MADDE/Theme building

2010-03-25T19:37:33Z

146.126.51.51:

Recently, three source packages that were published in Diablo times was released in their Fremantle versions which I had waited for a long time for. These are: 
 
* A source package which generates a theme, [http://gitorious.org/hildon-theme-example-stskeeps/hildon-theme-example-stskeeps/trees/master] 
* This is done on the basis of [http://maemo.gitorious.org/fremantle-hildon-desktop/hildon-theme-layout-5 hildon-theme-layout-5] (also published in Maemo5.0 update2 SDK), a package that provides the GTK theming and how to slice and dice a template into the theme elements. 
* The slicers and dicers and dithers are provided in [http://maemo.gitorious.org/fremantle-hildon-desktop/hildon-theme-tools hildon-theme-tools] (also published in Maemo5.0 update2 SDK). 
 
hildon-theme-variant-example is CC BY SA 2.5, hildon-theme-layout-5 is CC BY SA 3.0 and hildon-theme-tools is GPL 2.0 for those who are interested in that. 
 
Now, on to what this article is actually about. 
 
What I am going to provide you theme makers of Maemo, is a way to make theme packages similar to how the vendor-provided themes on your device is made. We had this ability in Diablo and now we have it in Fremantle. 
 
There was a catch with the Diablo method - it required you installing Maemo SDK, well, under Linux and this isn't always commonly found on graphics designers computers which typically ran Windows or MacOS X. 
 
Thus, cross-platform solutions like [ https://garage.maemo.org/projects/thememaker Kontorri's Theme Maker] was made which emulated what these packages described are doing. It made a binary Debian package, which could only be uploaded to Maemo Extras in the non-free section. 
 
Normally, developers upload a source package to Maemo Extras and the autobuilder builds it for us. 
 
Now, the ballgame has changed with [http://wiki.maemo.org/MADDE MADDE]. [http://wiki.maemo.org/MADDE MADDE] is a cross-platform Maemo SDK (Linux, Windows, MacOS X), which basically implements just about enough to cross-compile a Qt application. But why is this interesting for theme makers?
 
I've discovered that it is possible to generate the source package for a theme package within [http://wiki.maemo.org/MADDE MADDE]. What does this mean for your workflow as designers? Let me guide you through a workflow of theme design with the help of MADDE and the Maemo Extras repository. 
 
Requirements: 
 
* Install [http://wiki.maemo.org/MADDE MADDE] on your computer - it's a quite big download but it may be useful when you'd like to wander into Qt development as well. In this example I will be referring to paths from Windows MADDE but it should be transferable to your 
 
* Something to open tar.gz files, such as [http://www.rarsoft.com/ WinRAR] or similar. 
 
* The garage.maemo.org and Extras upload invitation from http://wiki.maemo.org/Uploading_to_Extras-devel. Currently you will need to set a SSH key (write 'blahblahblah' if this is nonsense to you) 
 
* Patience and willingness to learn :) 
 
Workflow when beginning a new theme: 
 
'''Step 1: Downloading the theme source package template '''
 
On [http://gitorious.org/hildon-theme-example-stskeeps/hildon-theme-example-stskeeps/commits/master this page] there is a link that is called Download master as tar.gz. What is this? This is a theme template source package which you can customize to your own needs. Unpack the directory inside this into C:\MADDE\0.5\home\your username. Feel free to rename the directory to your intended theme name. 
 
'''Step 2: Executing MADDE '''
 
In your start menu (or whatever your OS calls it's launcher), there should be MADDE -> MADDE Terminal. 
 
You will now end up in your 'home directory' in MADDE, which is C:\MADDE\0.5\home\your username. 
 
In there, you can 'cd directory name' where directory name is the name you gave the folder/directory from before. 
 
'''Step 3: Customizing the source package template, basics ''' 
In the folder you should now 'sh try_it_out.sh'. This will ask you a couple of questions. You only have to do this once. 
 
It will ask you the following questions: 
 
* What should the package name of your theme be? (Example: hildon-theme-example) 
 
* What should be theme name be? (Example: My example theme) 
 
* Who is the maintainer of this theme? 
 
* What should the directory name be (Example: example) 
 
It will then set up the theme template. 
 
'''Step 4: Customize the graphics - the fun step! '''
 
You can see in the directory several interesting places. The primary place for your work is in the template directory. This contains template.svg (SVG version of the basis template) and template.png (PNG version of the template). While it is up to you which one you want to edit, remember to always export template.png from the SVG. 
 
Similar directories, icons, background images and other things to customize can be found in the applications directory. 
 
'''Step 5: Building the source package ''' 
When you're done customizing, you can finally build your source package. In MADDE, you can do this: 
 
username $ mad dpkg-buildpackage -S -us -uc -d 
 
This will generate a .dsc and .tar.gz in the parent directory which you can use in the next step. 
 
