Mac OS X GUI

Huh?

I dont understand what you are asking. Skin OS X? You mean like Skins for Media Player and stuff, skins like that?

 

Do you skin OS X, as in, do you change the GUI like Kaleidoscope does in OS 9.

 

I voted yes here....but honestly I've only altered the dock....

does this count? or are we talking about really tearing it down?

 

not yet..

I just havent felt the need yet. I like X so much ! I hacked the hell out of OS 9.. but then again I have been using OS 9 ... well since it came out. So I guess I had plenty of time to get sick of it. Plus... I dont have the time i used to

 

I voted yes as well. My dock is transparent in addition to a skin that keeps OS X's look but changes the faces to gray (like platinum) instead of the pinstriping. I find the darker tones to be a bit easier on the eyes.

 

ive been looking into skinning osx and im surprised by a few things:

1) there are a fair number of skins available that look neat

2) there does not seem to be a standard installation

3) there is no software for easily installing and removing skins.

i really like this Musix theme a Xthemination (link here ) but the damn read me is in Japanese. Seems in fact that all the good themes are japanese.

i think someone should make a easy script for installing and removing skins just like the transparent dock script. that thing is great, one of the first things i did to osx was make that dock transparent and when i found that script it finnally made it easy. looks like a few people have made perl scripts to install and uninstall but i think for the average user an apple script would be best (no terminal!). skinning needs to find a standard.

(oh and if anyone can help me install some of those cool japanese themes that would be way cool.)

 

Strangely enough...

...as a new OSX user, my friend accidentally turned off all the pinstripes. He doesn't remember how (which is kind of odd as he's quite computer literate and usually knows most of the hacks in the book). Any guesses?

 

I've been interested in skinning OS X for a while but have not gotten around to trying yet. I like the default OS X look, but I'd like something a bit darker / easier on the eyes. Do the skins work with ALL OS X apps, Carbon or Cocoa or Java or what have you? Basically I want to install a skin and have it be clean and consistent across all applications. Thanks in advance for any advice.

Alex

 

I just did a fresh install earlier this week (when my new drive arrived) and haven't bothered to even install OS 9.2.2.

I am running it as lean as possible, with nothing extra to alter the appearance of OSX.

 

I have no desire to alter the beauty of the OS X default interface.


blakespot

 

trying to keep the resource usage down for other things, so no

besides, it is the most beautiful operating system in the world

 

so far it seems apple's aqua is far better looking than any skin. but thats not the point. first just the fact that apple has been doing everything in its legal power to destroy developers of themes and to prevent users from using skins makes me want to use them.

and secondly its just that i like to mess with things (if the censor wasnt on i would use another word). its not about makingy it better looking or anything its just about messing with the os and learning how it works. its like developmental biology. you dont make mutant flies because they are better that way, you do it to learn whats going on and because its just fun in a curiosity sense to mess with stuff. any developmental biologists in the crowd?

when i was little i woudl torture bugs. cut the heads off, stick red ants down black ant holes, zap em with a magnifying glass, put salt, soap, raid on them, throw bugs in spider webs. i wasnt trying to improve on the design of the bug. i was just trying to mess around, have a little fun, and maybe (if i had time) learn something. if you have ever watched a spider rollup a sowbug you threw in its web you have to say its pretty cool.

OSX is a thing of beauty but id just like to know if i played with some of those pair rule genes (biology metaphore) if i could make a cool little mutant.

 

re: AmbitiousLemon

hahaha... I was like that when I was a kid too. I liked messing with OS 9 alot. I am not much of an artest but I liked cusomizing as much as I could... even if Apple did a better job... it was MY OS! I havent had much time to mess with OS X yet and ... I love it so much that I would probably get sick of looking at how Ugly I made it. I have seen some nice skins that other have made for it and have thought "Im going to try that out as soon as i have some time... but i never do.

 

First of all, I would like to observe that mostly those with over 100 posts up to this point (except for alex_ant and Yours Truly) have commented on changing OS X. I feel like a little guy!

Second, the furthest I have gone with altering OS X is changing the desktop to have a different background.

Third, I value OS X and Aqua and I look forward to seeing more improvements come.

Still waiting for OS X 10.2 . . .
________________________

Bill Gates: All you need to upload pictures from your camera is a fast PC and some boring software.

KC: Well I have a Mac, and the software I use operates in OS 10. Does that make me better than you?

 

yea i got to agree with some people here. The aqua skin is nice as it is, and mostly noone tinkers with that. But most of you guys did make the dock transparent just like me, but then I began to think. Why is that such a popular thing that people do to OS X?