Oh, yeah, you might have noticed some down time lately.
I apologize for any inconvenience.
ThemeMyMac’s hosting provider decided to pull the plug. No notice or anything. But, thanks to rigorous backing up, it’s all good now.
Any questions, comments, concerns?
It's been a long time between this and the last part. Here, I will update a bit of information, including a bit of how-to for theming on Snow Leopard. This post will be geared a bit more towards the how-to bit instead of evaluating the themes.
In my last post, I didn't include the Nuala theme because it wasn't released yet. But now that I come to update this, the Nuala theme is no longer in development by the author because of personal reasons. Nonetheless, it deserves a mention as one of the best themes (and first) themes ever created for Snow Leopard.
Although Nuala is no longer in development and the original designer doesn't even have the original files, you can still download it from Softpedia or from Iconpaper. Also, there is an iTunes version that works perfectly well with 9.0.3 (even on Leopard).
Nuala for Snow Leopard is a unique theme on its own, sporting a grayish-bluish highlight and distinctive knobs for the traffic lights. I don't know how it feels, but it must feel awesome to have it installed, as a lot of the users seem to be pretty happy with the theme.
This was featured in the last post, but it has taken a step up and is now on version 1.3 (the last one was version 1.2 and the original developer didn't allow it to be shared).
Snow Leopard theming is actually quite easy if you are familiar with your system. There are, up to this point, two solutions to theming SL:
ThemePark is a well-known tool amongst themers. ThemePark 4 is the latest version and it allows you to apply a theme simply by pressing a button. To apply a theme with ThemePark, you'll need to open up the SArtFile.bin that was included in your download and on the main window, click apply theme. Alternatively, you can click the Theme menu and select Apply Theme. Log out/restart as needed. To uninstall the theme, simply click the Theme menu and select Revert to Aqua.
This method of theming is only recommended for people who know their Mac inside out, people who are aware of the consequences of messing with system files and those who are just that daring. I myself wouldn't do this, but when all else fails, this is the go-to method of theming. I'm not sure of where these are located in Snow Leopard, but on Leopard they're located in the following path:
System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Versions/A/Resources/
Here you will find the SArtFile.bin and ArtFile.bin. Before you swap them out, make a backup in case you mess up. Or else you'll be in a tight spot. After that, swap out the files, type in your password and all the administrator things the OS needs you to go through and restart. That's about it! Happy theming!
I’ve been hard at work for a Christmas present. This year, I have chosen to craft something a little more useful now that I know enough to craft it. Without further ado, I present you Label and Label Nano for Bowtie.
Click image to download
The other bloggers here at ThemeMyMac give you details on how to theme your Mac using third-party applications that directly alter the interface; however, there are some occasions when changing the icons of something goes beyond that which one of these apps can do.
Below is an example that I used in a recent post; I altered some icons in CoverSutra to change its appearance because no app could possibly do this. I went from this, the default…
…to this, a modified version…
…, which is much better in my opinion.
Okay, it’s been a while, but I am finally back. If you read my first post on Mac DVD Customization, then you may have noticed that I’m the writer that likes to give tips and suggestions on things. Today, I would like to talk about the best iTunes media controllers that exist and the benefits to each of them. Please note that clicking on the introductory title of an app will send you to the homepage.
Ecoute is the new wave coming to controlling iTunes. This new app is a standalone media player. In other words it pulls the media content from the iTunes database in your Music folder instead of just opening and hiding the iTunes application. Now, I love iTunes; don’t get me wrong, but I only use the app to actually buy and download items from the store and organize my collections. This is the entire purpose of controllers.
As you may or may not know, theming on Snow Leopard is not the same as theming on Leopard. For one, many themes have not been ported and will not work on SL. Another thing would be that Magnifique, the wonderful theme applier will completely ruin your copy of SL. But there are other options, such as applying them yourself manually by switching out the files, or with ThemePark.
