diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 3b1f3789..4fffc262 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@ Styles and themes are a bit similar to ones in Android API.
 which allows to modify some of attributes, while getting base style attributes if they are not changed in widget. This trick can minimize memory usage for widget attributes when 
 standard values are used.
 * Current default theme is similar to one in MS Visual Studio 2013
-
+* Resources can be either embedded into executable or loaded from external resource directory in runtime
 
 Win32 builds
 ------------
@@ -219,19 +219,6 @@ Hello World
 
 	/// entry point for dlangui based application
 	extern (C) int UIAppMain(string[] args) {
-	    // resource directory search paths
-	    string[] resourceDirs = [
-	        appendPath(exePath, "../res/"),   // for Visual D and DUB builds
-	        appendPath(exePath, "../../res/") // for Mono-D builds
-	    ];
-
-	    // setup resource directories - will use only existing directories
-	    Platform.instance.resourceDirs = resourceDirs;
-	    // select translation file - for english language
-	    Platform.instance.uiLanguage = "en";
-	    // load theme from file "theme_default.xml"
-	    Platform.instance.uiTheme = "theme_default";
-	
 	    // create window
 	    Window window = Platform.instance.createWindow("My Window", null);
 	    // create some widget to show in window
@@ -253,10 +240,6 @@ Sample dub.json:
 	    "targetPath": "bin",
 	    "targetType": "executable",
 	
-	    "copyFiles": [
-	        "res"
-	    ],
-
 	    "dependencies": {
 	        "dlangui:dlanguilib": "~master"
 	    }
diff --git a/examples/helloworld/src/helloworld.d b/examples/helloworld/src/helloworld.d
index 82746c04..a34e4f30 100644
--- a/examples/helloworld/src/helloworld.d
+++ b/examples/helloworld/src/helloworld.d
@@ -9,27 +9,6 @@ mixin APP_ENTRY_POINT;
 
 /// entry point for dlangui based application
 extern (C) int UIAppMain(string[] args) {
-    // resource directory search paths
-    string[] resourceDirs = [
-        appendPath(exePath, "../../../res/"),   // for Visual D and DUB builds
-        appendPath(exePath, "../../../res/mdpi/"),   // for Visual D and DUB builds
-        appendPath(exePath, "../../../../res/"),// for Mono-D builds
-        appendPath(exePath, "../../../../res/mdpi/"),// for Mono-D builds
-		appendPath(exePath, "res/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
-		appendPath(exePath, "../res/"), // when res dir is located at project directory
-		appendPath(exePath, "../../res/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
-		appendPath(exePath, "res/mdpi/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
-		appendPath(exePath, "../res/mdpi/"), // when res dir is located at project directory
-		appendPath(exePath, "../../res/mdpi/") // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
-	];
-
-    // setup resource directories - will use only existing directories
-	Platform.instance.resourceDirs = resourceDirs;
-    // select translation file - for english language
-	Platform.instance.uiLanguage = "en";
-	// load theme from file "theme_default.xml"
-	Platform.instance.uiTheme = "theme_default";
-
     // create window
     Window window = Platform.instance.createWindow("My Window", null);
 	
diff --git a/examples/tetris/dub.json b/examples/tetris/dub.json
index bb1459f8..8be965cb 100644
--- a/examples/tetris/dub.json
+++ b/examples/tetris/dub.json
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@
     "targetType": "executable",
     "targetName": "tetris",
 
-    "copyFiles": ["res"],
+    "stringImportPaths": ["views", "views/res", "views/res/i18n", "views/res/mdpi"],
 
     "dependencies": {
         "dlangui:dlanguilib": "*"
diff --git a/src/dlangui/graphics/resources.d b/src/dlangui/graphics/resources.d
index 311f8657..3dd9b4f9 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/graphics/resources.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/graphics/resources.d
@@ -11,11 +11,75 @@ Supports nine-patch PNG images in .9.png files (like in Android).
 
 Supports state drawables using XML files similar to ones in Android.
 
