Black Mac OS X

eyoungren · Feb 23, 2014

Over the time I've been here, there have been a few enquiries about the black theme I use on my Macs. I've put up a few pieces as asked, but now I am going to post everything here in this thread and leave it up.

Firstly, I use Magnifique and the Black OS X theme. Don't ask me how I tracked this down, it seems quite impossible to find now. deviantart.com seems to have more than one theme for SL and ML based on this. I do not recall where I found the original Magnifique theme, but the ones on deviantart are system resource replacements such as you can find here with AquaDocks ML theme. But you have to do it manually and as they are not for Leopard, I do not know what your results would be.

Second, I use the Black Gloss 2.1 Candybar theme, which I found on deviantart. It includes a dock.

I'm sure if you poked around deviantart you could come up with a better themed Black OS X, but this one worked for me.

Please note that in the Finder, windows are still white in the background. This is something I've not been able to fix and according to AquaDock there probably is no way to do it on Leopard.

I have included Candybar and Magnifique in the compressed file
Stupid Dropbox killing the Public folder!!!
https://www.dropbox.com/s/2939gvztnpmxsam/Black_Theme.zip?dl=0
~~Download Link: Black_Theme~~

Pics shown below are my desktop (G4 Quicksilver) and the Magnifique and Candybar app. Also, one pic of my browser in TenFourFox using the FT DeepDark and Stylish theme and addon which complements this theme.

harrymatic · Feb 23, 2014

Very cool, thanks for sharing this, I was wondering what combination of apps and themes you were using to get this look - I'm going to have to try it out some time.

Out of interest, what video card(s) are you using in your G4?

eyoungren · Feb 23, 2014

harrymatic said:
Very cool, thanks for sharing this, I was wondering what combination of apps and themes you were using to get this look - I'm going to have to try it out some time.

Out of interest, what video card(s) are you using in your G4?

NVIDIA GeForce 2MX (AGP)
ATI Radeon 9200 PCI
ATI Rage 128

I have two Radeon 9800 Pros, one with a heat sink. But I'm using the NVIDA until I can get a DVI to ADC converter (Apple Number A1006). I can't run my Cinema Display on any other card and that's my largest display so I want to use it.

AmestrisXServe · Feb 24, 2014

Does this tool allow you to change window fill colours away from white?

One of the largest problems that I had with Shapeshifter is that this was tedious, and often buggy. In System 7-8, it was easy to change the interior colour of a Window. Isn;t it amazing how this feature was forefully removed from MacOS?

How many of you recall that 8.6 was to ship with themes, only to have Apple remove them at the last minute?

I still recall using the themes from my developer disc of 8.6: The 'Paper' theme was interesting.

gavinstubbs09 · Feb 24, 2014

Thanks eyoungren! I just need to fix my menu bar and I'll be all happy

eyoungren · Feb 24, 2014

gavinstubbs09 said:
Thanks eyoungren! I just need to fix my menu bar and I'll be all happy

No problem!

The menubar was a doozy for me to figure out. I tried Nocturne and this and that. In the end, it comes down to transparency!

Open Onyx (for Leopard) and make sure that you have transparency for the menubar set to white (or gray, doesn't matter, but I used white). The important thing is that transparency isn't set. Even if your Mac cannot utilize transparency in the menubar this adjustment has to be made.

The menubar restarts and voila! Black menubar.

----------

AmestrisXServe said:
Does this tool allow you to change window fill colours away from white?

One of the largest problems that I had with Shapeshifter is that this was tedious, and often buggy. In System 7-8, it was easy to change the interior colour of a Window. Isn;t it amazing how this feature was forefully removed from MacOS?

How many of you recall that 8.6 was to ship with themes, only to have Apple remove them at the last minute?

I still recall using the themes from my developer disc of 8.6: The 'Paper' theme was interesting.

Magnifique might, but I don't know enough about it to tell you. I simply used it to apply the theme.

But according to AquaDock (because I've asked the same question) there's no real way to do this. Short of viewing all your folders in icon mode.

