Creating and Using Themes

A Windows Mobile "theme" is a file containing graphical information, icons, and other elements used to customize the look and feel of the Today or Home screens. Thousands of themes are available online, most of them for free. In addition, you can create your own themes using any of a number of excellent programs. Themes are more than clever coordination of contrast and color. They not only catch the eye and make the drab into something more appealing, they also enhance the user experience, adding a spark of newness to your device.

Sample themes

A theme is a single archive file that contains at least one background image for the Today/Home screen and a settings file that customizes the user interface. Pocket PC theme files have a .tsk file extension. Smartphone theme files have a .hme extension. (In addition, Smartphone theme files use an XML file to store color settings.) It's nice to know these details, but it's really not necessary to be able to create or modify a theme. There are plenty of theme creation programs available that make it easy to select graphics, color schemes, and other options, and generate a theme file for your device.

Know thy device and theme type!

Theme capability has been integrated into Windows Mobile devices since the release Pocket PC 2002 and remained essentially unchanged until the release of Windows Mobile 5. The Today screen on WM5 Pocket PCs was streamlined over previous versions and is somewhat less "tweakable." However, themes designed for previous versions of the OS still function on WM5 devices with a few limits for older themes.

Less than two years after WM5 was released, Microsoft announced Windows Mobile 6. As it turns out, the differences between the WM5 and WM6 interfaces are noticeable. This worried me a little until I asked Bob Katayama (one of our mobile experts) to test one of the themes I created for WM5 with a pre-release WM6 device he had. He reported that it worked just fine, and I have since tested some of my themes in the newly released MS Device Emulator.

Before you attempt to create a theme or download one, you need to know the resolution of the screen on your device. Themes designed for one screen resolution may not display well on another. Most Pocket PCs and Phone Edition devices have QVGA (320x240 pixel) screens, but a few have VGA (640x480) or square (240x240) screens. Many of the more recent Smartphones have horizontally oriented QVGA screens (240x320). The other common Smartphone screen resolution is 176x200 pixels. You should also note that themes designed for older versions of the OS may not work as well on newer versions (especially if the theme was not designed to support landscape mode). The following chart will help you select compatible themes from download sites and properly format the themes you create on your own.

OS / screen size: PPC 2002 / QVGA

Today / Start menu sizes: 242x287/154x289

Supports landscape: No

Tweak gradients and Taskbar color: Yes

OS / screen size: PPC 2003 / QVGA

Today / Start menu sizes: 242x287/154x289

Supports landscape: Yes**

Tweak gradients and Taskbar color: Yes

OS / screen size: PPC 2003SE / QVGA

Today / Start menu sizes: 320x294/240x320

Supports landscape: Yes**