Just figured I'd post a few pointers as I recently started playing with Plazmic and a few issues have arisen that I thought would be helpful in pointing out to avoid having problems of your own. Please feel free to add to this list.
1. Always try to use .png files for your icons. They are good quality, have no background (usually), and don't waste space.
2. ALWAYS resize your icons to 73 x 73 BEFORE uploading them to Plazmic. If you rely on your Storm to resize the images, your theme will leak memory.
3. When using Plazmic, in the Theme the Banner tab, do not choose a background if you want your users to be able to change their wallpaper. You can choose a background on the Theme the Home Screen tab. Furthermore, make sure "Render Home Screen Over Banner" is clicked so your banner doesn't cover your home screen icons.
4. Make sure you save your theme, not just export it. If you just export it and don't save it, you won't be able to make any future changes.
5. When exporting your theme, if you save it in .JAD format (which I always do), you will notice a bunch of .COD files created as well. ALL FILES (including COD's) must be uploaded to your web server if you want people to be able to install your theme. Just uploading the .JAD file will not allow anyone to install the theme.
6. After you export your theme, BEFORE uploading, open up Notepad and type in the following lines on a blank slate:
AddType text/vnd.sun.j2me.app-descriptor .jad
AddType application/vnd.rim.cod .cod
Then save it as .htaccess. Then add that file to your folder and upload. If you don't do this step, users won't be able to upload your theme, they will just see jargon when they go to your .JAD link.
7. In order to get your theme working on BB OS 5.0.0.323 without the white borders on the side in landscape view, follow these simple steps (keep in mind, if you reset your phone, you will have to follow these steps again):
Change the wallpaper to something other than what the theme came with. Then on your homescreen, click the menu button and go to options. Under layout, switch to "today." Save and exit to home screen and wait for the homescreen to update. Then go back in and change back to the theme default 2 rows.
Edit: November 5/2009:
If you're creating a theme and don't want the white bars to show up at all on OS 5.0.0.328, follow these simple steps:
1. In the inspector click on top box that looks like a clock. Now undo the link button next to the rotate button.
2. Click application banner tab and open all arrows (Banner, Fonts, Indicators and Visibility).
3. Now under each arrow caret right click on each text to bring up the small menu and select "Reset to Default". You must do this for all four areas.
4. Okay now click the rotate button so that the image is in landscape mode.
5. Again you want to open up all the arrow carets and right click on every text to bring up small menu. Now select "Reset to Default" on each one. It is very important that you do not skip any.
6. Now in the inspector go down to third button. This is the Application icon screen.
7. Right click on the text word "Background" and bring up the menu and select "Reset to Default".
8. Now click the rotate button and put it in landscape or port (which ever is the opposite of what you where just in).
9. Right click on the work "Background" again and in the menu select "Reset to Default".
10. That should do it.
Edit: December 23, 2009
How to Make a Sliding Dock using Composer:
1. Open composer and select File -> New. A popup will appear. Make sure the Blackberry option is for Storm 9500 Series and Background should be Transparent. Then hit OK.
2. In the right hand columns, all you need to make visible are Layers, Objects, and Inspector tabs. Leave plenty of space in the left hand column for your editing.
3. In the left hand toolbar, click on the Theme Button option and then choose a location where you want your first icon to go. After you choose a location, go to the Inspector tab in the right column and click Use Device Application Order for the icon. The icon will turn into a blue square. Then click the Theme Button option again in the left toolbar and repeat until you have 6 icons in your dock (assuming you want to make a 6-icon dock). Align the icons so as to look like this:
Make sure the icons DO NOT overlap each other, this can cause issues.
