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TheZee · Jul 10, 2004, 06:06 AM

Is it possible to make the Menubar transparent? I notice that after, let's say, a download from the internet, when Disk Copy kicks in my menu bar sometimes goes transparent for a brief moment. I'd like to make transparent all the time. Is this possible?
Peace,

wibs · Jul 10, 2004, 07:31 AM

there's an unsupported, beta, not-really-working-all-the-time-but-still-kind-of-cool APE called Barmaid that will do the trick. If you do a search in this forum it should turn up.

fisherKing · Jul 10, 2004, 08:04 AM

Originally posted by wibs:
there's an unsupported, beta, not-really-working-all-the-time-but-still-kind-of-cool APE called Barmaid that will do the trick. If you do a search in this forum it should turn up.

barmaid requires ape, but it IS fun...

i think he wants a clear menubar, but you can still see file, edit, view, etc etc.
a USABLE transparent bar would be nice (okay, it's what I want...)

TheZee · Jul 10, 2004, 11:42 AM

Thanks for the heads up on that app. I am going to search for it now. So you think it will do the trick? Yes, for clarification, I do want to make the menubar clear. I have seen it go clear occasionally when Disk Copy is mounting an image and I thought, 'hmmm, now that's interesting." It would be fantastic if that Barmaid app did it. I have APE and quite a few application enhancers to go with it so that requirment won't be a problem. If anyhting else comes to mind let me know pleeeeeeeeeezzzzzzzzz. Thanks again.
Peace,

wibs · Jul 10, 2004, 04:46 PM

that's the only method I know of. actually changing the graphic to transparent doesn't work, unfortunately.

fisherKing · Jul 10, 2004, 07:01 PM

drink up!

(proceed with caution)

Dragon T · Jul 10, 2004, 08:09 PM

making a Theme where the menubar is the same as the desktop would almost work.

fisherKing · Jul 10, 2004, 11:48 PM

this happens sometimes (i'm running barmaid, and shapeshifter...
finder locked (barmaid!) but i get this

cant this be done in a shapeshifter theme? (just wondering)

phillryu · Jul 11, 2004, 04:17 PM

Originally posted by Dragon T:
making a Theme where the menubar is the same as the desktop would almost work.

But it would still have the shadow

Though... perhaps with WindowShade, you could turn em off?

wibs · Jul 11, 2004, 04:45 PM

that doesn't affect the menubar shadow. Can't DeskShade Plus turn it off, though? I'm not sure, I don't actually have it or use it.

Jaey · Jul 11, 2004, 04:55 PM

Originally posted by wibs:
that doesn't affect the menubar shadow. Can't DeskShade Plus turn it off, though? I'm not sure, I don't actually have it or use it.

Yes, DeskShade Plus can turn it off. I even forgot that the menubar had a shadow

It's a really good app, especially if you have annoying siblings who put crap on your computer (it can lock your desktop).

TheZee · Jul 13, 2004, 05:44 AM

Thanks y'all for the tips on how I can achieve a transparent MenuBar. I do have and Window Shade and I recently downloaded a copy of BarMaid.ape
BarMaid came close to what I was looking for but what it does is completely hide the menubar rather than what I am looking for; a clear menubar similar to when you make the Dock clear and the app icons remain visible as if floating on the desktop. I must say I am surprised that no one has created such a mod. Maybe I'll play around with creating one myself. Dragon Tounge's idea of creating a theme that would incorporate a translucent menubar sounds intriguing. . .
Peace,

TheDisaster · Jul 13, 2004, 09:38 AM

Making a theme with a transparent menu bar would not work because it just will not change it to transparent (unless a future version of ShapeShifter will have a trick for doing this) just like wibs said, but the idea of making the menu bar your desktop picture is a good idea.

TheZee · Jul 13, 2004, 06:47 PM

I am gald you agree with the idea. I can't believe that no one has not done it yet. Considering the .ape for modifying the Dock was created pretty quick. The MenuBar seems to me to be a natural extension of that.
Thanks for the tip on trying to make the menubar translucent via creating a theme. I concurr, that method would not work. So, I am still on my quest. There's no giving up!!! No surrender!!!
Peace,

deej5871 · Jul 13, 2004, 09:09 PM

Originally posted by Dragon T:
making a Theme where the menubar is the same as the desktop would almost work.

That does work depending on what your desktop picture is. If the top 22 pixels of the desktop are, say, just part of a gradient, then you can fit them into the 8x22 menu fill resource and you get a nice menubar like this:

But if you try and integrate a regular picture by making the fill and caps as wide as your resolution, you get something like this (or I did at least) :

In case you can't tell, there is a slight color difference between the menubar and the desktop.

