From time to time, I receive requests for theme-making tips. Always happy to oblige, here's the important stuff to remember when making a PPC 2002 theme for your Pocket PC:

Image size, quality and screen readability are the most important. After all, what good is that kick-butt image if you can't read today's appointments on your screen.

The Software: Most photo jockeys use Photoshop to create and size their images. Photoshop is a great program, but I like Ulead PhotoImpact 7. It's powerful, affordable and easy to use. A 30 day free trial is available if you want to give it a spin before you buy.

To build the theme, you will need theme-making software. The most popular include the free Microsoft Theme Generator, BVRP Pocket Theme Manager, and ThemeMaker PT by KAMware. All three will do the trick, but each has advantages over the other. The Microsoft Theme Generator is free, but does not produce the best theme image quality. ThemeMakerPT has some great features, including the ability to grab screen shots and automatically upload your finished product to PocketThemes.com. My favorite is BVRP's Pocket Theme Manager. It lacks the screen shot feature, but acts as a theme manager and can synchronize the themes on your desktop PC and Pocket PC. I frequently use both ThemeMaker PT and BVRP Pocket Theme Manager. They are both excellent. Click HERE to see a side-by-side comparison of bitmap screenshots taken of the same theme generated in each of the three programs. There are some minor differences in image quality.

Sizing your images: The main base image should always be 240x270. The start menu image is 150x293. Crop and size your images while maintaining aspect ratio. Don't just stretch them to make them fit.

Image Tweaking and Saving: Play with the image until you like the way it looks, but keep in mind that it will be displayed on a PDA screen and it needs to be readable. Experiment with filters and transparency. I like to save my images as the highest quality .jpg possible. It will be a larger file size, but your theme maker software is going to reduce it on that end anyway. It's just better to start building the theme with a nice clean image.

Build the Theme: Using your favorite theme maker app, start building your theme. All three of the theme makers outlined above are very easy to use. Just load your main and start menu images, choose colors for the various screen elements and you are done. The software will build the .tsk file for you.

Other Tips:
If the main focal point of your theme is positioned at the top of the screen, keep in mind it will be covered by a lot of text. Try to bring the focal point as close to the bottom half of the screen as possible. There is likely to be less text near the bottom.

I like to use either white or black text. Other colors just do not show up as well. You will probably get sick of orange text pretty quickly.

Photo themes are nice and easy to make. However, sometimes it's fun to try your hand at vector drawings or maybe some fun effects. Just play around and if it looks good to you...great!

There is an excellent fully detailed tutorial on the KAMware site. If you are looking for more specific instructions, this tutorial is great.