have written an article in my blog on how to configure the layout of an AlertDialog

with XML style files. The main problem is that you need different style definitions
for different layout parameters. Here is a boilerplate based on the AlertDialog
style of Holo Light Platform version 19 for a style file that should cover a bunch
of the standard layout aspects like text sizes and background colors.

<style name="AppBaseTheme" parent="android:Theme.Holo.Light">

...
<item name="android:alertDialogTheme">@style/MyAlertDialogTheme</item>
<item name="android:alertDialogStyle">@style/MyAlertDialogStyle</item>
...
</style>

<style name="MyBorderlessButton">
<!-- Set background drawable and text size of the buttons here -->
<item name="android:background">...</item>
<item name="android:textSize">...</item>
</style>

<style name="MyButtonBar">
<!-- Define a background for the button bar and a divider between the buttons
here -->
<item name="android:divider">....</item>
<item name="android:dividerPadding">...</item>
<item name="android:showDividers">...</item>
<item name="android:background">...</item>
</style>

<style name="MyAlertDialogTitle">
<item name="android:maxLines">1</item>
<item name="android:scrollHorizontally">true</item>
</style>

<style name="MyAlertTextAppearance">
<!-- Set text size and color of title and message here -->
<item name="android:textSize"> ... </item>
<item name="android:textColor">...</item>
</style>

<style name="MyAlertDialogTheme">
<item name="android:windowBackground">@android:color/transparent</item>
<item name="android:windowTitleStyle">@style/MyAlertDialogTitle</item>
<item name="android:windowContentOverlay">@null</item>
<item
name="android:windowMinWidthMajor">@android:dimen/dialog_min_width_major</item>
<item
name="android:windowMinWidthMinor">@android:dimen/dialog_min_width_minor</item>
<item name="android:windowIsFloating">true</item>
<item name="android:textAppearanceMedium">@style/MyAlertTextAppearance</item>
<!-- If you don't want your own button bar style use
@android:style/Holo.Light.ButtonBar.AlertDialog
and
?android:attr/borderlessButtonStyle
instead of @style/MyButtonBar and @style/MyBorderlessButton -->
<item name="android:buttonBarStyle">@style/MyButtonBar</item>
<item name="android:buttonBarButtonStyle">@style/MyBorderlessButton</item>
</style>

<style name="MyAlertDialogStyle">
 <!-- Define background colors of title, message, buttons, etc. here -->
<item name="android:fullDark">...</item>
<item name="android:topDark">...</item>
<item name="android:centerDark">...</item>
<item name="android:bottomDark">...</item>
<item name="android:fullBright">...</item>
<item name="android:topBright">...</item>
<item name="android:centerBright">...</item>
<item name="android:bottomBright">...</item>
<item name="android:bottomMedium">...</item>
<item name="android:centerMedium">...</item>
</style>