PS-I used the previously mentioned DeskShade Plus to lose the menubar shadow.

wibs · Jul 13, 2004, 09:17 PM

that's a pretty sweet mod. if you want to change the size of the menubar caps you're going to need to do some hacking beyond what themepark can do, though.

TheDisaster · Jul 13, 2004, 09:17 PM

You can probably just cut the whole middle section of the desktop and when you paste it into ThemePark resize the element. I have never tried that so I don't know if that will work. Here is what I did to JetBlack, since the top of my desktop picture was all black anyways, I like it a lot.

deej5871 · 11:08 PM

Originally posted by wibs:
that's a pretty sweet mod. if you want to change the size of the menubar caps you're going to need to do some hacking beyond what themepark can do, though.

I realized that by some of the threads about tiger themes. But all I did was change the size of the menubar fill to 1004x22, which at 1024x768, is the exact amount of pixels between the caps. This seemed to work okay except for the slight darkening of the the fill, which I think could be fixed by perhaps brightening the image you are going to put into ThemePark. Although that be completely wrong since the image I tested doing that in was basically just gray. I might try it tonight with a more complex image, unless someone already knows what will happen.

Edit: Hmm..
Made it darker and off-center.. Now I'll see if I can try and fix this by moving it a couple pixels to the right and lightening it..

Edit 2: I easily was able to line it up by moving it a couple pixels to the right, but I can't seem to figure out how to make the colors match. For some reason it looks like the colors are wrong in ThemePark but I'm not sure why that would be happening..

justinp · Jul 13, 2004, 10:56 PM

I've thought of modding a theme to include a false transparency in the menubar before, but never did since any time you change your wallpaper you have to mod it again.

TheZee · Jul 14, 2004, 03:16 AM

Justinp,
I hear what you're saying my bruthah! A few of us, me included, have just been a little too lazy to tinker with a mod that, let's say, may require a bit of patience, if you know what I mean? I'm telling you J, if me, you or someone gets on this thing it'll take off like wild fire. I mean, you'll be hearing about it in every Mac Forum arena there is. Why, it'll be BIGGER than my cousin's girlfriend's but. And let me tell you J, that's damn BIG! I can picture it now, VersionTracker, MacUpdate, Apple, Download.com, dam it J, everyone with a Mac will want to take part in this. Afterall, it's something everyone that I have spoken with has always wanted but no one has gotten around to creating it. Now for the first edition, I'm simply talking about a haxie that will make the menubar translucent but leave all your menubar apps and system Icons visible. Now when this thing takes off like a stripper in Vegas, in the summer time I see it evolving into something along the likes of ClearDock.ape. Are you familiar with that? What it does is it allows you to make the Dock transparent or color it. You can evern put a colored border around the edges fo the Dock itself. Imagine that J; being able to change the menubar to whatever color you want. Huh? Ya feeling me? F ' n alright!!! This idea has now begun to evolve. Pretty soon J, you mark my words, we will soon see the birth of Crystal MenuBar and the birth of a whole new way of thinking about the simple but highly applicable pieces that make up our Mac World. I'm excited buddy!!!

Peace,

gautch · Jul 14, 2004, 12:15 PM

Some one needs to report this to http://www.unsanity.com/ or simply feedback at unsanity dot com

I would but my email is down...

mugget · Jul 15, 2004, 05:17 AM

hey fisherKing, i get the same thing sometimes.

shouldn't it be just as simple as finding out exactly what that bug is, and then replicating that bug? although that doesn't have the menubar text, only the menu items...

i really enjoyed Barmaid while i used it, but it does have that small problem when you try and use DVD Player.app.

if it wasn't for that i'd probably use it all the time, and it'd be an extra 22 pixels usable height for me.

TheZee · Jul 15, 2004, 06:02 AM

Yo gautch!
What do you mean exactly when you said that "someone needs to report this?" Report what? Please elaborate.
Peace,

TheDisaster · Jul 15, 2004, 06:18 AM

I played around with making the menu bar the same color as my desktop some more, and switching fonts around with Silk. I'm really starting to dig this.

