[Motorola Droid X2] xkape:
This guide will assume the basics (image editing, apk manager setup, adb, etc..) are understood. Minus 9png's, I will go over that. The point is to have a base here for discussion on how to edit things properly. If anyone has something to add, please do.

OK, lets start with something that caught me off guard when switching to a phone with blur... there are certain apps that have dependencies. You have to set those dependencies up. The easiest way to do this is, from whatever ROM you are running, open the zip up with 7zip. Also open up your APK Manager and go into the "other" folder. From your ROM grab framework-res.apk, blur-res.apk, moto-res.apk, settings.apk and systemUI.apk and copy them into the "other" folder. Once there, open up a command prompt. change directories until you are in the "other" folder. Once there do this for each item. apktool d framework-res.apk and hit enter. Then, apktool if framework-res.apk. Do that for the rest.

9pngs.. Everyones afraid... they are a walk in the park. 1 extra step and its done. Decompile your apk, Edit it to your liking and save it. Open it up with draw9patch and add the guides back in and save it. The right and the bottom just make a big ass black line from one side of the image to the other (most of the time). The left and top side require a little fine tuning. Basic rule is to stick a dot in "the middle". Over on the right, see if it looks right. If it doesn't, adjust it. Once done, save it. Recompile and you are done. If using apk manager 4.9 or newer, make sure you delete the images you edited in the keep folder.

Editing xmls....

You are going to be editing xmls to either change background color or text color. Heres a general rule that will help... open the xml in notepad++ and hit ctrl +f. search for android:background .... you can change whatevers there to a hex color. like, if you wanted a dark red.. #ffbc1010. if changing text colors, do a search for android:textColor. Do the same thing with searching and changing.

Some edits will be found in the values folder... this would either take place in Colors.xml, drawables.xml or styles.xml

As I have found, some xmls just dont have a call to a bacground or text color so.. you just have to make one yourself. I always stick those in right after the android:orientation stuff. For example, you want a red background and nowhere in the xml can you find a spot to change it. No worries.. add this... android:background="#ffbc1010" . Good to go.

Some apks wont decompile with apk manager 5.01. You get an out of bounds error. Use apk manager 4.9 for those.. it will open them.

If you try to install an app and something doesnt work.. 1 minor thing, even though the rest does work.. do not try to install another re-edit until you have gone back to a fully functional version. Otherwise, none of your new edits will take hold even if they are correct. (Learned that one the hard way)

Remember, trial and error siis the Android Way!!!

Lastly, I leave you with this... each app has its own "fun-ness" to it. If you are ever stuck and need help, please feel free to ask. I can't do magic.. like looking at Sense... cause I dont have it.. but if you are running GB stock, Blur or its just an app for any phone.. please ask. I will answer, even if I dont know the answer and we have to work together to figure it out.

This is my contribution to XDA. Let's keep progression moving forward. I want to see more themers and more options!!!!

EDIT:

NEW INOFRMATION

I copied this over from my how to on DF... The links are probably still good (I just updated them) but just make sure you are getting the latest version... I wrote the how-to in January.

Since I see a lot of people trying to figure out how to get into theming and such, might as well share my knowledge...

I would also like to thank Devildog8791 and say that he went thru and added a lot to this via PM (which I then pasted here). He also made it a lot more detailed and easier to follow along for everyone.

Things you will need:

-APK Manager located here. It is the one from post #226. It uses apktool version 1.3.1 instead of the newest one, 1.3.2. The new version has some bugs that have not been worked out yet.

-Android SDK located here. There are two different files for Windows: a zip file and an .exe file. I downloaded the zip file, but you can try the .exe file.

-7zip located here. Make sure you pick the right installation for your setup (32-bit or 64-bit)

-Java JDK located here. Make sure you pick the right installation for your setup (32-bit or 64-bit)

Before I begin, please keep in mind that this is just how I did it. Maybe it's perfect, maybe its wrong, BUT... it worked for me.

NOTE: PLEASE READ THIS

Unless you are going to be pushing apks to your phone or pulling them directly from the phone, you do NOT need to bother with steps 3-6 and 9-11. You also only need to add the Java stuff to your Environment Variables.

OK here is how I set all this up and in the order that I did it.

1) Install the Java JDK. You probably don't need to, but I rebooted after the installation was complete.

2) Install 7zip.

