[newsushi]

I've been toying around with themes now since about 3:00am, so I've still got quite a bit to learn, obviously

Anyway, I'd like to do two things that I can't figure out:

1: change the theme of the menu bar (and only the menu bar), and
2: change the font of the menu bar (and only the menu bar).

I found the menu bar that I want (Siro), and I know the font that I want, but I can't find a way to switch either so that it doesn't switch the theme and font everywhere. Is this impossible, improbable, waaaaaaaay out of my price range, or so easy to do that I should be flogged?

Thanks for your help!

-NewSushi

[esXXI]

• Apply SIRO, relaunch ThemePark (make sure it's not excluded from ShapeShifter)
• Add a theme, click Options and turn on Menu Enahancer
• Go to: Elements > Global Elements > Menubar and Menus
• With that selected, click: Theme > Merge With Installed Elements
• Check, and all the Menubar and Menus resourcecs should now be SIRO-ed

If you don't want SIRO menus: Repeat above but only select the following and Merge With Installed Elements:
• Apple - Blue
• Apple - Graphite
• Menubar Caps
• Menubar Fill
• Menu Title Selected - Blue
• Menu Title Selected - Graphite

You also need to change the Spotlight images, go to: Elements > Menu Extras > Spotlight and Merge these:
• Search Widget (Aqua)
• Search Widget (Aqua, Pressed)
• Search Widget (Graphite)
• Search Widget (Graphite, Pressed)

As for fonts: You can't change them in a theme. You need to change them using Silk and Tinkertool (search this forum, it's been explained lots).

[Randman]

Silk's still not Tiger ready. Haven't tried fonts in TinkerTool in Tiger just yet.

[ZXspectrum]

Originally Posted by Randman

Silk's still not Tiger ready. Haven't tried fonts in TinkerTool in Tiger just yet.

Got the beta2.0.7b1 and it's working under Tiger.



:::Click image to enlarge

[newsushi]

Excellent! That was exactly the help I needed. I'm still using Panther (I fall under the 'always wait for 10.x.5 before updating crowd), so Themepark and Silk are a go here. I was able to merge only the parts of Siro that I wanted with Aqua, and then redo the "apple" into a chrome finish (I took the one from the opening login screen). Next I desaturated all of the "greenish" highlights in the theme, so now I have exactly what I wanted. From what I've read, I don't think it's possible to change only the text in the menu bar...so I guess I'll keep that stock for right now.

Thank you so much for your help!

-NewSushi

Originally Posted by esXXI

• Apply SIRO, relaunch ThemePark (make sure it's not excluded from ShapeShifter)
• Add a theme, click Options and turn on Menu Enahancer
• Go to: Elements > Global Elements > Menubar and Menus
• With that selected, click: Theme > Merge With Installed Elements
• Check, and all the Menubar and Menus resourcecs should now be SIRO-ed

If you don't want SIRO menus: Repeat above but only select the following and Merge With Installed Elements:
• Apple - Blue
• Apple - Graphite
• Menubar Caps
• Menubar Fill
• Menu Title Selected - Blue
• Menu Title Selected - Graphite

You also need to change the Spotlight images, go to: Elements > Menu Extras > Spotlight and Merge these:
• Search Widget (Aqua)
• Search Widget (Aqua, Pressed)
• Search Widget (Graphite)
• Search Widget (Graphite, Pressed)

As for fonts: You can't change them in a theme. You need to change them using Silk and Tinkertool (search this forum, it's been explained lots).

[Oisín]

*le super-bump + thread-hijackage + dumb theming newbie questions galore*

Originally Posted by esXXI

You also need to change the Spotlight images, go to: Elements > Menu Extras > Spotlight and Merge these

I'm modding an old pre-Tiger theme, and there's no Spotlight in Elements > Menu Extras — how can I either add it there, or locate the files and edit them manually?

Also, a couple of other things that are bugging me:

1. I'm wanting to use a transparent menubar with this theme, but when the menubar is transparent, no matter how I chop and change the click mask, it only reacts to clicks on those very thin spaces where there's text underneath, ie. not inside an o or a D, only along the lines. Is there no way of changing this?

2. How do I get rid of the extra bit of space between the menubar and the menus that open? There's about a millimetre of space between them, and I can't seem to figure out where it comes from.

3. I see lots of other themes that have transparent docks incorporated, but how the hell do people get that done? I can't find anything even close to dock transparency...

[Hi I'm Mike]

silk is now tiger ready also

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

Originally Posted by Oisín

*le super-bump + thread-hijackage + dumb theming newbie questions galore*
I'm modding an old pre-Tiger theme, and there's no Spotlight in Elements > Menu Extras — how can I either add it there, or locate the files and edit them manually?

