[MacMan4000]

So using a hardcoded path fixed the color issue?

yea, I'm typing up instructions right now on how to do it because Im sure a few people will ask soon.

but I kinda messed up somthing about the positioning. With my version it open up halfway down the screen and halfway off the right side of the screen. all you have to do is drag it back to where it belongs, no big deal only inconvienient (I cant spell worth poop).

Do you mind if I post the instructions here? If you want to look at them and revise I could send them to you first, mabey you can fix the positioning issue I created.
(I wont be abel to post them untill about 11:00 am tommarow because I am goin to bed now. It's 1:00 am here. I wont post untill I get your permission.)

[justinp]

Go ahead and post it, I don't mind at all

[boy8cookie]

justnip,

curious as to what font you're using. i use aluminum too, looks nice.

[justinp]

It's a slightly modded version of HandelGotDLig (I made it a little smaller and switched in the numbers from another font, then sized those to match).

Here's a link to the original http://makki04.spymac.net/fonts.sitx
(If you want my slightly modded version, feel free to ask)

[boy8cookie]

modded plz

[justinp]

[Removed]

[boy8cookie]

thanks, and thanks for the quick response

[wingchuner]

Originally posted by MacMan4000:
Success!



I used (a slightly modified version) of the guiShade widget from justinp. I modified it to get the image source from a hard coded image because I kept getting grainy images from the existing widget

Other than that I love the widget, great job


the menubar itself is a difficult process to explain. here goes (photoshop instructions):

step1: take a copy of your background image and choose the rectangle marquee tool.
step2: set the marquee tool to "fixed size"; "X" px wide by 22 px tall where "X" is the width of your screen resoloution (and the background image).
step3: select the top 22 rows of pixels and copy them (cmd+c)
Step4: Press "cmd+n", "return", and "cmd+v". you should now be looking at an image 22 pixels tall by "X" pixels wide with the top of your favorite background in it.
step5: click "image>canvas size" and choose "pixels" from the drop-down box. type in the answer to "X minus 12" for the width (the same X we have been useing the whole time) and leave the height alone. press "OK", press "proceed"
step6: click "image>adjustments>brightness & contrast". for brightness type in "+16"
step7: use this image in a theme as "menubar fill" and enjoy! (the menubar caps require no color correction so i hope you can figure it out on your own, if not just ask I'll be glad to help)

Very Nice, thanks for posting the way you did it, here is mine..but still having a problem with the menu caps...have a small black bar on the right side..please any suggestions would help thanks...here is the screen shot....

http://home.comcast.net/~ckoenigsfeld/ScreenShot.jpg

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally posted by justinp:
Here you go

Great job, thanks. And the replacement of the numbers : good idea for readability.
I consider loosing Eurostile for it.

[justinp]

Originally posted by wingchuner:
..but still having a problem with the menu caps...have a small black bar on the right side..please any suggestions would help thanks...here is the screen shot....

That's the right menubar cap. You probably filled in the menubar cap image in ThemePark completely black, because the left is black. The menubar caps (left and right) are a single image that is split down the middle. Edit that image so that the left 6 pixels are black, and the right six are white.

[MacMan4000]

sorry it took me so long to post these. I slept a little later than I expected (1:00 pm)

Heres the instructions
(incase you haven't been listening these are the instructions to make the image in the guiShade widget hard-coded and not grainy)

If you have any questions or find any mistakes let me know.

[justinp]

Here's some cleaned up code. Might want to put this in your instructions instead.

Also note that if you do this, you MUST follow the instruction to create a new document and then paste in the appropriately sized replacement image. If you just crop your image without creating a new document, you will have the same color issue.

Edit: Code snipped, it has been added to MacMan's instructions, no need to waste space.

[MacMan4000]

Thanks, I updated the instructions. I also added the part about "save for web". This part is very important! If you just choose "save as" it comes out too dark again.

[TheZee]

justinp & MacMan4000,
So, are you saying that using your Konfabulator widget and following your additional instructions we can make the menubar transparent? Please advise.

[MacMan4000]

Originally posted by TheZee:
justinp & MacMan4000,
So, are you saying that using your Konfabulator widget and following your additional instructions we can make the menubar transparent? Please advise.

Yes and no. It looks transparent, but it really is still there but matches the desktop image so well it looks transparent... Like camoflage!

My post that includes a screenshot tells you how to "camoflage" the menu. the later post with a link to instructions tells you how to make justinp's widget not look grainy (it also kinda makes you have to stick to one desktop image and not change it untill you change the widget). but if you don't notice any grainyness then your better off to leave it alone. It works better that way. (by "works better" I mean it changes every time you change the desktop image).