TheZee · Jul 15, 2004, 06:48 AM

TheDisaster,
What a bitchen screenshot man!!! What theme are you using? Did you create it yourself? How the HELL can I get me a theme like you show in your screenshot? Ok, Ok, your ego must be massive by now after all those props so I better tame it down a bit. Ahh F it !!! You're a creative Master, Disaster !!! Ok, Ok now your feeling the flow. I told you, this focus we have going now on creating a Ghostly Transparent MenuBar is germinating. My friend, we are standing at the threshold of what is clearly going to be the next "must have" Mac Creation of our time. Pushing the limits of creation and uncreation. I knew you would dig it. Be the ghost who moves through walls, who inhabits space without taking up space. Please send me any creations you develop regarding this issue will ya? I really do dig your desktop. Can you let me know if that is a thems you picked up somewhere or if you created it? I use "ShapeShifter" as my theme installer/changer and I am always looking for new themes. New themes comming out for ShapeShifter take forever. I dig the darker theme packages as it seems you do from the appearance of your desktop. I cannot stand all those light grey, F 'n brushed metal, aqua themes. They're everywhere.
Peace,

mugget · 09:16 AM

TheDisaster, that's cool. not a bad font either, but that'd have to get annoying to read after a while?

well here's one that i just messed around with. i was also thinking that there could be something like this when you lock the desktop. the pinstripes from the menubar could roll down like security shutters. hhmmm... might make a cool screensaver.

...

i just couldn't find how to get rid of the menubar shadow, and i've got ShadowKiller on as well, but it only seems to do the windows, not the file names on the Desktop, or the menubar. but this is a very good idea of changing the menubar to a desktop background... kind of like on my T610, some themes seem to make it have a larger screen because they continue the same background graphic where there would normally be a button graphic. for an easy fix, you could also just find a theme with a simple menubar and then copy that and make it your desktop, just not as goofy as what i've done here.

oh, and here's the goofy screenshot pic.

gautch · Jul 15, 2004, 10:49 AM

@TheZee: Sorry i didnt elaborate. What i ment was Email Unsanity and send them a link to this thread. Showing them how many people want this feature. Then they could work on a haxie.. or sumthing.

TheDisaster · Jul 15, 2004, 02:20 PM

Thanks a lot guys. The theme is Swiz's JetBlack, I just changed the menu bar's to be all black, and the only reason it works so well is because the top of my desktop picture is all solid black. Heaven help me if I actually try to make the menu bar do that for a desktop with an actual image... I think I'll give it a shot after work tonight, even though I like the black.

wibs · Jul 15, 2004, 03:02 PM

Originally posted by TheDisaster:
Thanks a lot guys. The theme is Swiz's JetBlack, I just changed the menu bar's to be all black, and the only reason it works so well is because the top of my desktop picture is all solid black. Heaven help me if I actually try to make the menu bar do that for a desktop with an actual image... I think I'll give it a shot after work tonight, even though I like the black.

I wouldn't delete the menubackground if I were you, unless of course you don't want to use popup button menus in any apps

TheDisaster · Jul 15, 2004, 03:07 PM

I didn't say anything about the menu backgrounds...

wibs · Jul 15, 2004, 05:55 PM

wow, you're right.

um, hrm. I guess I didn't actually read what you wrote and just made up something for you to say in my own head. Maybe only sleeping about 4 hours in the past 3 nights combined is beginning to have an effect.

Carry on.

TheZee · Jul 15, 2004, 06:54 PM

Disaster,
Thanks for the heads up on your desktop theme. I too have JetBlack. Thanks for hipping me to your method of transforming the MenuBar. I'm emailing the peeps at Unsanity today to give them a link to this thread. I think their creative minds should be able to offer some interesting topics of discussion. After all, I visualize our Transparent MenuBar to have similar features to Unsanity's Clear Dock.ape Keep the faith.

gautch,
Thanks for the clarification buddy. I am sending Unsanity a link to this thread today. I agree with you that their creative minds should be able to contribute to the evolution of our Transparent MenuBar idea. After all, I visualize the MenuBar to act a lot like their Clear Dock.ape
Peace,

smeger · Jul 15, 2004, 06:56 PM

Originally posted by TheZee:
I'm emailing the peeps at Unsanity today to give them a link to this thread.

That's cool, but I think we all know about this thread already.

wibs · Jul 15, 2004, 09:49 PM

Did some dabbling with Neos today, my all-time favorite. Came up with something that I kind of like, although root menu caps could use some cleanup work on the bottom corners.

click for larger

TheDisaster · Jul 15, 2004, 11:45 PM

Originally posted by wibs:
wow, you're right.

um, hrm. I guess I didn't actually read what you wrote and just made up something for you to say in my own head. Maybe only sleeping about 4 hours in the past 3 nights combined is beginning to have an effect.

Carry on.

Hahaha, that's alright, I know what you mean.

