[fireside]

i'm kinda disappointed. i didn't really like the themes that won. but they were pretty good. good job to all of ya'll.

http://www.macthemes.net/contest/winners.php

[Lefo]

There were some close ones in there, and it just goes to show that everyone has a different sense of style.

Congrats to the winners, and to some of the losers; don't stop! You've got great ideas!

Lefo

[OwlBoy]

Sweet Slumber? hmmm

-Owl

[justinp]

Okay, so when can we download them?

[phillryu]

Well, I was going to make my own thread after creating a press release, but whatever. My fault.

"Thanks to everyone for a wonderful first theme mockup contest. To recap, we had 46 entries, 25,000 visitors on the first day of user voting, over a thousand dollars of software and cash prizes donated by sponsors, and now, we have six winners.

Please proceed to the (http://www.macthemes.net/contest/winners.php) winners page to view and comment on the winning mockups. We are expecting the construction of these entries into themes to take about two months.

There were many great entries, and many that did not make the top 6 still deserve to be made into a theme. That having been said, I am working as always to secure more themers, to have these great ideas turned into reality. Feel free to comment here on reflections, suggestions, and general comments. Please use the winners page to comment on winning mockups. And all entries now display the final score, and that page will remain up for some time.

Again, thanks to everyone for making this contest a success."

[mac15]

Congrads guys, have fun making them too

[idle]

yay, indeed. so it seems. And i'm more than happy since i did not really expect to win considering my popular vote results. Now i'm looking forward of putting this into reality even if this means that i have to sacrifice some hours of sleep cause university is going to start again in a week or so.

anyway, here again: congrats to everybody for such a cool contest and especially to the winners and the macthemes.net staff and panel.

[ idle. ]

oww, no! my sig is outdated. lol

[deej5871]

Sweet Slumber is awesome. I'm really happy it placed. I can't wait to use it.

Yay!

[orangep0ny]

the saturation on sweet slumber needs a knock down i think.

[ambush]

Where's Mac-A-Be? The only usable theme!

[Ozzpot]

Originally posted by fireside:
i'm kinda disappointed. i didn't really like the themes that won. but they were pretty good. good job to all of ya'll.

Didn't like them? I thought every one was awesome! Amazingly, my own personal top 6 matched exactly the final order of winners! I can't wait for the full themes to be completed. They are really going to raise the bar for future themes. I can barely believe that some of them are even possible! There were one or two outside the top six that I would like to see made too. Great work everyone who entered!

Funnily enough, I have just completed an icon set that is going to look SOOO cool with NickelCobalt. Purely by coincidence they are bevelled, dark blue glass in style! Can't wait for the theme!

[phillryu]

Originally posted by ambush:
Where's Mac-A-Be? The only usable theme!

That, Paper & Plastic, Protean, and perhaps a few others I have personal interest in, and I am working to get themers for regardless that they didn't win. Sit tight, and I'll post news as it comes.

[MetalSnake]

At least Half Live and Sweet Slumber are in there my favorite was Boneyard, I hope someone else will make real theme out of it *sniff* Slime was cool too, and GABAT, and LustRazor so many cool Mockups and almost only the usual stuff won

Well Sweet Slumber, normally I hate that colour but somehow I like that Mockup.

Anyhow, congratulations to the winners and get those themes done, better yesterday than tomorrow

[Stuphalina]

Originally posted by phillryu:
That, Paper & Plastic, Protean, and perhaps a few others I have personal interest in, and I am working to get themers for regardless that they didn't win. Sit tight, and I'll post news as it comes.

I don't want to sound like a child who wasn't picked to play on a team, but that's not really fair to the others. A "personal interest?" Wow, then what was the point of having everyone else vote? I know they get a prize, but the whole point was to have themes made from those mock-ups that were voted best by everyone.
I know I'm ranting here, but if you say your going to get a few of your favorites made into themes, at least make all of them.

Flame me on...

[Lord Sith]

Originally posted by Stuphalina:
I don't want to sound like a child who wasn't picked to play on a team, but that's not really fair to the others. A "personal interest?" Wow, then what was the point of having everyone else vote? I know they get a prize, but the whole point was to have themes made from those mock-ups that were voted best by everyone.
I know I'm ranting here, but if you say your going to get a few of your favorites made into themes, at least make all of them.

