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Root Want to learn how to theme? I got you covered!

M4gicM@

Newbie
May 2, 2010
15
11
Hey everyone, I know there are a lot people out there that want to get more out of their phone. For me, I wanted root so i could change those top icons to blue, among other things. So i started a quest to learn everything I could about theming. I wanted to know if there is any demand for a tutorial on how to theme, from the ground up. If so I would take this challenge on!

I know it is quite an undertaking, but I would love to help if there is a big enough demand. There are other threads on other forums but none go from step 1 to 10. Many assume you know what you are doing and don't explain the precise order and background knowledge needed to truly grasp theming.

I plan on making two assumptions only:
1) you have the SDK downloaded and installed along with eclipse
2) have moderate comp skills

So if anyone n00b to master wanted to get in on theming I got your guide. It may take a little while to complete everything, but individual lessons would be posted as soon as I finish them.

What are your thoughts? Any takers? Questions, comments, accusations?
 
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Reactions: JWortH
sure ... post what you know



Sounds a little skeptical. Well my proposed plan will first go through themeing an app. For this I will go through the steps to simply change backgrounds and pics of the Google news and weather app. I will explain what .apk's are (they are essentially signed zips, ill cover that too), the contents and the basic structure of android apps.

This is just a little if what I plan to go over. My hope is that if I present the information of the lowest level higher level concepts are understood more completely. I just wanted to know if there were people that wanted to learn and modify the phone themselves rather then relying on others. This way they can do anything they want.

Catch a man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, feed him for a lifetime... or something to that effect
 
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if you get this going, i can add a section on how to make a metamorph theme.

This sounds good!

Currently I have got a bit behind doing research on the underworkings of Android. There is a lot of information on app development but not a lot on the actual android os. Most things I have discovered was done via testing and experimentation. I hope to have the first plan done by the end of the week.

I am going to start off slow so the first lesson will introduce basic android concepts what an apk is and how to get in and change it. It will provide an example changing pngs and xml's. It may also explain 9.pings as well as they aren't as scray as some people think.
====The previous lesson will not require root====
(however if you want to change data/app you will need root)

the next lesson will be framework editing and file locations of icons and things like that

the third lesson will be .odex issues and how to deal with them

These are full videos with narration, i think i will also include notes and files along with them.
----------------------------

The script for #1 is about done so i will begin content creation and filming.

----------------------------

If there are other things you want me to cover let me know. Any questions that you might have would be helpful, so that this may be as intuitive as possible.
 
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make sure you add how to sign an apk. provide the tools for it too. use signapk though because some of the other tools dont work cross platform.

also you may want to add how to create an alias for the signing so rather than typing

Code:
java -jar signapk.jar testkey.x509.pem testkey.pk8n (original file) (signed file)

you only need to type

Code:
sign (original file) (signed file)
 
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Just wait about 8 hours and we will have that NAND unlock

i hope this is coming from a REAL source... Ive been awaiting this since launch day.... I already have MM themes ready!

Edit: just noticed the time... and your time stamp... so 30 min eh ? we'll see .... (DOUBTFULLY)

edit2: just checked unrevoked's twitter... they are postponing supposed release! so blah... back to waiting. or theming and pushing entire apks
 
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Ok expect an update in the coming days. I am trying to pump out a quick website where I can put the videos, files, and articles. I am using drupal and am in the [website] theming process. As for the actual tutorials i ran into issues importing screen captures of odd codecs into adobe premire pro. I will have to redo the captures. I am a stickler for quality so I capture in 720p and want as little artifacts in the video as possible. I may eventually move to 1080p.

Thanks for you interest. I will continue to work and get these out. StarcraftII will go on hold for a little while.
 
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