Here's a skin to improve that hideous Dashboard calculator

nagromme · 04:02 PM

The orange edges don't match each other (look at the bottom corners!), the gray box behind the keys is ugly, and the number contrast is poor! How did Apple let that poor craftsmanship out the door? There... that's out of my system

So FWIW, I whipped up this easy-to-install fix. It still has the orange scheme, just cleaned up. And the buttons and numbers are unchanged by this--it's just a single file that changes the calculator body (including making the screen "brighter" for readability).

Try at your own risk... I expect it will work well, but I don't have Tiger running yet so I can't test it yet myself!

Just Show Package Contents on the calculator widget, and drop the attached file "Calculator.png" into the "Images" folder. (And back up your widget first! Who knows what future updates might be confused by the change, so you might want to do this with a copy of the widget.)

If I have the image name or size wrong or anything, please post. I also wouldn't mind seeing before/after screenshots so I know how it works!

If people want I can easily post alternate colors of the same.

Lacero · Apr 25, 2005, 09:54 PM

I hated the Apple Calculator widget at first but I love it now. Widgets are designed to visually look different from normal apps because, well, they are different. The widgets have grown on me.

nagromme · 10:01 PM

Same here!

At first I thought, "why the needless wild colors and shapes?" But the bright colors and unusual shapes serve a purpose! Dashboard summons ALL your chosen widgets at once--and then you must single out the one you want. You can do so instantly because they are so visually distinctive from each other. That's good UI design--and since Dashboard is separate from other windows, and usually hidden, visual variety here does not equal annoying clutter.

It's as though each widget IS its own icon in a way--in the sense of an icon as a visual cue to locate a function.

So I kept the basic orange concept of the Apple calculator--which I no longer hate--and just improved (to my eye) the slightly-off implementation.

Plus I wanted to be a Tiger developer

Daveway · Apr 25, 2005, 10:11 PM

Here are some mods I made. More to come...possibly

thedoc1111 · Apr 26, 2005, 04:54 AM

Much better, thankyou!

nagromme · Apr 26, 2005, 04:08 PM

Glad it works

Sometime I'd like to add a buttons for Copy, Paste, and one to launch the full calculator (preferably with the number transferred)... but I don't know how doable that would be.

PlaceofDis · Apr 26, 2005, 04:10 PM

i like Daveway's blue one the best, probably because its my favorite color too

zelmo · Apr 26, 2005, 04:15 PM

Wow, thanks guys! I can't wait to get my copy of Tiger (preparing shipment

) so I can try these out.
MR roolz!!

Over Achiever · Apr 26, 2005, 05:58 PM

Hmm it's interesting poking around the package contents, makes the widgets much more customizable. The images are just .pngs, one can use any graphics program to edit them. I've tweaked the calculator as well, and one can also tweak icon.png which is the icon on the bottom when adding widgets, and default.png which is what you see when you drag the calculator from the setup bar.

Poke through the other widgets, most of them are easily customized as well.

Lau · Apr 26, 2005, 06:01 PM

Can anyone post screenshots of the widget with the modfied skin? I'd like to see it in action! Thanks.

ham_man · Apr 26, 2005, 06:15 PM

Those look awesome. I wouldn't mind a burnt orange one, though. Would be WAY better than that hideous maroon one...

iindigo · Apr 26, 2005, 07:06 PM

Here's my calc skin contribution. It's a bit more advanced, you have to change the LCD backlight image as well. Hope you like it, there are more to come

I've included screenshots, visible below.

Xanderxxx · Apr 26, 2005, 07:30 PM

Great job Iindigo! I'm using your skin now

iindigo · Apr 26, 2005, 07:49 PM

More skins!

Use the LCD image provided in an earlier post.

iindigo · Apr 26, 2005, 07:50 PM

and even more...

nagromme · Apr 26, 2005, 08:20 PM

Cool

I didn't know the LCD would be a separate image--so with a few choices of those you could mix and match...