BTW, I was using themes on OS9. System themes. So, I don't think Apple yanked them after 8.6. Perhaps they may have made them not part of a standard install, but up until Kaleidoscope I was using a custom theme.

AmestrisXServe · Feb 24, 2014

You probably werenit using it at the time. From a Wiki article:

Kaleidoscope remained the primary theme platform, even after the Appearance Control Panel offered theme capabilities in Mac OS 8.5. Steve Jobs returned to Apple just before the release of Mac OS 8.5, and he decided to officially drop support for themes because he wanted to preserve a consistent user interface. Because of this, Apple released little documentation for the theme format, withheld their own beta-released themes, and even issued a cease and desist notice to the authors of a third-party theme editor on grounds that it was intended to allow users to create themes that imitate the Aqua interface in Mac OS X.[2] At the same time, the format of Kaleidoscope schemes continued to evolve. As a result, Kaleidoscope schemes proliferated while Appearance themes never really took off. Kaleidoscope was only rendered obsolete with the transition to Mac OS X. Kaleidoscope is not compatible with Mac OS X.

You should read this.

eyoungren · Feb 24, 2014

AmestrisXServe said:
You probably werenit using it at the time. From a Wiki article:

Kaleidoscope remained the primary theme platform, even after the Appearance Control Panel offered theme capabilities in Mac OS 8.5. Steve Jobs returned to Apple just before the release of Mac OS 8.5, and he decided to officially drop support for themes because he wanted to preserve a consistent user interface. Because of this, Apple released little documentation for the theme format, withheld their own beta-released themes, and even issued a cease and desist notice to the authors of a third-party theme editor on grounds that it was intended to allow users to create themes that imitate the Aqua interface in Mac OS X.[2] At the same time, the format of Kaleidoscope schemes continued to evolve. As a result, Kaleidoscope schemes proliferated while Appearance themes never really took off. Kaleidoscope was only rendered obsolete with the transition to Mac OS X. Kaleidoscope is not compatible with Mac OS X.

I was using a custom theme from about September 1999 until about early 2002. One of the first G4s I was on was actually the Graphic Designer's Mac (I was an Ad Compositor at the time, not a graphic designer) but since I was the first person to that particular work location (and no one told me what was what) I chose what I thought was the better looking Mac. That G4 has OS9.

Both shops that I worked for (newspapers) had OS9 G4 Macs. I didn't get on OS X as a work platform until 2004 and that's because the designer I was replacing at my new job finally left and I was able to migrate from PC to Mac.

I remember the whole dustup about Aqua and how damn hard it was to find a Kaleidoscope theme. But I was using either Rough Draft or another blue/gray theme I forget the name of.

Arlo Rose stopped with OS X because Apple made it incredibly hard to theme. This was back when MenuCracker was the big thing and that got broke at every new version of OS X because Apple was going their damndest to deep six it.

There's a few interviews on the net if you do a search for Arlo Rose and Kaleidoscope where he fully explains the issues trying to hack OS X for theming.

This is one of the BIG reasons that Unsanity and Shapeshifter became so HUGE!

AmestrisXServe · Feb 24, 2014

Right, and I still miss Unsanity, particularly as I had a lifelong registration for nearly every one of their programmes. :/

The themes that were supposed to be in 8.5, that were on the 8.2 and 8.5 developer discs, were different to what was later released as 'themes', that primarily changed fonts. They changed the entire GUI, and to my knowledge, were never released to the public by Apple, who did everything in their power to kill anyone sharing the theme files.

I remember running an Aqua-based theme on 8.5 for a while, and an XWindows theme, as well as others. With the correct knowledge, you could make your own, or convert a KS scheme to a theme file.

Apple have done as much as they can to prevent reskinning MacOS, from the day that Jobs returned. It is so bloody egotistical to believe that the art sense of one man needs to rule over everyone else.

I really would love a way to change list-view windows, as the white box is too contrasting with a black theme. That's why I went for more of a dark grey look.

