[kilted thrower]

I'm having a custom theme built. It's like a cross between Ace and elicte beta (tiled large icons) on the main screen with 8 user custom icons that are a cross between teh OS6 and the helios icons, so they're having to be built completely along with the tile icons. It slides left to right to reveal a today calendar like on the Series 7 theme.

And it has a slide up screen to where my large clock, profiles, and battery meter will be.

I've paid the guy $25 because I know it's going to be a lot of work and time consuming. For those of you that build themes, is that a good donation for his time?

[Pi Guy 3.14]

I donated 25 bucks for my custom berrycrush theme (4 very SIMPLE requests). Took him less than an hour (I believe) and it was welllllllllll worth it. It seems like your request is a lot more complex than mine, so its really up to you what you feel is right.

[anon2100101]

In my opinion we are not able to pay the real prize or equivalent for the affort to build or modefy a theme! It is allways a symbolic fee or donation which should express our respect, recognition and gratitude! The 'real hourly wage' of a mediaidesigner can't be the scale...;-) I think, donation fills the breadbasket, but honest and passionate gratitude feeds the soul of a theme-developer! They need both to keep on beeing generously and sometimes nearly idealistic (Thanx Yuki!!!!) Money is important but not everything...

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[kilted thrower]

Okay. I was curious. I originally paid $10. I don't think he quite understood exactly how complex I wanted the theme as he's having to pretty much build everything. He sent me an email back saying that he would appreciate more due to the time but it wasn't necessary and that whatever I wanted to donate was fine.

So I sent him $15 more. I just wanted to make sure that I was being fair.

Thanks all

[D.R.e.W]

I wish I was making themes for you guys. I only seem to get the people who "never pay more then $5 for a theme". That some times works out to like $.50 an hour. A quality themer who does custom work is hard to come by, someone who cares about the finer details. Some of us take real pride in our work. Most people don't understand the time it takes to just learn the skills needed to develop a quality theme. I could take a half an hour to turn parts of a battery to pink or add a fade to the signal meter. For those few individuals who have paid me well, I've always been more than happy to tweak their theme weeks or months later for free just as a sign of thanx to them for their generous donation. Even though I've need themed for you guys, I thank you for really showing your appreciation to your themers. I've recently moved up from the 8530 & am currently rebuilding my graphics for the larger res phones. I'd love for you to check my stuff in the 9650 forum & my older themes for the 8530 at Drews Themes. Maybe one day I'd be lucky enough to make one of you a custom theme.
D.R.e.W

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[gmkahuna]

$25 is a bit much to be honest. If he has a good base theme, it shouldn't be recreating the Mona Lisa to get it done regardless of what you have asked for.

[kilted thrower]

$25 is a bit much to be honest. If he has a good base theme, it shouldn't be recreating the Mona Lisa to get it done regardless of what you have asked for.

It wasn't a base theme. I told him I wanted a cross between two different themes icons tiled that srolled left to right. Then a different set of icons that he will have to build because I wanted them a cross between three different icon sets. So, he is creating a completely different theme without a base or template that already exists.

Besides, I know that he's going to spend A LOT of hours on this. And he's going to build it so that it's exactly the way I want and will keep working on it until I'm completely happy.

[usualsuspec#CB]

$25 is a bit much to be honest. If he has a good base theme, it shouldn't be recreating the Mona Lisa to get it done regardless of what you have asked for.

I have to agree here that $25 is excessive especially for a theme like Berry Crush which is a basic zen theme and the themer preaches "free themes". I am however all for donations... I know servers need to be kept up, blogs and the actual work that goes into a theme (not all themes fit this bill though).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[gmkahuna]

It wasn't a base theme. I told him I wanted a cross between two different themes icons tiled that srolled left to right. Then a different set of icons that he will have to build because I wanted them a cross between three different icon sets. So, he is creating a completely different theme without a base or template that already exists.

Besides, I know that he's going to spend A LOT of hours on this. And he's going to build it so that it's exactly the way I want and will keep working on it until I'm completely happy.

You didn't say all that before. You asked what we thought based on your original comment and said he was combining a theme. Had you revealed all of that up front, my comment would have been you are getting off cheap since he's making you custom icons but it's gonna depend on the quality of the icons. I've seen icons that were more than awesome and some that just plain suck. The rest of the stuff is simple though.

Regardless of anything said here, if you are happy with what he did and want to donate more then do so. If you feel you paid enough, then don't. Asking everyone else what they think is irrelevant when only you can decide if you like his work or not. Bottom line....what's it worth to you?

[kilted thrower]

You didn't say all that before. You asked what we thought based on your original comment and said he was combining a theme. Had you revealed all of that up front, my comment would have been you are getting off cheap since he's making you custom icons but it's gonna depend on the quality of the icons. I've seen icons that were more than awesome and some that just plain suck. The rest of the stuff is simple though.

Regardless of anything said here, if you are happy with what he did and want to donate more then do so. If you feel you paid enough, then don't. Asking everyone else what they think is irrelevant when only you can decide if you like his work or not. Bottom line....what's it worth to you?

Actually I did say all that in my original post. Go look back at it. I said everything had to be be built. I said everything was a cross between this and that. So, yes, I did say all that before.

[life1]

I didnt Know or even given a thought about a custom theme,cool.I wouldnt know were to start.

[gmkahuna]

I guess I did misread it. Sorry about that. I still stand by the last section of my last statement. As long as you're happy and the theme builder is happy that's all that matters.

[Pi Guy 3.14]

I have to agree here that $25 is excessive especially for a theme like Berry Crush which is a basic zen theme and the themer preaches "free themes". I am however all for donations... I know servers need to be kept up, blogs and the actual work that goes into a theme (not all themes fit this bill though).

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

See, I disagree. I was worried $25 wasn't enough. You have no idea how many free themes I downloaded and how many premium ones I tried. I couldn't find a complete one I was liked, and if I found one I kind of liked, the theme builder wouldn't take any requests for changes, no matter what. I found the free berrycrush and fell in love with it right away. It had a couple things I wasn't too fond of, and it was the best $25 bucks I've spent in a long time. I never have to shop for themes again. And that right there is priceless.

[wraith_5_0]

I've gotten anywhere from $7 for a simple theme to $30 for a theme that I had to make all the icons etc for. If the themer has to custom make the icons for your theme, then expect to pay for it.

I'll also add that for $25 you'd better expect some quality work from your themer though.

[dougeefresh]

If he does what you said he would do in your first post, it's a BARGAIN.
As a theme developer I know how long it takes to make a decent theme and it's a labor intensive work. Hope it turns out to be nice!