Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Surveys and Polls, Mods
Poll: Do you mod OS X's appearance?
One of my regular online haunts is Resexcellence. They've got a huge library of appearance themes for Mac OS X. While I enjoy looking at them, I've never installed any. I imagine that it's fun and satisfying to use a theme you've designed yourself, or simply one that agrees with your own aesthetic sense, but I just like Aqua. I agree that some of the inconsistencies are annoying, but I'm willing to (begrudgingly) live with them.So what's your take? Do you mod OS X's appearance? Have a favorite theme?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Stretch said 2:20PM on 9-01-2005
Yeah, I cahnge it at least once a week too. Change is good. Aqua looks nice, but some things i really can't stand about it.
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Paul said 2:38PM on 9-01-2005
i use candy bar! switch up the system apps in the dock with some new icons, when i find ones i am attracted to.
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Mark said 2:31PM on 9-01-2005
i've actually modded iTunes myself by changing the res file... sometimes i change subtle things to mess with my co-workers! :)
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marc cardwell said 2:36PM on 9-01-2005
i've been tempted to change, but i love the interface. also, i wonder if there is any performance hit using the free theme changer (can't remember the name at the moment). my main mac is a 1ghz AlBook.
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Jon Fields said 2:36PM on 9-01-2005
I've tried a few mods before.. but one of the things that originally attracted me to OSX was the auqa look.. it's just clean and speedy.. not boring (to me at least)
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Mike said 2:38PM on 9-01-2005
I did use a skin back in 10.2 because the pinstripes were just a bit too much with prolonged use. But I do love the principles of Aqua, and I will stick with it for a good while to come I fancy. Still can't beat the traffic light widgets.
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Oliver said 2:42PM on 9-01-2005
I tend to use Aqua for a couple of months, then get bored and start applying different themes. But i find I'm never really satisfied with any particular theme for more than a week or 2, and once i've been through a bunch of them i get bored with that switch back to Aqua for another few months :-p
The only theme that I managed to use for an extended period of time was soft aqua, which i found posted in a forum thread and have never seen properly released. You can take a look at it here: http://oliverchaddock.atspace.com/soft_aqua.jpg
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Oliver said 3:26PM on 9-01-2005
stupid atspace hosting...
try this:
http://oliverchaddock.spymac.com/soft_aqua.jpg
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Twist said 3:57PM on 9-01-2005
Yeah I run Shape Shifter. Favorite themes would be BBX Mercury, Aluminum Alloy. I love the new guiTweak feature in Shape Shifter. I made a couple of very neat looking tweaks to Aluminum Alloy one of which you can view on my blog http://www.twistedtechnology.net/mt/archives/blog/shapeshifter_22.php
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Matt said 3:36PM on 9-01-2005
I don't mod Aqua with themes or skins simply because I can never find one that is done professionally enough.
My modding is more like, removing metal where I can or subtle little things like customizing icons and other such nick-nacks. Like platinum-izing Safari and replacing the icons with better looking ones from Transmit/Unison. ( http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/6325/picture66pm.png )
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Wheels said 4:00PM on 9-01-2005
This all inspired me to try to see if I could change the one thing that I would change about OSX - the metal look of Safari, finder windows, etc. So I Googled "changing osx skins," and the first site it gave me was:
http://www.osx-e.com/downloads/skins/
This site is dedicated to "making Windows applications look like Mac applications." Too funny. Is it that bad in Windows-land that you need Mac skins to look cool?
Maybe I won't change then.
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Lawrence said 3:53PM on 9-01-2005
Ony the icons. Pixadex and Candybar are great...
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fra said 10:13PM on 9-01-2005
I spend hours modding WindowsXP system to look like MacOSX before i switched.
I'm not gona change my skin from Aqua anytime soon, I like it too much.
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kerry said 4:28PM on 9-01-2005
I've been modding my Macs' interfaces for years, since back in the system 7 days. As for OSX, I tend to spend a lot of time altering the system with ShapeShifter, CandyBar, and a few application enhancers when i first get a computer, but once I've got stuff mostly the way I want for that machine I only do the occasional tweak. Say, for example, when I want a new desktop picture and want to alter my icons to complement it. Right now I've got a new iBook G4 with Milk 3.0, chocolate flavor, by Max Rudberg (http://www.maxthemes.com) as my theme, Puft system icons, Soma Docs document icons and Space Doggy desktop by David Lanham (http://www.dlanham.com). I also use Pixadex to store a few thousand icons and change the ones for the desktop on a whim. For a long time they were Sushi icons, but now I'm sticking with that David Lanham look and using a random smattering of his non-puft icons. I liked altering the UI a lot more back before X because it was so easy to futz around with stuff in ResEdit, even if you didn't really know what you were doing.
Oh, and it's not really an appearance mod, but I couldn't possibly live without Quicksilver (http://www.blacktree.com).
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Henry said 4:36PM on 9-01-2005
I only change the appearance of Mail. I make it aluminum and I give it Panther Icons. I might do Safari Icons if i could find them.
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Poncho said 5:21PM on 9-01-2005
I think it's important that you CAN mod OS X's appearance but I don't do it a lot myself. The only thing I've done to my system so far is use CageFighter to get rid of Mail's fugly buttons.
http://www.otierney.net/cagefighter/
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musti said 1:15AM on 9-02-2005
Oliver, Aqua Soft is very good. Could you provide a link for download?
Also, please check out this theme that does not require ShapeShifter and comes with its own installer: Iridium. Look that up in macupdate.com. The designer is a very friendly guy and keeps on updating the theme every two days based on suggestions and reports. It's the only theme I've used for more than one week on my PowerBook.
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Trevor Rowe said 6:02PM on 9-01-2005
The most recent versions of Soft Aqua can be downloaded from the MacThemes forums in the Modifications and Hybrids section. http://www.macthemesforums.net/
You will have to scroll down a ways to find it once to get into the Modifications section of the forum.
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stacie77 said 6:03PM on 9-01-2005
here are some of my favorite shapeshifter themes that i keep switching between. i can't seem to stick with just one!
* somatic 2 http://interfacelift.com/themes-mac/details.php?id=116
* powder http://interfacelift.com/themes-mac/details.php?id=115
* jun's no. 1 http://interfacelift.com/themes-mac/details.php?id=111
tend to use jun's themost it's gorgeous
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Donald Noble said 6:25PM on 9-01-2005
Like musti, I am also using Iridium. It gets rid of the inconsistent use of brushed metal, although it does still leave inconsistent greys (itunes is a mid grey, safari is almost white)
This is the first theme I have used, and I don't think I will be changing back anytime soon, but at the same time - i don't think i will change to any other theme.
I have had a transparent dock background since i got my mac 3 months ago, it looks wrong otherwise :/
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