[unlinear]

WickedFOUR gets my 'most promising new themer of 2003' award. It's award time, ya know.

Hot diggity damn.
yum.

[cybergoober]

Great work.

Your contributions are greatly appreciated. Look forward to seeing the final product�

[WICKEDfour]

Whoa, thanks for the praise, guys! Remember, save it for when it's out .

As far as widgets go, I made some changes:

• Now have a distinguishable rollover state
• Are now consistent with the outlined inactive/disabled look; appear as a bordered circle with the widget symbol filled in, like the inactive push button.

So far, this change is looking good.

I'm also pretty close to finding a title bar solution that provides enough distinction. Yay .

[WICKEDfour]

Just a heads up here

Since Photoshop does this completely stupid thing with the butted bevel buttons (For some reason it overlays them and doesn't redraw, and since they use transparency, after a few rollovers you have all black palette buttons. ), I'll have to "cheat" with these elements and make their transparency masks completely opaque (then making the opaque fill the color that is produced by the transparent elements). No change in the look, this will just take a second longer to do. I'm not sure how many other elements are going to do this, but I'm only "cheating" like this on an as-needed basis.

Oh yeah, I tried scroll bars, but they'll take a little longer to do right. I tried making square bars similar to the iPod's scroll bar, but it was way too nasty looking.

[WICKEDfour]

Hey guys, you can come back...I have a screenie for you!


That's the final scroll bar in its active, unclicked state.

Now, for the menus, I'm stuck. Which one?

Light


Dark

[Notes: The divider image and the arrow aren't updated.]
Both of these menus have reason to exist. The dark menu goes with the cutout thing, but the lighter menu shows the way that normal text will appear on a window against the lighter LCD background.

Oh yeah, as I said in the corresponding thread, Digital Device will definitely be entered into Unsanity's theme contest. I'll take this as another opportunity to thank all of you guys for your interest. This is going to be a great theme, and hey, I could get lucky and win some money, too! So far, I think I'll have a Public "Beta" before the end of the year, if not final. The one compromise I will have to make is with the control text colors, but it shouldn't be that bad. I've talked to smeger about it and he may be able to determine separate control text colors for elements outside of the buttons (i.e. non-web, application-coded text that corresponds to radio buttons and checkboxes, most people would like to know what they're picking, eh? ) with ShapeShifter.

[unlinear]

could you show the element in context (i.e. with a full window or something)?

so far so good.

[WICKEDfour]

Sure, I will when I make the stupid menu bar header work as well.

[cloudaj]

i like the lighter one...just seems much cleaner to me.

[mrtew]

Originally posted by WICKEDfour:
[B]Hey guys, you can come back...I have a screenie for you!


That's the final scroll bar in its active, unclicked state.

Now, for the menus, I'm stuck. Which one?

Light


Dark

The light menu looks better to me and normally I'm a big fan of dark stuff especially menus! This theme is looking great! Those scrollbars are fantastic!

[monkeybrain]

The lighter one looks much better I think. The scrollbar is excellent.

[cybergoober]

Sweet.

When you say "Public Beta" are you saying a beta version will be freely available?
If not, I would like to volunteer in the beta testing of this theme.

Keep up the good work.

[unlinear]

i'd love to beta too.


for the scrollbar - do you need the 1px border around it? it makes it look more fussy than the other elements - less minimalistic.

[Bombia]

This will be a great theme! I love it!

[WICKEDfour]

Originally posted by unlinear:
for the scrollbar - do you need the 1px border around it? it makes it look more fussy than the other elements - less minimalistic.

Yes kinda no. In an application such as Safari, the scroll bar is totally "out in the open". However, if you have a scroll bar in a text box, such as the one I'm typing this message in, the scroll bar will be inside the borders, which produces that look in the screenshot above. So, to directly answer your question, the outline is drawn by the system. It'll only look like that in the Theme Preview, so don't worry about it.

[Giano]

Great theme...

remember me an old project to make a Ableton Live theme.

http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.p...hreadid=127495

Here there is a pic of Ableton

http://www.ableton.com/pages/product...sessionbig.gif

The idea to give "life" to the all lcd-green flat theme with some flou color would be great in my opinion

[Sage]

Scollbar -

Menus - I like the lighter version (seems to fit the rest of the theme better).

This really is turning out to be a kick-ass theme (and toldly original too!). I'll admit I wasn't expecting a whole lot at first, but you've definitely proven to be on of the "up-and-rising" types, and I can't wait to see what other themes you might release in the future, especially when you get more prolific with ThemePark. Keep up the great work!

