I messed around with LS about a year ago. I installed this theme that really trashed the way Windows looked. When I went to change themes there were remnants all over the place trashing various icons and random menus. I sent emails to the theme's author only to be greeted with messages like "why would you want to uninstall my theme?" That led me to uninstall LS and reinstall to get Windows back to the way it was. I'm sure there was an easier way, but that is what I did back then.

So I find myself back interested in LS wanting to give it another chance. Can anyone recommend a good starter theme that I can play with without getting into trouble?

Thanks.

Download the new installer from here: http://www.beyondconvention.net/ohussain/installer.htm

There's a good theme inside.

Great, thanks. I'm up and running already! I'll take things a little slower this time around and make sure I completely understand the themes that I install.

The installer comes with a great uninstaller, so you can go back at any time.

tenebrae is a pretty good starters theme, IMO.

the thing to look for in a good starter theme is how it's set up. if you download a theme like [noir] or ivoryEX, you're going to have a hell of a time playing with it (without fucking it up) because those kinds of themes are über complex with multiple *.rc's for different states (not to mention animations/fades).

try to find a theme that has one single *.rc file and loads only the core modules and a few others. that way you can play with the settings and stuff and not be worried about totally fucking the theme up. this has just been my experience and it has taught me how LS themes work quite well.

some themes i recommend:

-anything by ejason (he names his themes by numbers "one" "two" "three" etc.)
-chosenOS by boson
-litewing by phar0e

I tried a few themes and whilst they looked amazing they were all far too ridged and didn't conform to OST, despite what they advertised. So I switched to simplicity to find it far more powerful than I thought. And it doesn't seem to have any glitches. Don't pass on it until you take a look at the documentation.

what themes are you talking about drworm?

quote mojomonkee:
"try to find a theme that has one single *.rc file and loads only the core modules and a few others. that way you can play with the settings and stuff and not be worried about totally fucking the theme up. this has just been my experience and it has taught me how LS themes work quite well. "

For actually learning LS, I couldn't agree more. Maybe a decent themer would like to take this task? Some sort of defaultish theme...