4. After you've aligned all of your icons, click File -> Import and choose a file for the background of your dock (if you want one) as shown in this image:
5. Right click the imported dock image and follow the menu as shown in this image:
Select "send to back". you want the image behind the icons. i suggest you place the buttons first then the dock image in that order. this keeps the theme button file name sequential starting with 1. Your dock should looking something like this now:
6. After you've aligned your icons in your dock, you need to create a button that will make your dock slide down when you touch it. Click the Theme Button again and this time, choose Third Party Application in the Inspector but leave the space blank. Then underneath the empty space in Inspector, where it says Images, click the Normal icon box and choose an icon for your button. Then click where it says Focus and choose the SAME icon (unless you want a different icon to display when you touch the button, but they should be the same width and height). Then align that button where you want it to go so that when you touch it, your dock will slide down.
7. You now need to create a button that will make your dock slide back up. Create a BLANK button in photoshop with no text, just blank. Make sure it's the same size as the button you just created in Step 6. Then again, click the Theme Button option in the left toolbar, click Third Party Application in Inspector and leave the space blank, then choose that blank image you just created for Normal and Focus icons.
Here's the hard part. You must place that Blank image approximately 100 pixels above the icon you placed in Step 6. This will take some trial and error to make sure you've placed it correctly. You may want to make this blank image a bit BIGGER than the Step 6 icon so that you have some leeway when it slides.
The question is, how the **** do you know what 100 pixels is equal to? Very simple, take a look at the theme icons you created. Those are 73 pixels in height. You can use that as a barometer OR make sure the dock icon you imported for the background in Step 4 is exactly 100 pixels in height when you create it. Then you should get a better idea of where to place your blank icon.
8. Go to file -> export -> svg. Click OK and choose a location for your SVG file to export to that you will remember. Do not close composer.
9. Open the .svg file you just exported with NOTEPAD. The below image shows the beginning of the code. where the code is circled it now says "Buttons".
When you first open the file it will say "Layer_1". Change that to "Buttons". Thats the first edit. then scroll down all the way to the bottom. It will look similar to this image:
10. Place the curser at the bottom of the code, just before </svg>. Press "enter" 4 times and then place your cursor in the first empty line you just made.
11. Paste this code into that empty line where your cursor is:
Code:
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l1" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_1.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l2" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_2.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l3" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_3.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l4" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_4.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l5" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_5.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l6" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_6.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l8" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,100" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_7.focusin" />
<animateTransform xlink:href="#Buttons" id="_anim_l9" attributeName="transform" type="translate"
to="0,0" dur="0.5s"
fill="freeze"
begin="Theme_Button_8.focusin" />
Please understand, you will have to edit this code based on how many icons are in your dock. If you have 6 icons in your dock, this code will work. If you have more, you'll have to add more code and edit the numbers, this exact code will ONLY work for exactly 6 icon docks.
Also, if you will notice, in the code, the #7 is skipped. That's because the #7 was used for the import dock background image. Likewise, if you have more or less icons in your dock, you're going to have to figure out which icon in your dock image and skip that one.
Also, please understand, this code will only work if you are creating a dock that slides down. If you want to create a dock that slides left, you will need to edit the part that says "to="0,100" dur="0.5s" to something like "to="-100,0" dur="0.5s". The -100 is just telling the dock to slide 100 pixels left on the x axis. You will ALSO have to edit where you place your invisible icon in Step 7.
12. When all the edits are done, click "file" then "save as". Now take a look at Image 8. You'll see I'm selecting "All files" when selecting the type of files im saving as:
When selected, the original SVG file is shown. Double click the SVG file you were just working on and Overwrite. Congratulations!!!! You can now add the svg file to THEME BUILDER and build your theme.
13. Open Theme Builder. In the right hand column, under "Theme the Home Screen," where it says SVG File, click the yellow folder and browse to the SVG file you just created. It will import the SVG file. If you see an error box pop up, you did something wrong. If not, you're good to go.
14. When you're finished changing the rest of your theme in Theme Builder, click File -> Export, connect your Blackberry to your PC, make sure the Install to Blackberry option is clicked, and hit OK. This will install the theme directly to your blackberry. If you want to create an OTA for others to use your theme, you're going to have to click the Publish to Web (OTA) option.
Congrats, you're done!!
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Padgoi 95XX Theme Creation Tutorial & Tips (Now Includes Sliding Dock Tutorial) 
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