[Fonzie]

This all sounds great! Now if the widget is still available..... I get a 404 each time I hit that site og Justin's. Help ? I think so.

[TheZee]

Camoflage is good. We like camoflage. I can live with the changing of the desktop image issue for now. I do use a nifty application that changes my desktop picture at time intervals I set but I can always suspend the process if I want to. Unfortunately, I recently had to perform a reinstall of the system and in doing so I lost Photoshop. Can you believe it? My disk copy of the application has gone missing too. Don't ask. Anyway, I am without the use of photo shop at the moment so I suppose I will have to hold off on utilizing your instructions to camoflage the menubar until I get another copy of photoshop. Anyone got $650.00 they want to lend a brother? Just kidding.

PS: I just downloaded the widget about a week ago and it worked fine for me. Try right clicking on the download link and choose download link from the menu. that should do it.

Peace,

[justinp]

FYI, the space could have been down when you tried as they have been upgrading their servers (and I know access has been sketchy in the past).

If you still can't get to it I can e-mail or transfer it to you over AIM if you like (or you could just wait for it to pop up at Konfabulator.com, I can't imagine it will take much longer for it to get approved).

[Fonzie]

Originally posted by justinp:
FYI, the space could have been down when you tried as they have been upgrading their servers (and I know access has been sketchy in the past).

If you still can't get to it I can e-mail or transfer it to you over AIM if you like (or you could just wait for it to pop up at Konfabulator.com, I can't imagine it will take much longer for it to get approved).

Okay, I tried just now and I still get a 404. I'll wait for it to show on Konfabulator.com - it's not that important, but it would certainly look good.

[crford]

Originally posted by justinp:
FYI, the space could have been down when you tried as they have been upgrading their servers (and I know access has been sketchy in the past).

If you still can't get to it I can e-mail or transfer it to you over AIM if you like (or you could just wait for it to pop up at Konfabulator.com, I can't imagine it will take much longer for it to get approved).

I can't get it either. Would you mind emailing it to me, or I can put it on my web site until knfabulator.com gets it up...

[justinp]

Sent

[Banghazi]

Hello all - somewhat of a novice modder here, heavily intoxicated by the idea of a transparent menubar..

So, we now know it's possible to get the feeling of a transparent menubar by way of camouflage. But what if your desktop changes everytime you log in... you'd have to go through all the previously listed instructions every time you log in - pretty impractical, and frankly, in my case, it would make a transparent menubar not worth having, no matter how cool it might look...

My first guess as to simply making the menubar literally transparent (and solving this transparent menubar business once and for all), would be to take the image file(s) that represent the actual menubar, and swap them for image file(s) that are transparent and that have the same name.

It sounds to me that the general opinion on this is that that would not work, since the file(s) you're replacing (.jpg's or .pct's, for example) cannot be transparent and have a different extension than that of a potentially transparent file (like a .gif).

So why not just take a transparent .gif, change the name and the extension to that of the image files you're replacing, essentially fooling the OS into using the disguised .gif image files to represent the menubar...? This sounds too easy to have not been tried already... so wherein lies the problem?

* I would try all this myself, but I don't know where the menubar's image files are located...

[justinp]

That's because there aren't any, not in the sense you're thinking about at least. All the images are contained in a single resource file. Transparency in menubar images does not work.

[Banghazi]

OK.. so that seems to be a dead-end.

But elaborate if you (or anyone else) would: why are the image files in the resource file not capable of transparency?

[justinp]

I couldn't give you the technical of why, but OS X simply won't allow transparency in the menubar. If I remember correctly, it will matte the image with black if you try it.

[TheDisaster]

I'm not sure of exactly why either, I think it has something to do with SystemUIServer, if I remember correctly. Or maybe I never heard anything about why.

[mugget]

that original widget posted did work, i just had a dark background and was expecting it to copletely hide the menubar.

i'm sure it would be possibel to make a script to do the wallpaper editing... but the thing is that lots of people, i know i do this myself, don't use a wallpaper that's exactly the resolution of the screen, so it's actually stretched or re-sized to fit the screen, that could be a problem.

but an idea: you know those screensavers that seem to have transparency? so it looks like fluid or something on your desktop, but it's actually a desktop picture thats' been taken? well is it possible to write an app (or menubar extra would be really handy ) that would take the image from under the menubar and then apply it to that widget? or even apply the changes from within that app?

i know what i'm suggesting would probably take alot of effort to do, but it's just an idea, the more ideas we keep flowing i'm sure something good will come out of it.

