Theming/skinning your OS and general set up

Anybody out in Mac land here really into that? Ever since wirelessmacuser was trying to say that you can't customize OS X, I really got the urge to get back into it. As more people get macs, more people who have developed skins for windows and linux are getting into it, and it's very cool. I'm just pumped that they released a new Snow Leopard compatible version of themepark (4.something).

Anyway, today I began playing the dangerous game again since I have my snow leopard disc and time machine backups. I applied the "Nuala" theme which I got from iconpaper.org, and found some other really sweet themes there (which came with pkg installers!).

Here's what I've done.

http://www.whataboutweeks.com/jason/osxtheme.png

Showing some of the features of the Nuala theme (which is available here and is beautiful). There are also new highlights in drop down menus. and buttons (like the submit and preview buttons on this page).

I also applied the Silent Night Dark theme to iTunes (made for 9.0.3).
check that out with my link, here
http://www.whataboutweeks.com/jason/itunestheme.png


Also glossed up the dock a bit by re-adding the reflective quality. You can also see my iStat menu items, adium contacts list, and other fun things I've got in my set up. Both of the things I applied tonight come with package installers.

I'm waiting for somebody to come out with a snow leopard theme with a black menu bar that works properly and has a package installer. I royally f'd my install of Leopard trying to achieve that last time by doing it myself.

Anyway, whatdya think? Do you have theming experience on any platform? Are you a total nerd like me that can't resist trying to break things by making them look super cool?

Talk to me!

Have not done any real tinkering around with my mb, but I have to say your iTunes is awsome I really like that, do you have instructions on how to change that up?

The theme comes with an installer pkg. Just install the dark version.

I'd really like to change the bar at the top to black but I'd think you could do that since Tiger. Am I wrong? If so links please as I have searched for ages on this!

It's possible, at least it was in a port for Leopard. I've seen somebody with snow leopard and a black one, at least a screen shot... anyway, I think the iTunes mod proves you can do a black menu bar. But I'm waiting for that too. Hopefully Apple will release that skin (Marble rumor? you can see hints when you right click the dock... =-O ), if no one else does. I'd start messing around myself, but the last time I did that, I had to reinstall Leopard. Once I found out ThemePark it didn't work in Snow Leopard (it does now with 4.1), I gave up, awaiting the day when the community caught up with SL. Well, looks like it's time to get back into it, especially since I think I'm going to start making my way towards being an app developer for iPad/OS X. I should probably get my hands dirty a little bit. Now that I have Time Machine backups going wirelessly, at least I can revert to a previous state if I goof.

Relearning .rsrc file contents time!

Yeah, reinstalling the OS gets a little tiring - that's actually why I moved to a UNIX OS.

I think Apple should re-design OS X a little though. Whilst it doesn't look bad, it does look a little dated now. With the black glossy screens on the iMacs and MBPs and black keys on the MacBooks I think a black theme for OS X would look quite simply stunning and fit in pretty well.

Alright, so I did a little more work today with ThemePark 3.1 and ThemePark 4.1 and got to this result... replaced the system clock with the iStat menus clock, and am working towards getting the airport, spotlight, and time machine icons to be white also.







You like?

If you want to clone my set up, I've got a zip folder with the nuala theme, the itunes theme, credit for both original authors, my black menu bar mod, and detailed instructions on how to go about replicating the set up (including backing up).

You should note that if you fail to execute installation of this properly, you could get your finder stuck in an infinite loop. I've given pretty clear directions, but will say again providing this is a courtesy to people who are curious, know the risks involved, and would like to replicate the set up that I have demonstrated above. This process can harm your computer's system. If you do not have your restore discs or a Time Machine back up or other form of bootable back up, don't do this. It could require an archive and install from your OS CD to correct.

This theme is only partly original. The original theme files with credit to the original authors and full contents of their packages are in this zip.

Darkest Ritual hybrid theme for 10.6 ONLY (do NOT install this over 10.5 Leopard)

To avoid the known issues of the text and OS icons (airport, clock, and spotlight icon and stuff, time machine being black still, I've replaced a lot of stuff with the iStat menu equivalent. I'll continue to work towards getting the icons corrected to a white colour. I need to find out which number it is in the resource files.

I should also add that in order to overwrite the Extras2.rsrc file, you will need to do a get info on the original (after you have backed it up, of course), and then unlock it, make sure you have read and write access, keep it unlocked, and then replace it with my modded extras2.rsrc file.

I now have a set up with white menu bar icons and an updated installer... it hasn't been uploaded yet since my friend's server is having issues since switching to sftp, but I will let you know when it is available.

In the mean time, a tasty preview.

Just a quick heads up - DO NOT USE Silent Night Theme for 9.0.3 with itunes 9.1. It broke the hack. I am working on a new version, and I'm sure other people will be too

Nice, looks good. I've been getting into application packages too to see what i can find. Very cool.