# Tips and tricks

The tips and tricks section provides helpful ideas for increased performance. The tips and tricks consist of the following:

- General Carbide.ui usability and customization tips and tricks
- Theme creation process tips and tricks.
- Shortcut tips and tricks.

General

How can I customize my tool bar? | Change the position of different items on the toolbar by dragging the vertical bar next to the shortcut symbol.
My PC's virtual memory is almost full. How can I reduce the load on my computer? | Closed themes require less memory. Close all the themes you are not working on if you want Carbide.ui to perform optimally. Closed themes are still located in the local file system.
How do I resize the views? | Drag the mouse to the outline of the view. A black arrow appears, allowing you to drag the view's outline.
How do I view the Carbide.ui error log? | In the menu bar, select Help -> About Carbide.ui S60 Theme Edition for Symbian OS -> Configuration Details ->View Error Log.
How do I toggle between different screens in the Editor? | If the screen in the Editor is not the one you want to edit, you can use the Gallery view to gain fast access to a desired screen of the theme. Also, if you have multiple themes open, you can click the tab of the theme you want to edit.

Theme creation

How do I check if a theme component is supported different S60 releases? | In Editor, highlight the component. The Properties view displays the supported S60 releases for that component.
How can I access the components? | The Resources view allows you fast access to different components.
How do I find out what component I am about to edit? | To easily find out what component you are about to edit, click a component in the Editor. The Resources view displays the mobile screen element that the component belongs to. Also, the tool tip displays the name of the component.
How do I monitor the progress of my theme? | A good way to follow the progress of a theme is to open Navigator View. This way you can view the files of the theme along with the outline and the different tasks you have added to your to-do list. Also, notice blue mark in Resources and Component View that is marking that the element has been skinned.
How do I access a theme component, for example, a list highlight? | If you want to quickly access a certain component of a theme in the Carbide.ui, select the Resources view, browse to the component you are looking for and click the mobile UI screen that you want.
How can I access icon animation views? | You can access icon animation views by selecting the Resources view and the Icons element. Click the sub-element and select one of the user mobile screen locators.
How can I see how my theme progresses compared with the standard S60 theme? | You can monitor the process of your theme creation from Resources and Components view. Edited elements are marked with blue color. Navigator View presents theme files.
How do I edit a task in tasks list? | Right-click a task and select Properties to view and edit information about the task.
How do I get a fast access to editing effect parameters? | Right-click the effect in the Animation editor.
What are control points? | Control points are used in animations. They define the values of effect parameters on a specific moment in the timeline.
I've created an effect, but only the original layer is displayed. What is wrong? | If you only see the original layer, try adjusting the Alpha value parameter of the effect you created.
How can I add transparency to the Navi Pane component? | To add a background layer to Navi Pane, select the component and go to Layers view or the Animation editor. Right-click the layer and select Add Background. Now you can add effects to the background layer.
How do I activate a layer? | Only one layer at a time can be activated. Click on a layer to activate it.
How do I jump between layers? | You can toggle between views of layers displayed in the Preview section by marking and unmarking the layer checkboxes.

Shortcut

How can I gain fast access to an external editor for a certain component? | Double-click the component in the editor. This opens the external editor for that component. If you click a vector graphic component, it opens the external vector graphics editor (if you have configured it).
How do I create a shortcut to a certain component? | Select the component in the Editor, right-click it, select Add Task and create a task for the component. To later quickly access the component, click the task in the Tasks view.
Is there a shortcut for closing themes? | In the Editor,on the tab of the theme you want to close, click X.
How can I speed up the process of creating a nine-piece image without having to copy and paste every part separately? | You can paste into the clipboard a selection of at least 9 image files , for example from file system. These images can be pasted as a nine-piece element in the same way as if you would copy a nine-piece image to the clipboard in the tool. The order of the images for the nine-piece image is from left to right, and from top to bottom. For example, the first file is on the top left, the fifth file is on the center and the last file is on the bottom right.
Is there a shortcut to the Properties window? | Highlight the desired theme or component in the Navigator view and press Alt + Enter. Also, you can right-click the highlighted component and select Properties.
Is there a shortcut for setting the time for animations? | In the Animation editor, right-click an effect in the Timeline settings and playback section.

Command line packaging

Is command line packaging not working in Windows Vista due to security settings? | Turn off User Account Control (UAC) from Control Planel -> User Accounts -> Turn User Account Control on or off.

Related topics:
Introduction to Carbide.ui