Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Discuss application theming and theme development.
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mcdavis
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Joined: December 9th, 2005, 5:51 am

Post by mcdavis »

Robotix wrote:both.....


Well the icon's not conclusive because you get the same icon either way. But showing up in the list of extensions means Firefox thinks it's an extension.

I would try completely uninstalling it, restarting Firefox a couple times, then reinstalling from scratch. I would also try starting over with a fresh GUID just in case you somehow ended up with one that was the same as for some other extension. And while you're at it, use an email-form GUID (like blaze@blazextreme.com) instead of the numeric form because the email form is so much easier for everyone.

If that doesn't work, post your theme online somewhere so we can download it and see for sure. One of us will be able to figure it out.
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Robotix
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Joined: December 20th, 2007, 4:01 pm

Post by Robotix »

Where could I post my theme?
Anyway, could this have something to do with the contents file?
Robotix
Posts: 21
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 4:01 pm

Post by Robotix »

If this doesn't help the search for the problem, I don't know what will:
Contents file:
http://pastebin.mozilla.org/276482
Install file:
http://pastebin.mozilla.org/276483
I beleive these are the only two which would even tell firefox it was an extension....
Robotix
Posts: 21
Joined: December 20th, 2007, 4:01 pm

Post by Robotix »

I have found the answer!
I simply forgot to add in the
em:type 4 /em:type
Line in my install file!
Only problem, it doesn't show any changes when selected....
tttm
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Joined: February 28th, 2008, 6:23 pm

ehume please help

Post by tttm »

I followed your directions and got my theme to install and restarted firefox 2.0 with my theme as theme it came up but was firefox defalt buttons and colors. My theme was based on arctic glow. In theme manager the preview was from arctic glow. So I went into extensions and guid number of my theme and the chrome folder with the tem.xpi was not in there. I checked in my theme jar file and it was there when I installed it. How can I get it to install chrome folder with everything else?
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ehume
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Location: Princeton, NJ, USA

Post by ehume »

I can't really tell from your description. What happened to me when I had problems like this is that I had not gotten the right GUID's in the right places.

Since moving over to the chrome.manifest system I have not had a problem with xpi files. Make sure you are using the chrome.manifest system. It may be that Arctic is using the contents.rdf system. If so, you must convert it to the chrome.manifest system.

I hope this helps.
Firefox: Sic transit gloria mundi.
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jivko
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Joined: September 2nd, 2008, 11:20 am

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by jivko »

Hi I'm making my own fire fox 3 theme but I have a problem.I'm using this tutorial http://developer.mozilla.org/en/Creatin ... ng_Started but every time I try to install my theme it gives me this Firefox could not install the file at

file:///E:/coolblue/coolblue.jar

because: Not a valid install package
-207
Where is the problem and how can I fix it?
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ehume
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Joined: November 17th, 2002, 12:33 pm
Location: Princeton, NJ, USA

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by ehume »

One of the posts (#4?) tells how to pack a jarfile. The commonest problem is packing it improperly so you have too many layers of directory. Compare the structure of your jarfile with (for example) that of Aeon.
Firefox: Sic transit gloria mundi.
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jivko
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Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by jivko »

Hi again! ehume I red your 6 posts about how to make a Firefox theme.I think that it's very useful and I'm definitely going to use it.But I have a question for you.In post 3 wrote "I made some icons myself, but anyone looking at the originals would be able to tell where I made new ones." How did you made new icons?
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ehume
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Location: Princeton, NJ, USA

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by ehume »

I used Inkscape - a free open source vector graphics app - to make new SphereGnome/Aeon icons. I used Paint Shop Pro 7 to change images into icons for Halloween.

Inkscape is available here.

The current Paint Shop Pro is XI (eleven). It costs money. I own that, but prefer PSP 7 for icons. The GIMP is an open source raster graphics app, and available for free. Check out this page.
Firefox: Sic transit gloria mundi.
KrazyKanuk36
Posts: 7
Joined: August 20th, 2008, 5:53 am

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by KrazyKanuk36 »

Although I am trying to make a theme for Thunderbird and nor Firefox, I followed this post to get a basic theme installed that I can use. I am having no trouble copying files or packing the MyTheme.jar file or installing it in Thunderbird. The problem lies after the theme is installed and I have selected USE THEME when in the Tools -> Add-Ons -> Themes -> MyTheme and then restart Thunderbird all I get is the black text no window but see the menus with no icons, even right clicking on Thunderbird in the taskbar shows no menu, only way to shut it down is with task manager, then enter Thunderbird in safe mode and change the theme. I have tried this with a few themes all with the same result. Does anyone have any idea what I am doing wrong or what I could do to fix it?
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ehume
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Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by ehume »

Firefox is not seeing the directory with your theme specifications. The usual culprit is a mismatch between the chrome.manifest instructions and the actual name/structure of the directory and/or jarfile where the theme's guts are.
Firefox: Sic transit gloria mundi.
KrazyKanuk36
Posts: 7
Joined: August 20th, 2008, 5:53 am

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by KrazyKanuk36 »

I have gone over this multiple times with the same result. Would it be different using these Firefox instructions for Thunderbird, I know there are extra directories/folders in the chrome directory/folder for Thunderbird. My directory/folder structure looks like this:

aa-theme
--Theme-0 (directory/folder)
--chrome (directory/folder)
--chrome.manifest (file)
--install.rdf (file)
--icon.png (file)
--preview.png (file)
Theme-0.jar (file)


The chrome.manifest file looks like this:

skin communicator Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/communicator/
skin editor Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/editor/
skin global Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/global/
skin home Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/home/
skin messenger Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/messenger/
skin enigmail Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/enigmail/
skin inspector Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/inspector/
skin mozapps Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/mozapps/
skin messenger-newsblog Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/messenger-newsblog/
skin contactssidebar Theme-0 jar:chrome/Theme-0.jar!/contactssidebar/


The install.rdf looks like this:

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<RDF xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/02/22-rdf-syntax-ns#"
xmlns:em="http://www.mozilla.org/2004/em-rdf#">

<Description about="urn:mozilla:install-manifest">
<em:id>me@server.com</em:id>
<em:version>0</em:version>

<em:targetApplication>
<Description>
<em:id>{3550f703-e582-4d05-9a08-453d09bdfdc6}</em:id>
<em:minVersion>2.0</em:minVersion>
<em:maxVersion>2.0.0.*</em:maxVersion>
</Description>
</em:targetApplication>

<em:name>Theme-0</em:name>
<em:description>Basic Theme for Thunderbird.</em:description>
<em:creator>KK</em:creator>
<em:homepageURL></em:homepageURL>
<em:internalName>Theme-0</em:internalName>
</Description>

</RDF>


There was a contents.rdf, install.rdf, icon.png and preview.png located in the chrome directory/folder that was not included in the Theme-0.jar file should they be?
KrazyKanuk36
Posts: 7
Joined: August 20th, 2008, 5:53 am

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by KrazyKanuk36 »

I fixed it, apparently all the themes I had (all 10 of them) had a chrome.manifest and install.rdf in the Theme-0 directory/folder and a contents.rdf and install.rdf in the chrome directory/folder. I had one theme that only had the chrome.manifest and install.rdf just in the Theme-0.1 directory/folder used this theme and all worked well. Thank you for all your help.
KrazyKanuk36
Posts: 7
Joined: August 20th, 2008, 5:53 am

Re: Your own theme workshop - for beginners

Post by KrazyKanuk36 »

It seems it wasn't errors in the files. I switched from IZArc to WinAce and it worked fine, even used the same files that didn't work with IZArc and it worked.
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