[WICKEDfour]

[Updates Fanfare]
Numero Uno:

These new scroll bars and arrows look better, um, everywhere.

Numero Dos:

The first box is how I want it to look. The second box is how it may have to look, depending on ShapeShifter in the near future. Otherwise, I may be able to compromise a little and make it look better, I don't like the second text box very much.

Whoa, there is some weird crap happening here...

First, the colors are wrong, trust me. They should be the color of the search text box's overall outline and fill, you'll notice that these are lighter. The original images had the correct coloring, so I think the OS is doing something messed up to them. Second, the white corners shouldn't be there; that's my (er, Photoshop's) fault. Third, the borders of the back/forward images come together because [GASP!] Apple made another interface boo-boo! Apple's back button is 27 px wide, so that's what I used for the width, including the border in there. Well, I applied the theme (with my newly-registered ShapeShifter, yay!), and the left button was shorter than the right one because it was getting squished!!!! Gaaah! That means that A. the left button resource should be 26 px wide, but B. there's no room for a 1 px border; it's have to be no separation border or a 2 px one.

Yeah, this has been driving me nuts for the last half hour or so.

[WICKEDfour]

...Help...

Ugh, lots of stuff is, uh, "coming to light" here.

I can't use transparency for the majority of the elements, they'll either get screwed up on their own or they'll look like crap on a web page.

Highlight colors are evil. No matter what I try they don't look right as the item selection color, they are discolored somehow.

Finder needs some color correction [sigh].

Control text colors are crazy; am I just too radical or something?

I'm going to get a good night's sleep now. Just to let those of you out there who are still listening ( ), Digital Device is very close to completion. It's really coming together nicely; the major problems are with text colors, transparent elements on backgrounds other than LCD beige, and the Finder.rsrc buttons.

[bOOzo]

To get transparency with the Finder buttons, drag the preview out of TP to create a tiff image and then edit that in PS. Then open them in Preview and paste back into TP and they will show up correctly. However, I also have the problem with miscolored buttons and I don't know how to fix that. Maybe it has something to do with indexed colors?
The too wide back buttons is a correct observation and the solution is simply to make it 26 pix wide.
And yes, it's better to use fake transparency than actual transparency for most buttons. Some elements, like the progressbars, require it.
It looks nice though

[WICKEDfour]

Originally posted by bOOzo:
To get transparency with the Finder buttons, drag the preview out of TP to create a tiff image and then edit that in PS. Then open them in Preview and paste back into TP and they will show up correctly. However, I also have the problem with miscolored buttons and I don't know how to fix that. Maybe it has something to do with indexed colors?
The too wide back buttons is a correct observation and the solution is simply to make it 26 pix wide.
And yes, it's better to use fake transparency than actual transparency for most buttons. Some elements, like the progressbars, require it.
It looks nice though

Indeed. I was able to correct the Finder buttons, at least for my own uses... Since the images allow transparency, I didn't "cheat" on those and made them transparent. It seems that this works! Yeah, there's definitely a positive change when my opaque images and transparent images are compared in use.

[cybergoober]

Man, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Do keep us informed. And as I stated earlier, I would be willing to help beta test it, if you need testers�

[Dave-o�]

Odd.. i was looking back in this thread, and there isn't a screen shot of a complete window.. let alone the menu bar.. So what do you think W4? care to share a little more insight on how this wonderful graphic user interface is going to interface with the likes of humans?
Nothing says Christmas like Blatz & Bratz

[WICKEDfour]

Okay, I have a few more things to wrap up, mainly the Finder.rsrc items. The first couple people who Private Message me with an interest of trying a beta version of Digital Device can try it out under the following conditions:

• You don't steal or rip off my hard work .
• You provide feedback to me about issues or bugs you may find other than ones I tell you exist
• You do not redistribute my theme anywhere, as it is wrong and it is a beta

Now, with that out of the way, I have to finish up some things...

[WICKEDfour]

Originally posted by Dave-o�:
Odd.. i was looking back in this thread, and there isn't a screen shot of a complete window.. let alone the menu bar.. So what do you think W4? care to share a little more insight on how this wonderful graphic user interface is going to interface with the likes of humans?
Nothing says Christmas like Blatz & Bratz

Soon, Dave-o�, soon . It's just a matter of refinement, the menus are pretty close to being done, but the checkboxes, etc. need some tweaking, they're really bad right now. I'm really close now, either later today or tomorrow I'll have a screenie.

