Theme Master for Pocket PC 2002/2000

[Jason Dunn]

<a href="http://www.theraggios.com/rpa/">http://www.theraggios.com/rpa/</a><br /><br />Theme Master is a new application that does one thing: it automatically loads a new theme for you based on a preset schedule. It's a small application that runs in the system tray on your Pocket PC. I've been trying it out for a bit now and like it a lot - I have a large collection of themes on my <a href="http://store.yahoo.com/cgi-bin/clink?aaronix+Efzccr+51comflascar.html">CompactFlash card</a>, but I rarely change it because I forget to. :-) Theme Master can be set to swap images as quickly as one per minute, and if the device is off during that time, when you power it up again the theme will swap. Very cool! I often leave my Pocket PC in the cradle while I'm working on my PC, so having the themes change is a little like having a slideshow.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/thememaster.gif" /><br /><br />• Change your current theme quickly and easily on demand<br />• Works on PPC 2002 devices and 2000 devices (running Novosec's Facelift )<br />• Rotate your themes automatically after a time delay<br />• Select a theme at random, sequentially, or from a list<br />• Uses native theme files (.tsk) <br />• Use themes stored on storage cards (or any other user-defined path) as well as those stored in main memory at "\windows" and "\my documents" <br />• Ability to specify a user-defined folder to search for themes <br /><br />Theme Master can be <a href="http://www.handango.com/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&platformId=2&productType=2&catalog=0&amp;amp;sectionId=0&productId=28795">purchased from Handango</a> (affiliate link) for $6.99. Grab it today...unless you've one of the following five lucky people who won a free copy courtesy of the developer:<i> chris, GlennRabie, nirav28, GUNSTEELE,</i> and <i>mexijew_dot_com</i>. Aren't you glad you registered? Enjoy being the master of your themes!

[tekguru]

And it's just been reviewed on Tekguru too!

:arrow: http://www.tekguru.co.uk/PPC_Reviews/thememaster/index.htm

[Crumb]

I could use something like this for my work. I can't be running around with my Denise Richards skins :)

[Jammin]

Does it work by just "running" the themes? If so, it should work on a PPC2000 with Facelift installed? If not maybe that could be added to facelift in a future update :D

[carphead]

The program works with Facelift as well as 2002.

I've been testing the app for John for a while. Compared to Theme Manager (Stellametrics) is a fantasic application.

It's in development but I really recommend at least trying it.

[rpadev]

ThemeMaster works with PPC 2002 devices as well as those that use PPC 2000 in conjunction with Facelift. Hope you enjoy the product. There is a demo version available for download at my site:

www.theraggios.com/rpa
It is on sale at Handango.com. The first message in this thread has the link to Handango.

Thanks for your support and I look forward to hearing how it works for you.

John

[Jeff Rutledge]

This is a great app. I have dozens of themes and this app lets me see them all.

I change my theme every 15 minutes. I seem to notice a lot of repeats in the cycle (I have random sequence set). Would it be possible to set it up so that it selects the theme randomly from those themes not selected yet? That is, it wouldn't show a theme until all others in that folder were shown (in random sequence).

Just a thought...

[msprague]

I seem to notice a lot of repeats in the cycle (I have random sequence set). Would it be possible to set it up so that it selects the theme randomly from those themes not selected yet? That is, it wouldn't show a theme until all others in that folder were shown (in random sequence).
This reminds me of my first audio CD player. It also had a true random play. What most people really want though, is random with memory. With all the recent CD players I have used, they keep track of what songs have already been randomly played and don't repeat them until all others have played. I considered that to be an improvement, and it looks like the same would apply here. Of course that means that, without additional logic, after the first round through the themes it would continue to display them in the same sequence repeatedly and would therefore no longer be random.

[Jeff Rutledge]

This is a great app. I have dozens of themes and this app lets me see them all.

I change my theme every 15 minutes. I seem to notice a lot of repeats in the cycle (I have random sequence set). Would it be possible to set it up so that it selects the theme randomly from those themes not selected yet? That is, it wouldn't show a theme until all others in that folder were shown (in random sequence).

Just a thought...

Well, firstly I can say that I now have hundreds of themes, not dozens. I wouldn't have bothered if it wasn't for ThemeMaster and v2.0 is great.

I am still seeing a lot of repeats when Random is set; some of my Themes just don't seem to make it into rotation. :?

So, I thought I'd try Sequential. I did find one problem. It seems that there's a timing issue, likely because I'm storing all of my themes on an SD card. When I have sequential set, it always seems to default back to the fire.tsk theme located in the \Windows folder. Like I say, I'm guessing this is just a timing issue.

Hopefully these aren't too difficult to address. It would be great if these two issues could be addressed.

Also, a suggestion: Would it be possible to define an option so that you could set the icon that runs in the system tray to load the next sequential theme? Now, it is always a random one.

Thanks again for a great app!

[Coralie]

after trialling both, i chose themeking instead of thememaster. for the same price it seemed a little more configureable, especially in the way of choosing how often you'd like your themes to change. it seems you can also load different profiles of your own choosing. 8)

here is one of pocket pc thought's affiliate links :wink: to themeking (http://www.handango.com/brainstore/PlatformProductDetail.jsp?siteId=311&jid=A26A7293CB77AXECAFFXA596377871DX&platformId=2&productType=2&productId=43607&sectionId=0&catalog=30).

i actually bought the funnysnake (funnycompanyname) bundle of three items which includes a game of memory they call pexeso. i'm a sucker for a bundle .. what can i say? :oops:

[Coralie]

a bit of further comparison for you ..

themeking has a countdown inside the options section to show you how long until the next theme comes on.

it appears to have a delete option like thememaster too.

[Jeff Rutledge]

I have a couple of suggestions I thought I'd throw out.

The first is collections. I like to see different themes during the day at work than, say, during the weekend. Would it be possible to create different skin collections. It's implementation could be as simple as assigning a different folder location for each collection. Actually, that would be my preference.

The next suggestion is related to the manual rotation of themes. Currently, the only way to do it without going into the program is to double click the system tray icon. Would it be possible to expand that functionality? What I'm thinking is something like this:
- Single tap the icon in the system tray
- This would bring up a menu with each of your Collections listed.
- Clicking on one of them would bring up a sub menu with two choices: Random or Sequential (self-explanatory).

If the above is possible, and if you're so inclined, I think that these suggestions would make your great app even better.