SS Theme Contest: Another Opinion - February 03, 2004
Unsanity has been at the forefront of shaking up the Mac theme community, which has always been a small group, a niche of a niche. With their revolutionary product ShapeShifter and other countless haxies to enhance the GUI, there has been no one else who has done as much, besides perhaps the themers. And now, Unsanity is helping this small group grow into something more than what it has been before, by creating the first official theme contest. The entries of the contest appeared on the night of February 2nd. Nine of them, created by experienced and newbie themers alike. Only one will be given the honor and privilege to be the best theme of the bunch. Which will it be?
Well, that's impossible to say with any certainty, as no one will know until February 9th when the winner is announced. But MacThemes can take a shot by providing some opinions on what the themes' strengths and weaknesses are, and what themers can work on. And that's what we'll do.
Note: These are not comprehensive reviews and are not meant to be taken that way. Formal reviews will come in due time.
Theme 1:
Name: Boxi
Author: Don Schaper
As the name implies, Boxi is, well, boxy. Lots and lots of right angles are what dominate this theme. Almost everything is made out of boxes. Tabs, throbbers, radio buttons, sliders, all boxes. It's an interesting concept, but it is a little confusing. Since everything is made out of boxes, how could users tell elements apart? Luckily, the author has added all kinds of subtle details that separate and make separate controls visually distinct. Unfortunately, these details don't do anything to describe the function of any given control, so you're left guessing what stripes on either side of the box mean.
Furthermore, the theme suffers a major consistency problem. In a brushed metal window, the background is a nice light grey with - you guessed it - a dark box around it. However, in an Aqua window, the background could be anything from silver to pink to brown depending on which variation you choose (an impressive eight, to the author's credit). The variations are the same of course, besides the color shift, but the fact that brushed metal does not change between the variants is a noticeable shortcoming.
Themes are very difficult beasts. They not only have to be appealing, functional, and fitting, but they must also be subtle and effective. Elements need to complement each other, even when they don't know what will be sitting next to them. These are techniques that even experienced theme developers can have trouble pinning down. Not surprisingly, it's this theme's fatal flaw. Mr. Schaper, if you plan to continue this theme, first, take a look at what makes other themes succesful, and work that into what you have. The all-right-angles premise is definitely interesting, and I hope that it can be further developed in the future, but Boxi needs clearer and more intuitively designed controls.
Theme 2:
Name: Digital Device
Author: Joe Kohlmann
Digital Device is a very nice theme, and one that's gained a lot of attention since its original announcement. It's even been covered in a previous Insider! The theme is poised for greatness, and it deilvers. One of the coolest things that Digital Device has going for it is that eerie green-yellow-gray haze that resembles the displays of old Palm Pilots and Newtons of years past, and the theme itself is spot-on everywhere, with surprising consistency and completeness.
My personal favorite item in this innovative theme would have to go to the menus. For some reason, the menus feel even more like something from a PDA than the rest of the theme. Another favorite of mine are the window widgets, which look just slightly accented on the window. They really give that extra somethin' for bringing out the theme's unique greatness.
Digital Device's got a few flaws, though. For instance, it is sometimes difficult to tell which window is on top, due to its inherent flatness. The progress bar is also noisy, standing out with its animation more than in other themes. Also, sometimes the controls suffer from murky similarities, resulting in a bit of confusion on what button does what. But these gripes are minor. Digital Device is a marvelous theme that is an excellent achievement, muchos kudos.
Theme 3:
Name: Good Grey
Author: Martin Ottosson
Good Grey seems to me like an attempt to pull away from Aqua towards a simple theme like maybe Milk, without losing some of the qualities that makes Aqua great. However, the designer seems torn on exactly what to keep and what to pull. The result is a theme that resembles a collage of Aqua, a kids theme, and a pro theme. But nevertheless, it's still weirdly appealing.
Good Grey does what few other themes have done. It gets out of your way. It lets you work on your stuff. However, where other themes generally jump far away from you and don't show any color or darkness whatsoever, GG does have a little dose of color in there, to guide you while you're doing your thing. Menus are slightly grey, to stand off from a lighter background. Selected tabs are greyed in to signal that they are selected, and window widgets are boldly colored, but that's about it. Default buttons pulse, but only minimally. These subtleties give Good Grey a professional looking interface.
