Windows95 Theme Tips

    *Always use a .jpg file for the background when you can.
    *Use the same sounds for Maximize and Restore Up, and for Minimize and Restore Down.
    *Make sure you do not use a Close sound. If you do, people will still hear sounds after you play
      the Exit Windows.wav file if they still have stuff open.
    *Make sure you look at the theme file carefully before you submit it. Check to make sure all
      sounds, images, and cursors are in the same directory structure. I find people forget about at
      least one sound or icon they have used and then when I unzip the Theme, something is missing. Use
      the Pointers, Sounds, etc... button under Desktop Themes to do this.
    *Make sure you include a readme.txt file or something similar letting people know what to do to
      use the theme. Even if the .txt file just says "unzip everything into the \Themes directory" that
      is something.
    *Try not to use Utopia or Robotz sounds, because some people did not install the extra sound
      schemes with Windows95. If you use them, rename them.
    *Name all icons, sounds, and cursors with the name of your theme at the beginning. i.e. Simpsons
    *Wait.ani, Simpsons Wallpaper.jpg, Simpsons Minimize.wav. This lets all your files stay together
      and lets people know what they go with.
    *I think it is a good idea to make a separate directory for each theme you want to make. I had a
      %#*& load of files in my \Themes directory and had to move the files around and edit the .Theme
      file to make my directory easier to read.
    *When you zip or unzip the theme, make sure you are using a WINZIP32 - type GUI to unzip the
      files. This insures long file names will not be lost.

Make your own desktop themes

Want to make your own desktop themes? It's not that hard. step-by-step guide to theme making.
But,If you would like to create your own Theme, you will need some tools.

Microsoft Resource Kit
The kit includes an Animated Cursor Editor and an Image Editor. The Image Editor is used for cursors
and icons, and the Animated Cursor Editor I used to make .ani files for the busy and wait cursors.

Microangelo for Windows 95 [Impact]
Provides access to icons of all sizes and color formats used by Windows 95. Browse, manage, create,
and edit icons from 8x8 to 64x64 pixels in size and up to 256 colors. Explorer-like Browser
specializes in locating icons on your system. Double-click to open icons for editing in Studio,
libraries for viewing in Librarian. The Engineer replaces system icons, removes shortcut arrows,
etc... 

WINZIP 95
This is a 32 bit zip extractor for windows 95. You will need this to extract these themes...other zip
utilities will not work because they do not support long file names.


*Get MicroAngelo95 or... 
*Get the Microsoft Resource Kit.
            There are two things included in the kit tools that were of use to me when making these
            themes, the Animated Cursor Editor and the Image Editor. The Image Editor I used for
            cursors and icons, and the Animated Cursor Editor I used to make .ani files for the busy
            and wait cursors you can have (check out the Mouse icon under Control Panel and look at the
            Pointers tab). 

*Get an image viewer, which you can find here.
            I used an image editor to cut parts of pictures I wanted for icons or animated cursors and
            pasted them into the image editor. I found this to be a lot easier than making them from
            scratch.

*Get a sound editor, such as the ones that come with Sound Blaster® boards. If you cannot find
            one, look here.
            I used an sound editor to cut out sounds from different .AU, .WAV, and .VOC files. You can
            cut and paste to make sounds unique to your theme.

      Find some time and patience! 


Making Icons

    *Open Image Editor. 
    *Open a graphic viewer of your choice ( ie Picture Publisher, LViewPro, PolyView). 
    *Highlight the portion of the picture you want to use as an icon and select edit and copy which
      will copy the image to the clipboard. If you want to use the whole picture, just select edit and
      copy and the whole image should be copied to the clipboard. 
    *Select the Image Editor. 
    *Select New from the File menu. 
    *You want to make an icon that is 32x32 VGA color. 
    *When the white box appears in front of you, select Edit and then Paste. 
    *If you want your icon as a square, just save the file as the name you want. 
    *If you do not, select the dark green color from the bottom of the color chart.

