One of the most time-consuming things about theme creation is finding the materials from which to make a theme. There are plenty of good, free graphics, sounds, and more on the Internet, but it can be a hassle to find them. In our ongoing effort to improve the quality of themes on the Internet, the DTCC List is developing a Resource Center for theme creators. Here, we hope to list links to the best Web resources for:

• Graphics, Sounds, and other Multimedia
• Tools and Utilities that would be useful in theme-making
• FTP Archives where theme authors can upload their creations
• Theme Sites where themes are available to download

The Internet is a vast place, so these links will be far from exhaustive, but if you know of a site that should be listed, submit it!

Top Tools and Utilities

• Screen Saver utilities try out  Webshots, Stardust, Screen Saver Toolkit, Screen Saver Studio &  Fandango.
• It would be very difficult to top MicroAngelo for creating icons and cursors.
• Theme Creation Tools there are  MS Plus & Desktop Architect.
• For graphics work, try Paint Shop Pro or  Adobe Photoshop.
• Sound Editors try out Cool Edit , Creative Wave Studio (comes with Sound Blaster) and my personal favorite, Sound Gadget Pro.

Top Theme Sites 

•  EZ Themes
•  Themes Unlimited
•  The Theme Doctor offers theme reviews, as well as links to some resources.
•  Theme World, hosts the majority of themes available on the Internet and is therefore a good source if you're looking for one. The downside to this is that it has at times meant very busy servers, but Theme World is now downloading much faster than it used to. Theme World also has a variety of helpful theme resources.
•  Tucows along with plenty of themes to download, this site offers installation tips and theme creation tutorials, and software for working with themes.

Top Multimedia Sites

• Graphics: No Pick of the List yet...Any suggestions?
• Sounds - WAV: Wav.com has a search engine...very useful when you need to find a WAV of that one elusive sound effect and you need it yesterday...
• Sounds - MIDI: Standard MIDI Files on the Net -- This site has more links than you could need to MIDI sites, plus a search engine to find a site that caters to your tastes.
• Other Multimedia: Scour.Net and The Free Site are good places to start, with sections for a variety of media types and links to many pages of resources.

Top FTP Archives

DTCC Resource FTP Page

• EzThemes
• Themes Unlimited
• Theme World, formerly the Windows 95 Themes Archive at Monash, hosts the majority of themes available on the Internet and is therefore a good source if you're looking for one. The downside to this is that the server is usually pretty busy and downloads can take a while.
• Another good archive is WinTheme

FAQ'S and Tutorials on the Internet

Various Subjects:

• Debbie's Themes - Tutorials on themes, wallpaper, icons, cursors, colors, sound, startup logos, zipping, etc.
• Theme World has FAQs on creating themes, installing themes, getting a theme reviewed, WinZip, and startup/shutdown screens.

On Mailing Lists:

• Mailing List Etiquette FAQ

On Themes:

• Desktop Theme Creators and Collectors Yahoo Group
• Debbie's Themes

On Graphics:

• QuickCreations 
• Paint Shop Pro Tutorials

On Sounds:

• Making your own WAV files
• Making WAVS
• Intro to MIDI

On Skinnable Programs:

• Antspants's ICQ Tutorial
• Bakerstreet's ICQ Skins Tutorial
• Danne's ICQ Skins Tutorial

On Copyright:

• Copyright
• Copyright - Berne Convention
• Copyright - Fair Use
• Digital Millennium Copyright Act

On HTML:

• Debbie's HTML Tutorial

If you know of a web site or product that would be a useful resource for theme creators and collectors and that isn't yet in the DTCC Resource Listing, we'd be ever so grateful if you'd let us know about it!  Please email the DTCC with the URL and a description of the resource. Thanks for your help in making this resource listing as comprehensive as possible!