At the same time, however, it looks very childish. The stoplight is now embedded right into the panel, making it look like it was painted right onto the windows. iChat, with the multi-colored orbs and the custom icons, looks very fun and playful. Popup menus have rounded tips and also look very fun. The fun mixed with pro is not necessarily a consistency flaw. It's quite interesting how they all blend together and, well, work.
Good Grey is an excellent theme, and a true demonstration of how to combine two user interfaces and make one solid theme. This one seems really good for getting out of your way when you want it to, but not totally shunning you out of the graphical user interface experience. Think Digital Device for modern computers.
Theme 4:
Name: iMac 2004: Strawberry
Author: Comie Prevette
Take a look at that screenshot to the right. (Click to view full screen.) As you can probably tell, the Strawberry iMac theme isn't exactly the most user-friendly thing to deal with. It's got sharp reds and pinks that are tough to look at for very long. The theme itself has quite a few shortcomings that will definitely need to be addressed before it becomes widely used.
The ultimate problem with this theme is contrast. Aqua pinstripes under a really, really harsh red doesn't work, nor does black text that gets washed out by that same red. There are also pinks, and they don't help either. The whole thing is just a big, bright mess of reds and pinks that, while they emulate Apple's Strawberry iMac to some degree, just don't work when you're trying to navigate through the things you need to do on your computer. This garish blend of happy colors is just what mac theming has never had before, and it works in its own, unique way, but usability brings it down.
A user interface needs to be elegant and intuitive. Unfortunately, Comie's theme, while unique and cute, has usability issues that are inherent to such a colorful interface. Menus are the only real thing here that work well, and that's because they're one color. And while I'm not a big advocate of the color pink, it's easy on the eyes. So, my main tip to the artist here - perhaps try toning down the reds a bit. After all, the Strawberry iMac was pink and white, right?
Download iMac 2004: Strawberry
Theme 5:
Name: Imagination
Author: Steve Hensley
Let's get back to the roots of OS X theming. Aqua is made up of 3D, glasslike objects that pop out at you and try and tell you what's going on, and a lot of themes have either copied it, maybe fixing some minor pet peeve, or steered away from it altogether. Imagination tries to do something a little different. Using Aqua as it's frame of reference rather than it's starting point, it creates something totally unique. But as it still feels somewhat Aquaish, which is not a bad thing, Imagination also looks good.
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Comments
Posted by The Truth at February 5, 2004 07:20 AM | Edit | Delete
While most people (at the MNN forums) all tried to be nice, I'll just come right out and say it here...
-[comments exclude "digital device"]-
All the themes in the contest suck - and most of them suck immensely. With the exception of digital device and possibly Kromex, they're all completely unusable on a daily basis. Nobody could POSSIBLY look at all that pink, or green or dark gray ALL DAY LONG.
ALL the themes stink of lack of creativity, lack of photoshop skills, lack of themepark knowledge and lack of the drive to finish something started.
At least digital device is a "completed" theme and is usable - though I don't care for PDA types of interfaces.
Yeah, yeah... "Do your own theme then!" "Where's YOUR theme..." Blah-blah-blah. The fact is, I have the skills, I just don't have the time. And unlike the themers in this contest, I'm not willing to put out a half-assed product.
The up-side of this mess is that I now, more than ever, appreciate Max Rudberg, Swiz and Izawa and will probably be throwing some funds their way next time they update a theme I use - even if they don't ask for it.
Posted by Phillip Ryu at February 5, 2004 07:56 AM | Edit | Delete
The thing is, this contest is encouraging new themers. Most of the entries are first themes, and if you look at Swiz and Max's very first works, well, you have to start somewhere. Swiz and Max have been at their work for years, and countless versions. I'm hoping that some of these new themers will continue their work, it's bound to improve.
Posted by CW at February 5, 2004 08:23 AM | Edit | Delete
Don' be to harsh on these guys. Most of these themes do indeed "suck". But we need to overlook that to see the big picture. Newbie themers, if encouraged, get bet better and become really good themers, which in turn will provide us with more good themes. Give 'em some time.
Digital Device is nice. The rest of of the themes are just ok, but they have a lot of potential. I hope to see even better themes from these guys in the days to come.
Posted by Jim Magacs at February 5, 2004 09:49 AM | Edit | Delete
Kromex got my first place vote. Actually it got my ONLY vote, since it's the only one of the contest themes that works OK under Jaguar. Nice of Unsanity to bring out ShapeShifter and then change the development environment a month or so (and $20) later so that most new and updated themes can't be used by people running Jaguar. It was fun while it lasted.