For anyone interested in looking at my desktop:

The tabs at the bottom are from Tabmeister, a programme that allows me to add tabs with applications, or directories, for easy access, to avoid cluttering the dock any further than it is.

You may also note that my terminal profile has a dynmotd, and is also designed to resemble old ANSI displays. Feel free to wonder about the desktop BG.

The desktop has a bit of clutter from screenshots; keep in mind that this is Display-0, of two displays.

One of the things that I miss from 'MacOS Classic' is ResEdit, as I could easily modify the finder, and other programmes, with my own command-key functions.

eyoungren · Feb 25, 2014

AmestrisXServe said:
Right, and I still miss Unsanity, particularly as I had a lifelong registration for nearly every one of their programmes. :/

The themes that were supposed to be in 8.5, that were on the 8.2 and 8.5 developer discs, were different to what was later released as 'themes', that primarily changed fonts. They changed the entire GUI, and to my knowledge, were never released to the public by Apple, who did everything in their power to kill anyone sharing the theme files.

I remember running an Aqua-based theme on 8.5 for a while, and an XWindows theme, as well as others. With the correct knowledge, you could make your own, or convert a KS scheme to a theme file.

Apple have done as much as they can to prevent reskinning MacOS, from the day that Jobs returned. It is so bloody egotistical to believe that the art sense of one man needs to rule over everyone else.

I really would love a way to change list-view windows, as the white box is too contrasting with a black theme. That's why I went for more of a dark grey look.

For anyone interested in looking at my desktop:
Image

The tabs at the bottom are from Tabmeister, a programme that allows me to add tabs with applications, or directories, for easy access, to avoid cluttering the dock any further than it is.

You may also note that my terminal profile has a dynmotd, and is also designed to resemble old ANSI displays. Feel free to wonder about the desktop BG.

The desktop has a bit of clutter from screenshots; keep in mind that this is Display-0, of two displays.

One of the things that I miss from 'MacOS Classic' is ResEdit, as I could easily modify the finder, and other programmes, with my own command-key functions.

Yeah, the OS9 system themes I recall allowed you to change fonts as you said, but also the color of the windows, the color of the bar when copying or deleting items and also the wallpaper.

I was a PC person until mid-2002, but I got in to an industry that used Macs. So, what was possible or not was not fully realized for me until much later. At the time I was just trying to make the system look less horrible. Not until now did I realize that there was more to this as you've described.

Going to check out your link. Tabs look interesting!

AmestrisXServe · Feb 25, 2014

eyoungren said:
Yeah, the OS9 system themes I recall allowed you to change fonts as you said, but also the color of the windows, the color of the bar when copying or deleting items and also the wallpaper.

I was a PC person until mid-2002, but I got in to an industry that used Macs. So, what was possible or not was not fully realized for me until much later. At the time I was just trying to make the system look less horrible. Not until now did I realize that there was more to this as you've described.

Going to check out your link. Tabs look interesting!

You should take a look at the themes that were supposed to ship with 8.5:

http://blog.kteck.ca/2008/08/30/mac-os-82d8-beta-themes/

The true themes idea is entirely different from what Jobs packaged with the retail version.

128keaton · Jun 27, 2016

I HATE to reawaken this thread, but I'd love a dark theme on my DLSD. Is there no way for us to get white titles in the Menu bars?

eyoungren · Jun 27, 2016

128keaton said:
I HATE to reawaken this thread, but I'd love a dark theme on my DLSD. Is there no way for us to get white titles in the Menu bars?

Not sure what you mean.

One of the pics up there in Post #1 shows the menubar with white type.

Unless you mean the title bars on the windows?

If you are having issues with getting a black menu bar with white type make sure your menubar is set to white or gray (not transparent).

You can use Onyx or the Secrets prefpane for that.

128keaton · Jun 28, 2016

eyoungren said:
Not sure what you mean.

One of the pics up there in Post #1 shows the menubar with white type.

Unless you mean the title bars on the windows?

If you are having issues with getting a black menu bar with white type make sure your menubar is set to white or gray (not transparent).

