Here's a skin to improve that hideous Dashboard calculator

[andysmith]

You can refresh the widget without actually closing it, I found - just click on it and hit Apple-R. You get a cool effect too

 

[illitrate23]

dunno if anyones interested, but i put together a load skins from various pictures i've got lying around my drives
credit where credits due - i should say thanks to nagromme for having the idea in the first place, also to iindigo, whose brushed aluminium and blue skins i've used as the base for nearly all of these, and also to thedoc1111 who give me the idea of using the PackageMaker, and i've subsequently spent all today fighting with it to get it to do what i wanted. the results a compromise

anyway, here's the link to download them if you want:
http://www.illitrate.co.uk/osx/CalcWidgetSkins.dmg

the installer also includes a set of buttons that are slightly transparent so that the skin is a little bit visible through them - plus it contains the original files so you can restore the default scheme if you wish to

here's a preview of what they look like:

 

[illitrate23]

oh - i've just noticed, that preview image doesn't include the latest one i did, for the movie Casshern
it's in the installer package, but in case anyone wants it but doesn't want to down the rest, here it is:

i'd recommend using this lcd-backlight file with it

 

[Mike Teezie]

Late to the party, but I ditched Apple's kindergarten-orange calculator for iindigo's nice brushed aluminum one:

Thanks iindigo!!

 

[nagromme]

Good to see people running with this

I don't mind the orange color so much, but it just wasn't cleanly drawn. (I even notice the same weird top/bottom edges on the widget's icon.) Now we have many better options

 

[Mike Teezie]

Anybody changed their Calculator's icon yet? It's just a .png file.

 

[thedoc1111]

it is changed on the package I uploaded (see the 1st page)

 

[Mechcozmo]

I've changed mine completely... needs a bit of work with the backlight though. That's a quick fix.

Although in the process I forgot to duplicate the original Calculator widget. Oops...

 

[E-macculat]

widgets rule

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

I'm using indigo's awesome skin too. Many thanks for doing this.

 

[Mechcozmo]

Well, I'm done.
Skin from here (+minor tweaking), LCD backlight from here, my buttons and my dashboard button leads to:

And the button:

Also, when you drag it to you dashboard, it will show up as the correct coloring, etc, during the splashy effect. (If you support it, that is) I replaced the default.png file in the Widget's package. It's pretty cool. If someone would like to host it for me, it is 300KB zipped.

Oddly enough, when first re-added, it appeared as the Tile Game. After pressing F12 twice, it became a generic Dashboard icon (it did the right function though), and after another F12 press-o-rama, it appeared correctly.

When you press the buttons, do they change color/highlight? My original calculator.... uh.... broke.

 

[modernpixel]

Something clean and functional...

I thought I'd do something keeping in Apple's white hardware theme. I've also redone the buttons and the icon / preview. So, the whole thing appears new.

You can download all of the elements in a zip here:
http://home.nyc.rr.com/modernpixel/macrumors/whitecalc.zip

Just do a "Show Package Contents" on the original widget -- and drag and drop all three elements in the zip into the widget folder and "Replace All"

This will replace all of the graphics and make your Calculator Widget look like this (off/on):

Enjoy,
Joe

 

[nagromme]

I think it may be time to post the link to Pacifist--the app that lets you grab specific files off an OS X installation disc (or from any installer package):

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/12743

Note: I don't know if it's Tiger-compatible! But assuming it is, you should be able to find the original calc widget if you accidentally trashed yours.

I can't wait to try out these skins--including my own--as soon as 10.4.1 appears

 

[Kosher Terror]

If anyone wants, I can host files of the originals on my iDisk public folder for easy access. If you would like this just PM me.

 

[Link]

Awesome job everyone, they all look much nicer than the original skin

 

[andysmith]

Note: I don't know if it's Tiger-compatible! But assuming it is, you should be able to find the original calc widget if you accidentally trashed yours.

Yep, it is

 

[Mike Teezie]

I thought I'd do something keeping in Apple's white hardware theme. I've also redone the buttons and the icon / preview. So, the whole thing appears new.

You can download all of the elements in a zip here:
http://home.nyc.rr.com/modernpixel/macrumors/whitecalc.zip

Just do a "Show Package Contents" on the original widget -- and drag and drop all three elements in the zip into the widget folder and "Replace All"

This will replace all of the graphics and make your Calculator Widget look like this (off/on):

Enjoy,
Joe

Man, that's great looking Joe. I'd be interested to see what you could do with some of the others.

Giving my not so pretty widgets a new look has become the ultimate time waster for me.

 

[modernpixel]

Man, that's great looking Joe. I'd be interested to see what you could do with some of the others.

Giving my not so pretty widgets a new look has become the ultimate time waster for me.

Me too! I don't know if Apple meant to take over my mind by supplying so many nasty widgets, but now - after I finish my current client jobs - I'm going to take a crack at some of the others.

I wish I could do more than just reskin them, but I'm afraid if I modify the code and share it with others Apple will sue. So, I'll stick to reskinning for now.

Joe

 

[Gordy]

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.

I've just downloaded it from your website and I love it, I picked up my powerbook last week and my first comment on the dashboard was why is the calculator that colour.

Thanks

 

[engjohn]

Nice work guys, here is my favorite (my own design...)
It is really transparent, not white...

 

[nagromme]

Cool, I like the transparent idea. In fact, it makes me think why not skip the background altogether, and just drag it by the screen? (Or a small drag bar at the top if that doesn't work.)

Then it would be just buttons and a screen, without even the shadow edge of anything else.

 

[engjohn]

Ask and you shall receive...

Cool, I like the transparent idea. In fact, it makes me think why not skip the background altogether, and just drag it by the screen? (Or a small drag bar at the top if that doesn't work.)

Then it would be just buttons and a screen, without even the shadow edge of anything else.

 

[Zenith]

Just made another calculator skin. This is more thorougly made, even with a customized button layout to match the keyboard's numpad.

It also includes a unique icon for the dashboard dock as well.

Hope you like it!

 

[nagromme]

I like the clear one, and Zenith's custom black one... but is there a link to download the black one? I assume there's a whole kit of needed files, including updated HTML for the new button placement.

 

[Zenith]

Silly me... Here's the download link for my customized black theme.