[cybergoober]

Originally posted by WICKEDfour:
�The first couple people who Private Message me with an interest of trying a beta version of Digital Device can try it out under the following conditions:

• You don't steal or rip off my hard work .
• You provide feedback to me about issues or bugs you may find other than ones I tell you exist
• You do not redistribute my theme anywhere, as it is wrong and it is a beta

Now, with that out of the way, I have to finish up some things...

Don't know whether or not I fell into the first couple people category, but a PM has been sent�

[WICKEDfour]

Okay, I have all of my beta testers. Sorry to the people who didn't make it in time. If I have a more complete beta, like release quality, you guys are on the list. Those who wanted to beta test after this point, please don't PM me, it'll be out soon enough, thanks.

Okay, to business:
As far as control text colors go, I'm in a really tight spot because in order to produce the desired effect on the buttons, the control text color has to be the same color as the background, which conveniently makes all other control text (the text by a checkbox, for example) invisible! So, until ThemePark/ShapeShifter provides a way to specify a different control text color for buttons apart from other widgets that use the control text color, I have to go with this:

The text is a little darker than I wanted it to be, but when I changed the control text color to the darkest shade I've been using, which is the same color as the buttons' clicked state, the text would disappear basically.

Anyway, whatever, so I had to change the text colors. The question is, should the other text colors match this? I ask because I have no problem with using the same text color as the background with tabs:

Okay, that's all [for now...].

[Dave-o�]

WICKEDfour: I like the tabs better than the buttons.. The text seems easier to read and it's consistant with the theme.. Just my 2 cents on it..

[cloudaj]

nooooo what happened to the public beta, i folllow this thread everyday and the one day im out (celebrating getting into college ) I miss it...nooooo!



anyway enough with the melodrama, how is this theme coming, how long do you think till an actual release?

[WICKEDfour]

Sorry guys. I'll hook you up with some screenies.

I'm eyeing a January release. Early January.

Okay, screenies:





Note that the sidebar dimple undeniably looks like crap; I'm going to fix that.

"Oh boy! That guy's name is Joe!"
Well, aren't you clever?

[Holigen]

Nice job wicked. Youre right, the scrollbars do look a bit funky, but youre on the right track.

First post!

[WICKEDfour]

Originally posted by Dave-o�:
WICKEDfour: I like the tabs better than the buttons.. The text seems easier to read and it's consistant with the theme.. Just my 2 cents on it..

Well, I know that. The problem is that a lot of things use the control text color, some of those being checkboxes, radio buttons, etc. etc. and so-forth. That means that all of those will have text, but you wouldn't be able to read it at all. So...before ShapeShifter and ThemePark allow one to separate the text colors into button text and other control text, I have to use a dark text color for the control text.

[Lord Sith]

Very impressive, WICKEDfour.

I believe there will be a text update of which you are looking for in "SS 1.1".

[Dave-o�]

W4.. things are looking really, really good! I'm enjoying watching the progress of the theme as it develops.. Guess i should have gotten in on the beta program.. heh.. but i can wait like a good boy for good themes (unlike in other forum threads ~cough,cough~)

Pat yourself on the back.. You're truely doing great work!

Thank you Cardinals we owe you a Christmas present...

[WICKEDfour]

A slightly early "Happy New Year" wish to all of you!

[~Update Fanfare~]

Hookay, here's what I have going:

Finally, finished the large scroll bars! [Applause] They look great in column view:

(Column resize widgets haven't been addressed yet.)
[Addition: I know the gradient looks like �ber crap, but I was really bored .]

I cleaned the menus up a little; the small symbols (checkmark, diamond, etc.) still require some tweaking, but they're looking good. I also added a border so metal windows and such don't totally blend in when they're pressed up to the titlebar:

Note that the unselected text should be lighter; I changed it to match the highlight color, but I think I need the text to be darker. However, I want to keep the lighter menu item selection color.

That's all for now . I didn't get sliders done today . I need to take it up a notch here. However, I did make the buttons opaque and fix the butted bevel buttons by making them opaque as well. There's not much difference, but the transparent buttons looked really bad on web pages, uck. So, at least that's settled .

[Sage]

*Huge applause* Such an awesome theme! (And don't you dare change those scroll bars... they're prefect! )

[bluevertical]

AWESOME! I too have enjoyed watching the progress and look forward to this release.
Keep it up and happy new year to all.
Peace.

