XTender Revealed! - March 14, 2004
For any OS X themeing enthusiast, Colin Cornaby has become a household name for his pioneering work on some of the first theme software and file formats. However, recently, Unsanity emerged with the next supposed revolution in themeing, bringing ease of use and safety to theme users with their flagship product, ShapeShifter. Since then, Colin has joined with Carpe Stellarem to work on their answer to Unsanity's juggernaut: Project XTender. In this Insider edition, MacThemes interviews Colin Cornaby and David Watson of Carpe Stellarem on their project, with details on what exactly it does, and what it plans to do. And for our readers, we provide the first public beta of XTender!
MT: To start off, why don't you introduce Carpe Stellarem to our readers. Who's in it, and what do you guys do?
DW: I'm Dave Watson and with me here is Colin Cornaby. There are four of us at Carpe Stellarem that do most of the programming and several friends who lend a hand now and then when it comes to ideas, graphics, interface layout and testing so we have a mixture of people in school and computing professionals. Like most shareware programmers, we look at where the gaps in Mac OS X market is and try to fill it.
MT: So, why don't you tell us a bit about XTender's history?
CC: When Duality 4 was released, I felt that there was a lot to be accomplished that we weren't able to do in that release. It had a great new theme format, but it didn't have the advanced features we were really looking for, and was vastly under-adopted. Duality 4 had been in production for almost a year, yet it still suffered from many of the same issues as earlier versions. During the coding of Duality 4 I had met with Carpe Stellarem a few times and exchanged ideas with possible ways of creating a new theme changer based off a new concept. We bounced around a few ideas and looked at things such as changing themes without altering files, and live theme changing. After Duality 4 was released we went back again and looked at many of these ideas. We began trying to rework how Duality operated. The original program wrote information directly into the System libraries (which required root access). With the advent of Panther and fast-user switching, we felt we needed a better approach and wanted to give user selectable themes. We started our by working on a theme changer that created RAM disks and would, in a way, graft our versions of files and directories where we needed them (and thus could change the contents on the fly when switching users) but with the release of ShapeShifter, we decided to go with an APE-ish approach. We felt we should write our own as it would be in direct competition with ShapeShifter, but as it grew, we saw that if we opened our product a little, it would actually be an APE-like product. At that point we decided, if we were going to write our own application enhancer, we might as well market a whole application enhancer rather than just a theme changer.
MT: Could you explain a bit how the actual engine works? There are obvious similarities to Unsanity's APE, as it seems to offer a way for users to safely modify their systems without touching a single resource. How similar is it? How different?
CC: As I said earlier it doesn't actually modify a users hard drive. It operates by actually inserting new code into each running program and changing the theme.
DW: Since we don't really know how Unsanity's APE works we really can't answer on how similar the XTender engine is to APE. :)
MT: And are you planning to compete with a superior product, more 3rd party support, or a cheaper price?
CC: I'd like to think we could do all of the above.
MT: What about themes, which is the first and arguably most important feature of XTender - have you been gathering support from popular artists for your XScheme format? What about Unsanity's GUIKit?
CC: This is probably my question. :) XTender is pretty much a whole new way of looking at themes. We've written a resource based theme format, meaning we can get some really great compression. We're looking at about 500k on average per theme. Xtender uses a completely new engine that requires no authentication and doesn't touch any files on the hard drive. We've also included near instant loading. Current theme changers have to load and re-parse themes everytime you start theme. Xtender starts near-instantly by keeping themes constantly parsed. We've redone the interface of Xtender into something I think is really nice and innovative also.
XScheme is also an important part of Xtender. We're including support for legacy formats such as DLTA and .theme, but they don't really take advantage of all those little cool features. We're coding Catalyst, a really great theme editor, in order to woo over developers into using XScheme. Catalyst allows theme creators to take advantage of those cool little features we're so proud of, such as better theme previewing, advanced compression, and resource based editing.
I'm also pleased to make an announcement regarding guiKit support. Xtender will have an import method for using guiKit themes. It will require a translation to occur, but guiKit themes will be able to be run under Xtender, and the process will be automatic.
