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View Full Version : Digital Blasphemy Now Offering Pocket PC Themes


Janak Parekh
04-29-2004, 07:00 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/dbgallery/ppc.shtml' target='_blank'>http://www.digitalblasphemy.com/dbg...llery/ppc.shtml</a><br /><br /></div>Digital Blasphemy is my favorite wallpaper site, so I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Ryan Bliss, the author, is now offering Pocket PC themes -- 5 free ones for non-members, and a whopping 38 for those of you who are members of the site. (While you're at it, you might also want to sample his wallpaper work -- I use them on all of my computers. :))<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/parekh-20040429-DigitalBlasphemyThemes.jpg" /><br /><br />My officemate noticed one quirk: the themes may not render your start menu text in white (it didn't on his iPAQ 3970 upgraded to WM2003). There are various workarounds, including a simple <a href="http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&selm=e3%240jqaDEHA.2564%40TK2MSFTNGP11.phx.gbl">registry hack</a>, if you experience this problem on WM2003; unfortunately, I don't think you can change the start menu color on Pocket PC 2002.

Chris Spera
04-29-2004, 07:12 PM
No, you can't; and a small change to some of the TSK files will also change the Start Menu text color in WM2003 (without having to make the registry hack...)

I've been begging Ryan for these for months and finally offered to help him with this about 6 weeks ago. I guess that (or quite possibly something else...) got him going and he produced these way cool themes by himself. Aside from color consistencies through out all of the theme elements (like Important Message Bar Left/Right Colors, Lower Command Bar Colors, and Navigation Tray Colors), these are AWESOME!!

Ryan is one of the BEST artists I have come across on the 'Net, and that's why I've been a DB Member for almost 4 years now. His wallpapers are the best I've ever seen. If you pair these themes with his wallpapers, you've got one of the best desktop combinations going!

Janak Parekh
04-29-2004, 08:28 PM
Ryan is one of the BEST artists I have come across on the 'Net, and that's why I've been a DB Member for almost 4 years now.
Indeed. I've actually bought a lifetime subscription to the site. 8O

--janak

opus
04-29-2004, 08:48 PM
Just for added clarity on the Registry hack. The first three bytes range from 00-FF and indicate R,G,B values (last value does nothing as far as I can tell). So FF FF FF 00 gives white, 00 00 00 00 gives black, AA AA FF 00 gives a light blue, etc.

-- Opus, Janak officemate

phillypocket
04-29-2004, 09:32 PM
Are there any workarounds for 2002?

dlangton
04-29-2004, 09:42 PM
I'd still like to know who invented the myth that the start menu text color can't be changed. I've been changing it since PocketPC 2000.

Use something like SnoopSoft's ColorMe. Set the text color for MenuBar to whatever you want. Other software will do the same thing, but the item might be called something else.

BrandonMiniman
04-29-2004, 10:12 PM
Ryan Bliss always did outstanding work with DB - it's great to see him expand his offerings to Pocket PC.

Sparkomatic
04-30-2004, 12:35 AM
I just joined the website but am I missing something?... I can't find a link to those 38 PPC themes from the Members Area.

Pixelnose
04-30-2004, 01:29 AM
I dunno, I know I'll be flamed for saying it, but I think that while the work at DB is technically stunning, it's artistically boring, oh look a landscape...it's been done before. But sure the guy is talented, I just wish he could channel it into something other than yet another landscape.
:roll:

ctmagnus
04-30-2004, 03:10 AM
Indeed. I've actually bought a lifetime subscription to the site. 8O

I see no lifetime options on the signup page. Only one year personal, 90 day personal, one year commercial. :?:

Jonathan1
04-30-2004, 03:22 AM
Dang! I completely forgot about DB! I first ran across it in my helpdesk travels a few years back. Was doing some helpdesk support on a bunch of users that practically live in a phone bank. As you can imagine it got pretty boring just answering calls so **sighs** they installed all kinds of crap on their computer. Funny that it occasionally broke their system. :roll: I ran across one user who had this really cool set of wallpapers on her system labeled, as you can imagine DigitalBlasphemy sweet art. I completely forgot about that site. Thanks Janak :)

PS- Does anyone know of any other good planetscape sites out there?

ppcsurfr
04-30-2004, 04:20 AM
Just for added clarity on the Registry hack. The first three bytes range from 00-FF and indicate R,G,B values (last value does nothing as far as I can tell). So FF FF FF 00 gives white, 00 00 00 00 gives black, AA AA FF 00 gives a light blue, etc.

-- Opus, Janak officemate

Here are some solutions to this...