            You should see a little floating window that has a green border around a white box near
            your Image Editor. This is a preview window, and it will tell you what your icon or
            cursor will look like. That green in the preview window is the green color you want.

    *Using the pen, color around the edges of the picture. This will make the cursor look like it is
      just the picture, not a picture in a box. You'll see what I mean. 
    *When you are done, save it. If you messup, select new again and start over. This is where the
      time and patience come in.
            When you save your icons and cursors, save them with the Theme Name at the beginning. If
            you do not know what I mean, look in c:\Program Files\PLUS!\Themes for and idea on how the
            themes in the PLUS! pack are named.

    *Now, to change your icon on your desktop, right click on the desktop and go to Properties. 
    *Click on the Plus! tab. 
    *Highlight the Desktop Icon you want to change and then click on the button that is labeled Change
      Icon. 
    *Go through the folders (or directories), find the icon you just created, and select it. 
    *Press Apply. You should see the icon you selected on your desktop. 

      I did this for my 4 desktop icons. After you do all your icons, go to the desktop themes in the
      Control Panel and save this as a new theme, naming it whatever you want. I made sure I put in ( )
      what color scheme I was using, 24-bit, 256colors, etc. It is a good idea to save the theme as you
      are working on it. This way you can see what you have in the theme everytime you have it is on
      your desktop. I kept working on one theme and when it was done I would log off. When I logged
      back on, the theme would be gone, because I did not save it. I would have to reload the sounds
      and icons. This only has to happen once and you'll fix it.

Making Cursors

    *Open the Image Editor. 
    *Select File and Open from the Image Editor. 
    *Open up one of the arrow cursors in C:\Windows\Cursors or wherever you Windows95 files are
      located.

            You are able to bring up a *.BMP, *.ICO, or *.CUR file into the Image Editor. Choose
            *.CUR. What I did here is color or change the default arrows and cursors and save them
            under my new theme name. I colored all the default cursors a red-orange color for the MK
            theme I made, and a silver color for the Dark Forces theme I made. That is the easiest way.
            You can edit the color list and make a custom color on the color pallette, also. I had to
            do this.

    *Save all your cursors in one place!

            You might consider putting them into the Themes directory under PLUS! or your own directory
            under the \PLUS!\Themes directory. This keeps them all together, and you can see what the
            other themes have for cursors and sounds. You can use their file names as guidelines when
            saving your icons, cursors and sounds. You do not have to do this, but I suggest it. I am
            going to keep saying this, so try not to get tired of hearing it. It saved me time in the
            long run. For an example, when I was making the MK Theme, I save the arrow as mk arrow.cur
            to make sure I remembered what it was for.

    *Go to Control Panel and open the Mouse icon and select the Pointers tab. 
    *Select which cursor you want to change and then browse your directories for the cursor you
      created. 
    *Do the same for any other cursors you create and change. 
    *Remember to save the theme periodically, incase of forgetfullness or power outages. 

Making Animated Cursors

You can have animated cursors for your regular arrow and resize cursors, also!

    *Bring up the Animated Cursor Editor. 
    *Select File and Import Frame.

            You should be able to import icons (*.ICO) or cursors (*.CUR) to change and make it appear
            that they are animated. The trick is to play with the time that each frame appears on the
            screen. (who came up with jiffy?) You can create certain frames and then speed them up or
            slow them down. The lightsaber animated cursor I got off the net had various times for the
            frames appearance time.

    *Use a graphics editor, such as LViewPro or Picture Publisher. 

            Use these to bring up a .BMP file and change it, such as rotation, inversion. Then you can
            highlight the portion you want to use and copy it to the clipboard. Next make a new frame
            in the Animated Icon Editor by pushing on the button with the film (I think the first
            one with film, try it) and the Image Editor comes up. You can paste into the Image
            Editor and then save and exit. Your next frame is before you. I did most of my .ANI files
            like this.

Appearance of Windows and Fonts

    *Right click on the desktop anywhere and go to Properties. 
    *Click on the Appearance tab.

