Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

the_plan · Jun 19, 2005, 12:53 AM

Well, it's a minor mod. It just updates Tiger to be smoother, silkier, glossier, and bluer.

I managed to get the System Preference toolbar to look like it does in default Tiger, which I prefer over ShapeShifter's default fix.

Screenshot:
http://www.imacfreak.com/themes/ultrablue.jpg

Download:
http://www.imacfreak.com/themes/Tige...lue.guiKit.zip

Randman · Jun 19, 2005, 06:55 AM

Interesting.

MacDog · Jun 19, 2005, 03:29 PM

I'm really trying, but I see no difference at all...

sofamystic · Jun 19, 2005, 03:51 PM

the label colours are more pastel- like is one thing i noticed. nice but not really my cup of tea. thanks for sharing, though.

the_plan · Jun 19, 2005, 04:21 PM

Originally Posted by MacDog

I'm really trying, but I see no difference at all...

See no difference in what? Between Tiger default and Tiger UltraBlue? Perhaps that screen shot wasn't the best example.

First and foremost, most of the aqua and graphite buttons are more vivid and have more contrast. Same with the window titlebar widgets. There's no pinstripes anywhere in my theme. I like the Smoothstripes theme, but I hate the way ShapeShifter doesn't keep the unified toolbar in Tiger, and replaces the bevel buttons (like those in System Preferences) with really ugly buttons, so I fixed that. Menu highlight blues have also been changed. I changed the labels to be flat, instead of the beveled look Aqua default has, which I can't stand. Scroll bars and progress bars have been updated also since Apple hasn't updated those since 10.0.

This theme is not a complete change from Aqua default at all. I'm of the opinion that Aqua default is near perfect, and so I just changed the things I didn't like about it. I'm not a big user of big flashy themes that completely change everything and usually render the UI unusable. As I said before, this is a subtle mod. It's basically my version of, and a little more modified than, Max's Aqua Extreme.

JellyBeen · Jun 19, 2005, 08:05 PM

Good job! Thanks for sharing.

janeiro · Jun 21, 2005, 04:45 PM

"I like the Smoothstripes theme, but I hate the way ShapeShifter doesn't keep the unified toolbar in Tiger"

Me too! Thanks for this theme

the_plan · Jun 21, 2005, 06:08 PM

Thanks for this theme

You're very welcome... and here is an update. http://www.imacfreak.com/themes/Tige...lue.guiKit.zip

There are a some minor changes many of you might not even notice. I put in a little more contrast in the push buttons, and changed the toolbar buttons a little bit in Mail.app.

janeiro · Jun 23, 2005, 06:58 PM

I'll stick with the old one, cause the only thing I don't like is the flat label, and this new version put mail button that way.

Anyway thanks

Helmling · Jun 23, 2005, 07:11 PM

You wanna explain a little more about his for me...how does it work? How do I install it? Do you have more screenshots?

the_plan · Jun 23, 2005, 08:30 PM

You install it as a GUIkit. You need Tiger and ShapeShifter to run this theme.

I'm surprised people don't like the flattened labels. OS X default labels are hideous (they look too Windows-ish to me), and was one of the first things I was sure to change for this theme. Same goes for the Mail.app toolbar icons.

Anyway, I've been using this theme personally for months, and just wanted to share.

Ji Eun · Jun 23, 2005, 08:46 PM

i'm on a brand new machine and have yet to haxify it with shapeshifter. can you give us a fuller preview showing off some of the elements you're talking about? just the syspref panel hardly constitutes a 'preview'

the_plan · Jun 24, 2005, 04:07 PM

New preview: http://www.imacfreak.com/themes/ultrablue.jpg