Theme Submission Guidelines

Hey, this article is intended for everyone interested in sharing Telegram themes in @telegramthemes or @androidthemesgroup.

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This little Telegraph post is designed to help explain what content can be posted on our groups, and what we look for when selecting themes to be published on the official theme channels.

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Posting your theme to our groups

If you want to share your shiny new theme with the world, you’re welcome to on either group - it’s a great way for others to find your work, and we pick the best ones posted to be featured on @androidthemes or @themes. To make it easier for others to find, make sure you post it with the hashtag #theme.

To post your theme on either @telegramthemes or @androidthemesgroup, we only have one requirement:

• Make sure it’s Safe For Work. This means avoiding theme backgrounds that feature nudity, gore and pornographic content.

Getting your theme published on our channels

If you’re interested in getting your work published on @themes or @androidthemes, simply post it in either @telegramthemes (for submitting Desktop themes) or @androidthemesgroup (for submitting Android themes), and it will be considered for publication.

For your theme to be considered on @androidthemes or @themes, we have one additional requirement:

• It must not contain clearly trademarked content. This includes backgrounds with large trademarked logos or brands like football team logos, TV show titles and energy drink logos.

Here’s what we look for when selecting themes

• Colour Composition - This relates to how well the colours you’ve chosen work together. How good are the colours you’ve picked? Do they compliment or fit together well? Do the message interface elements compliment your chosen background image? Make sure you experiment with different shades or combinations. If you’re not sure where to start, keep it simple - maybe start with two colours and experiment until you find something that works.
• Theme Readability - Make sure the colours you choose still keep the application tools and text clearly visible in every panel and page. It doesn’t mean you have to have a high contrast between text and background elements though, and there are some great examples of using a low colour contrast between user interface elements, while still remaining readable. (Example 1) (Example 2).
• Theme Harmony - Make sure to theme the interface so it looks complete and harmonious, you don't have to theme everything so long as the user wont suddenly be blinded when a white panel appears on a dark theme. Don’t forget to check profile pages, right-click menus and media playback panels!

Based on the above three criteria, we collect themes suitable for publication. We normally end up with a large collection of awesome themes every time we do this, but as we only have so much space for posting, we sadly have to reduce the list down to a couple of themes. Sometimes when doing this, we consider the following:

• How a selected theme stands out in comparison to other published themes - This is to ensure we’re showcasing a diversity of styles and ideas to suit a wide variety of interests of tastes.
• Whether the author has had a theme featured before - This is to make sure we give a wide variety of authors the chance of having their works featured.

There’s a lot to consider, so don’t be disheartened if your theme isn’t selected. We hope in the future to give more chances for authors to have their works featured, and we have a few ideas of how to make it happen 👍.

Featuring your theme channel

Whether it’s a channel just to show off your awesome themes and updates or if you plan on starting a collection of other people’s themes, they are both welcome to be posted on our groups providing they follow a few rules. These rules also apply if your theme is selected to be showcased on one of our channels and you wish to use a theme channel as attribution:

• The channel must have the main purpose of collecting, sharing or discussing theme content.  This means no sneaking in advertisements for handbags or cricket bets, we have a way of noticing things 👀
• You can link to other content, providing they follow the above rule.  If you cannot be sure that they will, then it’s best not to make the link.
• You must not plagiarise other people’s themes and content. This includes posting themes and content that other users have made without crediting them as the creator.
• Themes posted on the channel must also meet the theme file rules we have for our own groups. Keep the content Safe For Work 👌.

TL;DR, just keep the channel focused and relevant.

Some great examples

If you're looking for some further inspiration and guidance, here's a few of our favourite themes and why we picked them:

• DarkAmberDroid by @darkorangetheme - It features a vivid and punchy orange colour that both compliments and stands out from the chosen background and white secondary colour.
• Pastel Rose by @themesbysekarlet - This theme also keeps to picking a single, excellent highlight colour that's peppered with smaller shades and accents. They blend into the interface just enough to evoke the same feelings of the water-painting background they chose, while remaining visible and defined.
• Alto's Odyssey by @DiFF7Skyns - This theme manages to juggle using a few vivid and saturated colours instead of just using a white or black background colour very well. By keeping them within the orange spectrum and clearly positioning a lighter colour as a highlight, it keeps the theme looking harmonious, consistent and readable.

Happy theming!