3) Extract the android SDK file and move the extracted folder to the root of the C: drive. I renamed the folder "androidsdk", but you can rename it whatever you want. On my computer, the SDK is at C:/androidsdk (whatever you name this and anything in its filepath, make sure there are NO SPACES).

4) Go into your sdk folder and run "SDK Manager".

5) When the "Android SDK and AVD Manager" screen opens up, select "Available packages". Select the packages you want to install and click on "Install Selected". If the "Choose Packages to Install" screen comes up automatically, then select "Accept All" and click "Install". This will take a few minutes. Go ahead and get a drink and stretch your legs.

6) When your packages get done downloading and installing, close the "Installing Archives" and the "Android SDK and AVD Manager" screens.

7) Extract the APK Manager zip file and move the extracted folder to your user file. Mine is located at C:\Users\Tim\apk_manager_4.9.

8) Now you need to set your environment variables. To do this, click on "Start" and then right click on "Computer". Left Click "Properties" and in the left pane you will see "Advanced system settings". Click on that and it will open up a new window called "System Properties". Click on "Environment Variables" at the bottom of the screen.

9) Now that you are in the Environment Variables screen, you want to look at the top part of the screen first. Under "User variables for <your name here>", click on "New...".

10) In the "Variable name" section, type in ADB.

11) In the "Variable Value" section, type in C:\androidsdk\platform-tools\adb.

12) Now go to the bottom part of the screen and find "Path" on the left side under "Variable".

13) Double-click that "Path" section and it will bring up the edit screen.

14) Go to the end of the "Variable value" section and add the following: ;C:\Program Files\Java\jre6\bin;C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_23\bin;C:\androidsdk;C:\androi dsdk\platform-tools;C:\androidsdk\tools. Verify that the bin file locations for java are in the same place as indicated here. They should be the same, but check it to be safe. Also, don't forget to change the name to whatever you named your sdk folder. One last thing is to make sure you have a semi-colon in between each path as indicated.

15) Click "OK" when done and close all the windows.

16) Reboot your computer.

Now that you have your environment variables set, you should be good to go to use APK Manager. One thing that you might have to do is set up your adb drivers for your phone. I have a Droid Incredible and I went to this site to get mine set up. If you have a Motorola Droid 1 (which most on this site do), then it should set up with the proper drivers when you plug it in the computer. My wife has a Droid 1 and that is what happened for me.

So, now you have 7zip, SDK, Java and APK Manager installed, setup and ready to use. Fantasmagorical!

Great, now, what the hell do you do with it...lol

1) You decide on an apk file (let's choose phone.apk) to use. You can grab it from the stock ROM your using, pull it off your phone, whatever...

2) Now that it is on your computer, move it into the APK Manager's "place-apk-here-for-modding" folder.

3) Run the script.bat and select option 22. Then choose the apk (project) you want to work with.

4) Now select option 9 to decompile the apk.

5) Once that's done select option 11 to recompile the apk. If it asks you if it's a system app (y/n) then you are in business. If it says there is an error, it is most likely that the apk has some .9.png images without guides. If this occurs, grab the stock images and stick them in by using 7zip and choose "open archive".

6) OK, so it works fine, now what? Just choose "N" and when it's done, go to the "place-apk-here-for-modding" folder and delete the "unsignedphone.apk" file.

7) Now go back to the script and choose option 9 to decompile again.

8) Once it's decompiled, navigate to the "projects" folder and go into the phone.apk folder.

9) Make all your xml edits.

10) Now, go back to the script and choose option 11. Choose "Y" and then choose "Y" again.

11) Now, go into the "KEEP" folder and delete the resources.arsc file and also delete every single xml you edited. Then go back to the script and "press any button to continue".

12) Once that is done, you are done. Go into the "place-apk-here-for-modding" folder and you will see an unsignedphone.apk file.

13) Put it in an update.zip that you can install to your phone and then rename it to phone.apk.

14) If you are wanting to now stick your own images in, use 7zip and select "open archive" and then drag your images into the proper folders.

15) Close 7zip and select "yes" to the box that pops up.

16) Now you are ready. Move the zip file to your phone, reboot into recovery and install it.

Going to add something blur related here. AK Manager 4.9 will give you errors recompiling phone, contacts and dialer. To fix it, go into the decompiled apk and open apktool.yml with notepad++ or similar. You will see 3 lines.. -1, -3 and -2. Put them in order.. -1, -2 and -3. Good to go.