You can use Onyx or the Secrets prefpane for that.

Yes, I mean the title bars. Just a smidgen annoying

eyoungren · Jun 28, 2016

128keaton said:
Yes, I mean the title bars. Just a smidgen annoying

I asked Aquamac (sp?) about that way back when and he said it would be very difficult if not impossible to do.

I know it can be done because XtraFinder has this but that's Snow Leopard and above. Unfortunately, XtraFinder never made a PowerPC version.

128keaton · Jun 28, 2016

eyoungren said:
I asked Aquamac (sp?) about that way back when and he said it would be very difficult if not impossible to do.

I know it can be done because XtraFinder has this but that's Snow Leopard and above. Unfortunately, XtraFinder never made a PowerPC version.

Hmmm interesting. If there was source code for XtraFinder I could potentially write something for Leopard. I know you use this theme on your portables. How do you measure your battery?

eyoungren · Jun 28, 2016

128keaton said:
How do you measure your battery?

iStat Menus.

eyoungren · Jan 22, 2017

Since modern themes seem to be the focus lately, I am resurrecting this thread to show a third option - a dark theme. No installer, you have to use Candybar and Magnafique, but the look is great I think.

See post #1.

I use this. If I want to see a modern theme I just shut off XtraFinder on the Mac Pro at work and there it is. Blinding, glaring, choking, plain, vanilla white.

Updated screenshots…

PowerPC G6 · Jan 31, 2017

Thanks for this, I really like it and I use it on some Macs. But I'm having a problem with the menu bar, it looks just like @gavinstubbs09's, and setting the transparency in OnyX doesn't help. On my PMG5, I just uncheck "transparent menu bar" in Preferences and then the black menu bar works. But on my iBook G4, that checkbox isn't in preferences, and changing the transparency in OnyX doesn't work.

.

eyoungren · Jan 31, 2017

PowerPC G6 said:
Thanks for this, I really like it and I use it on some Macs. But I'm having a problem with the menu bar, it looks just like @gavinstubbs09's, and setting the transparency in OnyX doesn't help. On my PMG5, I just uncheck "transparent menu bar" in Preferences and then the black menu bar works. But on my iBook G4, that checkbox isn't in preferences, and changing the transparency in OnyX doesn't work. .

You've tried setting it to white or gray?

If you've tried that and it's still not working then try turning off the transparency option for the menu bar using the Secrets prefpane.

PowerPC G6 · Jan 31, 2017

eyoungren said:
You've tried setting it to white or gray?

If you've tried that and it's still not working then try turning off the transparency option for the menu bar using the Secrets prefpane.

Thanks! I will try with Secrets as soon as I reinstall Leopard on something, as LeopardRebirth is installed on all of my Leopard Macs at the moment and there's no uninstaller sadly.

reukiodo · Feb 1, 2017

I don't see it mentioned, but you can also use the 'Developer Edition theme enabler' with TFF to get it dark (and nice square cornered tabs):
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/devedition-theme-enabler/

0248294 · Feb 1, 2017

A good iTunes theme I can recommend to go with the Black OS X theme is Silent Night for iTunes 10. Now, the catch is that it's not meant for anything lower than iTunes 10.7 and Snow Leopard, but it will install on Leopard with iTunes 10.6.3. It doesn't fully work, because the library view is still white, but that accidentally fits in quite well with the Black OS X Theme since that too has white window contents. I'm still personally struggling with the menu bar of the theme, since setting it to white or gray in Onyx doesn't seem to help, anyone got an idea what that's about?

iTunes theme in action:

eyoungren · Feb 1, 2017

Daniël Oosterhuis said:
I'm still personally struggling with the menu bar of the theme, since setting it to white or gray in Onyx doesn't seem to help, anyone got an idea what that's about?

Have you tried using the Secrets prefpane?

That's the only other thing I can suggest.

AmazingHenry · Mar 24, 2017

Link not working, says file not found.

It'd be great if you could reupload it. Thanks!

Black Mac OS X

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