However, there are quite a few themes that are notable and actually work under SL and not Leopard. The following will be a list of three themes that I find are delicious, and stable under SL.
Vitae for Snow Leopard
A popular theme amongst the Mac theming community, this is one of the first themes to be ported for SL. Includes an installer, graphite and aqua versions and multiple application UI changes. The Leopard version of this theme is what I am currently using.
SnowTunes
This theme’s main objective was to bring iTunes 9’s new UI system-wide. Although I didn't like iTunes’ UI change, this theme has imitated it well and did its job well. This is also by far one of the most extended themes for SL. Almost everything has been themed and still more is being made. This will not work on Leopard.
Metalik for Snow Leopard
This theme strays from the normal and has one handy little tool that will automate a back up of required files onto your desktop. Also includes an installer so you don’t need to mess with the system. This is SL only, will not work on Leopard.
Although I do not run Snow Leopard on my Mac yet, I am sure that these three will be somewhere on my system. As for preference, I think I would go with SnowTunes because it integrates the iTunes UI into the whole system without overdoing it. What it also has is a choice of three different menu bar styles: Noir (Black), SnowTunes, and SnowTunes HUD. But the aesthetics aren’t the only things that attract me to this. The developer is actively developing this theme while the others aren’t so much. Good public relations and an active development is key to success and that is why I love this theme.
Years ago, as a wee little tot, I took my first steps away from IE into the loving arms of Firefox. The first thing I noticed was that you could theme Firefox! The second thing I noticed is that all the themes sucked. They all looked something like this:
But current day themes are a thing of beauty. I would compare the recent upswing of quality themes to the Renaissance or something cheesy like that but I will let them speak for themselves.
(Click on the preview picture to download the theme.)
(All themes were downloaded and installed under the latest version of Firefox: 3.53)
Why fix what isn’t broken?
Never visit it again. Well, maybe once…
I’ve not touched some parts of the app, so if I leave things out, please don’t despair. It will be updated when I do get to those parts.
Have you ever thought of changing the default Leopard desktop picture on your login screen? What about the annoying Apple? Or even the text it displays? Well, you could change the desktop picture with your own in CoreServices, but here’s an easier way to do that: Ravissant.
Ravissant is an easy to use (and free!) lightweight login screen themer. Simply change the things you want and apply them. The next time you start up, that is what you will see. Also, Ravissant is developed by the same people who developed Magnifique, so I’m sure this app is just as up to and even exceeds Mac software standards. But enough. You want to see action.
My already modded version of my login window in Ravissant.
On your first open, you will see a window somewhat like the one above. Don’t worry if yours doesn’t look like mine up there because I’ve changed mine up a bit. On the top, you will see a toolbar that says logo, OS text, welcome text etc. Click on any one of them, and two boxes will appear. Logo text is selected by default. The first box will highlight the option you’ve selected and the other box will highlight the element that is corresponding to the option. To change it, either double click and type, or drag an image. You can also change what info your Mac will display under the OS text. When you’re done modding your login screen, click apply changes. This will immediately change everything you’ve changed but you will need to login again to see it. If you’re not done with modifying your screen, you can simply save it, and give it a name. This is also especially handy if you want to give someone else who uses Ravissant and wants your configuration. Just beam him/her your saved copy and he/she can use it as well. Everyone is happy.
As you can see, and you can try this out yourself, if you press Cmd + I, you will get a tooltip. A little easter bunny here is that it changes every time you do so. So whenever you feel like you don’t know what’s happening, Cmd + I and you get a nice looking tooltip.
Full screen mode lets you go full screen so you can see exactly what it will look like instead of in a small window. I find it somewhat hard to edit the images in full screen, so this option is probably best for viewing purposes only. Next is the Logins menu. You can, of course, apply your creation, restore the default (just brings everything to normal, but you have to re-apply it), get a nice looking tooltip and sync with your desktop, which I have not tried out yet. If you have tried it out, do tell me what it does (although I may someday find out on my own).