            In here you can specify the color and font of Selected items, Window borders, desktop
            colors, etc. 

    *Click on the first down arrow next to the text box.

            These are predefined schemes. Look through here to see if there is something that goes with
            your motif. 

    *Click on the second down arrow.

            You will see where you can select certain things in the Windows95® environment and specify
            their characteristics. Notice once you change an attribute you will see how it affects the
            windowing environment from the example right above where you change the windows settings.

    *Remember to save all this stuff under one desktop theme! 

Your background image

(Including how to make a .JPG your background image)

    *Get a .BMP file you want as your background and place it in the directory with all your other
      theme items.
    *Right click anywhere on the Desktop and go to Properties.
            You will see a place for the background. Just point Windows95® to the place on your disk
            drive where the picture is.
    *Go to the Desktop Themes and save the theme.
            You need to save it like this because you are going to edit the .Theme file!
    *Open an image viewer (a good one that will let you change formats!!) and bring up your .BMP file.
    *Save it with the same name but as a .JPG file.
            You want to name it THEMENAME Wallpaper.jpg or something like that. Just change the
            .BMP tag on the end of the name. Save the .JPG file in the same directory as the .BMP file.
    *Open a DOS prompt window and go to the Plus!\Themes directory (or wherever you are keeping the
      theme items).
    *Do a DIR *.the and look at the results.
    *Edit your .the file.
            Yes, that is right. Type edit and the name of the .the file and you'll get the DOS editor
            with your Theme file. It has some weird stuff in it, so only change the one thing I am
            going to tell you about.

    *Find the file that is the background
            When I looked, I had the 8.3 file name. I changed it to the full file name with the spaces
            and all and put the .jpg on the end. Make sure you have the file name right!

    *Save the theme file and exit.
    *Open the Desktop Themes icon again and try to bring up your theme. It should decompress the .JPG
      file automatically!
      Note:
            Why should you do this? Well if you are not using a small .bmp file and tiling it, it will
            save people download time. If people see a theme TOO large, they might not want to get it
            because of a slow connection. And it is curtious to do now that you know how to do it. If
            this does not work, try it over and check the names or something. It worked for me twice so
            I know it does work indeed.

    *Notice the BIGdifference in file size between the .BMP and .JPG files.
    *When all is done, delete the .BMP file and your background is complete.
            If you want to tile the image, go to Display Properties again and click on tile next to the
            background box. If you want it centered, click centered.

    *Go to the Plus! tab in Properties and notice you can stretch the wallpaper to the corners of the
      screen, also.
            Make sure your picture looks right when you do this though. I tried this with a picture of
            the Death Star and it turned out funny looking.

    *Save the theme one more time to make it complete, making sure that all the appropriate items are
      checked, like fonts and cursors and background. You see this when you open the Desktop Themes
      icon.

Sounds

    *You need .WAV files for the sounds. You can get a lot off the net, or you can make your own. 
    *If you have a .wav file you like, go to Control Panel and select Sounds. 
            Here is where you select the sounds you want for the different Windows events.

    *You need to select an event listed in the top most box of the Sound Properties window. 
    *Next, click on Browse... and point Windows95 to the name of the sound file. 
            Notice you can play the file while you are browsing for it. Make sure it is the right file
            and then click on OK.

    *I am going to annoy you with this, but make sure after you do all this stuff to save the theme
      file!!! 
    *If you want to make a sound, there are a few options. 
            Use the CDPlayer and record sounds using your favorite, or only, sound recorder. If you
            cannot find a good one, check out the link I have on the other page or use the Windows95
            recorder.
            Edit a .wav file you like and chop out the parts you do not need.
            Create your own with a microphone.
            Read the newsgroups and get some files from them.
            You can also get a .AU file from the net and use a sound editor to save it as a .WAV file. 

    *Yahoo has a lot of links to sounds. Check it out!! 

I hope this helps people experiment with different themes. Good luck!!
 And any suggestions or comments you have please take2nd

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