How to add colours to system prefs>appearance other than blue/graphite

I was just wondering is there a way to add additional colours/themes/styles to OSX Tiger's default set found in system preferences>appearance...?

by default theres only graphite and blue... im not interested in a theme changing program, i'd prefer just to hack... or add a new folder of resources somewhere within OSX...

I dont want my whole theme changed, only the apple symbol, loading bars, scroll bars and window buttons etc...

is this possible? where does osx get these image resources from?

anyone?

#393951

Nope it ain't possible, GUI mods have to be changed by installer or SS...

#394083

It would be great if Apple added some more color schemes in Leopard. Black would be a nice addition in my opinion.

But no, you can't, only 3rd party programs can change styles.

#394112

I agree, i think it would be a great addition to be able just to change the simple things more customisable.

i hate to use this as an example, but they could have a system similar to that implemented in windows media player where you can choose the skin's colour and it just adds a tint to the style, rather than change it...

Heres how i'd make it

1- the top part of the appearance tab would have the colour chooser which changes the scroll bars, progress bars and apple logo by adding a tint...

2- the second part would be a button style chooser which changes the traffic light buttons (close,minimise,maximise) with different styles...

3- the third part would be a style chooser would modify the window appearance and taskbar- options might include glossy white or glossy black or brushed metal.

4- the fourth part would be the highlight colour chooser...

im still not concinved though, i reckon if you used reshacker (or whatever it is on mac osx) you could modify the resources somewhere... anyone know where these are stored???

#394120

There is no such thing as a "taskbar" in Mac OS X.

And judging by your last comment/question, it seems you're stuck in a Windows world.

// Lou

#394123

taskbar...menubar...you gonna pick nits?

#394124

mmm nits

i thought apple have always aimed at simplicity, surely adding a colour chooser with tint options etc would make it more complicated?

otherwise theres a whole heap of stuff i'd like my ipod to be able to do, and itunes too while theyr at it

#394349

mmm nits

i thought apple have always aimed at simplicity, surely adding a colour chooser with tint options etc would make it more complicated?

otherwise theres a whole heap of stuff i'd like my ipod to be able to do, and itunes too while theyr at it

....... ..

#397724

So I saw this and I was curious.

In my skinning days, I noticed that both color schemes were embedded within the PNG/TGA files. Presumably, if you copied let's say all the 'Blue' resources, changed the Hue on all of them, renamed them to something referencing the color and then found some sort of PLIST/PREF file where the 2 existing color schemes are referenced...it COULD be added....right?

#404194

There is no such thing as a "taskbar" in Mac OS X.

And judging by your last comment/question, it seems you're stuck in a Windows world.

// Lou

The bar doesnt really have a name, (menubar perhaps?) i used it just for illustration purposes. And no i am not stuck in a windows word, i broke the glass and travel between mac osx and XP daily, and see the advantages of both.

So I saw this and I was curious.

In my skinning days, I noticed that both color schemes were embedded within the PNG/TGA files. Presumably, if you copied let's say all the 'Blue' resources, changed the Hue on all of them, renamed them to something referencing the color and then found some sort of PLIST/PREF file where the 2 existing color schemes are referenced...it COULD be added....right?

Now we're talking... sounds good in theory, but do you know where the png/tga files are?

(i'll go searching again)...

I think if we found the plist/pref file we could add multiple entries, for multiple colours... but even if we cant it would still be fun just to change the colours even though its not as convenient.

I wonder how many file's we'd have to alter... (scroll bars, loading bars, spotlight, finder buttons...) I think if finder is open we might have some troubles because the files might be in use... i have bootcamp which may come in handy.

thanx Duckie. Will report back i think.

EDIT- MacintoshHD>System>Library>PreferencePanes>Appearance.prefPane , then right click 'open enclosing folder', right click Appearance.prefPane and 'show package contents', then open resources... theres 2 tiffs that shows up in preferences for blue and graphite, but no actual system images yet...

#404243

The system images are contained in EVERY SINGLE RSRC FILE located in EVERY SINGLE APPLICATION. Things like scrollbars and colors are embedded in the traditional Finder.RSRC, which many apps use, and in application-specific files, like iTunes.RSRC. Each resource file has room for only two color palettes, hence only two choices. You could theoretically bruteforce it by creating your own programming tool other than Themepark that would allow you to change the hex values of every entry, then hack the imaging system of how the operating system calls resource files, and then hack System Preferences, but a single slip up will render your computer unuseable. Updates will also render your computer unuseable as you'll have an Apple approved OS but other applications won't work, namely Finder.

The short answer is no, you can't do it. Duckie is right that you might be able to add the schemes, but you're unfortunately unable to alter how those schemes are called by the graphics processor.

#404253

This is why I wait patiently for ShapeShifter to go Universal.

Too much work, otherwise.

#404288