Appletell

When Leopard was still in development stages, there was much discussion on forums about GUI changes. The most argued point was the need for iTunes-style controls in Leopard. If you remember, back in Tiger, iTunes stuck out with a new design. Leopard took the iTunes design, and now it fits in perfectly. But, for some reason, Apple decided to keep the glossy bubbly Aqua buttons and scrollbars, while toning down everything else. They stick out like a sore thumb.

When Leopard arrived, many people tried to “theme it,“ getting rid of those last traces of the original Aqua. The only thing that had been completely accomplished was to get scrollbars made. But they were hit-or-miss in terms of working correctly, and they were no fun to install.

Fast-forward four months, and MacThemes member Mac Intosh began work on a great theme that would replace scrollbars and more. It is the best I’ve seen of its kind, and it replaces almost all interface elements except for buttons and drop-down menus, which still apparently have mixed results. These are features that may creep into later revisions, as it is still being worked on. The theme also includes elements to make Safari more iTunes-like.

If the glossy scrollbars in a sea of matte interface elements have been bugging you, give it a download.

Download [MacThemes Forums]

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If you fancy Mac OS X’s default aqua wallpaper, and I’m sure lots of fans do, you might be wondering how to go about creating one from scratch. PSDTuts has a simple tutorial that walks you through all the steps in creating those smooth curves and gradients.

There are roughly 15 steps which would take a good 10 minutes to complete. You will require Adobe’s Photoshop, but this tutorial only uses the most basic of tools (layers, gradients, etc.) If you’re a Photoshop whiz, you’ll get through this in no time. Check it out.

Via [PSDTuts.com]

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