Windows Mobile 6.5 Titanium Skinning Capabilities

Windows Mobile 6.5 replaced the legacy Today screen with a finger-friendly, sliding-panel user interface codenamed "Titanium" (internally referenced as CHome). Customizing and skinning this interface was surprisingly robust, relying on a modular framework of XML-based layout files, swappable image assets, registry keys, and custom plugin architectures. This article details the core skinning capabilities available for the default Titanium theme, including layout redesigns, custom graphics, registry modifications, and third-party plugin integrations.

CPR File Layout Customization

The core of Titanium's appearance was driven by CPR (Common Profile Resources) files located in the \Windows directory. These files were essentially formatted XML documents tailored to different screen resolutions and orientations (such as Titanium_QVGA.cpr, Titanium_WVGA.cpr, or Titanium_VGA_L.cpr for landscape).

Through CPR editing, theme designers could alter nearly every positional and visual attribute of the home screen:

  • Text and Font Properties: Modifying font sizes, colors, weight, alignment, and screen coordinates for both active and inactive panel states.
  • Layout Dimensions: Changing panel heights, padding, and the width of sliding elements to make more or fewer panels visible at once.
  • Element Visibility: Hiding or repositioning default interface elements such as notification counts, timestamps, and carrier banners.
  • Layer Ordering: Defining Z-order coordinates to control which elements sat in front of or behind other visual components.

Graphic Asset Replacement

Titanium skinners could replace the default system images with custom artwork to completely change the interface aesthetic without modifying compiled binaries.

  • PNG Support and Transparency: Titanium natively supported alpha-channel transparency using standard PNG files. This allowed for modern drop shadows, semi-transparent overlays, and glass effects.
  • Panel Brackets and Selection Highlighters: Designers could alter the sliding bracket highlight that framed the selected panel (basebar.png and related assets) to create custom selection cursors, glowing borders, or unified highlight strips.
  • Custom Icons: The default icons for Clock, Phone, Text, Email, Media Player, and Settings panels could be swapped for higher-resolution, stylized, or flat-design icon packs.
  • Dynamic Backgrounds: While the core OS managed wallpapers via standard image files, skinners could build layouts that permitted multi-layered backgrounds or specific graphical backdrops tied directly to particular panels.

Registry-Based Customization

The Windows Mobile Registry (HKLM and HKCU\Software\Microsoft\CHome) allowed granular control over the behavior and composition of the Titanium theme:

  • Panel Reordering and Activation: Each panel had a distinct registry key containing display order values. Users could reorder panels, hide default components, or prioritize specific features like unread messages.
  • Resource Redirection: Registry values could redirect the system to pull graphics or layout rules from custom paths rather than the protected ROM directory, simplifying installation and theme management.
  • Scroll and Slide Physics: Certain registry values controlled the sensitivity and acceleration of the sliding panel navigation.

Custom Plugins and Extended Panels

Beyond restyling the factory panels, Titanium’s architecture allowed developers and theme makers to create entirely new sliding panels via the CHome API and script execution engines.

  • Dedicated Custom Panels: Community developers created specialized panels for dynamic weather reports, system toggles (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Data), battery/memory meters, and RSS readers.
  • Script-Driven Interfaces: Integration with utilities like MortScript allowed skinners to run automated scripts when a panel was selected or clicked, turning simple UI layouts into functional device management dashboards.
  • Page-Style Navigation: Advanced skinners developed horizontal paging within vertical panels, effectively turning a single panel (like a weather plugin) into a multi-screen forecasting tool.

Community Skinning Frameworks

Because manual CPR and registry editing was error-prone, the Windows Mobile community developed dedicated customization tools that expanded Titanium's native capabilities:

  • Titanium Customizer: A GUI-based utility that allowed users on the device to reorder panels, swap CPR configurations, and apply custom icon packs without manually editing raw files.
  • CHome Scene Layout (CSL): Advanced layout engines created by community developers that bypassed stock CPR restrictions, enabling multi-page widgets, smooth transitions, and complex grid views on top of the default Titanium foundation.