MT: But as I understand it, ShapeShifter currently offers several features that were not possible with previous theme formats. Does the XScheme also offer these advantages? (Namely greater flexibility in changing text colors.)
CC: Well, XScheme can store any sort of data you want it to. So I don't think the issue really is with the XScheme format itself, rather with the changer, which is Xtender in this case. Xtender will include support for new things as we code them. Font color is definitely something that will be present.
I'll also note that Xtender includes support for 3rd party mods, so if someone codes something we haven't to change the appearance of the system, a theme creator can include that mod in their theme.
MT: And do you think having a second format will help or damage the community? Standards are generally a good thing, but so is competition. Will users be switching back and forth between these two apps just to use their favorite themes?
DW: Standards are good but a closed standard is not good. Xscheme is open source. Anyone could download the source code, read and decipher the format and ThemeKit can be used royalty free so if somebody wanted to create their own Photoshop plugin or theme creation utility, they can.
MT: Which brings me to another quick question: Does XTender play well with ShapeShifter? Are there any conflicts? What program takes priority?
DW: We have tested running both on the machine at the same time. We are still in development stages so we don't have a definitive answer except to say "it doesn't crash". As far as which will take priority, I would imagine it would be unpredictable.
MT: And more about the format itself. Are you going to take the XScheme towards a "GUI Kit" direction, or keep themes, system icons, application skins, etc separate? While ShapeShifter has not included these features yet, there are many reasons to believe that Jason Harris is heading this direction.
CC: Actually, we're still trying to decide which way to go. I can see a user wanting icons separate from a theme, and in some cases wanting them in the same file. Currently everything is stored in one XScheme file. As development continues this can change. We certainly believe ShapeShifter is headed in that direction and we are working on features beyond the traditional set that theme changers have had.
MT: Obviously, Jason Harris' ThemePark will not support the XScheme. What do you have to offer against this long standing standard in the themeing community?
CC: Actually, one little known feature is ThemePark does actually support XScheme. There are two kinds of XScheme. The original XScheme is file based, and is what was included with Duality 4. The native XScheme Xtender uses (XScheme+) is resource based, which gives it compression and fast loading among other things. ThemeKit, the framework we base our theme products on, sees both equally, so compatibility is not a problem and is completely transparent. ThemeKit does support export to the original XScheme format, but obviously we aren't continuing development on the original XScheme format, although those themes will work in OS X.
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Comments
Posted by Colin Cornaby at March 15, 2004 09:49 AM | Edit | Delete
Just a note, I forgot to include uninstall information:
1) Right click on "Desktop Scheme" in Sys Prefs and say "Remove".
2) Remove "XtenderDaemon" from your login items within the accounts prefpane.
Logout and it is done!
I'll write up and uninstaller for the next version.
Posted by at March 15, 2004 09:59 AM | Edit | Delete
The PB link leads to DeskShade Pro
Posted by Comie Prevette at March 15, 2004 01:16 PM | Edit | Delete
"There were erros installing the software." says the installer. With no further information on how or why there were errors. :(
Posted by at March 15, 2004 01:26 PM | Edit | Delete
Where do you get themes for this beta product?
Posted by Colin Cornaby at March 15, 2004 01:32 PM | Edit | Delete
If you have errors installing go ahead and email me. We're still working out kinks in the installer. It could be because of bad permissions.
gomac (at) mac.com
Posted by NetworkShadow at March 15, 2004 01:51 PM | Edit | Delete
No themes to test it with? That's kinda lame... Where are the themes?
Posted by at March 15, 2004 01:54 PM | Edit | Delete
First impressions, written as I explored...
- An installer package. damn, I have to wait for "optimizing". Oh well, at least it's up front about what isn't supposed to work yet.
- I wonder where it put the files... come to think of it, i wonder what files. (post me-screwing around note: thanks Colin for posting uninstall directions here in the comments... too bad I didn't see them until after I felt my way around first. Oh well, hehe)
- Whoa, where DID it put the files? I can't find a prefpane or app or anything called XTender! Ah, here it is... a prepane called Desktop Scheme. confusing at first, but it IS a descriptive name. The icon looks like the old Duality one, if I remember correctly. Hm, I wonder where the themes themselves are located.
