PAP 2.0^Beta
Theming

Along with this tutorial, we've got a zip file with all the files you need, and an example template. You can download it HERE. I would also like to expand it, so if you've got buttons, icons or similar theming stuff to add, they are always welcome. This is the reason why the file has a version number ;-)

The PATheme.ini file can be loaded and edited in any text editor. It contains informations about the theme and some settings. Let's take a look at it:

Of course we need some tools for Theming:

A zipping program
There is nothing better, we take 7-Zip Portable.

An editor
The best: Notepad++ Portable

A graphics program
GIMP Portable is great, but can be confusing to a beginner. Paint.NET is very good, however it is not portable.

An optimizer
A screenshot utility is always very useful, it will also show others how the theme looks like in action. PngOptimizer reduces the file size of PNG files and creates screenshots. Of course we use it too!

First, we install a theme. The PAP-up menu will extract the files to
Drive:\PortableApps\PortableApps.com\Data\Theme\
and uses henceforth the files there. It is now our working folder. So, as we work on these files, we can restart the menu to see and control our progress as we work.

Create a new image - 406 * 573 pixel. Let's fill it with a cool green gradient and store it in our working folder as "background.png".

Time to change the PATheme.ini. Open it with an editor and set a provisional name: "Green Test". We have to change the font color (to get readable fonts) to white (HEX: "ffffff"). The shadow color should, of course, remain dark.

Around the area where later the drive space bar will appear, I put a white border, so that it will fill in correctly. For the remaining graphics I chose some white graphics from the templates collection...

Wow, that's almost a complete Theme!

Now I would like to have a cool curve at the upper left corner. Now I remembered! magenta (RGB 255,0255) makes an area transparent. So I quickly draw a soft magenta corner (A), save my picture and restart the PAP-menu.
Oh my God, what is happening? (B) There are so loud pink pixels on my curve! Oh yes, I used anti-aliasing to get smooth edges. That creates many mixed colors. Unfortunately, the menu does not recognize mixed colors.
So I try it once again, without anti-aliasing (C). All pixels are now pure magenta.
The result looks the same but much better! (D). Sure, now there's an aliasing-effect (stair-step effects) but at least no second color, which would look worse.

Note:Before creating curves, the background should be saved as background_opaque.png. That's the background image for some older systems that can not display transparency.

That was almost everything. We could decorate the background with anything (ladybugs, poker cards or so, according to taste), but it changes nothing in the technique.
Thus we come to our last step: start the 7zip manager, select the files and pack as PATheme file. And then remove them to a safe place. Or send it to us (Contact/Upload) with a screenshot.