'''Step 6: Uploading to Maemo Extras '''
 
You can now upload this .dsc and .tar.gz file to Maemo Extras through the [https://garage.maemo.org/extras-assistant/ Maemo Extras Assistant]. The autobuilder will then build the theme package for you and your theme will show up in Extras-devel. 
 
As a bonus, anyone can base their themes upon yours as they have the 'source code' of your theme (under CC SA BY 2.5 conditions) - something not possible with ThemeMaker. 
 
There are probably more maintaining issues which I hope the real theme makers will explore such as adding new versions to changelogs and such and tell about in their blogs. 
 
If you have problems with any of the steps, prod me (Stskeeps) on #maemo , irc.freenode.net or comment this post. 
[[Category:Development]]

Wiki gardeners

2008-06-11T15:36:15Z

146.126.51.51: /* Members */

This group is intended to act as a focusing point for, in the immediate term, the [http://maemo.org/community/wiki/wikireorg/ midgard to mediawiki migration] and, in the long term, as a centralized organization point for all [[Main Page|maemowiki]]-related improvement efforts.

Right now, the primary goal of this group is to assist with cleaning up the fallout of midgard to mediawiki move by putting together a strong framework (templates, categorization, etc) for moving forward with a well organized and useful [[Main Page|maemowiki]], and bringing all of the ex-midgard wikipages up to the higher quality standards of the new mediawiki.

== Tasks ==
This is a summary of the group's current tasks. This list will be refined and expanded over the next few weeks as we determine the correct scope and focus, and pound out the details of this work.

* Get the word out.
* Bring in people to help with the group's projects and begin defining task forces with certain realms of responsibility.

=== Midgard migration ===
* Migrate old wiki pages to the new wiki, according to http://maemo.org/community/wiki/wikireorg/
* [[MAG:Categorization#Proposed categories|Categorise them]].
* Get the old midgard articles up to speed for the mediawiki, style, format and syntax-wise.
** The articles will hopefully be tagged as former midgard articles during the migration (which will provide us with an auto-generated list similar to the way Wikipedia tags articles as belonging to a particular WikiProject), users should refer to this list for articles that need to be brought up to speed with mediawiki standards.
** Users should then remove the midgard tag after bringing tagged articles up to speed.
* Update article content to be relevant for the latest maemo and Internet Tablet OS releases.

==== Principles guiding the migration ====
* Page names should be short and to the point. The page name is a label, not a sentence. No more "How to EASILY boot from an MMC Card". "MMC card boot" (or similar) will do.
** Page names should also be capitalized like a sentence instead of a title ("MMC card boot", ''not'' "MMC Card Boot") and should contain spaces ("MMC card boot", ''not'' "MMCCardBoot").
* The front page must remain clean. Each section will have 4 to 5 front-page links, with a category link (hidden behind "More topics") to all of the other pages in the category. We cat use subcategories too, for sections that get cumbersome (personal opinion of cumbersome: more than 20 articles).
* Pages should be split or consolidated so that they are roughly 1 to 2 browser page-lengths long. There's nothing worse than a 3-sentence wiki-page, or a 20-page document.
* I think we should link to the content outside the wiki which someone browsing to the wiki is likely to want to find. That means that for a developer, the first two links should be "An introduction to maemo" and "Porting applications to maemo". Even though these are not wiki documents, and are official docs. Given that there is a plan to move official documentation to the wiki, this seems reasonable to me.
--[[User:dneary|dneary]] 20:19, 5 June 2008 (UTC)

=== Templates ===
{{main|MAG:Templates}}
* Put together a set of [http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Templates templates] to assist in the categorization, tagging and expansion of articles, and help maintain a uniform style and format across the wiki.
* Set up a template reference page.
* Categorize all templates.

=== Categorization ===
{{main|MAG:Categorization}}
* Begin defining clear categories for the organization of articles.
* Place articles into the correct categories.
* Put together an categorical index.

=== Front page ===
* Put together a framework for the front page that is pretty, easy to use, and easy to modify.
* Set down a plan for front page maintenance and updating. As it's the most visible part of the website, changes to the front page shouldn't be taken lightly.

== Members ==
New members should simply add their name to the bottom of the list and jump right into the project.

# [[User:generalantilles|generalantilles]] 21:41, 2 June 2008 (UTC)
# [[User:dneary|dneary]] 10:16, 3 June 2008 (UTC)
# [[User:qgil|qgil]] 19:45, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
# [[User:lcuk|lcuk]] 22:27, 4 June 2008 (UTC)
# [[User:jaffa|jaffa]] 07:09, 5 June 2008 (UTC)
# [[User:andrewfblack|andrewfblack]] 10:36, 11 June 2008 (UTC)
[[Category:Community]]

Maemo Wiki Mirror - User contributions [en]

MADDE/Theme building

Wiki gardeners