Neon is the newest creation by well-known themer Toner, a theme that shares roots with his first theme, Canum. The second release by the MacThemes resident artist, Neon uses Xbox-inspired greens and unified metal to create a solid, lightweight OS X theme. But despite its new color scheme and details, is it an entirely new work, or simply a variant of its predecessor?
One of the most common traits associated with blue themes is that most share the same roots- adopting Aqua’s characteristics and good parts, and ridding of the bad parts; Canum, released by Resident Artist Toner, takes a different perspective with blue themes, using an unorthodox Aqualess appearance. But does it achieve elegance through its originality?
It isn’t often you come across a theme such as Argon, a long-awaited arrival by Resident Artist Nuclear Potato. Following its release a week ago, it was well-received by users for its originality, but despite this reaction, who will it appeal to, and how well does it hold up to long-term use?
Unlike many themes, Vitae came on the scene with near-zero hype and zero marketing, a complete surprise to all but a few. At times misidentified as an Aqua modification, Vitae is actually 100% redrawn by its author, Dan of improvpastence. But is it anything more than another SmoothStripes?
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Mating styles made popular by SIRO with matte-finish dark greys and blacks, UnityGK features pulsing, neon-white accents that create an almost interactive experience for the user. Although it suffers from the same text-color issues as other dark themes, the cool, futuristic stylings of UnityGK make it easier to let those concerns slide.
Inspired? Yes. Inspiring? No. Based on the GUI of Apple’s Motion graphics software, the flat blacks, grays and whites of In Motion (also known as Black Pro) make for a refreshing change from the handful of slick, dark themes like JetBlack and NEOS, but fall prey to an all-to-common enemy: details.
Most themes add. Paper & Plastic, by Mike Matas and themers XiAP and Harlan Lewis, breaks the trend and subtracts; it generally simplifies the look and feel of Mac OS X in an aesthetically-pleasing way. Though not without its flaws, this is an excellent, extra-packed theme that leaves little to be desired.
Like FatalE and Classix10k, Ashen is a theme that hearkens the days of old with its flat, sharp, and neutral style. There are no bright Aqua gel buttons here, or the poisonous greens of Luna. Ashen is a retro theme for a modern OS, and while this shouldn’t work, Chris McElligott succeeds admirably.