yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
To link to a panel you just need a shortcut widget pointing to it :) When choosing the link for the shortcut widget, you can find every additional panel in Tools -> MS Panels ;)

Hub links are nothing but skins for the link widget which will not show any icon, but only a preset text description... most common usage method for them is:

- place a picture frame widget with a picture you like on your screen using the borderless skin (I'm currently using the "borderless tiny", fits 2 in a row and leave some space on a side for additional stuff)

- place a hub link the appropriate size over the picture frame (vhub small should fit on borderless tiny) and make it point to your desired pro panel

- Done ;)

Regarding Pro Panels, their background can't be on storage card, sorry :( you can set any picture you want, both for portrait and landscape, but it has to be a bmp image and it will be automatically imported in a dat file placed inside mobile shell folder
[Windows Mobile Themes] kenziesgrandma:
Thanks for the help Vostradamus, could you please tell me what size pics have to be to use for the Borderless Small picture frame?

Thanks

Kathy

ps. Is it possible for you to make a Hub link called PEOPLE 2? I have an extra page that has all close relatives on it.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I'd suggest at least 180x180, but even larger would be ok as long as they are square: the picture frame widget would shrink them down to the size of the selected skin ;)

Will add it to the next release :) (cannot give a release date though atm)
[Windows Mobile Themes] PDAras:
Ok have more problems with my HTC Diamond...

After removing the SPB Weather panels everything seems to be running fine...for a while....

Then I started to get frequent freezes of SPB again. Thought maybe it was SPB weather so I uninstalled it with no change. I notice i only had 10% of free ram left and then i though i see if everything will be fine if I remove all widgets. So I saved the widget set and then deactivated that saved set. So now when I go to widgets it says I have 0 in each category. After the soft reset MOST widgets went back to default except a few like the service provider color was still green, the tasks were still green and calendar. Also, I noticed that the invisible links were still invisible . Anyway, Still have many frequent freezes and have to soft reset. May have to try to uninstal the entire manager and other soft one by one to see the problem, then reinstall back.
[Windows Mobile Themes] mwalt2:
Would someone explain how to create an empty invisible link that displays text? I turned an already present 'empty' link invisible easy enough, but cannot figure out how to get the link to display the text. I am trying to use WPActivate to display the current temperature in MS3.5.4, but do not want the icons associated with WPActivate to be shown - so I need an invisible link that displays text. Thanks for any help.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
wzg files are not meant to be "unpacked"... they need to be imported in the manager. Try reading the usage instructions in the second post of the thread: everything is explained in full details there ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
the skins would be great .i know alot of girls would flock to it since yours is the easiest way to change skins and you have so much to choose from .thank you for your great program and for taking the time to respond to me
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
will try to make some of the already existing link skins with that kind of pink then, just to see how they turn out :)

You're welcome ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Released new (again veeeeeeeery small) widgets library :)

ChangeLog & download links in the first post ;)

Enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
love the link skins .they make my phone look realy cute .do you think you can make statues icons like missed calls messages ext. in pink .thanks for your time and effort .
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Will see what I can do :)

I already thought of that, but I was waiting your feedback about the links to check if you like the pink tone :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
yeah i love them i cant thank you enough . they were so easy to change .you went above and beyond .i made a small donation to you for all your time and effort sorry it couldnt be more
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Thank you so much (on behalf of my cat too) :p

Already added you to the donor list (pls lemme know in case you prefer your nick on there instead of your name)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Released new tiny widgets library + updated full libraries :)

ChangeLog & download links in the first post ;)

Enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
omg i love it .it so much more then i expected . now my phone is just the way i wanted it .thank you so much .only problem is now i have the perfect wallpaper to match your great skin .
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
:) Glad you like it! ;)

huh? how is it a problem if you already have the perfect wallpaper to go with the new stuff? :confused:

Anyway, if you wanna look for other wallpapers you can use any pc-sized wallpaper :) Standard 4:3 resolution ones should fit pretty fine in mobile shell ;)

You can start for example taking a look on here: http://www.hdwallpapers.net/ but actually any wallpapers website could do :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
thank im on the hunt now . and i dont have the perfect wallpaper now .not just any wallpaper will do for your great work .thanks again
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
maybe once you'll find a wallpaper you like you could post a screenshot of your phone, just to show it off a bit :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
i would but im a noob who doesnt know how
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
by the way iv changed wallpaper five time trying to find the perfect one . Still havent found one that do justice to my new widgets
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You can use "Spb Screenshot" to take screenshots of your device :) It's freeware and quite handy ;)

I'm positive you'll find the perfect one at last ;) What should it look like?
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
tried to find the spb screenshot you suggested .could not find one for 6.5 .i tried the one for 6.1 but my phone didnt want to down load it .as for the wallpaper i dont know yet .looking to see when one sceam at me
[Windows Mobile Themes] pablo67:
Update library

Vostradamus Hello, I saw that you've just updated the libraries that are at the first post

and I was wondering, what I have to update the ppc just copy the new ones that fetch you or I have to use another system?