- The only theme included is aqua, "your computer's default theme". So, if I want to see what a theme looks like (I picked Latium 2), I need to wait for guikitty to convert it, which XTender does automatically, which is nice (side note: yes, this means you're going to need guikitty to look at anything other than aqua). On the plus side it didn't leave the images lying around in a folder in the Finder, on the down side it only imported the first variant it came across (which of course isn't my favorite, heh). The description isn't included, either.
- Alright... selected the imported Latium 2.guikit, hit apply, watched it do its loading bar thing... and now aqua is my theme? I tried a couple times, no dice. Well, let's try another theme, one without variants... how about Digital Device? Guikitty does its thing... and then aqua is applied again. Well, that's a bummer.
Since this beta seems to be more of looking at screenshots in the form of a prefpane of things that will work in the future, I guess I'll post some impressions of the interface.
Appearance tab
- Better than ShapeShifter's, although there seems to be a lot of wasted vertical space around individual themes, and I'm not sure how many of them will have their own custom icons, meaning even more wasted space. Whatever, it's still prettier than ShapeShifter's... although I am curious how it would handle large previews and long descriptions.
Icons tab
- nothing to see here, folks
Window Behavior
- Two options in a row, "Enable Window Shade" and "Enable Window Shadows". Some work in the "renaming things to not look exactly like each other" department might be in order.
- There's also a metallifizer-like function to add/remove the brushed appearance system wide. Nice. Doesn't have per-application settings though, which is what I use metallifizer for (why would I want the whole system to be just brushed or just aqua?)
LiveTheme tab
- This is a feature I remember being excited about, and then disappointed in, way back in the Duality days. Nice to see they're giving it another go.
- That Apply button seems oddly out of place here, seeing as how there's nothing customizable.
- Launch LiveTheme! Weee!
- Damnit, I forgot that it wasn't optimized for XTender... um... it looks pretty, although there really isn't any UI there to judge yet other than a pulldown menu, and as long as this post is already I'm not about to discuss a single pulldown menu with no items in it.
Recap
Basically only two functions were included with this build: importing guikits and apply them. It botched importing (no variants or descriptions), and it didn't apply them at all. I really feel like I just spent a lot of time looking at interactive screenshots. There's potential in those screenshots, but there's really nothing there to judge yet. I think I'm going to pretend this never happened and wait until either the theme creation tools or a beta that does something comes out.
Posted by wibs at March 15, 2004 01:55 PM | Edit | Delete
ah, cripes... that last post was by me, so now you know who to flame :). Damn "remember personal info" button tricksies me.
Posted by Colin Cornaby at March 15, 2004 02:05 PM | Edit | Delete
It should have installed two themes. I know from the screen shots it certainly did for Adam. It sounds like your application problems may have come from this.
Do you have a ~/Library/Application Support/Xtender folder?
Posted by microsquire at March 15, 2004 02:10 PM | Edit | Delete
Nope, mine did not install with two themes either. Just the default "Aqua".
Posted by microsquire at March 15, 2004 02:13 PM | Edit | Delete
btw, I do have that folder.... I just don't see any themes in it - there's another folder called "current themes" and two apps: LiveTheme and the XTenderDaemon.
Posted by wibs at March 15, 2004 02:19 PM | Edit | Delete
yup... inside of ~/Library/Application Support/Xtender is:
/Current Theme/Extras.rsrc
/LiveTheme
/XTender Themes (document)
/XTenderDaemon
Another note... it changed the the variant name "dark divided / simple" to "dark divided * simple". I just checked to make sure it wasn't the / that was screwing up the import of multiple variants, so I tried to import Aluminum Alloy (cryogenic, toxic, etc), and that did successfully import all the variants, so I guess I can chalk that one up to my own bad variant naming habits.
