Skins, themes, etc - help!

[avianskipdiver]

I'm finding this all a bit confusing: Skins, Today themes, taskbars, topbars, Tabs, etc etc ...
Can someone please explain where I am going wrong? I am trying to use Juni's superb Navigator_PE stuff on my T-Mobile MDA Vario (Windows Mobile 5) with Wisbar Advance 2, PocketBreeze and PocketWeather. I have followed the installation instructions and everything seems to be in the right place - but half the theme seems to be missing. I get all the Navigator icons and the background bar at the top and bottom, they look gtreat; but elsewhere I have only the icons - the general background colour, and the highlight colour for selected apps in menus, etc., remains blue. How do I get the theme colours/images to apply across the board...? Also apologies if this is the wrong forum!

[pocketpcadmirer]

We all are still waiting for the skin maker supporting WM5. May thats the reason the skin actually meant for the 2003 SE couldnt work well on your device

Sunny

[avianskipdiver]

We all are still waiting for the skin maker supporting WM5. Sunny
That would certainly explain it. Now I'm really confused. I got Wisbar Advance 2 because it said it was compatible with WM5. On the Lakeridge website is a link to Juni's skins - which are said to be compatible with WA2. Juni's blog of December 13, 2005, says of the latest Navigator update "added WM5 softkey button skinning for all the WisbarAdvance2 skins" - which sure led me to believe the package was WM5 compatible. Heck, how misleading is that?

[applejosh]

The WA2 stuff is WM5 compatible (the top and bottom bars are skinned, correct?). The background image is all Windows. WA2 doesn't skin that (and it never has to my knowledge). It's always been a Windows function (in WM2003se and below, there's a Today setting where themes can be set). I don't have a WM5 device (and don't care to for a little while longer), but it sounds like Microsoft has changed something yet again without really making those changes known ahead of time. (Or it's a lot more complicated, and theme-making software is proving to be difficult to create.)

Someone may chime in with their experience with WAD (Wisbar Advance Desktop) and if it would provide any help in the matter, but I don't know personally.

[avianskipdiver]

No but it Skins - or is it Themes, what's the difference...? - PocketBreeze which is what I have. Pictures show it - but mine isn't like that, only the icons show. Can anyone who actually knows WM5, PB5, PW5 and Juni's skins assist here?

[applejosh]

Can anyone who actually knows WM5, PB5, PW5 and Juni's skins assist here?

That sounds a little snooty.

WA2 skins the top and bottom bars. It does not handle the background image that takes up the whole screen.

PB themes change the icons and such of the PB app itself. It does not change the background of anything either (even the parts that are behind it).

The Today screen theme changes the background as well as other system properties (menus and stuff). It was said by pocketpcadmirer that the world lacks a tool to create WM5 today screen themes, so some things may not look right.

This thread:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=44950

says to try the non-extended Today screen themes in WM5. Are you using the non-extended one? (Today screen themes have the .tsk extension and are a single file.)

This thread:

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43371

updated just over a week ago, says that today screen themes from previous versions of Windows Mobile don't work in WM5 because Microsoft changed something and didn't pass that change along.

So if you have installed the non-extended theme and chosen it using the Today applet in the control panel, then it could be that you're just out of luck for the moment. The pictures on Juni's website are not of a WM5 device (based on there being no soft keys at the bottom of the screen shots).

[haesslich]

Short form:

WBA2: Skins Start Menu, Top Bar, clock, and Softkeys.

WAD: Replaces the Today screen with any number of virtual desktops.

Today Themes: Replaces background images and color schemes for Today screen.

PocketBreeze: Today Plugin which can be used on the Today screen to organize Today Screen items. Has its own themes, which affect the icons shown on the left side and top bar of the PB application, as well as the color scheme.

PocketWeather: Today Plugin that displays weather. Its 'themes' are basically icon packs, which change the weather icons displayed in the application.

Juni's Skins: A 'theme pack' of various WBA, Pocket Breeze, and Today Theme (.tsk) files to provide a unified look and feel for a Today screen. You have to have all the applications installed, and installed the theme files in the proper folders to pull off.

As noted above, pre-WM5 Today themes do not work in WM5 due to the way the OS has changed internally. Newer versions of Juni's skins are WM5 compatible, but make sure all your applications are WM5-tested before trying it. Dashboard is one such program which is NOT WM5 compatible (yet), and also skins the Today screen while adding the ability to manage it with various modules.

[juni]

Navigator works fine in WM5 :). The problem with today themes is that if you don't use Spb Pocket Plus your device will not switch to a Pocket Plus extended theme. That is why I include "NonExtendedThemes" - try those :).

I had Navigator betatested on WM5 devices (even VGA Phone Edition devices) before I released the latest upgrade.

If you check out the Navigator page at my site (or Handago) you should see descriptions of exactly what is skinned with what. :)

http://www.kolumbus.fi/anders.ruohio/navigator.html

Also, the "What is on my screen" page shows you which programs I use and what they do to the screen:

http://www.kolumbus.fi/anders.ruohio/screen.html

A screenshot of what you have and what you are missing would help. :)

[avianskipdiver]

Thank you to all those who offered advice, especially as regards what makes what go where! I fiddled around a lot with customizing various elements, to get complementary colours, then browsed to the Navigator 'cascade' image and used 'Set as Today background'. Then this evening I turned that off (in Settings/Today ) in order to get a screenshot - and lo and behold there was the Navigator map/ship background image that had not been there before. It also converts automatically to landscape mode (which the Vario, aka HTC Wizard, does on the fly when the keyboard is extended). So, go figure. The only other change was the device had been shut down completely (not just a soft reset) in between times. Maybe that's what did the trick. Whatever - thanks again, especially to Juni. - Gary