AfterStep Themes Discussion

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Revision as of 22:19, 13 February 2008 by Born2late (talk | contribs)
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The whole terminology of themes/skins is full of misunderstandings, so everthing needs to be clearly defined, feel free to correct anything...

Definition

  • a theme is a subject of composition and/or a distinct, recurring, and unifying quality or idea
  • a skin (Look in afterstep terminology) is a way to decorate elements a user has set up to be on his desktop, as such a skin is a subset of a theme

Entities involved with theming

  • user (what he wants and doesnt want to be changed)
  • theme (what themer wants so theme is an experience rather then simple cosmetic changes)
  • theme engine (helps integrate user whishes and themer whishes)


Theme objectives

  • it defines where stuff lies on the desktop (as such any personal config is initself a theme)
  • how it reacts/interacts
  • it defines how stuff is decorated
  • other toolkits/apps to be themed

Atomic Elements that cannot be further reduced

  • IconSet
  • Decor
    • Windows
    • Window Buttons
  • Module Decor
  • Background
  • Feel (break down more)
  • size and orientation of windowbox (problem here: how to make that look independant)
  • Menu
  • Mouse (although this is something i cannot imagine _any_ user wanting to be touched)
  • Animation settings