1. I'm wanting to use a transparent menubar with this theme
2. How do I get rid of the extra bit of space between the menubar and the menus that open?
3. I see lots of other themes that have transparent docks incorporated

Spotlight
First apply the theme, open ThemePark, create new guiKit package, add a theme, name it and select it, then Merge with Installed Elements (from Theme menu)
Spotlight graphics are in :
> yourtheme / Elements / Menu Extras /Spotlight
> yourtheme / Elements / Finder / Spotlight Get Info Window
> yourtheme / Elements / Spotlight Results

Transparant menubar :
Search this forum. Here's at least one :
> http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hlight=menubar

Space between menubar and opening menus
Check the graphics in
> yourtheme / Elements / Global Elements / Menubar and Menus to see if the cover enough area.

Transparant dock
Several possibilities : ClearDock - TransparantDock - Tinkertool
or in Themepark :
> yourtheme / Elements / Global Elements / Text Colors and scroll down about 3/4

[Oisín]

Ooh, getting help from the very best here—thanks, Gerrit

Originally Posted by Gerrit Vanoppen

Spotlight
First apply the theme, open ThemePark, create new guiKit package, add a theme, name it and select it, then Merge with Installed Elements (from Theme menu)
Spotlight graphics are in :
> yourtheme / Elements / Menu Extras /Spotlight
> yourtheme / Elements / Finder / Spotlight Get Info Window
> yourtheme / Elements / Spotlight Results

Oops, sorry, forgot to say: I tried that, but when I try to add a theme, it stands there saying “Adding theme” for a while, then it looks like it finishes, but there's no new theme, and I can't merge with installed elements... Should have mentioned that before.

[quote]Transparant menubar :
Search this forum. Here's at least one :
> http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hlight=menubar

But that's just the problem (as it says in that thread) — if you go over about 90% of transparency, you can't click on things anymore, unless you're extremely good with your mouse.

Anyway, I think I might ditch the menubar transparency, the fonts look all ragged and edgy when the menu's transparent...

Space between menubar and opening menus
Check the graphics in
> yourtheme / Elements / Global Elements / Menubar and Menus to see if the cover enough area.

Which ones, exactly? Menu Item (Fill)? Root Menu Item (Fill)? Menu Background? And what is 'enough' area? (Heh, I said I was a theming newbie)

Transparant dock
in Themepark :
> yourtheme / Elements / Global Elements / Text Colors and scroll down about 3/4

I don't see anything... I have 'List background', 'Tooltip background', and 'Sidebar background', those are the only not text-related ones I can see...

(I'm on ShapeShifter 2.1.1)

[Gerrit Vanoppen]

1° The problem about ThemePark not responding well has been discussed somewhere in this forum or over at MacThemes - sorry I don't remember. Perhaps the usual stuff might help : Repair Permissions, Restart…

2° Menubar : Root Menu Item fills and caps. With enough area I meant the exact height of the graphic being 22 pixels high. If you refer to a thin gray line of 1 pixel between the menubar and the dropdown menu, well that's the dropdown menu border. You can get rid of that with Shadowkiller or WindowShadeX. Look at my latest screenshot (progress of VOID) for that particular result.

3° Perhaps you're opening a ThemePark file that was made with an older version of TP, in which case the new items aren't there. You should make a new guiKit package, and make sure you have the latest TP version (2.1.1)

P.S. I'm really not the very best here, but thanks for the compliment

[Oisín]

Errr, yeah, when I wrote ShapeShifter 2.1.1, I meant ThemePark 2.1.1... a minor brainfart.

Yes, the file was definitely made with an older version of TP, since it's pre-Tiger.

The Menubar space thing isn't the dropdown menu border; I want that to be there. It looks like this:



Both Root Menu Item fills/caps and Menu Item fills/caps are 22 pixels high (Menu Item fills/caps were 18 before, but I just made them 22 to see if that would somehow help... it didn't).

[esXXI]

Originally Posted by Oisín

Errr, yeah, when I wrote ShapeShifter 2.1.1, I meant ThemePark 2.1.1... a minor brainfart.

Yes, the file was definitely made with an older version of TP, since it's pre-Tiger.

The Menubar space thing isn't the dropdown menu border; I want that to be there. It looks like this:



Both Root Menu Item fills/caps and Menu Item fills/caps are 22 pixels high (Menu Item fills/caps were 18 before, but I just made them 22 to see if that would somehow help... it didn't).

