The Preview results of my next tutorial.
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To start:
As a beginning point you can do one of two things.
1. You can download FlyakiteOSX here: http://osx.portraitofakite.com/
Making sure to uncheck the iTunes multi plugin as it will make iTunes stop working
or
2. You can download a patcher for (assuming you have Windows XP sp2) can use the following plugin to patch your system for the use of 3rd party skins for a leopard-like appearance.
http://www.softpedia...tiPatcher.shtml
*Either way you will have to restart to continue on with this tutorial.
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Next for a Visual Style:
You have a multitude of options. I, for one, would not waste my money on windows blinds since the skins, to me, are pointed and ugly, compared to some of the visual styles.
Here are my two favorite visual styles from deviant art:
http://kspudw.devian...pard-X-76664828
and
http://vladimir0523....dXP-VS-83752116
(Just download, unzip with a program like 7-zip [http://www.7-zip.org/], and click the visual style contained within the unzipped folder to apply)
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Next for the more accurate bars to go along with your changing windows environment.
First for the application that will aid in changing this [TrueTransparency]: http://www.crystalxp...lorer-tools.htm
After you install that go to your windows search under your start menu and type in TrueTransparency, when the folder that results in the search is located click to open it and find the folder inside that says skins.
Now to add a bar that is more accurate to leopard than what is applied by the visual styles found here: http://eamon63.devia...for-TT-97424227
Just download, unzip, and paste into the TrueTransparency folder that you located early then restart TrueTransparency, right click on the tray icon, change to start with windows then go down to skins and select leopard shadows.
[To change the font of a skin that you are using in TrueTransparency, go back to where you originally download that skin, open that folder. Open the Maximized folder, then with notepad open the skin.ini file, then change the font name under the font name spot to the one you would like. Repeat for the Minimized folder. Then copy and paste this new Leopard Shadows skin into the TrueTransparency skins folder replacing the old one, then start TrueTransparency then the font will be chnaged]
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Now for Icons. I have found, personally, the best combination of icons for me was to use the ones from FlyakiteOSX paired with ones that are more Leopard like.
This is achieved using IconTweaker and a skin. Both of which are listed below for you.
http://www.crystalxp...contweaker.html
The skin:
http://anoos.deviant...weaker-76202471
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Now, ever so important is fonts and buttons. The reason for doing this together is because they share a common program, styler.
To download styler go here: http://www.crystalxp...yler-1-401.html
Now for the buttons: http://iscool69.devi...tyler-100321774
Simply download, unzip, and drag to the toolbar section under the styler settings then apply, see your windows explorer for the changes.
And the fonts: I won't tell you one font is better than another, but my favorite fonts for my computer are Soulless Fonts, which are smooth and alot cleaner than windows fonts.
Before you install them however, I suggest you open up the properties tab, then go to the appearance tab, then go to the effects button, go down to font smoothing and change it from standard to cleartype.
Now that you have accomplished that and applied that go to the following link: http://web.archive.o...p?showtopic=208
Right click the Soulless Font link and save target as, then unzip.
Find the font you want and copy it into your font directory under c:/Windows
Then restart and go to styler, go to the font tab and highlight bold and shadows, then change each font till you have the font you want system wide. You can change the size, but don't make the font too large or risk loosing parts of the text due to lack of space.
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Next, the Explorer makeover.
Using the famous FindeXer.
http://tomseffect.co...ly-devleopment/
You can customize the icons to your hearts content. Change the font, make it default in the explorer, save you settings. It is an amazing piece of programing.
Go here for a very good tutorial of how to customize your Findexer bar to resemble most closely the side bar in Leopard's famous finder.
and
QTTab's
Amazing tabbed browsing for your explorer. Adds a bit of functionality, and cleans up the clutter. Make sure to read the readme because if it doesn't work, then the solution is included, no searching necessary.
http://qttabbar.wikidot.com/
And a skin:
(Make sure in the settings to resize the tabs to the size shown, I prefer 200 for this particular skin)
http://linwe-limball...TabBar-58865759
[download, unzip, follow instructions below]
(When you install and restart, open explorer, right click on the new tab bar, go down to options, click appearance, and change the icon option to the skin that is contained in the deviant art folder that you unziped above]
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Now for docks. There are a plethora of opinions on docks. Here are the best ones that I have heard of, all are customizable and I will include icon and skin links.
The following dock comes fully fleshed out with the best that in can be in my opinion. All icons are customizable, but this dock doesn't have live icon reflections so they must be reflective icons.
http://hector93.devi...ancher-73431138
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This dock is made by stardock. There is a pay version available, but the free version works just fine.
http://www.stardock....cts/objectdock/
Skin:
http://wincustomize....=13731&libid=29
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This next one is mainly for single users, because it will show up for every user. But it is an awesome dock, being that it has reflections built in.
http://www.aqua-soft...&highlight=dock
