PACMan3000
Mac OS 10.7 Concepts - Themes
Ask a Mac veteran what he misses most about Mac OS 9 and usually he or she will give you a list of the following features:
Labels, Put Back, WindowShade, Tabbed Folders and Themes.
Of course, the old Mac OS 9 concept known as "Labels" was re-introduced in Mac OS 10.3 Panther, while the "Put Back" feature was recently "put back" in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. WindowShade was actually developed as a shareware app by Unsanity, the notorious developer of Application Enhancer, the third party module which caused many of the initial blue screens in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. The shareware app known as "Sticky Windows" approximates many of the functions of Tabbed Folders in OS 9 (Note: Sticky Windows and WindowsShade do not work in Snow Leopard).
Themes, the ability to change the "look" of the Mac OS, is the only remaining legacy feature that I personally would like to see brought back, if for no other reason that as a former Windows user, I pine for the days when I could change the look of my "Windows" on a whim.
Given many people's disgust with the translucency of the Dock, I see Themes as a positive step forward. It would also remove the need for third party developers to create hacked solutions, which may or may not crash future versions of OS X.
Imagine being able to turn the Dock and Finder into varying types of wood or emerald green or even the brushed metal of those bygone years of OS X. Harmful to the personal aeshetics and tastes of Steve Jobs? Possibly. Okay, almost certainly, but given Apple's creed to "Think Different," this could only be a good thing.
Related Links:
Themes in Mac OS 9
www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/settings/desktopthemes/...
Themes in Windows
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/personalize/look....
Five Mac OS 9 features Apple should bring back
www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/5-mac-os-9-feature...
A Visual History of Desktop Themes
www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/desktopthemes
Mac OS 10.7 Concepts - Themes
Ask a Mac veteran what he misses most about Mac OS 9 and usually he or she will give you a list of the following features:
Labels, Put Back, WindowShade, Tabbed Folders and Themes.
Of course, the old Mac OS 9 concept known as "Labels" was re-introduced in Mac OS 10.3 Panther, while the "Put Back" feature was recently "put back" in Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard. WindowShade was actually developed as a shareware app by Unsanity, the notorious developer of Application Enhancer, the third party module which caused many of the initial blue screens in Mac OS 10.5 Leopard. The shareware app known as "Sticky Windows" approximates many of the functions of Tabbed Folders in OS 9 (Note: Sticky Windows and WindowsShade do not work in Snow Leopard).
Themes, the ability to change the "look" of the Mac OS, is the only remaining legacy feature that I personally would like to see brought back, if for no other reason that as a former Windows user, I pine for the days when I could change the look of my "Windows" on a whim.
Given many people's disgust with the translucency of the Dock, I see Themes as a positive step forward. It would also remove the need for third party developers to create hacked solutions, which may or may not crash future versions of OS X.
Imagine being able to turn the Dock and Finder into varying types of wood or emerald green or even the brushed metal of those bygone years of OS X. Harmful to the personal aeshetics and tastes of Steve Jobs? Possibly. Okay, almost certainly, but given Apple's creed to "Think Different," this could only be a good thing.
Related Links:
Themes in Mac OS 9
www.guidebookgallery.org/pics/gui/settings/desktopthemes/...
Themes in Windows
www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/personalize/look....
Five Mac OS 9 features Apple should bring back
www.techradar.com/news/computing/apple/5-mac-os-9-feature...
A Visual History of Desktop Themes
www.guidebookgallery.org/screenshots/desktopthemes