Thank you for your patience and time to allow me to
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I've been using spb screenshot on 6.5 for quite a while, maybe I still have it somewhere at office... Will look for it tomorrow :)

_____________________________

Sent from my I9000 shouting very loud :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You can do it in two ways:

1) download the full library and import it with the import library function inside MsM

or, if you don't feel like downloading the full library again,

2) download only the latest 3 incremental libraries and import them

In the end the result will be just the same :)

_____________________________

Sent from my I9000 shouting very loud :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
k that would be great
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
sorry to be a pain but can you tell me how i can add my new skins to the spb menue like you have on someof your examples .i activated a panel in pink thinking that was it but all that did wasgive me a list of everything not a menue like yours . sorry for being such a noob
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
uhmm.... I not sure I'm following you here.... what do you mean? :confused:
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
i want to know how to do what you did here only with my pink icons
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Got it :)

That's gonna be a little bit more..... tricky :p and the new link skins can't be used for that :(

The link-tiles you see in that screenshot are made using two widgets each:

1) A picture frame widget with the "borderless" skin showing the image you wanna use as a link

2) A shortcut widget opening the destination panel and placed right over the picture frame

The above can be done using 2 different kinds of link skin:

1) "Hub Link" skin, which are mainly transparent with only a text which will be displayed over the picture frame. Available texts are: People, People 2, Media, Music, Pictures, Video, Apps, Games, Home, Internet, Grandkids, Settings, Weather, Work.

2) "Invisible" skin, completely transparent. This solution is the most "versatile" 'cause it will show 100% the underneath image of the picture frame which, being user-made, can have anything on it, text included, in whatever font/style/color the user prefers :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
ok got it .for now i like it the way it is so im gonna leave it be. by next week i might try it . my phone is my favorite toy .not for talking and texting but for changing its look .with you great app i wont get bored for a long time with it thanks again.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
lol I know the feeling, always changing layout over and over again :D :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
hi vostradamus .can i ask you to make a curve menue bar in pink then i promise i wont bother you any more :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
by the way here is the wallpaper im using with your new pink icons and my phone looks so cute
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
will see to it ;)

That's definitely super-cute :)

Can't wait to see a screenshot of the final layout :p

By the way, I'm attaching the freeware Spb Screenshot I've been using on my Omnia 2, it should work fine for you too ;)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Released new advanced menubar :)

Details and download links in the first post as usual ;)

Enjoy! :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
i tried your screen shot cab and it wont install .i dont know what im doing wrong .i copied and pasted it to the root of my storage card and clicked it no go.i then put it on main memory still nothing .thank for the menue bar im gonna down load as soon as i figure out screen shot .i really want you to see how cute yous skins look on my phone .can i use anther screen shot tool or doese it have to be spb
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Of course you can use any screenshot utility you want, I suggested the spb one only 'cause I've always used it, but any one will do :)

I've no idea why it doesn't seem to work on your phone :confused:

Here's some other screenshot utility, I've never tried them but I hope they will work for you:

http://www.iliumsoft.com/site/fp/screen_capture.php

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=328627

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/02/10/download-capsure-to-capture-screen-in-windows-mobile-devices/
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
yay finally got it .thanks so much for your help .i found a cab for spb screen shot that worked.almost forgot to thank you for the tool bar thanks so much love it
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
had to hard reset so im still putting everything back . i wanted you to see how my screen looks so it back as best i could
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
Couple more using different wallpaper. Cant stop playing with my phone now .LOL
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
They both look totally cute :D

Looks like you need some other, larger wallpaper though... it seems that the ones you used were too small and mobile shell stretched them to fit the screen, resulting in a visible loss of definition :(
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
thanks im glad you like them. thanks for your advise on the wallpaper I thought it was me being paranoid

.what size should I look for

.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Uhm... exact min size should be 960x748, but any larger wallpaper with a close-to-4:3 aspect ratio should do quite fine (like 1280x1024 or even larger) :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] gata:
o.k thanks .im going to see what i can find .thanks for all your help and advise and patience with the noob .:o
[Windows Mobile Themes] vipaman:
For some reason i can't get the hang of why aren't the widgets working??? Am I doing something wrong???Help anybodyyyyyyyyyyyy???
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Can't really help you much without knowing what exactly is happening :p "widgets are not working" do not explain much of the problem :)

Did you read the whole second post of the thread with all the instructions on how to install/use everything? Did you follow those instructions step by step?