The space between the menubar and menus is, in effect, just part of the menu not showing. I couldn't make out if you wanted it that way or not (tired-not-my-fault ). It happens when you have the Menu Background transparent, but then fill Aqua Menu Item (Caps) and Aqua Menu Item (Fill) (as well as the other varieties) with the menu colour.

[Oisín]

Ha, that simple!!! That was exactly the answer to what I needed to know: what name did that space have. Thanks a bunch, Rick!

Now I just need to figure out how to get a 1 px black border on the left, right, and bottom sides of the menus, without getting one on the top side, and without having odd black lines running wild throughout the top and bottom of the menus (if that's possible at all)...

Oh, btw—is it possible to turn off the shadow of the menubar itself (making it completely invisible), but still keep the shadow of the menus that drop down? (I tried Shadowkiller, but it wouldn't work, just quit itself as soon as I started it.)

[esXXI]

Originally Posted by Oisín

Ha, that simple!!! That was exactly the answer to what I needed to know: what name did that space have. Thanks a bunch, Rick!

Now I just need to figure out how to get a 1 px black border on the left, right, and bottom sides of the menus, without getting one on the top side, and without having odd black lines running wild throughout the top and bottom of the menus (if that's possible at all)...

Oh, btw—is it possible to turn off the shadow of the menubar itself (making it completely invisible), but still keep the shadow of the menus that drop down? (I tried Shadowkiller, but it wouldn't work, just quit itself as soon as I started it.)

No problems. If you mean a border inside the menu then you can do it on the left and right, but not at the bottom (since that would be the bottom line of every Menu Item (Cap) and Menu Item (Fill)). Since you've got rid of the menu background just make the Menu Item (Caps) have a pixel-border on the left and right (I believe #1 and #5 in the list are left, #2 and #6 are right).

You'll have to do the same with the Menu Divider (Caps), which are too narrow by default. I can't remember what size they are but I just make them 20px wide (they're truncated either way). If you use the default width then they tile-file (and you'll get two lines).

Hope that helps, if you need anything else don't hesitate to get me on iChat.

[Oisín]

I already have borders on the Menu Item (Caps) and Menu Divider (Caps), and that works great. The only thing missing now is that there's no border on those small areas that are just Menu Background (ie. the very top and the very bottom). So I have an inside border running along the left and right side, except for about five pixels at the top and bottom. Now I just need some way to get the border to run along the bottom too, as well as those last five or so pixels by the corners, so that I have one long, unbroken border from top left counter-clockwise up to top right. I tried just making Menu Background a lot bigger (like 20 x 300 px or something) and adding a border to that, but that produced some very, erm, peculiar results (I now have some kind of black grid running through the labelling section of the context menu you get by right-clicking on a file anywhere)...

I think I might be stretching the realms of possibility trying to get the rest of the border, though... Maybe I should just capitulate and accept that I'll always be about five pixels short of a full border.

(I will take you up on that offer, though )

[esXXI]

Originally Posted by Oisín

I already have borders on the Menu Item (Caps) and Menu Divider (Caps), and that works great. The only thing missing now is that there's no border on those small areas that are just Menu Background (ie. the very top and the very bottom). So I have an inside border running along the left and right side, except for about five pixels at the top and bottom. Now I just need some way to get the border to run along the bottom too, as well as those last five or so pixels by the corners, so that I have one long, unbroken border from top left counter-clockwise up to top right. I tried just making Menu Background a lot bigger (like 20 x 300 px or something) and adding a border to that, but that produced some very, erm, peculiar results (I now have some kind of black grid running through the labelling section of the context menu you get by right-clicking on a file anywhere)...

I think I might be stretching the realms of possibility trying to get the rest of the border, though... Maybe I should just capitulate and accept that I'll always be about five pixels short of a full border.

(I will take you up on that offer, though )

Ah, I thought you were keeping the Menu Background transparent (so I didn't say anything about that).

You can't do what you want on the top and bottom right corners, or the bottom. There's just no way to do it (at least yet). If you make the Menu Background 700 by 20px and put a 1px border on the left side, then you'll get the border on the left and it shouldn't repeat (feel free to make it larger, like 900px though). I think you already did that but I'm repeating anyway.

Since the bottom will be a part of the Menu Background there's just no way to ensure that where you put the border on the image, will be the bottom of the menu. And since it tile's it'll look rather bad.

[Oisín]

Yup, that's what I realised too... *sigh*

*patiently waits for next version of TP/OS X, which will feature a new Menu Background (Caps) resource, where this can be done in a jiffy*

Hmm... just had a thought: isn't it possible somehow to remove the Menu Background altogether? Not just have it transparent, but simply remove the space it takes up at each end of the menu?