Posted by NetworkShadow at February 5, 2004 10:10 AM | Edit | Delete
Lantern should win. It's a lot better than the other themes, I really like it.
Jim Magacs: Get Panther, you'll be happy you did.
Posted by MrJamie at February 5, 2004 10:12 AM | Edit | Delete
The menubar clock is unreadable for me in most of those themes. So I can't really say I like any of them, because for me because of that they are all unusable. Oh well :\
Posted by Thomas at February 5, 2004 10:24 AM | Edit | Delete
First off, I don't think any of these 'suck'. I appreciate all the hard work that went into all of them. I also have no problems looking at Latium all day as I LOVE THAT THEME! I'm very happy with the entries, i just wish there were more. I have no idea what the person who wrote the first comment was thinking as it sounds like they are full of BS. It's ok to have your opinions but don't try to tell others what they can and can't look at all day. And don't discourage peoples 'skills' just because you think yours are better. I think all who make themes, good or bad, are at least putting something out there and should continue to create.
Posted by at February 5, 2004 12:04 PM | Edit | Delete
Comie Prevette is a guy.
Posted by Brian at February 5, 2004 12:19 PM | Edit | Delete
I agree that most of these themes are of poor quality. When I see a new theme, I'm mostly concerned with consistency, and these just don't have it. I wonder if the themes wouldn't have suffered so badly had the contest run for some more ungodly length of time. It ran for what, a month? I'm not sure how long it takes to bring one of these things together, but a month doesn't seem like a whole lot of time to properly plan and complete a project like this.
Posted by Jason at February 5, 2004 02:15 PM | Edit | Delete
I think it's all a matter of personal taste. I'd assume that if you create a specific theme, it is because you would want to use it. Instead of complaining about the lack of good themes, get your butt in gear and make your own that doesn't suck.
Posted by sb at February 5, 2004 02:35 PM | Edit | Delete
I said the same thing ( much abbreviated) as the first poster - most of the themes are not usable, let alone good.
I know ya gotta start somewhere, but come on. A contest is supposed to bring out the best of something along with the newbies - I only really see noob stuff there, with the exception of Lantern and DD.
Fortunately, there are a good supply of excellent themes already, and I'm sure more will come with time.
SB
Posted by Phillip Ryu at February 5, 2004 03:08 PM | Edit | Delete
Hey guys, quick reality check. :)
You know Kevin Husted? AKA Swiz? He's one of the most respected themers today, and this was one of his first themes for OS X:
resexcellence.com/themes/images/04-06-02_simplexorange.jpg
Obviously he's come a long way, and that's what I'm hoping these ten new themer will do too.
Posted by wibs at February 5, 2004 03:36 PM | Edit | Delete
Just curious, but for everyone who says they can't stand the colors ("all that green"), would you feel the same way if it was, say, blue?
That's why I made Latium green. It was originally just for me, because there are plenty of blue and grey and black themes. If my original intent was to win a contest, I would have gone with a grey or blue or black theme, because that's what people go crazy for. Personally, I was just sick of always having the same damn colorscheme.
That said, there will be some color variants for Latium in the future :). Despite the fact that Latium is indeed quite usable, as I use it on my computer everyday and have already been sent nearly twenty screenshots of people saying how surprised they were that the green worked for them, since usually they don't like it.
Anyway, I'm glad to hear these opiniops... people at MacNN do tend to just give praise.
Posted by Ken at February 5, 2004 04:00 PM | Edit | Delete
To "the truth"
Just what exactly makes these themes unusable? I admit that I dont like them all, but most have interface elements which are equally obvious to aqua. G3 Blueboy's Imagination has no bright pink, green or dark grey and uses blue minimally for highlight. Before you make sweeping statements about other peoples work, you should at least get your facts straight.
Posted by sb at February 5, 2004 04:16 PM | Edit | Delete
I like the green actually. Put on a nice desktop to compliment it and it's pretty nice - nothing ground-breaking, but that's OK.
SB
Posted by Dave Thomson at February 5, 2004 05:15 PM | Edit | Delete
I think saying that the themes suck is pretty harsh. A lot of work obviously went into them. For me, "Digital Device" is the best one. It looks neat and retro, and it's unobtrusive in use.
The others theme authors need to keep in mind one word: usability. I hate to lump them all together since some are more successful than others, but for the most part the remaining themes wouldn't be welcome in daily use.