[Dave-o�]

Just one word...

TIGHT

[WICKEDfour]

Hookay, some official business today. The release date of Digital Device is set in stone: January 20th. Note that this is not a completion date; I will have to have the theme done for Unsanity's theme contest. The deadline for this is the 19th, and Unsanity mentioned that they want the theme developers to keep it to themselves until the deadline has passed.

As far as what's left:

• Sliders
• Small Scroll Bars/Arrows
• "Real" Tabs (Still in use for certain apps)
• Menu Extras
• Small and Mini Segment Tabs
• Redone Progress Bars
• Redone Text Boxes
• Modified Elements that need to be opaque (Radio buttons, checkboxes, etc.)

As far as initial extras, there will be a Safari skin, possibly some generic icons (folder, hard drive, etc.), and definitely desktops. In fact, check out this first one I've completed, which I will christen either "Digital Euphoria", "Euphoria", or "Euphoric":

How's that name? Any other cool monikers it could go by? With a little modification, it would actually look like an opening/closing lens iris or something like that.

Well, don't just sit there, click it and download the real thing! So far, this "prelaunch edition" desktop only comes in 1600x1200, but I plan to add 4:3 aspect ratio (1280x1024) and widescreen versions. As to the sort of grid that you can see, I added that to the design so that it looks like you're looking at the desktop on a monochrome LCD from like a centimeter away; you can "see" all the individual "pixels". It's kind of an experiment, so I've also included a version without the grid pattern. Feedback on the design of this would be appreciated .

As far as future extras go, I have some ideas...iTunes/DVD Player/Quicktime "iFixes", a full icon set, an iChat button replacement...however, I need to finish the actual theme first, so these specific extras, which seem to be of lesser priority anyway, will have to wait. The icons would be first priority in my book.

As I mentioned, throw all your comments out here!

[mrtew]

Cool! I love the name of the theme almost as much as the theme itself! This is going to be a great one!

[cube3]

new to theme area, and I must say I have enjoyed reading this post and seeing the progress, that theme looks great.

[MacDog]

<----- giggling uncontrollably in anticipation!

[WICKEDfour]

Just a small heads up here. I'm feeling very close to completion with Digital Device as a theme. (Extras not included in this statement) The sliders need to be done, but those should be fairly easy. What really killed me was having to go back over resources and make them opaque, but that's out of the way now. The small scroll bars are basically done; all I have to do is put in the resources. There are still some small or mini elements that I need to look at, however.

Oh yeah, new progress bars are said and done.

[camflan]

can't wait to see this. some cool matching bezels would rock.

[iNeusch]

Originally posted by WICKEDfour:
Just a small heads up here. I'm feeling very close to completion with Digital Device as a theme. (Extras not included in this statement) The sliders need to be done, but those should be fairly easy. What really killed me was having to go back over resources and make them opaque, but that's out of the way now. The small scroll bars are basically done; all I have to do is put in the resources. There are still some small or mini elements that I need to look at, however.

Oh yeah, new progress bars are said and done.

cool
will we see it on macthemes.net ?

[NetworkShadow]

Good work man. You are the only person that has a theme ready for the Unsanity contest that I know of.

[mrtew]

Originally posted by NetworkShadow:
Good work man. You are the only person that has a theme ready for the Unsanity contest that I know of.

There are a few others that will be done that I know of! Hehehe.

[Bombia]

AWESOME !!!

[phillryu]

Originally posted by iNeusch:
cool
will we see it on macthemes.net ?

I am indeed planning a preview of this theme with Wicked for the next Insider edition.

[iNeusch]

Originally posted by mrtew:
There are a few others that will be done that I know of! Hehehe.

WE WANT NAMES AND SCREENIES

[WICKEDfour]

I really hate to do this, but this isn't the post you were expecting. Due to some school projects and getting a potent case of the flu (no joke, I must've slept for close to a day total), Digital Device will not be available on January 20th. Unsanity's contest deadline extension also caused this release date change. Therefore, Digital Device will be available on February 2nd.

Please don't flame, I didn't expect to get so many projects that are due sometime soon. Ugh, and the flu just brought me way down...but the worst of it is over now.

Sorry for the disappointment, if I have the Safari kit, the theme, and some desktops all finished and packaged before the 2nd, I'll consider an earlier release.

[Addition: Well, I finally made my 100th post! I was saving it for the Digital Device release thread, but it's too late now.]