+
+
+When your application uses custom resources, you can embed resources into executable and/or specify external resource directory(s).
+
+To embed resources, put them into views/res directory, and create file views/resources.list with list of all files to embed.
+
+Use following code to embed resources:
+
+----
+/// entry point for dlangui based application
+extern (C) int UIAppMain(string[] args) {
+
+    // embed non-standard resources listed in views/resources.list into executable
+    embeddedResourceList.addResources(embedResourcesFromList!("resources.list")());
+
+    ...
+----
+
+Resource list resources.list file may look similar to following:
+
+----
+res/i18n/en.ini
+res/i18n/ru.ini
+res/mdpi/cr3_logo.png
+res/mdpi/document-open.png
+res/mdpi/document-properties.png
+res/mdpi/document-save.png
+res/mdpi/edit-copy.png
+res/mdpi/edit-paste.png
+res/mdpi/edit-undo.png
+res/mdpi/tx_fabric.jpg
+res/theme_custom1.xml
+----
+
+As well you can specify list of external directories to get resources from.
+
+----
+
+/// entry point for dlangui based application
+extern (C) int UIAppMain(string[] args) {
+    // resource directory search paths
+    string[] resourceDirs = [
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../../res/"),   // for Visual D and DUB builds
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../../res/mdpi/"),   // for Visual D and DUB builds
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../../../res/"),// for Mono-D builds
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../../../res/mdpi/"),// for Mono-D builds
+        appendPath(exePath, "res/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
+        appendPath(exePath, "../res/"), // when res dir is located at project directory
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../res/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
+        appendPath(exePath, "res/mdpi/"), // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
+        appendPath(exePath, "../res/mdpi/"), // when res dir is located at project directory
+        appendPath(exePath, "../../res/mdpi/") // when res dir is located at the same directory as executable
+    ];
+    // setup resource directories - will use only existing directories
+    Platform.instance.resourceDirs = resourceDirs;
+
+----
+
+When same file exists in both embedded and external resources, one from external resource directory will be used - it's useful for developing 
+and testing of resources.
+
+
 Synopsis:
 
 ----
 import dlangui.graphics.resources;
 
+// embed non-standard resources listed in views/resources.list into executable
+embeddedResourceList.addResources(embedResourcesFromList!("resources.list")());
 ----
 
 Copyright: Vadim Lopatin, 2014
@@ -56,7 +120,8 @@ struct EmbeddedResourceList {
     }
     /// find by exact file name
     EmbeddedResource * find(string name) {
-        for(int i = 0; i < list.length; i++)
+        // search backwards to allow overriding standard resources (which are added first)
+        for (int i = cast(int)list.length - 1; i >= 0; i--)
             if (name.equal(list[i].name))
                 return &list[i];
         return null;
@@ -68,7 +133,8 @@ struct EmbeddedResourceList {
         string png9name = name ~ ".9.png";
         string jpgname = name ~ ".jpg";
         string jpegname = name ~ ".jpeg";
-        for(int i = 0; i < list.length; i++) {
+        // search backwards to allow overriding standard resources (which are added first)
+        for (int i = cast(int)list.length - 1; i >= 0; i--) {
             string s = list[i].name;
             if (s.equal(xmlname) || s.equal(pngname) || s.equal(png9name) 
                     || s.equal(jpgname) || s.equal(jpegname))
diff --git a/src/dlangui/platforms/common/platform.d b/src/dlangui/platforms/common/platform.d
index 364d7619..941bbe5d 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/platforms/common/platform.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/platforms/common/platform.d
@@ -806,6 +806,14 @@ class Platform {
 		return this;
 	}
 
+    /// to set uiLanguage and themeId to default (en, theme_default) if not set yet
+    protected void setDefaultLanguageAndThemeIfNecessary() {
+        if (!_uiLanguage)
+            uiLanguage = "en";
+        if (!_themeId)
+            themeId = "theme_default";
+    }
+
 	protected string[] _resourceDirs;
 	/// returns list of resource directories
 	@property string[] resourceDirs() { return _resourceDirs; }
diff --git a/src/dlangui/platforms/sdl/sdlapp.d b/src/dlangui/platforms/sdl/sdlapp.d
index df8e9027..e74fe59e 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/platforms/sdl/sdlapp.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/platforms/sdl/sdlapp.d
@@ -791,6 +791,7 @@ class SDLPlatform : Platform {
 	}
 
 	override Window createWindow(dstring windowCaption, Window parent, uint flags = WindowFlag.Resizable) {
+        setDefaultLanguageAndThemeIfNecessary();
 		SDLWindow res = new SDLWindow(this, windowCaption, parent, flags);
 		_windowMap[res.windowId] = res;
 		return res;
diff --git a/src/dlangui/platforms/windows/winapp.d b/src/dlangui/platforms/windows/winapp.d
index c29ae686..ed85adfb 100644
--- a/src/dlangui/platforms/windows/winapp.d
+++ b/src/dlangui/platforms/windows/winapp.d
@@ -716,6 +716,7 @@ class Win32Platform : Platform {
         return null;
     }
     override Window createWindow(dstring windowCaption, Window parent, uint flags = WindowFlag.Resizable) {
+        setDefaultLanguageAndThemeIfNecessary();
         return new Win32Window(this, windowCaption, parent, flags);
     }