[XDA-University] TheMystic:
This is a Tutorial for you to make your own themes and skins for MiXplorer. You can either start from scratch, or take an existing theme and change the resources used by replacing them with the ones you like. This is a very simple process and anyone can do it. You DON'T have to be a programmer or software developer.

CREDITS & ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

To begin with, a big shout out to @HootanParsa for an excellent File Explorer for Android, that is FREE on XDA, free of ads (and probably analytics & trackers too), extremely functional, fully customizable, and a very beautiful UI. @HootanParsa if you like this tutorial, please feel free to include it in the XDA thread for MiXplorer as well as in your Website for maximum reach.

Credits to all Theme & Skins developers, with special mention to:

1. @marciozomb13 : Because it is from his threads linked below that I came to know that anyone can customize themes and skins for MiXplorer:

Material

Fluent

My theme used for illustration in this post is just a small modification of his Fluent theme linked above.

2. @FatalBulletHit : For preparing an excellent illustration showing what each setting does. Check them out HERE.

3. @IronTechmonkey : For a full in-depth User Manual on MiXplorer and explanation of Themes and Skins.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THEMES & SKINS

Customising the UI is essentially modifying 3 things:

1. Changing the colours (of background, text, etc.) - Use a Skin or modify from within MiXplorer Settings.

2. Changing the fonts - modify from within MiXplorer Settings or modify the theme.

3. Changing the icons (of folders, preview icons, etc.) and buttons - Modify the Theme.

THEMES: This allows you to tweak several aspects of the UI like icons, buttons, fonts, etc. It requires you to download or create several resource files that make up the theme.

SKINS: This allows you to only tweak the colours of a few elements and the fonts from within MiXplorer Settings.

The best part, however, is just anyone can create a custom theme or a custom skin based on his requirements by modifying an existing theme (like I did).

STEPS TO APPLY THE THEME & SKIN

You can either use any of my themes or any of the existing themes from HERE or HERE.

THEME

1. Download the attached .mit theme.

2. Open MiXplorer and browse to this downloaded .mit file and click on it. From the popup, choose Import. The theme would take about 3 seconds to apply.

SKIN

1. Download the attached .mic file.

2. Open MiXplorer and browse to this downloaded .mic file and click on it. From the popup, choose Import. The skin would be instantly applied.

HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN THEMES & SKINS

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THEMES

T1. Download an existing theme that fits your requirements the most. If it is in the .bin/ .mit or other formats, simply rename the file extension to .zip.

T2. Open the .zip file using MiXplorer or any unarchiver.

T3. ICONS: Look for a folder called ‘drawable’. This folder contains the resources for UI like icons, buttons, etc. You can replace these images with images of your choice, provided they satisfy the pixel size. For example, the only file I changed in this folder is ‘folder.png’ and I used a 128x128 pixel file downloaded from the internet. It is better not to delete the original files while replacing. Just rename them so they are available for use in future when needed. Bear in mind the following:

The new file should have the same name as the file that it replaces.

The new file should have the same extension as the file that it replaces. For icon pictures, this is usually PNG.

It is advisable to use a file that is very small in size (under 50 KB) or similar in size to the one that it replaces. A 128x128 or smaller pixel file for icons usually works well. If the file size used for icons is too big (over 100 KB), you may have lags and rendering issues inside MiXplorer.

In my case, I renamed the original folder icon (which was named folder.png) to ‘folder original.png’, and the new file I downloaded as ‘folder.png’. Likewise, you can replace any other resource file you want that fits your UI requirements the best.​

T4. FONTS - Font file must be in .ttf format. Formats like .otf and others may or may not be supported.

Easy method

:

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1. Download the font you want and copy the full path of the font file. In MiXplorer, select the font file, go to Properties and click on the Path. This will automatically copy the path to your Clipboard.​

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2. Under Skin Settings, scroll to the bottom of the list and you will see the fonts section. Paste the path of the fonts file in that section.​

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Advanced Method

:

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1. Download the font you want.​

2. Look for a folder called 'fonts' in the root of the zip file.​

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3. Copy the font file into this folder.​

4. Open the 'properties' xml file in the root of the zip using a text editor.​

5. Scroll to the bottom of the file where you have the font section.​

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6. Simply replace the font file name there with the name of the downloaded file, without modifying any other information. Some themes use multiple fonts for different UI elements. If you want to change all of them, all you have to do is to rename the font file name mentioned there with the name of your file.​

7. Save the file and close the editor.​

Under either method, MiXplorer will prioritise the fonts to be used in this order:

1. Font used in Skin Settings

2. Font included in the Theme

3. System Font

If you enter the font filename or path incorrectly in Settings, MiXplorer will first look for the fonts included in the theme, and if that is not available (because the font file(s) was moved or deleted), it will use the System font.

T5. Rename the parent folder extension back to .mit.

T6. Open MiXplorer, browse to the location of the above file, click on it & Import.

SKINS

Go to Settings/ Skins and press the Edit icon next to the skin that is applied, and choose 'Edit’ again. You will be presented with a huge list of customizable UI elements. Feel free to tweak any as per your liking so you get the look that you are happy with. There are too many elements that can be customised, so I will explain just the main ones (that I have tweaked) to give you an idea (see attached pics) about what will change:

1. BG_BAR_ACTION

2. BG_BAR_MAIN

3. BG_BAR_TAB

4. BG_BAR_TOOLS

5. HIGHLIGHT_GRID_ITEM

6. TINT_NAVIGATION_BAR

7. TINT_STATUS_BAR

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Some additional info (no picture reference):

8. BG_PAGE: This will change the background colour of the main page.

9. TINT_POPUP_BG: This will change the background of the Sidebar and all popup menus.

Once you are done, press Save.

That’s it. You now have a new theme and skin of your liking.

For detailed understanding of all settings, check these out:

Picture Illustration

Spreadsheet Explanation

Link to my Themes and Skins: SA Creations

If the files above download as zip, simply rename the file extension to .mit (for the Theme) and .mic (for the Skin). Use any browser (instead of OneDrive app) to open the links and download the files.

Points to note:

1. Remove existing skin and theme before applying a new one. To do this, go to Settings/ Skin, click on 'Default' (1st item on the list). This will remove the currently applied Skin. Then go back to Settings/ Skin again and this time click on the pencil icon next to 'Default' and click 'Remove'. This will remove the currently applied Theme.

2. My themes REQUIRE the accompanying skin to get the intended result. So you have to import both before tweaking it any further to suit your taste.

I have used MiXplorer v6.49.3 from XDA. But the themes and skins work on all the current builds too.

You can find some fonts HERE.