Editorial: The State of Leopard Theming
Ever since Leopard was released, dozens of inquiries about ShapeShifter’s status have been made by forumgoers, artists, and even some of our own staff. And two months in, we have yet to get an official update from Unsanity on its status. However, the idea of simply updating ShapeShifter is a colossal effort, and fundamental changes by Apple to the way Aqua works means that, while it’s not coming soon, the new ShapeShifter will be groundbreaking for GUI customization.
This process is not easy to explain, and requires a good understanding of how Aqua works. Read on if you need a refresh, or skip below if you’ve already dabbled in this kind of ordeal.
Brief Overview of Theming in Mac OS X 10.1-10.4
In Tiger, as well as every version of OS X prior to it, every single button, checkbox, tab and control had its own set of images, or “states”. For those unfamiliar with the dirty details of OS X’s GUI, a state is what a particular element looks like when something happens to it; for instance, a “pushed” state refers to the look of a button or control after it has been clicked by the mouse. While this entails higher usability from the user’s standpoint, it also means more work for artists and themers. So, anyone who wanted to customize Aqua needed states for active, inactive, or pushed, and occasionally one or two more for certain elements. And don’t forget: because Aqua comes in both Blue and Graphite appearances, it also meant a themer needed to create everything in two colors (obviously, not everyone makes two color schemes- however, all of those resources still need to be filled with the themer’s new images so when a user switches to Graphite, they get the theme’s new resources and not Aqua’s.)
There are good and bad factors to this design decision. The good in this system was that, when it came to editing individual files, it was really, really flexible. ThemePark, which almost every customizer used for editing Aqua, allowed instant access to these image files, and because so many image states are available in the user interface, a lot of creative freedom was given to people who wanted to push the limits of the GUI. But arguably, one could say this system was too flexible: it was much harder to achieve theme uniformity because of this, and even a simple change- like a drop shadow or color tint- required editing dozens of resources in both the system and individual applications to match the new look.
How It Works Now, and Why It’s Taking So Long
In Leopard, Apple has completely overhauled the way Mac OS X draws interface elements. Instead of requiring individual images for every resource’s state, a uniform system of drawing Aqua resources has been established to allow incredibly flexible consistency across the board.
In January of last year, Panic’s Cabel Sasser wrote about Apple’s development of a scalable user interface, along with an internal theme tool that would allow for this kind of uniformity. The screenshots from Apple’s patent give a good idea of what this means for Aqua, but his words summarize the idea nicely (emphasis added):
In essence, they’re creating a user interface that’s completely programmatically defined. I.e., not an exported series of graphic resources, but a series of instructions that define how the graphics should be drawn, from the ground up, just like you might create a graphic in Photoshop, all the way from “Create New Document” to “Add Drop Shadow”. That means that talented Apple artists can sit down with a special internal tool — not Illustrator, not Photoshop — and craft the user interface of their dreams.
In other words, instead of making, say, 15 different images for a metal tab, you could specify one metal tab “look”, then automatically apply it to the entire UI. It’s an amazing evolution in uniformity and flexibility; but the problem? It’s not totally in use within the interface. Some of the old 10.4 system is still there, as well as three other kinds of systems we don’t know how to work with yet. And since none of these tools are available to themers, the chances of Apple publicly releasing them simply zero.
The problem is not the inability to ship ShapeShifter; it’s to investigate how this new UI system works, and get it in the hands of themers. Whereas the jump from Panther to Tiger required a minor upgrade to ThemePark to accommodate some of the new resources, almost everything engineering-wise about Leopard’s Aqua is different from Tiger’s. Before ShapeShifter can be updated, a new version of ThemePark needs to be released so that themers can actually make themes that work. But when this happens, it will make for extremely easy customization.
Simply Put
So, the next time you begin to grow impatient about your lack of Leopard themes, think about the prospects of what will happen when ShapeShifter does come out. It’s not going to be tomorrow, or next week, or maybe even in the coming months- but its return will triumphantly revitalize theming, and make it easy for anyone to customize Aqua into whatever they want.
* In fact, there’s also a third “Clear” appearance. Via Jason Harris: “Basically, it means a button that is not in the active window but that will “click” if you click it anyway, as opposed to one that just activates the window when you click it the first time.”
January 7th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I think Leopard looks just fine, the only reason i used themes is so i could have a unified system and since Leopard is now completely unified i won’t be needing any themes soon.
Not that a new ShapeShifter would be awesome though
January 7th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Yeah, Leopard’s unified UI is pretty perfect now, why want to mod it ?
January 7th, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I hope that Shapeshifter be released soon.
Leopard isnt cool, actually is pretty ugly
January 7th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
bring on the new SS!!!
January 7th, 2008 at 9:33 pm
I wish all the people at Unsanity good luck in their efforts of finding the holy-batman-apple-theming-grail!
When it comes out, I will definitely try to make a theme of my own.
Why want to mod leopard?? Because everybody has different tastes. I’d love to be able to have a overall white theme this month and next month have something amazingly black or futuristic metallish!