TheZee · Jul 16, 2004, 02:49 AM

mugget,
Not too bad of an effort buddy. That's what I am talking about. When I first began this threaded idea, I knew in my soul that what I was embarking on was a natural evolution of and compliment to ideas and desires that we all share. "If I have started anything, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants before me," Thomas Edison. If you are familiar with Unsanity's ClearDock.ape haxie you will have a better understanding of the vision I have for what I have initially entitled, Crystal MenuBar. I am extatic to see that all of us are on the same page and that our ideas and creativity are flowing like the lava from a volcanoe, transforming the landscape as it both destroys and creates it. To let everyone know, I have included the minds at Unsanity in this collaboration. I recently sent them the link to this thread to obtain thier input. After all, they created ClearDock.ape which I envision Crystal Menubar, or whatever the title becomes, to have similar features; the ability to transform the menubar into whatever color one wishes, including being transparent. Keep it flowing my brothers and sisters . . .
Peace,

mugget · Jul 16, 2004, 08:28 PM

hey, wibs how exactly did you do that?

and @ TheZee - 'Crystal Menubar'.

wow i really like the sounds of that. i hope we can come up with something that looks what that sounds like.

TheZee · Jul 16, 2004, 09:34 PM

mugget,
Glad to know you're on board buddy! Yeah, I think the title, "Crystal MenuBar," represents what I think we all want the haxie or app to become. I am ecstatic to hear that the Awesome Australians are with the movement. I know how applicable this idea is and how much we all would benefit from it. It's great to see that so many Macsters are feeling the flow and contributing their inexhaustable creative talents. As I am sure you know, as with any eventual application, haxie and the like, it is a collaborative effort. We all share in the blood, sweat and tears that it takes to create something significant and we all share in the end result. I think that process is really cool. Makes us all part of one unique community. Ya feel me?
Peace,

justinp · Jul 17, 2004, 01:44 AM

I don't know if it's of any interest, but I just submitted a widget for review which displays a portion of your current desktop on top of the menubar shadow, covering it rather effectively.

DeskShade Plus has caused me problems in the past, so I prefer this solution even if it's a bit of a hack.

mugget · Jul 17, 2004, 10:34 PM

justinp, sounds good.

is there a DL link for it somewhere, i'd love to try it out.

but what about the menubar shadow, have you (or anyone else) found a way to get rid of it, hide it?

justinp · Jul 17, 2004, 10:55 PM

It hasn't been reviewed and placed in the Widget Gallery yet, but the download is small enough that I can put it up for download from my "loaned" webspace. I promise it won't do mean nasty things to your computer, but if it does, it's not my fault.

http://www.jasonharbourdesign.com/~justin/guiShade.zip

Click to hide. Click again to reload and display again.

Edit: It should start out on the "Below" level, but if it doesn't, just switch it in the prefs.

TheZee · Jul 18, 2004, 03:14 AM

justinp,
Very cool Widget you created. That is one of the issues we must address in our quest for a transparent menubar. Not only must we be able to turn the menubar completely transparent but the shadow must go as well. I tweeked one of my ShapeShifter themes and got the menubar to a transparent state for a little while. Upon restart, however, the transparency did not hold. We are generating ideas which are fantastic. Eventually the Crystal MenuBar will be a reality. Sooner rather than later I trust.
Peace,

mugget · Jul 18, 2004, 06:30 AM

justinp, thanks for that link... but i can't seem to get the widget to work? all i'm getting is a bar just under the menubar? has anyone got this to work yet? could someone post some pics of what it does?

this waiting is drving me insane now!

TheZee · Jul 18, 2004, 07:06 AM

mugget,
justinp's Konfabulator Widget works as follows: Make sure you are using Konfabulator version 1.5.6 or later; Open Konfabulator; choose open widget; choose guishadow widget (I believe that's the name of it?); as soon as you open the widget, the shadow on the Menubar which lies just below the bottow edge of the MenuBar will dissapear. If you want the shadow to return, you simply click on the confabulator menubar icon find guishadow in the list of open/running widgets and click on it. The shadow returns. The widget acts as a toggle switch for disappearing and appearing of the Menubar shadow. Not really what we've been talking about. Not by a long shot. However, it does bring up an important issue concerning Crystal MenuBar: the shadow under the menubar must become transparent as with the rest of the menubar. The shadow seems to acts as a separate entity to the menubar itself. For that I thank justinp for bringing that to our attention.
Peace,

justinp · Jul 18, 2004, 12:11 PM

mugget, does it not cover the shadow when you launch the widget?

Should look like this...

MacMan4000 · 12:37 AM

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)

digitaljames · Jul 19, 2004, 12:17 AM

ummm how do you quit the widget?

afphreak01 · Jul 19, 2004, 12:29 AM

Originally posted by digitaljames:
ummm how do you quit the widget?

ctrl+click it in the K menu...

MacMan4000 · Jul 19, 2004, 12:35 AM

<snip>double post, sorry

justinp · Jul 19, 2004, 12:41 AM

Originally posted by MacMan4000:
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

I believe this is a color management issue (DeskShade Plus has the same problem). It doesn't affect grayscale.

So using a hardcoded path fixed the color issue?