Flame me on...

I agree.

Hopefully phillryu just used a poor choice of words.

[phillryu]

Oooh That was stupid.

I should've also mentioned that they had a really strong showing in user votes, and all came in the top ten, not to mention I've had many people bugging me about those three in particular. Let me add the personal interest as an after thought.

I'm really sorry about that slip up, and I request that no flaming starts. The other user voting thread degenerated into one large argument, and I'd hate to see this one do that too. Please continue on with general contest comments

[Stuphalina]

Originally posted by phillryu:
I'm really sorry about that slip up, and I request that no flaming starts.

Your forgiven. I don't want a flame war either.

[Lord Sith]

*smooch*

[Zimphire]

All of them did a great job.

Now lets get those themes made.

[quandarry]

now that the voting is over i'll post my list of themes that somehow garnered substantial votes to my utter amazement.

paper and plastic

mac-a-be

mjolner

protean

this proves to me some people can't taste the difference between wallpaper paste and porridge.

maybe it was good that the panel made a difference in the popular vote results.

[Kenneth]

cool.. I just knew there is even a contest. Where can I see the nominees?

[phillryu]

Originally posted by Kenneth:
cool.. I just knew there is even a contest. Where can I see the nominees?

http://www.macthemes.net/contest/entries.php

[Sage]

Those are the themes I wanted to win too. And I know Max likes NickelCobalt, so that should make an excellent matchup.

On that note, Joe's doing Pro LCD, right?

[brn]

I did not win, but there's allways next year, right? I didn't think I would win, though. The winning themes were allready favorized by some of the more... influencive people on the board.
Could anyone on macthemes.net put the other entries in scoring order instead, so that people can see which themes who made it 7th, 8th etc.

Final questions, when will the next contest be? Where do I put my mockups now? Anyone else who wants to do my Equestrian theme?

in reply to answer on first question; Whoo! I'm in!
in reply to answer on second question: Great!
in reply to answer on third question: Coo', post in my equestrian thread on this forum for more info.

[Holigen]

I guess I gotta change my sig back to normal... Sorry owl...

[DigitalEl]

I'm glad ProLCD and Simple Grey will get made. Many of my other favorites lagged in the voting though. C'est la vie.

[Patcarla]

I'm happy that Calabi and simple grey will become real...
congrats to the winners

[NetworkShadow]

JoE NEEDs to do Half-Life, anyone who has used [f]p would know that nobody does textures in themes like JoE. I sure hope Calabi gets done by a worthy themer too, it's too slick to just give to just anyone.

[Patcarla]

Originally posted by NetworkShadow:
JoE NEEDs to do Half-Life, anyone who has used [f]p would know that nobody does textures in themes like JoE. I sure hope Calabi gets done by a worthy themer too, it's too slick to just give to just anyone.

exactly my thoughts

[wibs]

Originally posted by Sage:
Those are the themes I wanted to win too. And I know Max likes NickelCobalt, so that should make an excellent matchup.

On that note, Joe's doing Pro LCD, right?

As far as I know who does what has been thrown up into the air. All I really know for sure is that my monitor settings won't let me do Sweet Slumber or Calabi, so for those of you who don't want to see my grubby hands on them... consider yourself lucky .

...although I am a bit sad I won't get to make Half Life =-\

[kovacs]

Garnet, Mac-a-Be and Paper and plastic also deserve to be made as a theme.

Anyway congratulations to the winners

[Patcarla]

Originally posted by kovacs:
Garnet, Mac-a-Be and Paper and plastic also deserve to be made as a theme.

Anyway congratulations to the winners

There is a chance that Paper and plastic will be made..

[mrtew]

I've got a great idea... Instead of giving away free copies of ThemePark to the winners who obviously have no need for it because their themes are getting made by someone else... how about giving away free copies of TP to the losers as a consolation prize so they can make the themes themselves! There were some really really cool and great theme ideas submitted that should definitely be made. Everyone really does have different taste after all, and it'd really be a shame for the five or six that got the most votes to be the only ones to see the light of day and the slightly more interesting ones below to disappear forever.

