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Mac Themes Garden

damien.zone

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Re: Mac Themes Garden

#41

Post by WillAdams »

dylan604 wrote: post #38
WillAdams wrote: post #11

There was one theme, which had a feature which I _really_ wish had become a standard --- the title bar collapsing down to the size of the text when "window-shaded" by double-clicking --- I never liked that feature until that theme came along, and it is about the only thing about Mac OS 9 and earlier that I miss.

I miss dragging a window to the bottom of the screen so that it became a tab, and then clicking the tab would restore the window back into the Finder frame. I don't use GUI windows like I used to in Classic OS. I now barrel my way around with CLI, and then 'open .' when arriving at the destination. So would I still use that tab feature today if available? Probably, not, and that's probably why it's no longer a thing…

Isn't that much like minimizing a window to the Dock?

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#42

Post by indigodaddy »

sdrothrock wrote: post #36
rhet0rica wrote: post #6

It blows my mind how diverse these are, and how diverse their creators were. One single artist, Martha Royer, made over two hundred themes: https://macthemes.garden/authors/martha-royer/ (They're not all amazing in quality, but the sheer industriousness is staggering.) I was lurking around the equivalent Windows community in roughly the same era (well, a couple of years later) and it was nothing like this. Far fewer…

In the 00s, I remember leaning on LiteStep and Stardock (I think?) for theming rather than anything specific to windows

Those days were pretty cool. I think that whole scene is pretty much dead for Windows now? Not a shell replacement, but I guess rainmeter is still going it looks like? But not sure if any of the shell replacements are still around or even a possibility/thing for W11 these days...

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#44

Post by dylan604 »

WillAdams wrote: post #41
dylan604 wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I miss dragging a window to the bottom of the screen so that it became a tab, and then clicking the tab would restore the window back into the Finder frame. I don't use GUI windows like I used to in Classic OS. I now barrel my way around with CLI, and then 'open .' when arriving at the destination. So would I still use that tab feature today if available? Probably, not, and that's probably why it's no longer a thing…

Isn't that much like minimizing a window to the Dock?

maybe if you squint while tilting your head as you look at it. tabs could be moved around and rearranged. minimizing to the dock has zero control

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#45

Post by antfarm »

Good memories! Back in the days I used Kaleidoscope to style my PowerMac (System 7.5) to look like BeOS, but most importantly, I had an extension that gave me the column browser in the Finder that I had seen on the NeXT Cubes at university. In most courses, I was the only student who used a Mac for homework assignments.

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#48

Post by rf15 »

I remember theming my mac and windows machines as a kid! Somehow all we're left with is corporate sponsored blandness and a user base who does not care about having fun with what they own, they just want a basic tool to browse the web. (and I guess ownership is much more muddied now anyway)

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#49

Post by timeon »

rhet0rica wrote: post #6

It blows my mind how diverse these are, and how diverse their creators were. One single artist, Martha Royer, made over two hundred themes: https://macthemes.garden/authors/martha-royer/ (They're not all amazing in quality, but the sheer industriousness is staggering.) I was lurking around the equivalent Windows community in roughly the same era (well, a couple of years later) and it was nothing like this. Far fewer…

> Martha Royer, made over two hundred themes

Actual Mackintosh design included!

Re: Mac Themes Garden

#50

Post by oneeyedpigeon »

rf15 wrote: post #48

I remember theming my mac and windows machines as a kid! Somehow all we're left with is corporate sponsored blandness and a user base who does not care about having fun with what they own, they just want a basic tool to browse the web. (and I guess ownership is much more muddied now anyway)

I think what you say is partly true—systems are definitely more locked down nowadays and we mostly just accept what corporations give us. But I think this is also, at least in part, consumer-driven. Computers are less of a novelty nowadays, so fewer people are interested in tweaking and configuring for the sake of it, while more are just looking to get work done.
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