[Banghazi]

Originally posted by justinp:
I couldn't give you the technical of why, but OS X simply won't allow transparency in the menubar. If I remember correctly, it will matte the image with black if you try it.

Does anyone have a screenshot of what happens when you try using a transparent image and, as a result, the menubar is "matted" with black, or perhaps just explain this matter a bit further?

Is it possible that switching the menubar resource file's image files with transparent-image files does not work because there's another factor invloved "underneath" the menubar itself, like the existence of every application that uses the menubar to display it's title and other menus? Therefore the menubar is not really an independently displayed "application"; other applications use it and apply their own properties to it, and that "black matte" is what you're seeing as a result of using transparent images in the menubar's resource file...?

[mugget]

yes, that makes sense.

just now i was using Finder, (transferring files to a PC over a network) and it crashed, so the menubar automatically went to the next app down.

but then when i went back to the Finder when it had relaunched, the menubar kind of slid down from the top? so it must load different instances of menubar for each application?

[G0Ducks]

there has GOT to be a better way. I totally get how to make this work, it just seems like an awful lot to get this done...


R

[smeger]

Don't devote too much effort to making this work.

</cryptic>

[mugget]

w00t!! smeager's got something coming!! yes! i can't wait!!

[MacMan4000]

Originally posted by smeger:
Don't devote too much effort to making this work.

</cryptic>

Wooo hoo!!!!!!!
This means that
either
A.) smeger is making it possible in ShapeShifter 1.5 (or whatever the next version is)
or
B.) It is not possible. (which is not very likely)

[Banghazi]

Originally posted by G0Ducks:
there has GOT to be a better way. I totally get how to make this work, it just seems like an awful lot to get this done...


R

I would kill for an app that did all of that "top-22px-of-the-desktop-snipping/swapping-it-for-the-current-menubar-image/covering-the-menubar-shadow" everytime you change your desktop. How could that not satisfy?? (I guess it woud also have to resize the desktop image to a proper resolution also)

Hell i might even pay for it..

If I knew the first thing about writing software, I wouldn't hesitate to take a whack at it.


As for smeger's comment, my guess is that it's just pessimism.

[smeger]

Originally posted by Banghazi:
As for smeger's comment, my guess is that it's just pessimism.

I tend to be pretty optimistic.

[MacMan4000]

Originally posted by smeger:
I tend to be pretty optimistic.

[Dave-o�]

Originally posted by smeger:
Don't devote too much effort to making this work.

</cryptic>

He's da BOMB.com.org.net.gov.edu


Well at least in my book he's pretty gosh darn special ya all...

[Banghazi]

Originally posted by smeger:
I tend to be pretty optimistic.

(I guess I was the pessemistic one )

[Burk3]

I'm having trouble doing what wibs did with neoOS. I'm trying to do the same thing to Xi-FreshSnowC 1.1, but I cant figure out what stuff to edit. right now i'm looking in extras.rsrc, and the only thing I see that might be it is Root Menu Fill, and I'm pretty sure that's not it because when I make that transparent in photoshop, I can't preview selected theme in shapeshifter once it's saved and compiled

[Banghazi]

Originally posted by MacMan4000:
sorry it took me so long to post these. I slept a little later than I expected (1:00 pm)

Heres the instructions
(incase you haven't been listening these are the instructions to make the image in the guiShade widget hard-coded and not grainy)

If you have any questions or find any mistakes let me know.

Sorry for resurrecting an obsolete thread.. but I'd like those instruuctions to make GUIShade hardcoded, and that link doesn't work anymore.

Still have'em, MacMan4000?

[MacMan4000]

Originally posted by Banghazi:
Sorry for resurrecting an obsolete thread.. but I'd like those instruuctions to make GUIShade hardcoded, and that link doesn't work anymore.

Still have'em, MacMan4000?

For a second there i was about to say "no", but I found em...
Here is the new link.

Sorry for the confusion. That old file was buried in my dads company website and i figured no one would find any of my crap i had in there, but just last week some one found this on my dads site and called them up to try to order one! In case you haven't noticed, that ipod is just a photo-chop job I did... It doesn't exist! So my dad was a little bit mad, not as mad as that customer who wanted one though

Anyway I had to remove all my forum images and stuff like these instructions from that site... most of it has been moved over to my new site hosted by ambitiouslemon.

[Banghazi]

OMG.. wireless bluetooth headphones... (*drooling*)

Thanks for the new link, MM4000