Got the Leopard customization bug? While we wait for more to develop on the Leopard front, forum member OneLeggedStanley has done us all a favor by writing up an iTunes 7 theme creation guide. It’s concise and to the point, laying out every step you need to push your beautiful Tiger guiKits into the media organizer (but proceed at your own risk: it’s modifying .rsrc files, and not backing up the original could get ugly). You can see the whole guide- and a nifty example video- at this forum post.

New forum user VL-Tone has delved into the depths of Leopard and has returned with screenshots of a funky-colored OS X. Though the crack is far from perfect (According to VL-Tone, it runs very slowly) it proves that it’s certainly possible to theme Leopard. Also, according to esXXI, a handful of images are used to theme every single button of every size in Leopard, certainly a step up from having to make an image for every size in Tiger. The original topic can be found here.

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.

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In 2002, Panic and the Iconfactory released CandyBar, the first OS X app to bring safe icon customization to Mac users. Now at version 3, this once-tiny app is now an essential tool for anyone interested in giving their Mac a facelift. So to celebrate five years of CandyBar- and four years of MacThemes- we are proud to present a special insider dedicated to one of our favorite Mac applications, the companies behind the solution, as well as the customization world around them.

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It’s here, people! After four months of hard work from our contest developers, Dan Deming-Henes and Peter Mathis have released Plexis, the first of three winning themes from our Theme for a Week contest back in August. While only available for Tiger, Plexis is one of the first Mac themes released in a while, and it’s a welcomed contribution for you 10.4 folks. You can get Plexis at the forum thread.

We at MacThemes love to shapeshift our computers with innovative designs and beautiful themes, but sometimes we just need to return to our interface roots. Mac OS X Leopard, released on the 26th to eager Mac users everywhere, looks to be the greatest version of Mac OS X released yet, with a brand new Aqua sitting on top of 300+ innovations. For a five year-old theme, Aqua has been given a significant facelift, and the myriad of revisions will leave the majority of Aqua aficionados very satisfied.

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Rhino is the latest theme from artist Toner. The theme is slick, combining rounded inset buttons with a nice array of grays, the result of which is a very solid and usable theme that I could use for… well, forever.

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The Theme for a Week contest may have passed - but the winners, like glossy phoenixes rising from the gradient grave, live on! Our contest developers have been hard at work making the contest winner’s themes a reality, and today they have some shots to share. All of the themes are looking very robust, and together display an excellent variety from dark to light - meaning that whether you are a hardened Quinn player sitting in a basement, or a trendy guy in a sunny penthouse wearing fitted jeans, there will be something for you! So stay calm, kids - Aeroesque, Plexis and Wather Color are making great progress. To see pictures just click here.