Maybe Apple's badly-crafter calculator was a blessing in disguise. The other widgets could be skinned but it's the calculator that really caught my eye as needing some help!

thedoc1111 · Apr 28, 2005, 01:16 PM

Hi there,

Just packaged up iindigo's best skin (IMO) so it is easy to install for n00bs (yes I mean you

)

Just to clear this up, this skin was created using iindigo's graphical skills, not mine (except for the little icon change I sneaked in).

For the 1337 among you, you can force-quit installer when it finishes and go to Terminal then killall Dock to get Dashboard to update rather than log out. If you don't understand how to do this, then just follow the installer instructions.

iindigo's Skin in Handy PKG format

Enjoy!

montana · Apr 28, 2005, 04:16 PM

Thanks for the nice one iindigo. Going to start changing my Calendar one now too. That one is ugly.

P.S. Widgets are located Hard Drive>Library>Widgets

emw · Apr 28, 2005, 04:22 PM

This is sweet stuff - I can't wait to get Tiger so I can play with it. What's the word on individual images for calculator buttons or displayed numbers? I'm going to date myself, but the first calculator I owned had red LED numerals for display. It would be fun to duplicate that look, along with the buttons themselves.

nagromme · Apr 28, 2005, 04:28 PM

The buttons clearly have 2-3 images each: up, down, and for operatiors (like + and -) an "active state" highlighted as it waits for the next number.

The digits may be in some font, but even if so, the font color should be controllable in the JavaScript.

Daveway · Apr 28, 2005, 05:05 PM

How are yall getting them loaded in? In the package contents the .png shows the skin with the numbers on it. How do I load a blank skin?

nagromme · Apr 28, 2005, 05:13 PM

There should be one that's blank, maybe inside a folder. I'm guessing it's called "Calculator.png" and is inside an "Images" folder. Nobody has posted that I got that wrong, but I could have--dig around and see, and if the details aren't what I've said I'll correct my post.

But as was noted above, there are other images in there too. Maybe the one you're looking at with numbers already on it is just the drag-image for when you first drag it out of the widget bar? Or maybe it's the widget's icon that shows in the bar?

Daveway · Apr 28, 2005, 05:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nagromme

There should be one that's blank, maybe inside a folder. I'm guessing it's called "Calculator.png" and is inside an "Images" folder. Nobody has posted that I got that wrong, but I could have--dig around and see, and if the details aren't what I've said I'll correct my post.

But as was noted above, there are other images in there too. Maybe the one you're looking at with numbers already on it is just the drag-image for when you first drag it out of the widget bar? Or maybe it's the widget's icon that shows in the bar?

Okay I found it. Dashboard first loads the master in the contents folder then loads the images folder.

BTW: to keep widgets on your desktop just hold down F12 when dragging out a widget.

Over Achiever · Apr 28, 2005, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thedoc1111

iindigo's Skin in Handy PKG format

Enjoy!

I noticed the package has been moved or removed from the server. I probably could figure out which icons to replace, but I'm rather lazy ^_~

-OA

Daveway · Apr 28, 2005, 05:23 PM

I have an emergency. I accidentally moved the widget folder to another place and now the widgets won't load.

Where does the widgets folder have to be?!?! HELP.

Apr 25, 2005, 09:47 PM	#1
nagromme macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Here's a skin to improve that hideous Dashboard calculator The orange edges don't match each other (look at the bottom corners!), the gray box behind the keys is ugly, and the number contrast is poor! How did Apple let that poor craftsmanship out the door? There... that's out of my system So FWIW, I whipped up this easy-to-install fix. It still has the orange scheme, just cleaned up. And the buttons and numbers are unchanged by this--it's just a single file that changes the calculator body (including making the screen "brighter" for readability). Try at your own risk... I expect it will work well, but I don't have Tiger running yet so I can't test it yet myself! Just Show Package Contents on the calculator widget, and drop the attached file "Calculator.png" into the "Images" folder. (And back up your widget first! Who knows what future updates might be confused by the change, so you might want to do this with a copy of the widget.) If I have the image name or size wrong or anything, please post. I also wouldn't mind seeing before/after screenshots so I know how it works! If people want I can easily post alternate colors of the same. Attached Images __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment? Last edited by nagromme : Apr 26, 2005 at 04:02 PM.