Nice article, thanks!
January 7th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
I just want a theme where everything looks HUD and transparent.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:05 am
I’m really impatient, which sucks but I’m really excited on what’s to come! Hopefully soon. good luck! ;D
January 8th, 2008 at 3:54 am
“think about the prospects of what will happen when ShapeShifter does come out.”
As far as I can tell from this article there’s no guarantee that it ever will.
Just wondering: Have you made any progress whatsoever in changing Leopard’s interface? And by that I don’t mean replacing one of the blobs (like the red one in the article) with another color. Because purely from the article it doesn’t really seems like you guys understand Leopard’s interface any more than we do.
January 8th, 2008 at 4:14 am
.Neo, I don’t know exactly how much the MT community knows about CoreUI, nor how much progress anyone has made theming Leopard (Jason Harris, however, emailed me regarding the different systems for drawing elements, so maybe he’s making some progress). I also understand there’s been some tinkering around in the forums, but I was more directing this to non-themers.
January 8th, 2008 at 5:05 am
“I just want a theme where everything looks HUD and transparent.”
You aren’t the only one…you have no idea how much I wished Steve unvelied the HUD theme at WWDC. I was very sad that day, to say the least.
Great article Austin! Four-Five great ones in a row, I think your promotion was well deserved!
January 8th, 2008 at 5:39 am
Thanks, Dustin.
January 8th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Super article Austin… I too reckon ss for Leopard will take some time… however, it looks like Leland Scott has taken Leopard theming in the right direction.
Patience folks!
January 8th, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Nicely written - excellent collection of tech and small words for all users. Themeing was never easy and the possibilities the new direction Leopard took resource use will undoubtably make some break-throughs and new frustrations in the theme community. As a personal note of optimism - IF the graphics are primarily driven by a set of instructions then could we see “drawing outside the lines” come back to themeing?
January 8th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
I am still waiting for a clear dock solution that works. Has anyone figured that one out?
January 8th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
eyevaan, I don’t know much about the nitty-gritty details regarding how the UI is built (just the concept of it), so I can’t answer your question. The one thing to keep in mind is that not all of the UI is built “recipe-style”, so in many respects you’ll still be constricted to the old system in parts (IF ShapeShifter does indeed come out).
January 17th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
Why dont you guys help out with the theming of Ubuntu? The system is completely open and you would be doing something people really want you to do. All your talents would be really appreciated. Ubuntu’s new graphics engine has many of the effects of MacOS so it can look as good but it needs a design hand to produce original looks.
January 20th, 2008 at 3:18 pm
asd
January 21st, 2008 at 9:34 am
I think the new “Resolution Independent Interface” is going to be a lot of fun to theme…
I like the idea of non-pixelated resources and not having to replace a million of them.
There will no doubt be irks with the odd tiger elements still scattered throughout…
I wish even a beta shapeshifter/themepark would be released to the public in which the basic elements (window background, scrollbars, min/max/close and basic buttons) could be themed…
I wish… The unsanity team would at least post some findings of thier progress… as the new theme interface intrigues me.
January 22nd, 2008 at 3:16 am
I’ve been following theming since kaleidoscope (os9 theme app). This app was simple and worked 100%. I like the 10.5 theme, just wished that all apps were themed the same. Maybe if the creators of SS make all cocoa and carbon apps the same and themeing used the stock theme switcher built into os 10.
January 25th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Nice article and I’m sure lots of folks are frustrated. What bothers me more, though is Unsanity’s failure to let us know–months ago–what you just so nicely summarized. Instead of blogging about an unrelated system bug in the “ICBMs”, keep those like me who want to have Fruitmenu, Shapeshifter, etc. back ASAP in the loop. Apple is notorious for this kind of secrecy. That is one Apple trait I can do without. Anyway, good luck to Rosyna and company, but I’m not holding my breath waiting for the revelatory Shapeshifter unveiling after reading your post. Fruitmenu, OTOH, I want NOW
February 20th, 2008 at 8:47 am
nihao
February 20th, 2008 at 8:51 am
nihaowoshi ui-noi
February 28th, 2008 at 12:29 am
I’ve buyed it just one month before Leopard! Damn them! Come on! Move your a**, developer!
Let’s keep the cussing to a minimum, please.
March 6th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
I really want this
March 16th, 2008 at 8:23 pm
This is a fantastic article. I just wish more people were talking about it in these terms.
Personally, personalized theming is the thing that I have most missed from Windows, and I always thought it was silly not to have it. After all, if Apple is the computer manufacturer of the individualistic artist, writer, and general yuppie, what more ironic statement could you be making than carrying around a computer that looks in ever respect (right down to the UI) the same as everyone else. Wallpapers just don’t cut it.
Not to mention that I hate bright, light color schemes. I’m a big fan of high-contrast. It works better on my eyes, and I think that there’s a lot of really well-done themes in the subcategory. I’m really looking forward to the ultimate revival of Shapeshifter, and the era of prosperous theming that it will bring. Figs to sameness!
Wasn’t it Apple who told us to “think different”?