Adjusting Leopard's Menubar transparency - with a twist

[TheComet]

Well I've gone through a plethora of threads about the leopard menu bar's translucency being annoying, I have yet to find a way to actually make it MORE transparent, so I figured I'll register here and ask away


I'm currently working under Mac OS X 10.5.5, and am working on creating a vector graphics theme of sorts (akin to BattleZone in the 80's) and ran into a snag.


What I want to do is take the menu bar on top of the screen and turn it solid green without tinting the text to match the rest of my desktop's theme. Alternatively, making the bar completely black with green text is another option, if possible.

I've so far used LeoColorBar, Leopaque, and Palette, which all can tint the bar, but not make it a solid green.


What I want to know is if I can make the menu bar 100% transparent, but keep the text on it visible, allowing me to use LeoColorBar to effectively create a green menu bar, while using Palette to make the menus opaque when dropped down.

here's where I'm currently at in terms of theming, complete with Battlezone background and vector docks through DragThing

If anyone has any ideas, terminal commands that could work, or claims of my insanity for being "that guy who wants that transparent bar harder to see", drop me a reply

 

[calderone]

I think I just threw up in my mouth a little.

Anyhow, this would be the place to look:
http://macthemes.net/forum/

 

[drewdle]

I'm not sure how to fix your problem, as mine's slightly different: I'm trying to get translucency on a Mac that doesn't support CoreImage. On an aside, however, I noticed from your screenshot that you're of the furry persuasion, as am I. Right on.

I like the green vector graphics thing. A Mac never looked like that, with maybe the exception of the Apple II, but my primary word processor (JDarkRoom) makes the machine look just like that when I'm working.

 

[TheComet]

I'm not sure how to fix your problem, as mine's slightly different: I'm trying to get translucency on a Mac that doesn't support CoreImage. On an aside, however, I noticed from your screenshot that you're of the furry persuasion, as am I. Right on.

I like the green vector graphics thing. A Mac never looked like that, with maybe the exception of the Apple II, but my primary word processor (JDarkRoom) makes the machine look just like that when I'm working.

hahah right on indeed, I didn't realize I left that IRC channel up in the screenshot XD

I just came across a little something that has some potential...a little app called Nocturne

http://docs.blacktree.com/nocturne/nocturne

I can take advantage of the solid white bar I can get out of Terminal commands/Palette and invert it to be black instead of white, from there, I think I might be able to screw around with the bar overlays to try to keep the bar black but tint the text green...

edit: Using Nocturne in conjunction with LeoColorBar has had some pretty interesting effects, I can actually read the text I snuck in behind the bar that reads "BATTLEZONE", and was able to get a dark green menu bar with white text. Still havn't found anything on reducing the opacity any further though