There is a lot of potential here, however. I'd love to see the sophomore efforts of these authors. It would have been nice if the contest had more submissions but, perhaps next time.
- DAT
Posted by Apoch at February 5, 2004 05:54 PM | Edit | Delete
Great job by all the themers!
IMHO not enough praise is held for this crew of up and coming theme tycoons! :) Creating free themes for the entire OSX mac community is wonderful gift.
Let us embrace the efforts of these people. Doing so will bolster the Mac Community and increase interest in creative sharing. If a person simply does not like a theme, do say so, give reasons, criticism is good, but do not bash the creator, this gets us no where.
cheers all!
Posted by Daniel Grenell at February 5, 2004 08:07 PM | Edit | Delete
most of them are quite nice.
Posted by Antares at February 5, 2004 09:28 PM | Edit | Delete
In my opinion i think there are a couple of very usuable themes in the bunch. Regardless, kudos to all who submitted!
Perhaps I look at this competition differently than others. Personally, I didn't really expect the themes to be perfect and seamless... they are works in progress. Voting, to me, is simply giving my opinion and support to those themes I see promise in and hope to see the development continue on..
I personally like the theme I use to be unobtrusive.. and find the themes that are more 'wow' to be inevitably less useful to me. I think, at the very least, that there are some good elements in most of the themes and look forward to see where they develop. Having said that, the ones that top my list are discussed below.
As much as I like Digital Device and think its well done and consistent throughout, there is something about the color that doesn't work for me personally. I like its simplicity a lot. Perhaps a color variation would make me use it. I want to see it develop.
I like that Latium is really creative... and its been done well, but there are some elements i personally don't like and in the end its not very usable to me for some reason. I will most likely try it out again and watch how it progresses.
In the end, after checking them all out, I have settled into using Good Grey for the last couple days... and I have to say I really like it. Overall I think its well done and consistant throughout and, for me, works perfectly for my aesthetic... I haven't yet come across a program I didn't like how it looked in and I really like how its elements translate on webpages... I'm not saying it doesn't need work but I definately want to see this one progress. It doesn't leap out at you and I think thats why I'm not hearing much about it, but its also why i like it so much.
Posted by Sean at February 5, 2004 10:46 PM | Edit | Delete
I'd have to agree with the first comment. This being a theme CONTEST, I expected to see some great works from great artists... not first-time attempts by newbie themers. It *is* great that these new artists are trying their hand at theme design, but they should wait out these contests until skilled enough to produce themes worthy of desktop adoption.
My vote goes to Digital Device, the only semi-professional theme entered.
Posted by Steve Streza at February 6, 2004 06:27 AM | Edit | Delete
While a duel between people like Swiz and Max would be definitely interesting (and rewarding for theme appliers), there aren't really enough great theme artists for making themes for a contest. If the major themers were in the contest, there'd be absolutely no chance for any of the other themes from newbies to win. The purpose of this contest is to give newbies incentive to start up theming, and hopefully stay and develop their skills.
You guys probably need to give these themers more credit. Yeah yeah, do it yourself, yada yada, but you don't understand how much work has to go into creating a full widget set. From scratch or otherwise. For that, these guys get credit. It may not be particularly great, but at least it's something.
Finally, if these guy's skills do develop (even just one), we'll have another themer on the level of someone like Swiz or Max. Just dream about that.
But nobody is going to continue this contest unless they get some words of encouragement and constructive criticism. So please, stop the bashing. :D
Posted by Gramage at February 8, 2004 02:56 AM | Edit | Delete
w00t @ Latinum. Awesome.
DD also kewl. Love the volume widget.
Haven't tried the rest.
Posted by Ryan at February 9, 2004 03:29 PM | Edit | Delete
Though I don't like the style of many of these themes, Digital Device and Good Grey look polished enough to be quite usable.
Posted by Apple Cleric at May 5, 2004 11:16 PM | Edit | Delete
Theme designers, don't get discouraged about what people like or dislike. Build a theme that represents what you want out of an apple. There are bound to be thousands of people who share your likes. An artist who trys to make a song that connects with other people, not having experienced those same emotions, one cannot express it well. So make it what 'you' want it to be and not what you think everyone else might want. Peoples opinions are different (as you already know.). Like mine for instance is a theme that breaks free from Aqua's interface. Perhaps round, triangle or widget menus. That would be awesome (I think). Anyways, I thankyou for your time (I know how time consuming any computer project is.). I greatly appreciate having a new look on my computer.
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