Try (re)reading the instructions and maybe do everything again from the beginning... if you still have problems, please report back again, this time writing in full, step by step details what you did and what (and how) is not working and on what device :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] kenziesgrandma:
Good morning Vostradamus. This is probably a bad question to post on this forum but I was wondering if I could ask you why you switched to the Galaxy and what you like about it? I'm thinking of switching to Android and am not sure what phone I want. I'm completely fed up with the chunks of dust that I can't keep out of my Omnia ll and apparently there is no fix for it.:(

thanks

Kathy
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Don't worry, it's not a bad question at all :)

As you probably know, I like to "play around" with new stuff every now and then :) I loved my Omnia 2: it was a VERY satisfying phone for all my needs. I started looking around just to keep myself "updated" about what was available.

WP7 is a 100% no-go for me... I see it as a "bad iOS clone": as much as I loved (and still like) windows mobile up to version 6.5.x, I'm not going to use a fully closed, castrated operating system like WP7, which shares most of the stuff I despise about iphone os (which I also loathe) plus it does not have even a fragment of apple's experience background so it can only be worse.

I've always looked at android as a very promising os, back when I bought my Omnia 2 I preferred it over an android phone 'cause at that time I just thought it was still "too young" for my taste. But this time, when I again started looking around, I realized it was not that young anymore, it was starting to look really interesting.

So this was it about my deciding to switch to android.

Now to why I picked the galaxy s

First point: no matter all the negative impressions you can read around about samsung (I guess you can find negative opinions about each and every brand if you look around the net for a few minutes), I've already had 4 samsung phones (2 cellphones, 2 smartphones) and I've never had anything to complain about, so this was already a plus.

I got interested in the galaxy s for its hardware specs (top at that time, still almost top now), I kinda liked the looks and I loved the display. So I started reading everything I could find about it: reviews, opinions, possible problems and so on.

All in all, I decided that the few "problems" some people was talking about were either probable software-related solvable problems or minor issues which would have not bothered me.

Another plus about it: my wife loved its looks too, and I was planning to get one for her too, so having both us the same phone would have proven very comfortable while configuring them :p

Got the two phones off ebay, a couple months old and in perfect conditions, at a very nice price... even now you can find nice similar deals on ebay, and I still consider it a top phone.

The "possible issues" I've read about turned out to be, as I guessed, non-existant or easily solvable, and I loved android since the first 5 minutes of using it.

Don't get me wrong, I still like WM 6.5.x a lot, but android really won me for its openness, smoothness and so on.

The one VERY important thing I always say when someone coming from wm asks me about switching to android is: keep in mind that, if WM was a mobile OS designed to be "able to go on internet if you want", android is designed to be "always on".... so you'd better plan to get (if you don't already have it) a flat data plan or know that if you use an android phone almost only offline (which is possible, but sure not default) you're gonna lose a big chunk of its capabilities.
[Windows Mobile Themes] dani07:
Surprising work!

Still my congratulations.

I have just installed it on my telephone and all functions to perfection.

Envisaged a version with the French language for the people like me….not gifted for the English language…:(
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I'd gladly write a French language file.... If only I'd knew French :p

All text messages are defined in a single text file which can be found in the language folder inside msm folder... If you know someone able to translate those simple messages, creating a French language file should be quite easy :)

I could try with google translate, but I'm afraid the results could be..... hilarious :)

_____________________________

Sent from my I9000 shouting very loud :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] kenziesgrandma:
Thanks for taking the time to tell me all this Vostradamus. Do you find Android as customisable as Windows and will you be making some goodies for it or is it good as it is? I like being able to change things around (as you know, lol) but I don't know enough to have to develop anything on my own.

thanks again

Kathy
[Windows Mobile Themes] dani07:
It is true that certain translations are very strange…

I will try to find the texts and to translate them myself….the result will be seen.:D.

