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Note: This review is not so much of the specific theme that rgarling built for me, as it is a review of the custom theme process and rgarling's work on a custom basis. I encourage my CB friends to consider commissioning a custom theme if they just can't find exactly what they're after in the CB theme forums. My review is intended to show that a custom theme project with a talented, reliable themer can produce excellent results and is a great alternative to existing free or premium themes.
I have been through a number of themes with my company-provided Tour 9630 and thanks to CB, have found a few that fit 90% of my needs. In each case, they were all missing just a couple key things that made them perfect for my uses as a business/BES user.
My personal preferences tend to be toward minimal-type themes, with priorities on speed, small memory footprint and high levels of functionality and speed. For this project, my constraints/requirements were:
- OS 4.7 (no hybrids or self-upgrades on my BES)
- Minimal memory footprint
- Speed (no transitions)
- Hidden Today (6+ items, a key feature for on-the-go Biz usage)
- Lots of space for notification icons (5+)
- Weather Slot (on lockscreen as well as homescreen!)
I contacted CB themer Rachael (rgarling) to see if she would be interested in developing a theme for me, and in return I'd be happy to donate. I chose to contact Rachael as she was always willing to help folks with requests for custom themes and she seems to really enjoy doing this work. She was very easy to work with and jumped into the project with both feet. We went thru several iterations of tuning and fine-tuning, and came up with something that works very very well for my needs. I ultimately decided that I wanted both a custom-icon version (not something I'm normally into, I usually prefer stock icons) and a stock precision icon version. Features include all of the things I outlined above, with specific tuning at my request for font style, color and size, icon selection, etc.
- It meets all the requirements above, with the following details:
- Hidden Today with bold easy-to-read font, 6 Items
- Notification area with custom icons to support at least 5 (I haven't tested higher) icons
- 335k with stock icons, 535k with custom icons
- Fast, fast, FAST!
Some will say: "Hey, there are no whirly features, transitions, or other particularly tricky aspects of this theme, what's the big deal?" The hidden dock has a windowshade-type animation but beyond that there's no big fancy feature content. Bottom Line: I didn't want that sort of stuff! I already have a number of premium themes, they cover my desires for unique-layout or fancy feature content. I just wanted something that was easy to read on the fly, had a clean look, and ran fast - all within the constraints I outlined above. I wanted specific functionality and a certain look, and she nailed it.
Bottom line(s) of the review:
- I had a great experience working with Rachael, and would not hesitate to recommend her custom work. She went thru some adjustments and took feedback on areas that needed to be tweaked very well. Really responsive to my issues and we went from "would you be up to making me a custom theme" to "it's perfect" in a matter of a few days.
- For those out there who can't necessarily find exactly what they're after in a theme, don't hesitate to tap into the expansive resources here on CB and consider pursuing a custom theme with one of our creative themers. It was a fun and interesting process. No, it wasn't free - I wouldn't expect someone I've never met to spend hours working on some special request for me. But it is also tuned exactly for what I want/need in a theme and that's well worth a donation to support a themer.
Here are some screenshots of the custom theme that rgarling made for me:
Main homescreen:
Hidden 6-Icon Dock:
And a homescreen view with a couple more (of my own) wallpapers, to show how it looks against light/med/dark background images:
Last edited by Ducaticorse; 05-24-10 at 10:11 AM.
03-20-10 08:38 AM