The registry hack is temprary... this means that if you change themes... you lose the settings...

The best way to handle this is to permanently fix it by modifying the theme.

I wrote an article about Today Themes in PPCW.Net (http://www.ppcw.net/index.php?itemid=1866)and one of the solutions is to use TKCreater (http://www.funnysnake.com/products_tkcreater.php).

Mabuhay! ~ Carlo

ChristopherTD
04-30-2004, 09:37 AM
I just joined the website but am I missing something?... I can't find a link to those 38 PPC themes from the Members Area.

It is easy to miss, take a peek on the members home page, at the second news item (dated 24 April) and in the first paragraph is a mention of the PPC themes and a link tio a zip of all 38 themes...

phillypocket
04-30-2004, 03:43 PM
Thanks dlangton & ppcsurfer for direction on changing the colors.

On a relatively unrelated topic, does anyone know what the .tsk extension stands for ? :?:

dblasphemy
04-30-2004, 05:40 PM
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I've read all the comments with great interest.

I'm disappointed that the themes don't work correctly on everyone's system. I tested them all out on my Ipaq before I posted them in every case the Start Menu text was white (same as the text on the "Today" screen). My Ipaq uses Pocket PC 2003.

Other folks have told me that some of the themes have a 1 pixel white line down the side, though once again I don't see this on my system.

To be honest, I would rather not do "themes" at all. I would rather just post the graphics a let people make their own themes. This is how I've always done it with my computer wallpapers. For some reason, the Pocket PC community demands fully realized themes. Having to check these out on a hundred different handhelds will really quench my enthusiasm for the project.

Can anyone point me to the "best" theme designer out there? Obviously the MS Theme Designer is not up to the task.

Thanks everyone!

~Ryan

PS. Pixelnose: take a look through my gallery and you will see a lot more than just landscapes.

jake080
04-30-2004, 05:53 PM
I really appreciate the WS and Dual Monitor sections!
Just amazing...

Steven Cedrone
04-30-2004, 06:24 PM
To be honest, I would rather not do "themes" at all. I would rather just post the graphics a let people make their own themes. This is how I've always done it with my computer wallpapers. For some reason, the Pocket PC community demands fully realized themes. Having to check these out on a hundred different handhelds will really quench my enthusiasm for the project.

I've haven't got any problems with creating my own themes!

Steve

ChristopherTD
04-30-2004, 08:44 PM
Thanks for the kind words everyone. I've read all the comments with great interest.

I'm disappointed that the themes don't work correctly on everyone's system. I tested them all out on my Ipaq before I posted them in every case the Start Menu text was white (same as the text on the "Today" screen). My Ipaq uses Pocket PC 2003.

Other folks have told me that some of the themes have a 1 pixel white line down the side, though once again I don't see this on my system.

Can anyone point me to the "best" theme designer out there? Obviously the MS Theme Designer is not up to the task.



I registered at DB when I saw the link yesterday. I am enjoying browsing through all the content.

FWIW I do see a white line down the side of a few of the themes, but not all of them (Haiku shows a white line, Eventide doesn't). I use a iPaq 5550 running WM2003 and the latest ROM (7 April). The latest ROM seems to force white menu text, whereas the older one didn't. It does all seem very variable!

Generally the DB themes I have tried are a little bit washed out when on battery (with lower backlight). This seems to make them more directional, they look best at a narrower angle than slightly brighter themes. I don't know if this makes sense!

McDeb makes themes that are generally well balanced colour-wise and she has a bundled ThemeMaker program called ThemeMaker McDeb. It may be too oriented to end-users rather than a "pro"!

I hope a simple solution can be found!

Janak Parekh
05-02-2004, 05:53 AM
I see no lifetime options on the signup page. Only one year personal, 90 day personal, one year commercial. :?:
It's an option on the members page. I don't know if you can start off as a lifetime subscriber -- you should email Ryan about that.

--janak

Janak Parekh
05-02-2004, 05:54 AM
To be honest, I would rather not do "themes" at all. I would rather just post the graphics a let people make their own themes. This is how I've always done it with my computer wallpapers. For some reason, the Pocket PC community demands fully realized themes. Having to check these out on a hundred different handhelds will really quench my enthusiasm for the project.
Ryan,

The reason Pocket PC users want themes is the broken way Pocket PCs handle non-themed wallpapers -- it "greys" them. :( Having complete themes makes it very easy for the Pocket PC end-users. :)

Maybe if someone here is a full subscriber and makes themes, they could work with you in helping simplify the process? I'd volunteer, but I've got my hands full at the moment. Thanks for your work so far -- it's greatly appreciated. :)

--janak