Modifying a .gif in a theme

[Vince]

I want to change the appearance of one of the navigation buttons in a theme,
using Photoshop to change the color. I located the .gif in the Themes folder
and changed its color, but the button still looks the same on the web pages.
Perhaps FP2002 embeds the .gif into page and no longer uses the original .gif?

Anyway, is there a way that I can change the color of the navigation buttons
in a theme?

Thanks

 

[Vince]

Let me state what I need a little more clearly:
Is there a way that I can locate the correct .gif from the theme to modify,
so that the changes I make will appear in the web pages?

 

[Thomas A. Rowe]

After you have modified the theme, you must save the theme under a new name, remove the current
theme, and then apply your newly modified theme.

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[Vince]

OK I think there's a light bulb going off in head my now!
Let me see if I have this right. I should go into Themes/modify/graphics
select the vertical navigation button in the dropdown menu, browse to my
modified .gif file and select it, then save the theme with a new name. Then
apply that newly saved theme to my site.
Correct?
If correct, does it matter where the modified .gif is stored on my computer?
Does it need to be in a FP program file somewhere?
Thanks

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Doesn't matter as long as it's within your web/site...but for sanity's sake
put them all in the same folder and name it something appro. then when you
edit the Theme click on the browse button to navigate to the image(s) you
want to use for the buttons.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

ps...after you alter the original image or if you make new ones...make sure
you Import then into that FP folder first before you modify the theme. And,
I "think" you have to keep the dimensions about the same as the originals as
well.

 

[Vince]

Ok I got it now - thanks to all.
I did some experimenting, turns out the modified gif does not need to be in
the website files, I put it on my desktop as a test. I then modified the
theme with it, did a save as with a new theme name, and applied the theme to
the site. FP then creates a new subfolder in the site's Themes folder, and
all the modified themes files are reproduced in there.
Also, the newly created theme is available to other sites, but I am assuming
the modified gif needs to remain in its original place for FP to be able to
find it if I should apply the theme to another site. So it's probably a good
idea to store it in a more reasonable location than the desktop.

Thanks to all for the help.
I also did a little testing on replacing the gif with a smaller size gif -
it still works, but it messes up the size of the companion "selected" button
image. But if both of those gifs are replaced with a different size button,
then it seems ok.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Good to know, thanks for the feedback. It's been quite a while since I'd
modified a theme's button graphics.

 

[Stefan B Rusynko]

No
Once you have modified the theme FP no longer needs the original new images you used
- it has File Imported it into the _theme folder, and compacted it in to the saved new theme .elm file
- and stored the .elm in your custom theme folder at
%USERPROFILE%\Application Data\Microsoft\Themes

You can use any size images for any buttons or banners
- just remember if you use a say left shared border w/ vertical nav bars and a banner in your pages they will drive the page width
size




| Ok I got it now - thanks to all.
| I did some experimenting, turns out the modified gif does not need to be in
| the website files, I put it on my desktop as a test. I then modified the
| theme with it, did a save as with a new theme name, and applied the theme to
| the site. FP then creates a new subfolder in the site's Themes folder, and
| all the modified themes files are reproduced in there.
| Also, the newly created theme is available to other sites, but I am assuming
| the modified gif needs to remain in its original place for FP to be able to
| find it if I should apply the theme to another site. So it's probably a good
| idea to store it in a more reasonable location than the desktop.
|
| Thanks to all for the help.
| I also did a little testing on replacing the gif with a smaller size gif -
| it still works, but it messes up the size of the companion "selected" button
| image. But if both of those gifs are replaced with a different size button,
| then it seems ok.

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Wow...it automatically sucks the image into the .elm ? Thats pretty cool.

I thought you had to stay within that approx 150px width sizing on vertical
buttons if you modified the theme (?) if you don't have to then this would
be an answer for those that want more descriptive buttons.