2E7A6}" name="missedcalls" height="10">
&lt;format state="nocall" visible="true"/>
&lt;label>
&lt;format state="unselected" x="154" y="0" halign="left" bgcolor="transparent" fgcolor="#FFFFFF" font-weight="normal" font-size="10" />
&lt;format state="selected" x="154" y="0" halign="left" bgcolor="transparent" fgcolor="#000000" font-weight="bold" font-size="10" />
&lt;format state="nocall" visible="true"/>
&lt;text>:&lt;calls/>:&lt;/text>
&lt;/label>
&lt;/plugin>

[windmiller]

How do I use the code?

[bspeed]

I agree with you that these are some fine screens. Being new to the smartphone area, I am having problems with these downloads.
I downloaded them, extracted them, then dragged them over to the storage/application data/home. When I went to my phone and went settings/home background they were not available.
I then checked file viewer and the files are there.
Did I miss a step in the process?
Any assistance would be appreicated.
I am using a mpx 220
Thanks

Bob

[ctmagnus]

Some of these skins have a folder in them labeled "pix". This folder contains a handful of images like Call.gif, Contact.gif, or Volume.gif. I don't know where they should be placed. I've tried a couple different locations, but I have had no luck. Anyone know?


you call place them anywhere but you have to modify the registry to point to where the images are.

Do you know offhand which keys to modify? I checked the xml file in XP.rar and found a bunch of clsids, but that's the closest I've found to anything resembling part of the registry. Clsids scare me! :worried: