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OTS: FAQ  
   

The purpose of this document is self evident. ; ) Entries will be added as the need arises.

Before I begin, I will address a misconception some people have: "Isn't the Open Theme Standard for LiteStep a distro?"

No, The Open Theme Standard for LiteStep is not a distro. How can a theme standard be a distro? There's a big difference between the two. A theme standard supplies a specification that is to be followed when making LiteStep themes. A distro of LiteStep is a packaged version of LiteStep in a certain format. If you wish to use a distro, you have to make and use themes in it's format. Distro themes do not work with LiteStep builds, OTS themes do.

See the 'what is OTS?' section if you're not satisfied, I reiterate that OTS is a theme standard for LiteStep, not a distro.

 

1. Where did my desktop icons go?
2. How do I set my LiteStep environment variables?
3. How do I customize my popup menu?
4. How do I customize my hotkeys?
5. How do I install themes?
6. What themes can I use?

 

1. Where did my desktop icons go?
Ahh, a new LiteStep user. : ) LiteStep doesn't have desktop icons built into it - you can get desktop icons in LiteStep, but it depends on the theme. Obviously the theme you're using doesn't have desktop icons. If you look in your popup menu, you'll see an entry called 'shortcuts' - it should contain the shortcuts you're looking for. If you must have desktop icons, download themes from litestep.net that have them. Once you know more about LiteStep, you can use a module like deskfolders.dll to add desktop icons to any theme. Since you're a new user, be sure to read the documentation available on LiteStep. Here's a good start: LS Docs.

For now, what you can do is:
- select 'litestep->litestep folder' from the right-click popup menu to get to your LiteStep directory
- copy any shortcuts you want quick access to into the 'shortcuts' directory
- recycle LiteStep [select 'litestep->recycle' from the popup menu]
- select 'litestep->shortcuts' from the popup menu and you now have access to the shortcuts you copied into the 'shortcuts' folder.

2. How do I set my LiteStep environment variables?
I doubt this is something new users are worried about, but you never know ; ) If you used the LiteStep installer available from the theme installation section, it will set up everything for you during the install process. If you want to edit the variables manually, just right-click on the desktop to access your popup menu, and select 'litestep->edit config->edit evars.rc'. If you wish, open up your file manager and go to your 'LiteStep\personal' directory - evars.rc is in there. [Or select 'litestep->litestep folder' from the popup menu to get to your LiteStep directory.] Just make sure the paths [the things like "C:\Program Files\..."] in evars.rc are accurate.

3. How do I customize my popup menu?
Just right-click on the desktop to access your popup menu, and select 'litestep->edit config->edit popup.rc'. If you wish, open up your file manager and go to your 'LiteStep\personal' directory - popup.rc is in there. [Or select 'litestep->litestep folder' from the popup menu to get to your LiteStep directory.] To figure out how to customize the right-click popup menu now that you know where it is, read the documentation that comes with LiteStep.[select 'litestep->litestep docs->popup' from the popup menu.]

4. How do I customize my hotkeys?
Just right-click on the desktop to access your popup menu, and select 'litestep->edit config->edit hotkey.rc'. If you wish, open up your file manager and go to your 'LiteStep\personal' directory - hotkey.rc is in there. [Or select 'litestep->litestep folder' from the popup menu to get to your LiteStep directory.] To figure out how to customize the hotkey settings now that you know where they are, read the documentation that comes with LiteStep.[select 'litestep->litestep docs->hotkey' from the popup menu.]

5. How do I install themes?
: ) I guess you missed it, but there's a section on this website devoted to theme installation. Read the information in the theme installation section.

6. What themes can I use?
You can use OTS themes [naturally : )] but you can also use any themes that have been designed to work with a build of LiteStep. You won't get your personal settings such as hotkeys, popup menu etc. in a non-OTS compliant theme, but it will work with no problems whatsoever, because OTS is not a distro. : ) It's simply a theme standard for making LiteStep themes.

You can use lsdistro themes as well. But since lsdistro themes do not work directly on builds of LiteStep, you will have to download a patch from the installer page first.

 

1. Is the Open Theme Standard for LiteStep a distro?
2. You have an installer, therefore OTS is a distro.
3. Are you anti-distro fanatics?

 

1. Is the Open Theme Standard for LiteStep a distro?
No. : ) A distro is a packaged distribution of LiteStep intended to make LiteStep installation and theme switching easy. It comes packaged as a cohesive entity with an install program, a build of LiteStep, and a few themes in the distro format. The format a distro uses is incompatible with LiteStep builds. In other words, the themes for a distro cannot be used with normal LiteStep builds [without quite a bit of effort to un-convert from the distro format]. In order to use distro themes, you must first download and use the distro installer to install a certain configuration of LiteStep on your computer. If you wish to use the normal builds of LiteStep, you cannot use distro themes. Distros divide the community into those who use distros and those who use builds of LiteStep. New users [and some experienced users] like the theme switching available in distros, but many users [especially advanced users and themers] prefer to use clean builds of LiteStep and dislike some distro structures. Users who don't wish to use a distro are marginalized since distro themes cannot be used on builds of LiteStep without great inconvenience. Another point about distros worth mentioning is that some structures [unintentionally of course] make theme development unnecessarily complicated. So in summary distros in general:
- provide easy theme switching
- incompatible with LiteStep builds
- must use distro installer to setup a certain kind of LiteStep configuration
- distro themes can't be used on builds [without a lot of work], marginalize non-distro users
- divide the LiteStep community
- some structures make themeing harder than it has to be

I gave a good description of OTS in the introduction but I'll touch on some salient points here. First of all, one of the goals of OTS was easy theme installation and switching. But there were many other things we set out to achieve; a standard theme structure that incorporates the best practices already in common use, a way to apply user defined settings [hotkeys, popup, etc] across themes [distros also do this], a way to make themes that are accessible to all users - new or experienced, and to do all this without making life difficult for theme authors in the least. So the Open Theme Standard:
- provides easy theme switching
- fully compatible with LiteStep builds
- LiteStep installer optionally available for those who need one - it is not required
- OTS themes designed to be used directly with builds
- unites the LiteStep community: new users and experienced users can use the same themes in the same format
- structure designed by themers to be the best possible for themeing
- extensive documentation on the standard, how to theme for it, how to install, etc.

2. You have an installer, therefore OTS is a distro.
I understand why you might be a little confused about this, but if you look at the installer and think about it for a moment you will see that this is not the case. The OTS team isn't interested in making distributions of LiteStep - that's one of the reasons we all came together to create this theme standard. If we wanted a distro, we would have gone and joined an existing distro team.

The Open Theme Standard initiative was a democratic effort involving several individuals to come up with, well, a theme standard for LiteStep. ; ) There was never any discussion of an installer - an installer has nothing to do with a theme standard so it was never discussed by the OTS team. The OTS team developed a Theme Standard for LiteStep - that's all. After the theme standard specification was finalized, there was a lull for a week or two. In that period, one of the team members [me - omar : )] started wrestling with LiteStep on Windows XP. [The people on the LiteStep Mailing List will tell you all kinds of horror stories about the flood of email I sent to the list - ignore them. ; )]

After finally figuring out how to install LiteStep on a per-user basis on XP, I thought I would spare others a good deal of frustration and develop a LiteStep installer that would install a build of LiteStep on a Windows box [95, 98, ME, NT, 2k, XP], and set LiteStep as the shell. After I got the installer working, I realized that if I added a theme, the installer could be used by those who were new to LiteStep to get up and running in one step. As a member of the OTS team, it was only natural that the theme included with the installer be OTS compliant. I would have included a regular LiteStep theme in any case, instead I added an OTS theme, which like normal LiteStep themes, works directly on a build of LiteStep. Once I had the installer fully developed and tested, I told the rest of the team what I had been up to - they had no knowledge of the installer whatsoever. Laurent was kind enough to give me permission to include LiteGnome with the installer, but exactly the same theme is available on litestep.net for build users who don't want to use the installer I developed.

So why is the installer on the OTS site then, you ask? The only reason it's here is because my personal site is in serious need of an update. [I'm not even going to link to it. :P]

And just look at the installer - try it out if you don't believe me. It is a LiteStep build installer with an optional OTS compliant theme [and optional LSTS - thanks galois! : )] thrown in. The installer was designed to install a build of LiteStep and set LiteStep as shell, and it shows. You can do a custom install and just use the installer to install a build of LiteStep and set LiteStep as shell. The only required component in the installer is the build - that's it. If OTS was a distro you would not be able to install a clean build of LiteStep on your machine and [optionally] set LiteStep as shell. I hope these two points clarify the 'distro' issue for any one who was confused. : ) In closing:

The Open Theme Standard for LiteStep is not a distro. : )

3. Are you anti-distro fanatics?
No. : ) Believe me, if it weren't for the fact that some people confuse OTS with a distro, the 'what is OTS?' section of this FAQ would never have been written. We don't like publicly criticizing something other members of the LiteStep community have put a great deal of time, thought, and energy into [distros]. We certainly have no animosity towards any of the distro teams. And the only distro that seems to be currently active is LSDistro.

The LSDistro team did an incredible job of setting up a distribution for LiteStep. It is by far the most popular distro in use today. It simplifies LiteStep installation, theme installation and switching, opening LiteStep up to users it may have been inaccessible to otherwise. LSDistro represents a tremendous collaborative effort between dev team members, themers, and users.

We believe our concerns regarding distros in general are quite valid, and laid out objectively in the first point in this section of the FAQ.

But that does not detract in any way from the accomplishments of the LSDistro team, or discredit their excellent work. They are the ones who demonstrated how user friendly LiteStep could be. They built on the work of others before them, and the OTS team never claimed to have come up with something completely new. It is a refinement, and advancement with new ideas, of the best ideas out there.

We wish the LSDistro team and any other distro teams the best of luck in their endeavours regardless of the direction they decide to expend their efforts in. : )