can't install themes

Can you describe in detail how you're trying to do that? What steps are you following and where exactly do you run into a problem?

installed emerald, beryl, and awn. i go to accessories>avant-window-navigator and the dock on the bottom of the screen appears with a large black bar stretching all the way across the screen behind the dock. i'm running fiesty fawn.

i'm sorry. i got my questions mixed up. i untar a emerald theme and try to import it to emerald theme manager. theme package tells me the following:
Extract Leopard_Emerald_v0.2.tar.gz & Copy the folder to ~/.emerald/themes

After copying, Goto System > Preferences > Emerald Theme Manager. Select Leopard Emerald theme to apply.
also, i'm running fiesty fawn.

My guess is you're trying to download and install this file: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Leopard+look+Emerald+Theme?content=60442 I just tried downloading it, and I got a filename like this "60442-Leopard OSX.emerald" which was automatically associated with the Emerald theme manager, and when I opened the file, the Emerald theme manager automatically imported the theme for me. You can also use the "Import" function from within Emerald to import the file.

Sometimes, however, themes are packaged as tar.gz files. Those are usually older versions of themes that may or may not work. Could you please provide me with the download link to the theme you're trying to install? Thanks! You can also try opening the archive using the Archive manager and take a look inside. Is there a whole bunch of image files (typically PNG) and a theme.ini file? If so, Just rename the file to .emerald instead of .tar.gz and try opening it (this time Emerald Theme Manager should open it).

Also, please note the following:
a) Emerald themes will only change how your window borders look. If you're going for a Mac OS X look, at the very least, you should also look into getting an appropriate GTK+ theme to change how buttons, checkboxes, scrollbars, etc all look, because the Emerald theme won't affect those.
b) You can get something called the Gnome Art Manager to download GTK+ themes and other goodies, such as desktop backgrounds, straight off gnome-looks.org. To install the Art Manager, click on "Applications" -> "Add/remove...". Select "All Available Applications" and search for "Art Manager". When you download and install a theme, you can use the "System" -> "Preferences" -> "Appearance" to tweak the theme. Pick a theme, then click "Customize". Any new theme elements you download with the Gnome Art Manager should appear there. Please note that the Gnome Art Manager is a beta and may crash once in a while. I'm using Gutsy (7.10) beta myself, and so far it hasn't crashed... but you never know. :)

I hope this answer helped you. Please let me know if I can help you with anything else.

sure. here it is:
http://sourceforge.net/project/platformdownload.php?group_id=204373

As I suspected, the emerald theme isn't packaged properly... or rather it's packaged in the wrong format. Here's how to create a proper Emerald theme package that can be imported into Emerald by doubleclicking or using the import button from within Emerald:
1. Extract the file Leopard_Emerald_v0.2.tar.gz.
2. Open the resulting directory named Leopard_Emerald_v0.2.
3. Highlight all the files and right click selecting "Create Archive..."
4. Choose whatever name you want (default name OK), but make sure the archive type is "tar.gz"
5. Rename the archive file from .tar.gz to .emerald

Hope this helps! :)

that was great. now that i have the theme imported, how do i apply the theme?

Thanks Rouben, that solved my question.

Thanks Rouben, my problem is also solved now.