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Tobias Mann

College Comp 2

Mr. Reynolds

Feb 10, 2011

Telescoping: To Build A Theme.

Putting together a computer theme starts out fairly simply. A piece of clean printer paper,

a ruler, and a pencil. This begins the crafting process. I begin conceptualizing what I want to

create, pulling theme components from memory. From there I take that idea, and begin to put it

together piece by piece, making changes where necessary, building up the theme to completion,

then condensing my work into as few clicks as possible, before submitting it the masses. Each

step grows, and new ideas form as possibilities branch out.

My next decision is what to build upon, like the foundation of a home, I choose the basis

for my theme. Depending on my decision for the themes foundation I may be stuck with

components for which may be impossible to avoid. A panel for example, which cannot be

removed. Those components are painted onto the paper in pen. From their the components for

which my themes are built are chosen. Icons, docks, launchers, menus, window themes, wing-

panels etc. The theme is now is now scrolled on the paper, and the best tools to build it need to

be chosen.

On my computer the blank slate environment for which I have chosen to build off of, is

opened, laying my foundation. I begin installing the components I need and putting them in a list

on an empty text document. From the conceptual design I begin to build upon that blank slate.

Pulling up a terminal, ctrl-alt-t, I begin typing in the commands for the individual components to

start them. Docks, and launchers begin to fill the screen, but in no particular pattern. The idle

observer it might look upon it, and see something more akin to a failed design concept for

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windows 95, but in reality it is raw, unconfigured, components waiting to be made into

something unique.

In one of my most recent themes, I launched two distinct components, and began to

configure them to fit my conceptual design. In that theme I was forced to reconfigure one of the

components removing an incompatible software component. Easily done, pull up the

configuration file for that component in a terminal, and omitting the conflicting line of code.

Another command is fervently tapped into the terminal, and the reconfigured configuration file is

backed up to a new theme folder. The process is relatively simple, but to the uneducated observer

it is something of geek magic, terminal windows flashing up, and close just as quickly. Lines of

seemingly meaningless code is tapped rapidly into the windows, as quickly as they appear, theme

components flash up and down as changes begin to apply to them. In that same project my theme

called for, what we call in the geek world a wing-panel. Similar to a panel that you might see in

the top/bottom right of your screen, populated with notification information, A wing-panel

occupies only that portion of the screen which is necessary, extending out from the right only as

far as there are icons to contain. Normally for personal use this, it might take a few minutes to

apply the changes to Avant Window Navigator, a highly customizable dock, in order to achieve

such a result. However in this theme I needed not one, but three of them, and after all of that I

had to export it all to a file from which others could install for themselves. Within a few minutes

I had all of my configuring done, everything was set to my liking, but the easy part was now

over.

All this while I had been ensuring any configuration files that had been changed found

their way into the same folder, but from this point on, I needed to take all of the components and

write a script of code that does all the heavy lifting for the end user. Compressing hours of

configuration into as few clicks as possible. That means backing up any system files that are

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changed, installing the modified configuration files, configuring any wing-panels and such, all

for the end user. If that weren't enough, the endless searching for bugs, little errors that cause the

whole theme installation to run a muck, have to worked out. If they don't I'll have angry users at

my throat, begging me to fix It, so they can have a working computer again. This is perhaps the

worse part of the entire process, as it always seems to involve a near constant degree trial and

error. This requires constant referencing of forums, chat rooms, and how-to guides online, for

that elusive line of code to accomplish your goal. After the scripts are written, and the read-me

documentation has been made, the theme has to packaged, uploaded, and published.

The final step to the entire project, is getting it out there for people to enjoy. Whats the

point of going through all that work if no one can appreciate it. This part is easiest when the

work is unique, and of quality. Uploading the work to dropbox, isn't going to get me any hits, for

recommendations, there isn't any showcase for it there. It must be put up where people who will

use it will best appreciate it. Once it's there, I go to a popular blog and see if the editor likes the

work, and is interested in writing about it. If I'm lucky, twenty total downloads will turn into

three-thousand or more, in a matter of minutes.

From paper, and pen, to a finished theme, to a one click installation, to the computers of

thousands, my themes all begin the same way. Sure they might need some research, to finish

them from time to time , but what artist doesn't.