Mac OS X | System / Utilities | Other System / Utilities | ShapeShifter

ShapeShifter - 1.1

Customize your OS X interface by changing the menus, buttons, and more with this mod.

Download v 2.5

(File Size: 6.8M)

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All Time:	(3.8)
Version 1.1:	(4.9)
Selected Version:	1.1
Release Date:	2004-01-21
License:	Shareware
Downloads (version 1.1):	5,192
Downloads (all versions):	2,839
Price:	$20.00

Information Related to Version:

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Product Description:

ShapeShifter is a revolutionary new product that lets you change the overall appearance of your Mac using 'themes'. We're not talking about just desktop backgrounds and icons here, we're talking about everything - the look of windows, menus, buttons, absolutely everything. You don't wear the same clothes everyday, your house doesn't look exactly like your neighbor's - why should the computing interface you use everyday be any different. You personalize your physical workspace to suit your tastes and whims, so why not your Mac?
While you may have heard horror stories about themes kludging user's systems, ShapeShifter makes this a thing of the past. Installing themes in Mac OS X used to require some dangerous methods (and more than a little bravery on the part of the end user). Not so with ShapeShifter - now changing the overall appearance of your system is every bit as safe as switching desktops or screensavers. ShapeShifter is safe because it never touches the actual files and resources residing deep within your system.
ShapeShifter is also very simple to use - just grab any guiKit or dlta theme and double-click it ... ShapeShifter will instantly become aware of its presence and pop open the ShapeShifter preference pane. To apply a theme, click the radio button next to the theme and hit the Apply Selected button. That's it!
With ShapeShifter, you can:

Change the overall appearance of your operating system safely, quickly, and reliably
Experience things that haven't been possible with Mac themes before
Quickly preview themes without actually applying them
Use Jaguar themes in Panther effortlessly
Install different themes for different users
Keep your themes wherever you please on your hard drive
Add and remove themes effortlessly

What's new in this version:

The Battery, Clock, and Fast User Switching Menu Extras now use the themed menu colors.
Safari, iChat, iSync and iPhoto (from iLife '04) now use themed "etched text".
Added ability to theme Safari's tabs (for tabbed browsing) and Favorite Bar buttons.
Added ability to customize Finder filename text colors in Icon & Column views.
Added ability to customize Desktop filename text colors.
Added ability to customize list header buttons individually for selected and unselected states in both frontmost and non-frontmost windows.
Added ability to customize the title text of non-frontmost windows.
Added Swedish localization courtesy of Fredrik Olsson.
Added a checkbox to enable/disable relaunching Menu Extras when applying a new theme.
Added ability to theme navigation services open/save panels (and some other missing elements)
The user is now notified when the ShapeShifter demo has expired.
Registering after the demo has expired now causes the registrants name to appear in the standard color instead of in bright red text.
Tooltip labels now default to using the proper theme colors.
Editable text fields now uses the "Text Color" instead of the "Control Text Color", making dark-colored themes much more usable.
Miscellaneous speed optimizations.
Unlocking a locked screen (and showing the authorization dialog) is no longer slow when using ShapeShifter.
Yet another another attempt to fix a sporadic (and non-critical) crasher in the cache manager component.
Resolved an issue that caused ThemePark to crash when merging with an installed theme that did not use custom text colors.
DLTA file packages stored on UDF volumes that contain a file named (all lowercase) "main.themescript" can now be read properly.
Fixed a few small memory leaks.
ShapeShifter should now show up properly in 3rd party apps that display listings of the System Preference panes.
ShapeShifter preference pane no longer erroneously states that the demo is expired when it isn't.
ShapeShifter preference pane now gives a more useful error message when it detects that APE isn't running or installed properly.
Fixed an issue that caused Safari metal windows to render improperly (they showed the brushed texture in parts of the window and not in other parts).
Resolved an issue in which ShapeShifter would disable itself due to an OS version change or an upgrade, but the preference pane would erroneously show that a theme was installed instead of selecting Default Aqua.
Minor stability and memory usage fixes to the cache management component.

Operating System Requirements:

This product is designed to run on the following operating systems:

Mac OS X 10.3
Mac OS X 10.2

Additional Requirements:

Mac OS X 10.2 or higher

Feedback Summary:

Version 1.1:
Overall Rating:	(4.9)	Features:	(4.1)	Support:	(4.4)
Ease of Use:	(4.7)	Quality / Stability:	(4.7)	Price:	(4.1)

Key to Types of Feedback:

Reviews Reviews Troubleshooting Usage Tips Developer Notes Commentary Featured Reviews

GOD AWFUL ! - Version: 2.5, 7/22/2009 11:55AM PST

OSXLITTLE

Look, these guys have been trying to make this work since the beginning. It crashes, it doesn't work, it NEVER worked. I bought the first versions when I started in OSX and after being the free beta tester for this horrid little program I finally gave up. So here I come back to see if it's improved , well , I don't have my password , that was when I had another email, so I write them, not a word. Their stupid password recovery system is based on the email you had back then WHICH YOU PROBABLY DONT HAVE !

Think I'm going to pay again for what ended up being a reason to do a complete reinstall ? H E double hockey sticks no ! Lousy crashmaster program that isn't supported ! Dump that junk !

Not safe as Shapeshifter but, if you got sick of Leopard's look, free alternative - Version: 2.5, 3/20/2009 01:56PM PST

Ilgaz

I saw this URL on another download site
http://magnifiqueapp.com/
It does what shapeshifter does in file overwriting (with backup of course) way.
IMHO Unsanity should have released a Leopard edition without APE exactly. Well, some people have done it.
Shapeshifter's method is still the safest and way more reliable. If you keep running Tiger, there is no reason to give up.
It seems we lost shapeshifter thanks to the anti ape trolls and jealous developers. Hopefully I will be proved wrong but it seems so...

4 apps to exclude - Version: 2.5, 7/27/2008 06:19AM PST

(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)

dsilvan

Here are 4 apps I've found which have problems booting so you should add them to your Shapeshifter Exclude List:

Bittorrent
Minefield (Firefox 3.x beta)
Skitch
Toast Titanium 9