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ATPM 11.06
June 2005

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Customizing The Mac OS X User Interface

by Scott Chitwood, http://www.resexcellence.com

Part III, Appearance Themes

One of the big gripes regarding the user interface in Mac OS X is that with each OS release, Aqua has become inconsistent and too varied in its appearance. Panther gave us the much debated and despised brushed metal Finder; Tiger has adopted yet another variation of Aqua with a plasticized, unified toolbar in the System Preferences and Mail 2.0.

So what can users do to overcome these UI distractions? We can give Aqua a makeover using third-party appearance themes. The Macintosh theme community is blessed with a number of dedicated and outstanding artist/developers whose works allow us to change our user interface with the click of button!

customizing-themes

A nice selection of Themes: Siro 2.0, mes20050506, KaminoV2, Aluminum Alloy 1.7

Apple first introduced appearance themes in Mac OS 8.5, but never supported their use. The final candidate shipped with Apple Platinum; the Apple developed themes Hi-Tech, Gizmo, and Drawing Board were withheld from the general public. Lucky for us, creative third-party developers stepped up to the plate and gave us a variety of themes to toy with.

customizing-dsg-theme

DSG Theme

As we stepped into Mac OS X, third-party developers were putting their modification skills to work as early as the public beta release, and they’ve been going strong ever since.

Switching out theme files early on required one to manually backup and copy the Extras.rsrc and Finder.rsrc, a simple task (if one knows where to look) and still my personal favorite method of test driving themes, even though it’s been a long time since there’s been an opportunity to do so. The easiest way to find the path for the Extras.rsrc and Finder.rsrc is to launch the Terminal and paste in the following command.

locate Extras.rsrc

You should see the following result, or one quite similar:

/System/Library/Frameworks/Carbon.framework/Versions/A/Frameworks/ HIToolbox.framework/Versions/A/Resources/Extras.rsrc

Copy and paste the results (without “Extras.rsrc” on the end) into the dialog box of the “Go to Folder…” command in the Go menu. The directory is owned by the system so you can’t make any modifications to it without changing permissions. Our recommendation is to just take a look around the folder, and don’t mess around with the files unless you’ve backed them up and know what to do if something goes wrong.

customizing-locate

Locate the Extras.rsrc

Later on we were able to use third party applications that did the work of switching out system resources for us. Those programs did a nice job of making the switch, but they were also somewhat dangerous to use. Switching out system resources is an inherently risky task; the average user may not be aware of the pitfalls, such as using a theme file for an older OS release on a newer version—a recipe for disaster if there ever was one.

2003 ushered in the modern era of appearance themes when Unsanity released ShapeShifter, a preference pane that applies themes by directing Mac OS X to load and overlay the graphics in theme files (guiKits) on top of the system resources. This revolutionary idea brought appearance themes to the masses and is by far the safest method to date for changing the Mac OS X user interface.

ShapeShifter lets you apply appearance themes, desktop pictures, and system icons as separate entities, so you can pick and choose what to use from any installed guiKit. And, if you’ve downloaded and purchased Mighty Mouse, you can also change the system cursors from within ShapeShifter!

customizing-shapeshifter

ShapeShifter

Where can you find appearance themes for Mac OS X and earlier? Stop by the ResExcellence theme archive to get started—there are plenty of links to third-party theme developers that we encourage you to explore and enjoy! If you’d like to try your hand at creating themes, download a copy of ThemePark by Jason Harris at Geekspiff.

Also in This Series

Reader Comments (18)

michael · June 1, 2005 - 18:00 EST #1
The sad thing is that themes can only be applied with ONE program at this time; ShapeShifter. There used to be several options, mostly free. Not that ShapeShifter will break the bank by any stretch... But now that everyone releases only a .guikit version, you're locked in and have to pay to play. Nevermind that most themes are really pretty much unusable for all day use.
Smartin · June 1, 2005 - 20:10 EST #2
Themes are a great idea but the one thing they make (sometimes) painfully obvious is that GUI design is best left to the pros.
John Does · June 2, 2005 - 17:46 EST #3
The way ShapeShifter applies themes is by patching the OS. The consequence is a significant slow down of the whole system.
miguel angel · June 8, 2005 - 23:53 EST #4
Does anybody know how to change system colors in Mac OS X?