[WICKEDfour]

Ooh. I really like mrtew's idea. However, that may become a pretty expensive loss on at very least Jason's part.

Also, there's nothing stopping the mockups that didn't win from being made into a real theme by someone else at all. The only thing missing is a themer. I'd wait until Phill says anything, but I'd think that it'd be fine if you just emailed him to see if you can realize a mockup. These types of requests should probably go through Phill just so we don't have three people starting work on a single mockup.

On that note, Joe's doing Pro LCD, right?

I would love to realize Pro LCD, but as Harlan (wibs) said, we'll be shuffling themers around for the 2nd-6th place themes according to each themer's strengths and such. That said, it's still very possible that I'll be realizing Pro LCD, but on the other hand I may realize Sweet Slumber (one of first mockups that I really liked), depending on circumstances. We'll figure all that out soon so we can get to theming though.

[chezpaul]

I'm glad to see the top four being my top 4... ;-)
I'm really glad Half life made it too...
I hope the "PRO" themers can choose which one they'll make or at least exchange themes if need be. I would hate to be stuck with a theme I don't want to make. The theme wouldn't come out as good.

[NetworkShadow]

Originally posted by mrtew:
I've got a great idea... Instead of giving away free copies of ThemePark to the winners who obviously have no need for it because their themes are getting made by someone else... how about giving away free copies of TP to the losers as a consolation prize so they can make the themes themselves! There were some really really cool and great theme ideas submitted that should definitely be made. Everyone really does have different taste after all, and it'd really be a shame for the five or six that got the most votes to be the only ones to see the light of day and the slightly more interesting ones below to disappear forever.

Hay I'd be into that. I'm 15th place.

[Holigen]

Sound good to me tew. Nice idea

[wibs]

just a little heads up, I've spoken to Harold and have been plugging things into ThemePark like crazy. I guess that means I'm doing ProLCD .

[fireside]

Originally posted by mrtew:
I've got a great idea... Instead of giving away free copies of ThemePark to the winners who obviously have no need for it because their themes are getting made by someone else... how about giving away free copies of TP to the losers as a consolation prize so they can make the themes themselves! There were some really really cool and great theme ideas submitted that should definitely be made. Everyone really does have different taste after all, and it'd really be a shame for the five or six that got the most votes to be the only ones to see the light of day and the slightly more interesting ones below to disappear forever.

i'd rather have ShapeShifter than ThemePark. heheheh..

[orangep0ny]

Originally posted by wibs:
just a little heads up, I've spoken to Harold and have been plugging things into ThemePark like crazy. I guess that means I'm doing ProLCD .

well it would be a lot of work to waste because macthemes will be telling us what themes we will be doing..you could give your themepark file to whoever gets it if you don't though. But we have all been told we cant just go out and say we are doing this one or another one. So don't jump the gun cause someone else could get the theme.

[wibs]

Originally posted by orangep0ny:
well it would be a lot of work to waste because macthemes will be telling us what themes we will be doing..you could give your themepark file to whoever gets it if you don't though. But we have all been told we cant just go out and say we are doing this one or another one. So don't jump the gun cause someone else could get the theme.

don't worry, I've been talking to phill. Theming is a time killer for me, so it's not like I'm wasting any time on it right now. if in the end someone else gets assigned ProLCD (which I doubt) I'll of course pass over the themepark file, I don't think anyone would complain too much about having some of the backgrounds and such already done for them.

[Sage]

And anyway, I don't think Phill would be so bad-hearted as to pull that out of your hands.

Ooh boy, I can't wait till these themes are made! I feel like a little kid in a candy store.

[Kenneth]

Originally posted by phillryu:
http://www.macthemes.net/contest/entries.php

Thanks.

[phillryu]

Posted at MT:

"People have been asking about how the themers have been matched up with the winning entries.


Max Rudberg will be doing Paul Johnson's NickelCobalt.
Harlan Lewis will be doing the second place winner, Harold Harmon's Pro LCD.
Calabi by Sascha will be done by Joe of fearplatinum.
Half Life by Xanthic will be done by Mike of guistain.
Simple Grey by Ric Zito will be created by Kevin Husted.
Finally, Sweet Slumber by Daniel Goffin will be realized by Joe Kohlmann.


