Working with iPhone themes under 3.0?

July 13, 2009 8:20 PM

What app/process do you recommend for applying themes and/or re-skinning elements on a 3.0 iPhone?

I've had an iPhone since the early days, and recently traded (slightly) up to the 3G. This is my first time running the 3.0 software. The phone is jailbroken, I've got cydia installed and I've already applied a few visual tweaks, etc. Back in the day, I used Summerboard on my phone and was quite adept at finding & applying themes & icons, even cobbling together my own hybrid themes by moving & changing files within the iPhone's file-system.

Having not been paying attention to such matters for so long, I'm finding myself a little baffled by my current options. There are so many sources for themes & skins, as well as for instructions and guides, that finding something both clear and current is a struggle.

The basic components of my question are these:

1) What's a good guide to the filesystem under 3.0, including listings of where the graphics for things like the dock, battery icons and wallpaper are?
2) What's a good place to find 3.0-compatible themes and see a good preview screenshot (or 3) of them?
3) Is there a good theme-management app that offers granular control over theme application - i.e, allows you to apply the dock from a theme, but not the icons or the wallpaper but not the dock?

Thanks in advance for any experience or advice you can share. I'd sure appreciate knowing anything you think is important on this topic. BTW, if you've got a favourite font you use with FontSwap, I'd love to hear about it.

posted by chudmonkey to computers & internet (3 comments total)

What app/process do you recommend for applying themes and/or re-skinning elements on a 3.0 iPhone?

Winterboard.
posted by axismundi at 8:31 PM on July 13

Install Winterboard through Cydia.

Within the Cydia application, navigate to 'Sections' then scroll down, near the bottom there are all manner of themes (Battery, Complete, Dock etc) to install. Installed theme packages should simply show up in the Winterboard application as an item that can be enabled.

I suggest installing the 'five icon dock' package as it is required for most dock themes.
posted by axismundi at 9:01 PM on July 13

Can't address #1 specifically, but:

2. Most (if not all) of the themes in Cydia have screenshots available. That being said, I recommend you do your patience a favor and install Icy instead of continuing to use Cydia.

3. Winterboard isn't that granular - it has a strange stacking setup, where entries higher in the list apply first. In other words, entries lower in the list in Winterboard will only be applied if an item higher up in the list has not already modified the element in question.
posted by namewithoutwords at 4:34 AM on July 14