Building a theme for the e61 is not an easy exercise for many. A complicating factor is that a theme builder like Carbide.ui does not only allow to make themes for the e61 but basically for all Symbian s60 platforms. As not all s60 versions are the same, there are many properties an layouts which are not universal over the individual platforms. Basically (although there is a user guide available) I learned by doing.

Some of those learnings I would like to share on mye61.com in order to help and stimulate others to create your own themes. These learnings will be split in a step by step approach. In the end all steps together should help you to build your own theme.

All efforts learning to build a theme will not necessarily results in a good theme. A good theme in the end is for a large part based upon one’s creativity and some skills in terms of PhotoShop (or any other similar application) will for sure help …

First step soon to be released on my-e61-theme.

Hope you find it useful.

MSN I never really used. The first “chat” application used on the PC for me was ICQ, somewhere in the mid-nineties. Already at that time there were some tools available for making “phone calls” over the internet. However, during that period the connection to the net wasn’t much higher than a 14kb modem, thus it did not really make sense to do so. Until the moment Skype came along, I never have made any serious efforts anymore to make “phone calls” over the net. Still using Skype in the early days had some obvious disadvantages :

1. Small amount of users and like a fax machine, Skype did not have much value being the “only one in the world using it”
2. No direct calls were possible at that time, and
3. Besides people in the office using a PC for their job, I could not imagine that calling over internet would really take off for people at home “behind their PC”

So I have always wondered how long it would take before Skype was integrated into the hardware of conventional phones. Now we know … it is there, but it took ages.

For mobile phones it seems no different. Although available for the Pocket PC, Skype, despite all announcements and promises, still did not come up with a decent version for the Symbian platform. And considering progress it might take still a while … maybe too long. Why too long? Simply because parallel we see all kinds of VoIP service providers emerging in a tremendous speed, taking over the market that could have been Skype’s.

When I just had the e61 I spend some serious effort on the net to find a solution in using Skype for phone calls over the net using the e61. Except for some hybrid solutions, basically I have found nothing very usable. As I gave up, I subscribed for a VoIP service (=VoIPTalk in the UK) and it works like clockwork. So I have no need for Skype anymore … or

Yes, I still have - why? Because Skype for me also has become my only chat / conference call solution. This integration might still keep Skype in the saddle … let us see.

For those still hoping to integrate Skype in their Nokia e61 somewhere in the near future - the following theme : e61 meets Skype. A theme based upon the “Skype color scheme”.

You can download the theme here. (Btw. nice and small)

The theme is also part of the the latest “Friday Themes” post at e-series.org where you also can find other themes like Tribal (not yet optimized for the e61) from Daniel at e61 life.

Based upon the initial release of the ProfiMail inspired theme I got some comments back to eliminate the background pictures. For sure this will support more contrast and better visibility. As such I have updated the first release to Profi theme v1.01w (w=without background pictures). Hope you like it - basically the original is also still offered - for that please also refer to e-series.org.

Anyway, if you have any further ideas just let me know. Also if somehow this theme “inspired” you to create other themes, just let me know.

You can download the updated theme here. (Btw. still nice and small)

Since I have bought my e61 I have tried many and many more different themes. The one which I have used longest so far is probably S60 white. Disadvantage was that this theme was not optimized for the e61. As a result I missed parts in my screen of which I was not even aware. In fact I have stopped using some software because ‘fields were missing’. Other themes I have used most of the times have a ‘too busy’ or a ‘too dark’ set-up. Making it hard to read, or reducing contrast. Thus I decided to create my own theme.

Looking for the tools to do so, it was a bit disappointing. In fact I did not come a lot further than ThemeStudio 3.0, a slow and tedious way of making any theme. Moreover not yet optimized for s60 3rd edition. Happy I then was to learn that Nokia came up with Carbide.ui v3.1 (btw. you need to become member of the Nokia forum to be able to download). Still not easy to learn, but after some trial and error with some standard themes that come with it, I started to create my first own theme keeping the ‘too busy’ and ‘not enough contrast’ in mind. I have been using ProfiMail already for quite some time, also on other phones. In there is a color theme I really like for the reasons mentioned. As such I tried to create a similar look and feel in my first theme.

Let me know what you think.

If you like it, then you can download it here. (Btw. it is nice and small)

Let me before I submit more posts, introduce my Nokia e61 to you. I bought it in the Netherlands (type RM-89) and taking a good look at the production tag it was made in Finland, Nokia’s home country. How this is relevant I will explain in a later post. The phone came with the first firmware installed (upgraded in the meantime) and came with the choice of the English or Dutch language (you also have to select this for text typing in settings - still do not understand why this is relevant - can see the relevance for Asian languages).

Currently I have installed the Theme “Blue Orange Light” after using s60 (white) for quite some time. Problem with the s60 theme is (and I only found out too late - I killed a few programs because I presumed these were not working) that it is not optimized for the e61 and as such sometimes you cannot see a text box and / or text because it disappears in the theme itself. For the ring tones I use one of the standards that comes with the e61, however, for SMSs I use the “Anybody There” tone inherited from a SonyEricsson mobile in the past. As you can see I am still on holiday (operator = INDOSAT). Main applications in standby (other than standard) are : ProfiMail, Morange, and Handy Weather.