Apr 25, 2005, 09:58 PM	#3
nagromme Thread Starter macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Same here! At first I thought, "why the needless wild colors and shapes?" But the bright colors and unusual shapes serve a purpose! Dashboard summons ALL your chosen widgets at once--and then you must single out the one you want. You can do so instantly because they are so visually distinctive from each other. That's good UI design--and since Dashboard is separate from other windows, and usually hidden, visual variety here does not equal annoying clutter. It's as though each widget IS its own icon in a way--in the sense of an icon as a visual cue to locate a function. So I kept the basic orange concept of the Apple calculator--which I no longer hate--and just improved (to my eye) the slightly-off implementation. Plus I wanted to be a Tiger developer __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment? Last edited by nagromme : Apr 25, 2005 at 10:01 PM.

Apr 25, 2005, 10:11 PM	#4
Daveway macrumors 68040 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Orleans / Lafayette, La	Here are some mods I made. More to come...possibly Attached Images __________________ Spare me my life. MBP 2.2 glossy, Alu Macbook 2.4, iMac G5, iPhone3GS 32gb white, iPodz

Apr 26, 2005, 04:54 AM	#5
thedoc1111 macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2003	Much better, thankyou! __________________ BlogMac.net - Hardware 'Hacks', Hints and Opinions for and about Macs

Apr 26, 2005, 04:08 PM	#6
nagromme Thread Starter macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Glad it works Sometime I'd like to add a buttons for Copy, Paste, and one to launch the full calculator (preferably with the number transferred)... but I don't know how doable that would be. __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Apr 25, 2005, 09:54 PM	#2
Lacero macrumors 601 Join Date: Jan 2005	I hated the Apple Calculator widget at first but I love it now. Widgets are designed to visually look different from normal apps because, well, they are different. The widgets have grown on me.

Apr 26, 2005, 04:10 PM	#7
PlaceofDis macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Chicago.	i like Daveway's blue one the best, probably because its my favorite color too __________________ dim my eyes on the waves of confessions... SpringWarmCold

Apr 26, 2005, 04:15 PM	#8
zelmo macrumors Demi-God Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Mac since 7.5	Wow, thanks guys! I can't wait to get my copy of Tiger (preparing shipment ) so I can try these out. MR roolz!! __________________ Unholy Ferret Invasion is coming to your town!

Apr 26, 2005, 05:58 PM	#9
Over Achiever macrumors 68000 Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Toledo, OH, formerly Twin Cities, MN	Hmm it's interesting poking around the package contents, makes the widgets much more customizable. The images are just .pngs, one can use any graphics program to edit them. I've tweaked the calculator as well, and one can also tweak icon.png which is the icon on the bottom when adding widgets, and default.png which is what you see when you drag the calculator from the setup bar. Poke through the other widgets, most of them are easily customized as well. __________________ "Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment." Sigma DP1 • 2 GHz Blackbook with 20" Dell LCD • Fujifilm S6000fd

Apr 26, 2005, 06:01 PM	#10
Lau macrumors 603 Join Date: Aug 2004	Can anyone post screenshots of the widget with the modfied skin? I'd like to see it in action! Thanks.

Apr 26, 2005, 06:15 PM	#11
ham_man macrumors 68020 Join Date: Jan 2005	Those look awesome. I wouldn't mind a burnt orange one, though. Would be WAY better than that hideous maroon one...

