We make our themes and manage them.

Today I will try to fully address the topic of creating themes and designing them.

Create your own theme

The skin for Google Chrome is a .dll file inside which are packed with pictures and icons, which, in fact, is the theme.
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The file with the theme is stored in the folder C:\Documents and Settings\< >\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Chrome\Application\<>\Themes\default.dll.

In order to unpack the topic, we will need the ResHacker program, as well as a special script ¹ , which automates the process of unpacking / packing the topic with the help of ResHacker.

Download the archive, unpack it in any folder. The archive immediately go ResHacker + Script + My standard .dll .

The preparations are over, now you can start creating the theme itself, for this we run the Chrome_Extract.bat file, after which the theme will be unpacked and all the theme files will appear in this folder, like this:


It now remains to correct / redraw these pictures in your favorite graphics editor, save them, and run Chrome_Build.bat , after which all these files will be packaged into a .dll file that can be used as a theme.

You can clear the folder of unnecessary files after creating a theme by running Chrome_Clean.bat , which will remove all the pictures and icons from the folder.

Manage your themes

This part of the article slightly overlaps with the previous part, namely it ends it.

Almost immediately after the release of Google Chrome, enthusiasts released a program for managing themes called Xchrome.
Also, this program can create your theme intallator, that is, the theme can be activated without manually replacing the .dll file.

Why am I doing this? In addition, after creating your own theme, it would be nice to do its installer.
Unpack Xchrome and run Editor.exe .



We indicate to the wizard to create themes, the address of your newly created .dll , as well as a small screenshot of the topic, then, if necessary, enter your contact details and other information.

At the end of the process, you will receive an .exe file with which you can quickly and easily install the theme.
Now about the theme management program itself:


Choose a topic, click install and ready! Simply nowhere!

In general, the article turned out to be quite voluminous, but it completely reveals the “topic”.
All the necessary files you can download below.

Download archive from ResHacker + Script (700 kilobytes)
Download Xchrome + a couple of themes (5 megabytes)
1. The author of the script

Source: Google Chrome Newly Developed Blog