FileMaker ThemesThe best tool you are probably not using.

Who Am I?

Calvin Cooper

Junior Application Developer at SkeletonKey

FileMaker 11/12/13 Certified Developer

Developing with FileMaker since ~2011

Topics Covered

FileMaker Themes Overview

Why Themes?

Crash Course On Themes

Creating Custom Themes

Some Best Practices

FileMaker Themes Overview

Themes were introduced in FileMaker 12

Preset Themes

No customization

Limited choices

FileMaker Themes Overview

FileMaker 13 expanded on themes

New preset themesNew default themeCustom themesImporting of themesNew styling options

Why Themes?

Because we want our solutions to look nice!

Avoid the FileMaker ‘look’

Potential time and cost savings

But the best three reasons...

Why Themes?

Themes are:

Reusable

Consistent

Faster

Themes Crash Course

FileMaker 13 Preset Themes

Improved over the FileMaker 12 themes

Additional styles

Avoid ‘Classic’

Themes Crash Course

Themes Crash Course

Inspector

Styles Tab and Appearance Tab

Saving and modifying styles and themes

The red arrows

Themes Crash Course

Object Styles

Grouped by object type

Some exceptions (layout parts)

Style changes are saved to the layout

Themes Crash Course

Themes

‘A collection of object styles’

Themes are saved to the file

Saving changes will apply to all layouts that are using the theme. (Cannot be undone!)

Creating Custom Themes

Start with a base theme

Preferably a FileMaker 13 theme

Start by modifying and saving object styles

Then save as a new theme

Creating Custom Themes

Preview Area

368 pt wide306 pt tall

A snapshot of the top left layout area

The snapshot is taken in layout mode

Creating Custom Themes

Managing Themes

New with FileMaker 13

File -> Manage -> Themes

Importing, Renaming, Deleting from file

Creating Custom Themes

Custom Base Theme File

Theme Template Layout

Based on Enlightened Print

A simple custom theme as a base

Creating Custom Themes

Demo Time!

Some Best Practices

Use consistent naming for your styles!

Green Button, Red Button, Blue Button

Default Button, Warning Button, Info Button

I prefer web development namingH1, H2, H3, etc… when possible

Some Best Practices

Keep unsaved styles to a minimum (or none!)

Unsaved styles add overhead

CMD+A (CTRL+A Windows) to select all

No red arrows!

Finding unsaved changes can be difficult

Some Best Practices

Use a FileMaker 13 theme as a starting point

Alternatively use my base theme

Remove any object styles that you will not use

Keep everything ‘clean and tight’

Some Best Practices

Reduce or avoid ‘high cost’ attributes

Gradients

Shadows

Images

Some Best Practices

Get inspiration from other sources!

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”

Web pages are a great source of inspiration.

Presentation Materials

This presentation and the base theme file will be available to download.

Links will be forthcoming.

Questions?

Please speak loud enough for the mic.