There are reasons behind each match up, and cares were taken to have each themer matched up with an entry they enjoyed.


In other news, this contest page will remain up for several more days as the rest of the site receives a face lift. However, I will begin to post theme news here, so come back soon!"

[wibs]

ProLCD, and it aint no mockup.

clickie clickie

Obviously there are some weird things going on (widgets are a tad too low, some of the toolbar buttons don't seem quite polished, menu divider is oddly disconcerting...), but that's what's running. Quite a bit else of it is done too.

Mainly what I wanted to say though is that because of OS X limitations, the menus and menubar can't be done the way that the mockup wants them. I'm fairly happy with the replacement I've been able to make, but this mockup was picked because of community voting so I want to see what direction people want me to take this. So here are the options...

Menubar: does this suck, or back to the drawing board? Keep in mind that there really isn't any way around having dividers between each item if the items get the LCD background. Oh, and don't mind the Finder menu being replaced by its icon... that's just FruitMenu doing it's thing.

Menus: very simple, very usable, very clean. A lot like DD actually, which works for DD but not for ProLCD. The curves in the corners shown in the original mockup won't work, and even putting borders on either side can be an eyesore at times (in Finder menus next to the label color picker, also at the extreme top and bottom of each menu). The exact flaw is that only the border on the left can be done absolutely everywhere. The question is... are these flaws acceptable in order to have a border on the menus a vast majority of the time, or is something a little more simple like in the screenshot the right path?

Feedback welcome and appreciated . If someone out there knows a way to get borders on the left and right side of the menu reliably, please tell me. I don't mind being called a n00b.

[mac15]

Its a pity the menubars don't work like in the mockup, I don't like the new menubars one bit

[testnull]

Originally posted by wibs:
ProLCD, and it aint no mockup.

clickie clickie

I love the new menubar! Personally I think it's better than in the mockup. The separators between menus is something I don't think I've seen before, and it looks really clean to me. One thought is that if you didn't round the corners on the menu title background, then it might flow together as if it's one segment of LCD with vertical separators - a bit closer to the concept, perhaps.

What's the reason you changed the toolbar tictac? I really liked the one in the concept. Besides, the new one's off-center :-)

[wibs]

Originally posted by testnull:
What's the reason you changed the toolbar tictac? I really liked the one in the concept. Besides, the new one's off-center :-)

all the widgets are bit out of place due to me rushing through them, heh . I changed it because the double arrows are just like popup arrows or the arrows next to Date and Time when you're changing the clock... basically the association with those is with things other than a toolbar, and you expect something to happen other than a toolbar appearing or disappearing.

That said the little rectangle isn't great, but it's more obvious from a usability standpoint. I'll work on coming up with something more original later.

[wibs]

Originally posted by testnull:
One thought is that if you didn't round the corners on the menu title background, then it might flow together as if it's one segment of LCD with vertical separators - a bit closer to the concept, perhaps.

hehe, forgot to comment on this part . I actually did what you suggest first, but the problem is that it makes the start and end of the whole LCD area look very square and really contrasts with the rest of the curves in the theme. That little change wouldn't seem like a big deal, but to me it stuck out like a sore thumb. The tiny dip above seperators between items is worth it, imho.

[Sage]

Very nice!

You know what's good, so I'll just say what I think needs work, mostly little niggles that I like to nag themers about:

1. The "pill button" (I forget what it's really called) doesn't look right, just being a rectangle. I think it would be cool if you use the upside down carrot (^) symbol, like what Swiz uses in ChosenOS.

2. Personally, I'm not fond of huge Finder toolbar buttons... they just look kinda garish being that big.

3. Yeah, the menubar needs work, but I can't think of anything better that would fit into Aqua's guidelines. :-\

4. Am I right in assuming that the "Back" button is disabled? problem is, it looks selected... maybe just lightening the middle arrow and leaving the background the same color as the enabled state would be better?

5. I'm also not sure about the selected state for the View buttons, though again I'm out of ideas for what would be "better".

6. Can you please, please make something new for the growbox? I always like themes that use something instead of the normal diagonal lines.