[Nexus S Themes and Apps] the1dynasty:
There are tons of guides out there that show us "How to theme" which is basically showing how to decompile/compile .apk's... editing .9.png/.png... and other aspects of themeing... i will include links to various VERY helpful guides that I have been able to figure this stuff out, all in post 2!!

Here, we're going to talk about "where to edit xml's" on various .apk files... my experience with this has only been with ICS ROMs... so use this as a GUIDE and not standard!! MOST of these lines are font/text colors and the rest are either highlights or whatever that part of the xml says it is... If you don't see the color code on the EXACT line, it should be close to that line number... some ROM's add/subtract lines which would cause the differences...

Attached and in

is guide i put together so i remember exactly what xml's to edit and what line i need to edit... i will try to update this as i come across new lines to edit or new .apk's... but for now this should help you create your very own theme from scratch!

note: code will be updated more often than attached xml

[CODE]<HCS>
red - e01212, d01212, c60000, 800000, 750000
</HCS>
<HCS_Convert>
Yellow - mogrify -modulate "100, 125, 130" *.* (Banana) (ffff00, e2d000, d4b200)
Brown - mogrify -modulate "90, 70, 112" *.* (Chocolate) (c26f2a, 93572b, 8f3f1b)
GB Green - mogrify -modulate "90, 70, 142" *.* (GingerBreaded) (99c224, 80a21e, 6a8619)
Purple - mogrify -modulate "100, 125, 50" *.* (Plum) (9c00ff, 7200df, 5500d4)
Blue - mogrify -modulate "100, 200, 25" *.* (Royal) (4273ff, 1245e0, 0000ff)
Orange - mogrify -modulate "100, 150, 120" *.* (Tangerine) (ffc400, f99100, e86c00) ff9200-stock-gb
Green - mogrify -modulate "100, 150, 150" *.* (Vegetarian) (62ff00, 39ef16, 6ce800)
Pink - mogrify -modulate "100, 125, 75" *.* (Watermelon) (ff00af, df00a5, c00095)
</HCS_Convert>
<SCS>
blue - (1245e0, 0000ff)
yellow - (f8d318)
green - (39ef16)
teal - (00ffff, 13e7e3)
peach - -ffd2a8-
</SCS>
<GCS>
blue - 130a87
purple - 5d196e, 7122b0, 716cd2, 7785e0
ics blue - 33b5e5, 33b5e6, 0099cc, 3f9bbf, 36b6ff, 0080ff, 177bbd
red - 750007
pink - e17bbc
</GCS>
<SystemUI>
<layout>
battery_low - (4, 5)
status_bar_tracking - (4 add-pulldown_bg)
</layout>
<values>
colors - (3)
drawables - (3, 4, 5, 6, 10, 12, 13)
styles - (6, 12, 17, 22, 27, 32, 37)
</values>
</SystemUI>
<framework-res>
<color>
tab_indicator_text - (4)
tab_indicator_text_v4 - (5)
</color>
<drawable>
action_bar_background - (all)
action_bar_divider - (all)
list_highlight_active - (4, 5)
list_highlight_inactive - (4, 5)
progress_horizontal - (7, 14, 22)
search_dropdown_dark - (5)
search_dropdown_light - (5)
</drawable>
<layout>
character_picker_button - (2)
keyguard - (4)
keyguard_screen_password_portrait - (14)
recent_apps_dialog - (4)
remote_views_adapter_default_loading_view - (2)
simple_dropdown_item_2line - (6)
typing_filter - (2)
web_text_view_dropdown - (2)
(add to most keyguard tab xml's "ic_lockscreen_outerring_img" along with appropriate image in the drawable folder)
</layout>
<values>
colors - (all)
styles - (766, 793, 2036, 3036)
</values>
</framework-res>
<phone>
values
drawables - (3, 4)
colors - (all)
</phone>
<settings>
values
colors - (5, 6, 15, 16)
</settings>
<launcher>
<layout>
apps_customize_pane - (2, 13) added image
apps_customize_widget - (6, 8)
user_folder - (6)
</layout>
<values>
colors - (4, 5, 8)
styles - (30, 38, 117)
</values>
</launcher>
<contacts>
<color>
dialer_button_text - (5, 6)
primary_text_color - (4, 5)
secondary_text_color - (4, 5)
</color>
<layout>
call_log_list_item - (18)
editor_account_header_with_dropdown - (5, 6)
quickcontact_photo_container - (6)
</layout>
<values>
colors - (3, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23, 24, 27)
strings - (157, 159, 161, 163, 168, 170, 172, 174, 176, 181, 183, 185, 187, 192, 194, 196, 198, 200)
styles - (39, 43, 47, 54, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 62, 152)
</values>
</contacts>
<music>
<color>
primary_text_color - (6)
primary_text_color_offline - (6)
secondary_text_color - (6)
secondary_text_color_offline - (6)
shadow_text_color - (6)
shadow_text_color_offline - (6)
sidebar_tv_text - (4)
tab_text_color - (5)
</color>
<values>
colors - (3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 16, 23, 24, 25, 28, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36)
styles - (98)
</values>
<music>
<Google_Voice>
<drawable>
widget_unread_background - (4)
</drawable>
<layout>
call_connecting_donut - (6, 8, 18, 19)
conversationg_list - (6, 7)
phonecall_list - (5, 7, 8)
setup_choose_account - (4)
text_message_view - (9)
widget_inbox_layout - (5, 13, 19)
widget_settings_layout - (13, 15, 17)
</layout>
<values>
colors - (most)
drawables - (4, 5)
</values>
</Google_Voice>
<talk>
<layout>
chat_view_avatar_left - position="right_upper" (change to "middle" to remove borders)
chat_view_avatar_right - position="left_upper" (change to "middle" to remove borders)
</layout>
<layout-sw600dp>
chat_view_avatar_left - position="right_upper" (change to "middle" to remove borders)
chat_view_avatar_right - position="left_upper" (change to "middle" to remove borders)
</layout-sw600dp>
</talk>

since my themes are fully open, included on the code are the color codes i use for each theme! I'd LOVE to try other ROM's but really love my themes (and some others) and i just simply don't have the time to port all of them over... the real purpose of this thread is so someone can learn this well enough to port my themes (and others with permission from dev) to various ROM's!!

fergie's thread was REALLY helpful on making some modifications to my themes... find his post HERE!