I am new to eM Client and just started evaluating it this week.
I am a software engineer so immediately I wanted to see how it could be customized, and happy to find themes. As I found in many posts here, there aren’t many, which is sad. But in searching out posts about creating or customizing themes, and trying it out myself, I’m finding it cumbersome at best. I have no problem modifying xml files, but testing changes means importing again, and the list of installed themes seems to grow because it doesn’t allow updating an existing theme. And having make changes externally means a tedious process that takes far longer than it should. And documentation about themes is, well, less than acceptable IMHO.
So far I like the app, for the most part, and I am giving serious consideration to switching away from that blasted GMail atrocity (and their new version which is worse). But me and my team spend a lot of time in email and having the look/feel easily customizable is a big issue. So I am hoping to hear from the development folks that this is slated for improvement in upcoming versions soon.
If I am missing something in regards to this - please do let me know - I have been toying with the idea of bringing the Solarized them to eM Client - something that a great many popular apps have - but the tediousness of doing it is keeping me just pondering.
What I would like to see and I have asked for, is for eM Client to set up a repository that can be populated by users themes that they wish to share. Not only would this be easier for those capable of editing an xml file, but would allow someone with little technical expertise to have access to customization.
I think the long term goal of making theme creation/modification easier is a good one, but in the short term, I would like to see my idea implemented.
I couldn’t agree more! Allowing users to help each other is a NO-BRAINER. Especially in regards to the customization of an app, and moreso for add-ons/extensions such as themes! I’m fairly certain I’m not the only code-jock out there who loves Solarized - I use it in ALL my apps from Visual Studio to Atom - and even created a theme for Directory Opus which I use for file management. So if I create the theme for eM-Client, it’s kind of a slap in the face to not provide a place for me to share it with the community. And honestly, having created such repositories myself, it could not be easier! There are TONS of sites out there like SourceForge and GitHub where you can build a repository - if it took someone an afternoon to set it up it would be because they were texting or surfing p0rn at the same time! LOL
I guess I should add a footnote to my rant… I actually LIKE the app, so far, and I’m hoping like hell that the rest of my eval goes a little better… Because EVERY PERSON on my team HATES GMail - as do 100% of my clients - not a single one likes GMail, nor it’s new “improved” Inbox-by-GMail app.
I have to second Jay on the issue of a user theme repository. There are a few users who have spent a lot of time working on themes. It seems a shame that they can’t be shared so easily.
David, a way to avoid the duplication of your theme by import, is to paste the theme file directly to C:\Users[username]\AppData\Roaming\eM Client\Themes, replacing the existing file. The only issue with that is that you need to restart eM Client for the changes to be recognized.
And the Theme directory is not included in the backup, so you will have to do that manually.
Thanks for the replies Gary and Jay - I will live with the manual way of doing it because nobody here will be doing a lot of theme work - we’ll build one we like and stick with it - switching isn’t a thing here. Probably it will be Solarized Dark or Light.
I emailed EMC and asked, among other things, if a proper theme management feature was slated to appear in the next version. I didn’t get a reply, altho I did get several answers to other questions. But again it doesn’t really impact my decision (which I have already made for myself personally - I’m purchasing my license tonight).
Oh - I also asked about documentation of the properties of a theme - the reply was that the elements of the XML were fairly self-explanatory - which I agree with - I just didn’t realize that EVERY possible element was in EVERY theme! I guess they are! LOL