The Ultimate DXTheme: What do you think is essential?

Net in / Net Out

See Pixtudio DX theme by treetog, Heavy Equipment, you, gef, ...

sVis, I love your work but I have to disagree with your question.

I think that a usable theme for the mass audieance has to be predicatable.  Which means in this day and age, it needs to work like one of the major (or even minor) OSs.

On the other hand, if i am making a theme for myself (my style, my apps, my meters, etc.) it will never fit anyone else.

I think DX themes are exercises in creativity and they can be wicked cool . .  and if you are making a SciFi movie . . . DX is what I'd use for the interface.  But there have been very few DX themes that I used without lots of customizations for very long.

Having said all that  . .

Standard meters
Volume control
Browser
Todo list
WiFi meter
battery meter
Media player
Clock
Countown

a 'read me' on customizing the theme to suite

example:

if you have a shortcut to PS but I only have PSP, how to change the link (yes, I know - if closed to client, then builder, right click set target) and graphic or text to match

I think it would help some of the newbies.

I think it would help some of the newbies.

That is one of the biggest problems with DX Themes - if your first starting out they can be very intimidating. I myself like the drag and drop to make the shortcuts rather that the cloning or set target. I think for new people the easier - the better. Once they are more familiar with DX then the more involved themes will be easy. So I'm with Bichur - a simplified ' Read Me ' Text that anyone can understand.

Check here:
https://www.wincustomize.com/articles.aspx?aid=61378

I think that a usable theme for the mass audieance has to be predicatable. Which means........it needs to work like one of the major (or even minor) OSs.

I completely agree with this. Deciding on the design of the user interface for a DX theme is tricky. I want it to be uniquley stylish but I don't want it to be alien to the user; I don't want them to feel lost. It has to strike an age-old balance between form and function. I've had lots of ides for themes but like you said, Zubaz, they are really only suitable to my taste, and even I can't use them for very long. It's got to be something universal.

a 'read me' on customizing the theme to suite

This is also important. I've included a read me in my themes but I never thought of one specifically for customizing. However, it is quite a task to anticipate the customizing needs of the user. Just last week someone asked me how to customize the taskbar in my Clear Agenda theme so that it behaves like a regular taskbar. I wouldn't think that would be something someone would want customize or they would've downloaded a theme which has a taskbar that behaves in that manner. I'm certainly planning on spending alot more time and consideration on my next theme.

if your first starting out they can be very intimidating.

True. When loading up my first theme, it kinda felt like I was 'locked out' of everything. Although there were lots of essentials I didn't have that familiarty that, let's face it, we all have after years of using the same interface. Familiarity is something that would be a top priority along with ease of use.




Thanks for the link gef. There's alot in there to pore over.