 |
 |
New Theme ..for those who miss Kaleidoscope
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Hullo..while working on an OSX theme to match HiTech in OS9, i took a bit of a curve and came out with this..I'm not entirely sure how to attach an image here so u can see, but your welcome to go download it and see what you think..
I think maybe I should introduce myself here as I'm relatively new to these forums and most probably wouldn't know me..
I have been a professional musician in several bands (which ones really doesn't matter), a sculptor, and graphics artist for over 2 decades , and used to be very well known in thre win31 gui customization scene (Calmira etc...) quite a long while ago, before I got a mac some years ago.
This is my first OSX theme, and I only made it as I'm working on a new portfolio, and wanted something different in it than the standard fare..
However, i'm hooked now 
Here's the link, and please leave a comment as to what you think (except about the buttons, i know they could be better....)
4shared - free file sharing and storage - share folder - themes
Thanx....Doc
(
Last edited by doccus; Apr 27, 2007 at 12:36 AM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
OOps..it's panther only..forgot to mention...thats what I've got, and it's a DLTA, so anyone can use it....Doc
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
(
Last edited by doccus; Apr 27, 2007 at 12:36 AM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
(
Last edited by doccus; Apr 27, 2007 at 12:36 AM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
First off - welcome doccus. It is good to get new ideas here.
I am on Tiger so some of the resources may not be showing up correctly. that being said take some of, scratch that, take all of what I say as my thoughts.
I can't work with the WindowPane theme... too much whatever it is... IMHO. Understand, usuability is not a necessary requirement for me, one of my favs is Sweet Slumber, check it out on Interfacelift.com, but continuity is real important. If your going for PsychTechnoWacky - then really work the textures and get it there.
I think if you are using Gizmo as inspiration, take some screen shots and drag them into PS. ThemePark will let you create the menus from Gizmo. The titlebars are going to be tricky. Check out the aforementioned SweetSlumber, also Nickel Colbalt and Amora for rule breaking titlebars. There are many more out there that do the same stuff but those are just a few.
Carbon Fiber on the other hand is a nice start. Making navigation buttons to match the drop downs could be a challenge but there is promise.
Looking forward to updates on your progress. 
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
doccus
I'm probably the wrong guy to comment on the themes you're working on. I'm one of those that always looks at functionality over form. When I look at a theme the question I ask myself is, "Will I enjoy working with this all day?" When OS X was released I loved Aqua. It was fresh, different and a pleasure to work with. Alas, I've become bored with it. Whatever replaces it has to be at least as easy to work with, preferably better looking. I acknowledge that many look at their desktop/theme as a work of art. I'm okay with that, but my Mac is my taxi rather than my weekend car. Carbon Fiber has promise, but to be honest, it would have to lose the Fiber part for me to use it. WindowPane...do they still sell window pane acid?
None of that is meant as criticism. One person looks at a piece of art and thinks, "Yikes! That's beautiful!" Another looks at it and thinks, "Yikes! It's giving me a headache!"
So, the purpose of this diatribe is simply to acknowledge your work and welcome you back to theming.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Carbon Fibre started as *All* black with a pattern I got out of an old illustrator disk..it was absolutely unusable because only the carbon apps would show white lettering. so slowly everything got lighter and lighter except the finder, which I did six different times in various transparencies.. it looked a lot better with lots of transparency but didn't match the toolbar..the toolbar looks awful with the blue grey component taken out yadda yadda (a la graphite).
I think windowpane is quite usable, if perhaps not for everyone...
maybe I'm different tho as my favorite themes are brass paper, blueprint, and executive, which are pretty extravagent..
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
eyebaan..is your finder showing any color under tiger? the diffs between it and panther are pretty severe..on my OS *everything is either multihued or light green.toolbar and menus , finder hued, alerts etc light green)..
Will be getting a macbook sometime soon for away, and will redo them then, i guess....
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
sorry about the misspell..eyevaan
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
(
Last edited by doccus; Apr 27, 2007 at 12:35 AM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
doccus
Obviously there's more work to be done on the theme, but the general appearance gets a thumbs up from me. I already get plenty of fibre in my diet, so I don't miss it at all here. This could turn into a bea-u-tiful theme.
Sandy
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Thanx Sandy..Trying to balance usability and form on these black ones is pretty tough, (particularly with cocoa font colors) and that's one reason there were so many diferent shades of black...
I started this one ages before the windowpane theme and still working on it...
one day, folks....
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
I hear you. If all you used was the finder, dark coloured themes would be sexy and easy to use. It's when you actually throw 3rd party applications into the mix that whether or not dark themes will work pretty well turns into a crap shoot.
Adobe seems to have changed the GUI in CS3...menus will actually display white text instead of remaining black and disappearing against dark menus. That put a smile onto my face.
Cheers
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Hah...when CS3 starts appearing used cheap! I'll keep that in mind
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
(
Last edited by doccus; Apr 27, 2007 at 12:35 AM.
)
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Grizzled Veteran
Join Date: Apr 2004
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Status:
Offline
|
|
you gotta be feelin pretty good about CarbonFiber at this start... It's workin' for me.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
4shared.com seems to have disappeared (at least temporarily). I'll give it a shot again later.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
OK i didn't realize i coulda gone and edited my posts..so all the links should now point to the same spot..i'm happy enough with it (carbon) now, after all night tonite cleaning it , and the buttons, and the 3 zillion scrollbars..all up, that i'll leave it for a while and catch me ole breath...
As to a screenshot..as I understand it (correct me if im wrong..like it ever happens , I need to have it some image hosting service..which i don't yet ..soon....
Doc
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Mac Elite
Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Dark Side of the Moon
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Senior User
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Montréal (Québec)
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
thx..will set it up now...
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
If ya wanna see what I've done in the way of matching iTunes skins and other various Themechanger mods..you can have a look at the other ones I've now put up there..
Just if your curious, is all..nothing earthshattering
Doc
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Doc
I know you said Carbon Fibre was a Panther only theme, so it isn't surprising that I'd getting odd results in Tiger (I'm running 10.4.9 on an Intel iMac). I thought I'd show you these though, just FYI.
This is happening with Finder windows:
This is happening in app windows (in this case, Preview):
Sandy
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Yeah..the buttons are completely different in Tiger..only the two that showed as black are the same..happens in reverse too, except running a tiger theme in 10.3 doesn't even give you the standard aqua buttoons, but placeholders..or ugly looking masks..
The lines on the document window titlebars are intentional..since the fonts on cocoa apps stay black no matter what you do I had to think of something that would let you be able to actually tell which window was open..I tried solid grey, colored, and other strips, but since there's no consistency between how OSX fills it's titlebars, what looked good on one titlebar was a splotchy mess on a different one (see, using the same resource, , some are downsized and then tiled, and some are just tiled, and some are stretched out by a factor of 10 or more)..since they all use the same pattern resource, you can't simply pick the most appropriate one for each window.
The were added by tricking the windows into using the pattern the same way each time by making the resource way bigger than the maximum possible dimensions of the finder..
It was one of the trickies bits of the whole theme...
But at least you can read all the titlebard now..!
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Junior Member
Join Date: Apr 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Join Date: Mar 2007
Status:
Offline
|
|
Thanks for sharing Doc. Hope things work out for ya and we see you back.
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 
|
|
|
Forum Rules
|
|
|
|
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
|
HTML code is Off
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Top