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Friday, February 13, 2009 

One of the cool new features of HelpMaster Pro version 9 is the ability to "theme" the look and feel of the application.  A theme defines the colours, the shading and the fonts that are used throughout the product.  Themes are chosen in the "User Preference" screen and apply only to the person currently logged on.  Out of the box, HelpMaster Pro ships with a number of default themes, however the underlying architecture of this feature allows for more themes to be added at any time.

A theme file is simply an XML file that defines the colours and other settings for each of the major components of the product (screens, toolbars, tabs etc).  New theme files can be created, or existing ones simply edited using any text editor (eg. Notepad).  When the user preference screen of HelpMaster Pro starts up, it will check the "Themes folder" for all valid theme files and list them in the themese drop-down box.  Once you select one, the screen will be instantly converted to the new look and feel.

Attached to this post is a theme that I've made using a grey theme that I call "Battleship".  Download this file and save it in either your local themes folder, or your global themes location so that everyone can use it.  Once you've done that, open your user preference settings screen and select it from the themes drop-down list.

For the creative people out there who wish to have a go at creating their own theme, you should be able to follow the basic idea of an existing theme file.  Open it in notepad and start replacing the colour values with your own.  I'll send them a prize to anyone who uploads their own custom theme. (but it's gotta look good!).  Email them to me and I'll upload them for everyone else.  Might even get a themes swap shop going if there are enough.

Best regards,

Rod

 

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Tags:themes , customization

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