[Theme] When creating a theme, how in depth does everyone go?

This is a general question but I can't think I'm the only one wondering.

I decided to try my hand at manila file editing about two weeks ago and have gone through 3 or 4 iterations of 'what do I want my theme to be' and finally decided. I wanted to make something unique but that would also lend itself to a crisp, clean look and let me use some cool icons.

What I'm realizing now is that after 120 or so icons I feel like I'm only about half way done if I want the ENTIRE look and feel to be consistent throughout. I don't want random 'highlights' to be in default green for example and it's getting more and more difficult to find the elusive manila file to modify.

So I guess the question is...how in depth do some of you theme makers go? How many manila file replacements do you end up processing? I'm not going to do weather, for example, and I'm not tackling stocks because...well...I don't use the app, but I want to make sure I cover all the major bases. And about how long does it take everyone else? I'm SURE there's a faster way than I'm doing it (by hand, using GIMP and Manila Editor 0.2 but frankly thos work REALLY well for me). I used HDWall to create the manila files for the slider and wallpaper icons but not to create the cab file because I didn't want to restrict it to people who weren't running HDWallS (for whatever reason).

[Okeif_ObD]

The best way to get an idea of how others do, is to observe what it is the 'others' are doing. As they say, 'there's a thin-line between influence and plagirism'. And this is one of those things that falls before influence.

So, to help you in your efforts of researching skining/theming, and other skiners/themers, I will post what purian23 recently said upon release of his BlueSatin theme for MightyROM.

Originally Posted by purian23

Thank you .. There was more time put into this theme than I care to explain.. 1 image was a 5ish step process .. with over 360+ images.. whoaa took awhile. Everyone will notice the blend of black and blue satin throughout the notifications, slider, and throughout selected areas .. this was intentional ! I must say I love it and really outdone myself on this one! One of the brightest vibrant blues' out there

[D\/8]

You can use something like WinCE to browse others cab files to see exactly what Manila files they modified. This can give you a great idea as to how detailed they were with it.

I personally think you should build a theme with the detail you want and once your done share it with everyone.

[Goreala]

Ive also been thinking about making themes but just dont know where to start.
A list of Recomended programs for making a great theme would be Nice if there isnt one already. Ive just started messing around with HD Wall its pretty straight forward, Im sure editing manila files is much more in depth and time consuming.

[t0mmyr]

cmxylgo has always made pretty good theme cabs, i suggest downloading one of his pimp cabs, then extract it and take a look at all the files he has edited

[Accordman]

is there a program to just easily change your wallpapers, thats all i wanna change on my verizon tp2 but i cant figure any easy way to do it, as i havent seen any wallpaper cabs that are like anything i would want on mine

[banjoeball]

Well, I think I'm at the same stage as yourself...

I'm working on a theme for the 2011 version of 2.5, and I've just decided to go as far as I can, and extensively cover the entire UI of wm6.5.
I'm going to do the full manila, (save the weather animations), the .tsk elements (titlebar, scrollbars) the notification icons in the taskbar, via the .dlls, and when I'm done all that, It's going to be tertiary things like the dialer, and notification dialog. It's a darn rigorous process though.

I expect it to take me the next month or so... but who knows.
I'll post a mock-up as soon as I get back to my laptop.

I do find this kind of thing very rewarding. You can see the tangible results of your efforts every time you use your phone, and it feels cool to know 'Hey, I did that!"

Keep with it, and good Luck!!!