Desktop Theme to HTML Converter

Converts a Microsoft Plus desktop theme into a HTML page.

Live demos

• Mystery
• Mystery (with sounds)
• OS2 Warp

Optional dependency

Lame for converting WAV files to MP3.

Usage

Download a desktop theme from Archive.org. Mystery works well.

Extract the .Theme file and its associated directory somewhere locally. For example, extract to ~/mystery-theme.

Then run the following:

python3 convert-theme.py -p ~/mystery-theme > output.html

This will create a HTML file named output.html. Open this file in your web browser to see the results of your desktop theme conversion.

To enable sounds, pass the -s flag. For example:

python3 convert-theme.py -s -p ~/mystery-theme > output.html

Tested themes

• Airwolf
• Amiga
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
• Mystery
• OS2 Warp
• Star Wars Episode 1
• Tent Camping
• The Abyss
• Windows XP
• X-Files

Caveats

Capitalization in file paths

In 1995, Windows apparently did not care about capitalization in file paths. Modern operating systems do, however.

If you have a .Theme file that contains lower case paths and the files are in upper case directories, you'll have to modify the .Theme file before running the converter.

For example, in the "Inside Your Computer" desktop theme that ships with Microsoft Plus, the wallpaper path is given as:

%ThemeDir%Inside your Computer\Inside your Computer Wallpaper.jpg

The actual path includes a capital Y in your and so should be:

%ThemeDir%Inside Your Computer\Inside your Computer Wallpaper.jpg

If you see this in a .Theme file, change it to match the correct path before running the conversion script.

Others

• This script will not work if the .Theme file is in the same directory as the theme assets.
• This script has only been tested with Python 3.10.12 on Ubuntu Linux.
• Fonts haven't been implemented yet.

License

MIT

The Internet Archive

This project is possible because of the Internet Archive. If you enjoy it, please consider making a donation.