Apr 26, 2005, 07:06 PM	#12
iindigo macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rainelle, WV	Here's my calc skin contribution. It's a bit more advanced, you have to change the LCD backlight image as well. Hope you like it, there are more to come I've included screenshots, visible below. Attached Images __________________ My Blog - My Software - My 3D Art - Mac OS Through the Years

Apr 26, 2005, 07:30 PM	#13
Xanderxxx macrumors member Join Date: Apr 2005	Great job Iindigo! I'm using your skin now

Apr 26, 2005, 07:49 PM	#14
iindigo macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rainelle, WV	More skins! Use the LCD image provided in an earlier post. Attached Images __________________ My Blog - My Software - My 3D Art - Mac OS Through the Years

Apr 26, 2005, 07:50 PM	#15
iindigo macrumors 6502a Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Rainelle, WV	and even more... Attached Images __________________ My Blog - My Software - My 3D Art - Mac OS Through the Years

Apr 26, 2005, 08:20 PM	#16
nagromme Thread Starter macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	Cool I didn't know the LCD would be a separate image--so with a few choices of those you could mix and match... Maybe Apple's badly-crafter calculator was a blessing in disguise. The other widgets could be skinned but it's the calculator that really caught my eye as needing some help! __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Apr 28, 2005, 01:16 PM	#17
thedoc1111 macrumors regular Join Date: Aug 2003	Hi there, Just packaged up iindigo's best skin (IMO) so it is easy to install for n00bs (yes I mean you ) Just to clear this up, this skin was created using iindigo's graphical skills, not mine (except for the little icon change I sneaked in). For the 1337 among you, you can force-quit installer when it finishes and go to Terminal then killall Dock to get Dashboard to update rather than log out. If you don't understand how to do this, then just follow the installer instructions. iindigo's Skin in Handy PKG format Enjoy! Attached Images __________________ BlogMac.net - Hardware 'Hacks', Hints and Opinions for and about Macs

Apr 28, 2005, 04:16 PM	#18
montana macrumors newbie Join Date: Apr 2005	Wicked Cool Thanks for the nice one iindigo. Going to start changing my Calendar one now too. That one is ugly. P.S. Widgets are located Hard Drive>Library>Widgets

Apr 28, 2005, 04:22 PM	#19
emw macrumors 603 Join Date: Aug 2004	This is sweet stuff - I can't wait to get Tiger so I can play with it. What's the word on individual images for calculator buttons or displayed numbers? I'm going to date myself, but the first calculator I owned had red LED numerals for display. It would be fun to duplicate that look, along with the buttons themselves. __________________ Think. Then post. Obama/Biden

Apr 28, 2005, 04:28 PM	#20
nagromme Thread Starter macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	The buttons clearly have 2-3 images each: up, down, and for operatiors (like + and -) an "active state" highlighted as it waits for the next number. The digits may be in some font, but even if so, the font color should be controllable in the JavaScript. __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Apr 28, 2005, 05:05 PM	#21
Daveway macrumors 68040 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Orleans / Lafayette, La	How are yall getting them loaded in? In the package contents the .png shows the skin with the numbers on it. How do I load a blank skin? __________________ Spare me my life. MBP 2.2 glossy, Alu Macbook 2.4, iMac G5, iPhone3GS 32gb white, iPodz

Apr 28, 2005, 05:13 PM	#22
nagromme Thread Starter macrumors 601 Join Date: May 2002 Location: Blinking blue dot	There should be one that's blank, maybe inside a folder. I'm guessing it's called "Calculator.png" and is inside an "Images" folder. Nobody has posted that I got that wrong, but I could have--dig around and see, and if the details aren't what I've said I'll correct my post. But as was noted above, there are other images in there too. Maybe the one you're looking at with numbers already on it is just the drag-image for when you first drag it out of the widget bar? Or maybe it's the widget's icon that shows in the bar? __________________ nagromme Would you like a treatment?

Apr 28, 2005, 05:23 PM	#25
Daveway macrumors 68040 Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: New Orleans / Lafayette, La	I have an emergency. I accidentally moved the widget folder to another place and now the widgets won't load. Where does the widgets folder have to be?!?! HELP. __________________ Spare me my life. MBP 2.2 glossy, Alu Macbook 2.4, iMac G5, iPhone3GS 32gb white, iPodz

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