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Yes, this change would break many Mac apps if they didn’t update to support it. Apple’s no stranger to that, though.

Why would changing it to the black color break applications? Applications shouldn’t be depending on the color of the menu bar for anything. This makes no sense to me at all. Apple already change the menu bar between white and transparent and I don’t recall any app getting broken down over it.
 
Why would changing it to the black color break applications? Applications shouldn’t be depending on the color of the menu bar for anything. This makes no sense to me at all. Apple already change the menu bar between white and transparent and I don’t recall any app getting broken down over it.

But there were complaints from users who didn't like the translucent menubar, so we now have an option to disable it.

I don't like the black menus, but if they're optional I don't mind.

But lately Apple has been very "Our way or no way".
 
I have a black menubar and it works perfectly with every app i have. Its nothing more than replacing a few resource files, people ave been doing it since Leopard.
 
Why would changing it to the black color break applications? Applications shouldn’t be depending on the color of the menu bar for anything. This makes no sense to me at all. Apple already change the menu bar between white and transparent and I don’t recall any app getting broken down over it.

I'm sure he meant they will have to update the look of the icons to fit in more with the color change.
 
I have a black menubar and it works perfectly with every app i have. Its nothing more than replacing a few resource files, people ave been doing it since Leopard.

Like the look of that menu bar in black..... looking at some guides for achieving it - any you'd recommend?

Chris

will check out these first
http://www.unixweblog.com/2010/05/easy-black-menu-bar-in-snow-leopard-10-6-no-hacking-required/

http://freethellamas.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/a-dark-theme-for-snow-leopard/
 
i would have loved it... seriously. i was hoping for it when leopard came, and then i was hoping when snow leopard came...and now lion.. come on APPLE at least give us the opportunity to chose .
 
Oh that'd be great! I'm sure we'll see a GUI refresh for 10.7 so this wouldn't surprise me if its in there. I can't see Apple using Aqua for Lion.
 
Tried the top option posted above - uses the free Nocturne App..... black menu bar and dimmed (optional, and will go normal brightness when you cursor over the menu bar) :-

Screenshot2010-10-29at204247.jpg



Useful app, but all the title bars of your apps will still be the usual colour, which looks a little odd -

so am now trying the theme at Deviant Art, you can take a look at youtube here:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT1CqiHqUXI

Haven't tried it yet, but the youtube clip looks like it's better....


Coops
 
I run hot and cold with black themes.

In some cases they look great but usage on a day to day basis is impacted by ambient light. I hate using a dark theme on my computer because of this. On my phone its a lot better.

I don't see apple going over to the dark side (pun intended) because it could interfere with people's ability to work. They'll go with the lowest common denominator.
 
I'm running with a black menubar now, and have for some time (courtesy of a mod I found here, I'll track down the link again if anyone asks), and I've really liked it. Mutes the overall colors of the computer somewhat, so I focus more on just what I'm looking at. I also have a dark Dock and a dark Adium theme, so my desktop is kinda framed in black.

jW
 

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Like the look of that menu bar in black..... looking at some guides for achieving it - any you'd recommend?

Chris

will check out these first
http://www.unixweblog.com/2010/05/easy-black-menu-bar-in-snow-leopard-10-6-no-hacking-required/

http://freethellamas.wordpress.com/2010/03/30/a-dark-theme-for-snow-leopard/

http://www.maxthemes.com/
Go to the themes tab and find Aqua Extreme. Install the Obsidian package. It will change a few other things like scrollbars and whatnot but it gives a more uniform look to the system. Other than that you'll need white menubar icons for your 3rd party apps, and those can be found at macthemes.net. I'd find a link but i'm just not that motivated ;)

This is what my desktop looks like right now:
Screenshot2010-10-29at120559PM.jpg
 
Tried the top option posted above - uses the free Nocturne App..... black menu bar and dimmed (optional, and will go normal brightness when you cursor over the menu bar)

Love that Nocturne app - thank you !:)

I wouldn't mind a properly designed black menu bar in Lion.
 

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@ NoSmokingBandit - thanks, tried that theme - works fine with 10.6.4 on my Macbook Pro.... still leaves App title bars usual aqua theme though...

So tried another theme - NorsoSchwarz - take a look here:-
http://wavespell.deviantart.com/art/Snow-Leopard-Black-OS-X-update-155507209

gives black title bars... for most apps, not Opera (Safari, yes) or Jdownloader.. and also worked fine

My screenshot, with Safari and dual-pane TotalFinder below...

Screenshot2010-10-30at170542.jpg


I like it....

Coops
 
I'm running with a black menubar now, and have for some time (courtesy of a mod I found here, I'll track down the link again if anyone asks), and I've really liked it. Mutes the overall colors of the computer somewhat, so I focus more on just what I'm looking at. I also have a dark Dock and a dark Adium theme, so my desktop is kinda framed in black.

jW

that is an AWESOME clock in your menu bar! Where did you get it?!
 
The menu bar takes on a diminished role in Lion.

It isn't shown at all in Launchpad or Mission Control.

Lion Apps are encouraged at the very least to have a full screen view that doesn't show the menu bar at all.
 
Can always go into System Prefs Universal Access and set the display to white on Black with or without grey scale.
Makes for an easy change :)
 
The menu bar takes on a diminished role in Lion.

It isn't shown at all in Launchpad or Mission Control.

Lion Apps are encouraged at the very least to have a full screen view that doesn't show the menu bar at all.

and one of the reasons i liked os x :/ anyone know a good way to get iOS scrollbars in snow leopard?
 
Hmm.. I'm not sure if I would like a black menu bar. I think it looks a little to 'Hackintosh' if you know what I mean. I personally like to keep things professional on my Mac, so I go for clean and slick. One thing I would definitely like for Apple to do is fix the translucency on the menu bar, and make it look better. The option doesn't really look good when you tile a picture or something along those lines. That's something I would be happy with.
 
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