ShapeShifter
Customize your OS X interface by changing menus and buttons.
Version: 2.5
The Emperor's New Clothes...
Feedback Type: Commentary
Contributed by: Lex Luthor Wednesday, October 27 2004 @ 04:45 AM PDT
Product Platform: MacOSX
Used Product For: Over One Year
Recommend Product: YES
If new to theme changing- there has never been a better time
to jump aboard - it's safe (99%) and now with version 2 it's almost
a complete GUI makeover. You can mix-n-match custom cursors
with desktops and icons from each GUI-kit that includes them.
It's painless, simple and reduces the nerd factor of swapping
resources around to zero. At the moment not enough themes
have these 'extras' and a lot of the best themers are retired which
is ominous. So there needs to be more user defined theme
options without GUIkitty or ThemePark 'nerdity' or a lot of the
best themes will never take advantage of this apps updates.
With the 'duality' of theme switchers fallen to just ShapeShifter -
now the only surviver and it's GuiKits the only format themers
are now using, is like all monopolies - a mixed blessing.
Stepping on CandyBars toes looks a little mean to what is in fact
a very small community - CandyBar is still the best choice for
'what you see, is what you get' - icon replacement, but unsanity
has still decided to bite a chuck off their patch.
I am relieved this is a free update for previous users, because in
reality not a lot has changed from the last version from a user-defined
perspective. You cannot change any of the GUI-kits set parameters-
like change the hue of a theme ( like Audion does with skins ) or
swap finder toolbar background colors without 'hacking' the originators
theme in it's prioity format. Control is the reason for running a utility
like this - control over what GUI elements you want - I don't want to
hand the complete look over to anybody and with foresight unsanity
has made most options, exactly that - only options - but still not
enough of them to warrant a new version number.
For those who believe no theme to be as usable as Apples aqua
should give 'SIRO' or 'NEOS' by Daisuke Yama*censored*a themes a fling :
http://homepage.mac.com/dsky/guikit.html
They as the nearest thing to the perfect dark and light themes
available.
Apart from a few niggles - this is an excellent product for those who
not only like to think different but also to look insanely great.
Long live OMEGA!
Comments
The Emperor's New Clothes... - Lex Luthor
Buster boy, I am sorry you had this problem'o,
While I have nothing to do with SS, I have heard
the trouble with the latest iTunes release (4.7).
You could try this:
1. Launch Terminal. It's located in /Applications/Utilities
2. Enter the following command:
defaults delete com.unsanity.shapeshifter CustomSettings.
Hint scooped from here:
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?s=803f9a974deeb865362a1df554f94b0e&threadid=233258
Hope it fixes what ails you...
Wednesday, October 27 2004 @ 09:51 AM PDT
The Emperor's New Clothes... - Busta Boy
Thank you! It didn't work, but I appreciate the work on my behalf.Wednesday, October 27 2004 @ 10:34 PM PDT
The Emperor's New Clothes... - Busta Boy
I installed v.2 last night, checked permissions, restarted. Then I proceeded to load all my iContainers, desktops and Mighty Mouse cursor sets. All looked fine until I also installed the new iTunes update. A Shapeshifter message came up saying it was deactivating my ProLCD GUIkit because of the new version of iTunes. It also said that I should reactivate the theme after installation of iTunes. After installing it, Default Folder and Quicktime updates (checking permissions and restarting each time), I clicked on SS and it looked like it was trying to open but quit eventually. All other System Preferences open as normal. So, now I can't get to SS to reactivate the theme or anything else for that matter. I uninstalled 2.0 and reinstalled. Same thing happened, the prefpane won't open. Granted, I've got a TON of desktops, iContainers, etc. Could this be the problem? Also, I noticed someone talking about RAM usage doubling...perhaps it dies when it's trying to load all that stuff (that's what it looks like it's trying to do). Anyone else experience this? In the meantime, I will remove all traces of SS that I can find using File Buddy, and reinstall 1.2. 2.0 looked pretty cool while I had it.Reply to This
Wednesday, October 27 2004 @ 09:09 AM PDT