Although it looks nice and everything, the notion of saving documents kills it. A nice feature to have is to store it in a database like other apps and you can open one up from a window with a list of them. With folders and organization would be very nice as well. Also, the Restore Default option under Logins doesn't always do what it’s supposed to do. A lot of people have been reporting that it does nothing. Regarding what the app can actually do, I think it is quite well rounded, but things like enabling you to put images where you normally place text or vice versa would be a nice inclusion.
So adding up the goodness and the badness, I will give this app a good 8/10.
First off, I would like to introduce myself. I am new here (sounding redundant yet?), and you can either address me as Eugene, DreadedKilla or anything in between.
Keeping with what Shaded (or Jon) started a bit over 5 months ago, I’d like to share a bit of what my lovely MacBook is looking like. Below is my current setup for the month of September (I like to try and change it once or twice every month):
Click image for a larger version
The first thing you’ll notice is that there seems to be no theming whatsoever. Well it’s partly true: look over in the scrollbars to the right, they’re not exactly the Aqua you would expect. It happened by accident as I was replacing the SArtFile.bin and such and such from my backup. Anywho, I like it as it is and won’t go back to the original Aqua. Moving to the bottom, which is where all the stuff’s at, you see my Dock! The Dock may look different than others, because I used a script to make it 2D, remove the “dock” part of the Dock. Then I used Geektool to display a static image from inside the Dock.app itself. Everything to the left and right of the Dock are Geektool scripts, courtesy of Shaded and select others (namely MacThemes people); except the song name in the bottom left corner. That is a mod of Tekikou’s Cleaning Out Ecoute theme (but of all of them, it could be any with text) where I removed everything but the song name and changed the font to match (somewhat) my Geektool setup. When you’re done gazing at my setup on the bottom, move up to the top right corner of the menu bar. Nothing much there except for a few iStats: RPM, temperature, CPU usage and memory usage. The blue mailbox is Notify, a great Gmail notifier alternative although it doesn't do GCal (but I don’t need it). Plus, it looks more delicious.
If you were wondering what’s so productive about this setup is the focus on minimalism. Ok, I admit there’s a party in the menu bar, but I hardly notice it. However, my Dock is not as space-consuming as before (I work on a small 13″ screen) and I could nicely place all my needed Geektool scripts there. And I do think it has helped me become more productive for the month of September.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to drop me a line… down there.
Since there is not much information about GeekTool 3, I took the direct approach and talked directly with the developer to learn more. I asked Yann Bizeul, the French, part-time, cocoa developer behind GeekTool what his main goals for GeekTool 3 are. His reply was that it was mainly to rewrite his old, out-of-date code. The original code of GeekTool was created as Yann was learning to program, and so, it was hard to maintain and build off of.
He went on to describe his desire to create something modular that other developers could add on to. These add-ons are called Geeklets. The Geeklets Yann is working on are basically replicating features GeekTool 2 already has; however, he plans on creating Geeklets that display Safari Web Clips and a Geeklet that displays graphs from Cacti Monitoring Systems. He hopes that other developers will also develop Geeklets once the API is ready. (He estimates that the documentation will be out in a month or two.) He said,
I know people can be really creative, saw a lot of cool stuff done with the original release of GeekTool.
I asked him when GeekTool 3 would be released to the general public and he said,
That’s a good question, and I really can’t answer that. For now I’m pretty motivated, and I could see a release in about 2 month. But, I’m moving to another city, just got my second child, things are going to be quite difficult for the next few month.
He wants people who are using GeekTool 3 to report bugs and ask for more features. He said,
The best friend of the developer is the user. So everyone, please use bug reporting tool. You can flood it with tiny requests or anything, don’t worry, I’ll sort that out… But, I need user feedback.
You hear it first here, on ThemeMyMac. Stay classy San Diego, and go here to download GeekTool 3. Good night.
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