[bbxstudio]

I'm currently fiddling with the Localized.rsrc file... I'm baffled as to why it's handled so differently from the rest of the system, but that's besides the point. I'm building into the Localized.rsrc file from Watercolour and I'm a little confused as to why the masks are 75 pixels wide while the color resources are 76 (using the view mode tri-button as an example)... also, there doesn't seem to be any alpha information - are these resources 'solid', utilizing a 1-bit mask for the clickable region, or does that 1-bit mask affect transparency as well? I'm noticing the individual color resource elements are also surrounded by white - is this necessary? If somebody could shed some light on this .rsrc file for me I'd be eternally grateful. I find Desktopper's info on this hard to get through.

Thanks!

[bOOzo]

I suggest that you study more themes and see what possiblities there are with this file. A good theme to look at might be BBX Mercury X since it uses many states for the view button.

If the masks are not the same size, just resize them by pasting a 75 pixel wide image. I have done this in all of my themes, I think.

It's possible to have alpha channels in these buttons, but it's much easier if you use fake transparency and alpha instead. Then you wont have any problems with the masks. The times I tried using alpha channels, they did not look good.

If you by
" I'm noticing the individual color resource elements are also surrounded by white - is this necessary? "
mean that there is white around the view buttons, it's not necessary to use white, you can use any color. The image that is showed is controlled by the mask. But all of the different parts of the view button should be the same size, otherwise it will probably be hard to get them to look right.

Hope that helped somewhat. Please ask if you need any more help.

By the way, it seems to me that even Apple dislikes the Localized.rsrc. Otherwise they should have updated the view button into Jaguar style, don't you think..?

[bbxstudio]

Thanks Max! I was dreading dealing with the toolbar but now that it's coming together does it ever look cool I just made everything the same size and faked the alpha (all my ppats are the same anyways so it blends seamlessly everywhere they show up). Yeah, the localized.rsrc certainly seems to be assembled haphazardly... no idea why most of these images live in here in the first place. Wierd.

Now here's a new question - the icons that appear in the finder toolbar - where do they live in the system? I'm assuming they're tweakable directly (till now I've been using CandyBar). Also, do these same icon resources appear anywhere else in the system at other sizes (for instance, is the eject icon in the toolbar calling on the same resource as the eject icon that appears in the dock when dragging disks to the trash? Is the Application folder icon the same as the one used by the system elsewhere? etc) ... I'm trying to do a cool button-driven dash-panel effect in the toolbar and would like all of these toolbar functions to look like a row of buttons, but I'm not sure I want these same buttons appearing in finder views as folder icons, etc.

[swiz]

All the icons used in the toolbar are located in /System/Library/CoreServices/SystemIcons.bundle/Resources/

You can make your toolbar icons different from the same icons when viewed in the system in other instances, unless the users set their icon view size to that of your alternate icon for the toolbar.

Max or Carbon doublecheck me on the path, Im away from my Mac right now and this is just from my memory.

[bOOzo]

That is the correct path, but that's not all toolbar icons. There are more here:
/System/Library/CoreServices/Finder.app/Contents/Resources/

I think a good way to change them is to use CandyBar and then just copy them from the system and into your theme.

[bbxstudio]

Great guys! Max, your advice was great - I used to dislike the toolbar showing because it looked disjointed and sloppy - now I'm wasting lots of time just toggling it on and off tp check it out just because it looks so cool [[ Man this theme is starting to rock... I figured out this photorealistic flecked-silver surfacing that actually 'sparkles' system wide (nice way too break up the vast expanses of SFA in Aqua) - damned if it doesn't look just like the Anodized Aluminum surfaces of the new Powerbooks. Bizarrely enough the beveling is really close to the new glowing keyboard keys as well... ]]


Looks to me like it's the 32x32 pixel icon resource that's being displayed in the toolbar (am I wrong?), so I guess theoretically the icon will snap into its toolbar 'button' configuration as the user dynamically shrinks their icons down and those particular ones hit 32x32 - wierd.

[swiz]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
Great guys! Max, your advice was great - I used to dislike the toolbar showing because it looked disjointed and sloppy - now I'm wasting lots of time just toggling it on and off tp check it out just because it looks so cool [[ Man this theme is starting to rock... I figured out this photorealistic flecked-silver surfacing that actually 'sparkles' system wide (nice way too break up the vast expanses of SFA in Aqua) - damned if it doesn't look just like the Anodized Aluminum surfaces of the new Powerbooks. Bizarrely enough the beveling is really close to the new glowing keyboard keys as well... ]]


Looks to me like it's the 32x32 pixel icon resource that's being displayed in the toolbar (am I wrong?), so I guess theoretically the icon will snap into its toolbar 'button' configuration as the user dynamically shrinks their icons down and those particular ones hit 32x32 - wierd.

That is correct.

[bbxstudio]

D'oh! My idea was curtailed somewhat - the icon buttons look pretty crappy when they're inactive (50+% white overlay - geared to Aqua). Oh well, the viewoption, path and forward/back buttons look cool anyways...

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
Oh well, the viewoption, path and forward/back buttons look cool anyways...

Why not post a screenshot of it?

[bbxstudio]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Why not post a screenshot of it?

Can't - that would go against my long-standing policy of no peeks till showtime Still got some major elements to finalize yet. Just finished the Safari suite, though - gonna' look awesome

[Adam Betts]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
Can't - that would go against my long-standing policy of no peeks till showtime Still got some major elements to finalize yet. Just finished the Safari suite, though - gonna' look awesome

Heh, good plan

Take ur time... Don't over-burned yourself

[bbxstudio]

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Heh, good plan

Take ur time... Don't over-burned yourself

Hehehe... yeah, like it's already been a freaking year But I'm really starting to make some real inroads this past week. Got the silver panel system down pat, buttons are just brilliant, the ppat works really well and the scrollbar is looking pretty slick - with pulsing LEDs throughout. I have a feeling this one is going to be a futuristic classic methinks

[GoGoReggieXPowars]

Originally posted by bbxstudio:
Man this theme is starting to rock... I figured out this photorealistic flecked-silver surfacing that actually 'sparkles' system

Um, wow!