I would make you follow the translation.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Keep me posted, and good luck! ;)

_____________________________

Sent from my I9000 shouting very loud :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
@Kathy:

actually I found it to be much more customizable by default ;) I think you would have a lot of fun making it look there way you want :)

Do far I haven't felt the need to create any special customization for I've been able to find pretty much everything I needed

_____________________________

Sent from my I9000 shouting very loud :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
@ Vostradamus

Ive edited marks proplus elagance menubar and as you can see from the attached screenshot i have tried to make the bottom of the menubar transparant so my background image is visible however i was unsuccessfull as i could only make the menubar transparant in PNG format and as you no the menubar needs to be 16bit BMP so what i did waz i deleted the parts i wanted to be transparant and used a image that matches my background and sent it to the back of the menubar so it looks like its transparant when in fact its a solid image if you get what i mean, while it looks fine its a mess on if i choose to change mobile shell background as i will have to change the menubar image in the dat file. Ive googled how to make a BMP transparant and im having no luck people are saying it cant be done but i no its possible because you and mark create transparant widgets in BMP format so could ya tell me how its done? also im no sure how to word this but how do i measure my phones screen to determine what size image i will need to fill a certain part of my screen because i want an image to fit perfectly in the empty space between the menubar and the INternet text in my screen shot. hope you can understand this:) ive also uploaded a a pic of marks original unedited menubar so you can see what modifications i made and hopefully understand me better.
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
bmp images can't have transparency just by themselves, that's why spb used a little trick to do it (you'll wonder why they didn't use png images... well, I'm still wondering why too lol) :p

Every image used by mobile shell is actually made out of 2 bmp images... one is the actual image, the other one is a transparency mask which will be applied to the first bmp (this will be done automatically by mobile shell).

The actual bmp needs to be, as you already know, a 16bits bmp.

The transparency mask needs to be a grayscale bmp, of course the same size (pixels-wise) as the actual image, and with this "logic": the darker the mask, the more transparent the corresponding part of the actual image will be, with the two extreme being black=completely transparent and white=completely solid.

Easiest way to take such a measure: edit that screenshot with some image editing software and just measure the needed pixels with some of its tools lol :p
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
Can you recommend anything ive got fireworks and gimp and ive tried a cm to pixels online ruler but that didnt work the image appeared to small when i transferred it to my phone
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
I usually use gimp for pretty much everything :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
gimp looks brill but i cant work it lol its to complicated but il look into it so is there a tool in it to measure my screenshot if so were can i find it ?
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You could just draw a selection of the interested area and then look at its size :)

(it should be shown in the bottom bar of the image window while you're drawing it)
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
omfg i dont believe how easy that was i was messin about for ages trying to work it out :p i shuda just asked you in the 1st place lol its so easy i feel dumb :D thanks for the help man :)
[Windows Mobile Themes] jorge_jomi:
hi

i cant unzip full library......password? looking but not found

can help please
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
it's not supposed to be unzipped.... it's a .wzg file which needs to be imported using the "import library" function inside MsM. :)

If for some strange reason it seems to be something else than .wzg just try renaming it first, or redownloading it if that still does not work.
[Windows Mobile Themes] jorge_jomi:
HUmn!!!

let me try...send feedback soon

thks dude
[Windows Mobile Themes] jorge_jomi:
solved

hi again

sorry for last question.....i´m so noob.....

All function ok......thanks for alert

Regards from Portugal

Jomi
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
You're welcome! Glad it's all working now :D
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
@ vostradamus

Wonder if ya can help me im following this tutorial but itz not for my resolution this is what it says.

Designing Buttons:

===============

1. Open Paint.

2. Goto Image --> Attributes

3. Change width to 47pixels & height to 30pixels.

4. Design button u want to use for slide to unlock.

5. When Done, save it in BMP format.

Ive followed the tutorial but my slider images come out to small coz my device is WVGA so im guessing i need to change the amount of pixels from 47x30 to something else but i dont have a clue what ive tried doubling the size but that didnt work any ideas? :confused:
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Well, to try and understand what sizes you should use we'd need to know what resolution that guide was written for... :p

What happened when you tried doubling the sizes? What did it look like?
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
The image wasnt there it waz like it waz invisible i could still use it to slide to unlock my phone but i cudnt see it :confused:
[Windows Mobile Themes] Vostradamus:
Ok, but what resolution was that guide for?

And what software is it that you're trying to customize? (S2U2 or something like that maybe?)
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
it duznt say what resolution and aye it is for S2U2 heres the link look at post 2 creating a lock slider thats what im trying to do.
[Windows Mobile Themes] GEX THE GECKO:
Sorted

sorted it i just found the original graphics and edited them :) next to try and edit the status icons:D do ya think it would be as easy as editing the slider image? i cant find a tutorial for the status icons, oh btw can i add summet to ya next release of MSM a feature to add a wallpaper to all SPB panels in 1 go and is there a way to have a taransparant image in a photoframe widget i tried a simple image on a transparant background but it showed up black instead ov transparant