I mean how can I change (like in Win98) the "white" background color by a softer color like... blue... or... black background with green text color.

Thanks.
Katerina · June 9, 2005 - 01:12 EST #5
@michael

"The sad thing is that themes can only be applied with ONE program at this time; ShapeShifter. There used to be several options, mostly free. Not that ShapeShifter will break the bank by any stretch... But now that everyone releases only a .guikit version, you're locked in and have to pay to play. Nevermind that most themes are really pretty much unusable for all day use."

You can also use ThemeChanger which is a free alternative to ShapeShifter. You can find ThemeChanger here: . In my limited experience the program works well.
Michael K · June 15, 2005 - 08:24 EST #6
I used Windows since 3.1. There is a utility called Windoblinds at Wincustomize that allows one to radically alter the OS appearance. In all my time searching thousands of entries, I always wound up most satisfied with a "mimic" of the Mac.

That said, what I have seen in the Mac alterations has not swayed me that anyone has improved on the original.

Sorry.... I think Apple got it right the first time.... Though I'm sad the brushed metal look was dropped in Tiger! Drat!
Steve · November 8, 2005 - 00:58 EST #7
I use an iMac/600 with 10.3.9

I have actually a speed INCREASE since using shapeShifter with a them without transperancy.

I will probably buy this program, It's working great.
Aaron · December 5, 2005 - 11:12 EST #8
People rarely realize that these "themes" can be created independently and easially using a graphic program such as photoshop, by going into a few of the system resource image files, such as the trash can, one can open, and replace these icons to be anything they wish, for example, I remeber back in the day, I used to have a program called oscar, or somthing like that, this program woud change the trash can into oscar the grouch's trash can, and when you would empty the trash he would sing 'I love trash' by changeing the icons, and the sound the computer uses when emptying the trash I can simulate this program. Even animations can be changed, such as the poof that occours when dragging links out of the dock, this comes in a five frame 'movie clip' that can be edited to become anyting you want. O'riley's mac os missing manual gives great explinations on how to get started with your personalized themes.
Mac Daddy · December 9, 2005 - 18:21 EST #9
"Sorry.... I think Apple got it right the first time.... Though I'm sad the brushed metal look was dropped in Tiger! Drat!"

Michael, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but Tiger HAS brushed metal. I think you should buy the OS before you dis it.
jgh · March 10, 2006 - 13:20 EST #10
How about just changing the color at the top of the window--I may just be old but brushed metal fades into the background too much for me. I'd like to change it to something more opaque. Does that require a major sys mod, or one of the programs mentioned above?
adam · December 31, 2006 - 19:23 EST #11
do you know if there is a grouch for os x
Xajen · February 27, 2007 - 21:49 EST #12
What if all I want to do is transparency effects?
Is there any software out there that just effets this feature in OS X? I am currently trying out SetAlphaValue. It allows main window to be full, and any secondary non-used windows to be 35% transparent. Kinda cool, I would like to expand this concept to the toolbar. I think Tinkertools allows me to make the Dock transparent.
luke · July 11, 2007 - 08:25 EST #13
Is there any free application that can use .guiKit ?

I hate to pay the $20 for shapeshifter...
Matt · July 12, 2007 - 06:37 EST #14
ThemeChanger is the only app I know of. It uses Delta instead of the guiKits format. It's supossed to be possible to convert some guiKits to delta using guiKit2delta and guikitty applications. I don't know how well that works though.
ATPM Staff · September 4, 2007 - 13:15 EST #15
Mike - it seems there was a typo in the link at the very top of the article. The later links within the article are correct, however. It should be www.resexcellence.com
Ivo · June 2, 2008 - 12:52 EST #16
Can you create a theme by yourself????
Lee Bennett (ATPM Staff) · June 2, 2008 - 15:43 EST #17
Ivo - Sure you can. Best to consult the instructions provided by the developers of the desired theme switching app.
David B. · November 26, 2008 - 17:48 EST #18
So when is unsanity gonna realease shapeshifter for Mac OS X Leopard 10.5???

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