Unfortunately it still wasn't able to apply AA =-\. Here's the console log:
2004-03-15 11:15:13.836 System Preferences[1532] /Users/lewish/Library/Application Support/ShapeShifter guiKits/Aluminum Alloy 1.1.2.guiKit
No matching processes belonging to you were found
2004-03-15 11:15:24.139 System Preferences[1532] (Cryogenic, Toxic)
2004-03-15 11:15:24.141 System Preferences[1532] /tmp/ConvertedGuiKit/Theme Variants/Cryogenic/Description.rtfd
2004-03-15 11:15:26.529 System Preferences[1532] /tmp/ConvertedGuiKit/Theme Variants/Toxic/Description.rtfd
2004-03-15 11:15:29.264 System Preferences[1532] /tmp/ConvertedGuiKit/Theme Variants/Toxic/Description.rtfd
2004-03-15 11:15:31.784 System Preferences[1532] /tmp/ConvertedGuiKit/Theme Variants/Volcanic/Description.rtfd
2004-03-15 11:15:31.787 System Preferences[1532] Error Opening file, does not exist
Posted by wibs at March 15, 2004 02:52 PM | Edit | Delete
I suddenly realized that, well, of course it won't apply any themes... I never logged out. It wasn't specifically written in the directions so it just never occurred to me.
It's still far from perfect, but finding why multiple variants and theme applying weren't working is nice.
Posted by Dace at March 15, 2004 03:07 PM | Edit | Delete
Hey?! My posts got deleted (it's a conspiracy I tell you!!). Hmmm, thats not nice :P I'll give extender a try when I get home.
Posted by at March 15, 2004 04:39 PM | Edit | Delete
My install does not have themes either
Posted by jc at March 15, 2004 04:46 PM | Edit | Delete
I'm unable to install. The installer says there were errors during installation and to try again. I was able to run the installer logged in as root, but it didn't install anything. I found the xtender prefpane and daemon in the tmp directory.. :-(
Posted by Rhythmic Moose at March 15, 2004 04:48 PM | Edit | Delete
Considering that I've already invested in ShapeShifter, I think I'll continue using it. It seems like Unsanity's got a pretty solid headstart, but I'd love to see what you can come up with. The icons part has me interested, and putting everything under one roof is nice. If you guys manage to include Mighty Mouse-like functionality too, you'll be way ahead of the game in terms of pricing and convenience.
We'll see how it goes, I guess.
Posted by motor at March 15, 2004 05:10 PM | Edit | Delete
_>>BETA<<_, people.... relax.
Nice work so far, Dave and Colin. Can't wait to see the final product. =]
Posted by Yom at March 15, 2004 06:00 PM | Edit | Delete
Going to make it short, seems everybody agrees... Why a beta instead of screenshots? So far the result is the same, except I feel like I spent time for nothing.
In theory it's going to be wonderful. But first, all the features you mention already exists (theming, changing icons, windowshade, demetallize...), ok not in one single app, what a big deal. Second, why getting a new format if there isn't any app to actually make themes? That would be the first step, no? Here is a real wait. At present time it is a pain to make a theme and quite borring to edit so many resources, so if you can improve this, go ahead. But so far.. I am still hungry!
Posted by brian at March 16, 2004 12:00 AM | Edit | Delete
screen shots would save every one time.
competition can only be a good thing (to push innovation along, which seems to kind of be stagnant in regard to shape shifter)
Posted by Gramage at March 16, 2004 03:37 PM | Edit | Delete
It's nice to see some competition out there. I'm interested to see where this goes.
Posted by thomas at March 16, 2004 06:30 PM | Edit | Delete
I hope they release a 1.0 version of this soon. Like before my latest shapeshifter demo is over. =) I only want to buy one.
Posted by Abhi at March 16, 2004 11:38 PM | Edit | Delete
Currently, theme designers create a mock up in photoshop, then they split the mock up into several images paste them into ThemePark and cross their fingers that it look ok. It sounds like Catalyst will take away some of the pain, but a far better approach would be to copy the mock up into Catalyst and divide it into individual images there, that's the way it used to work in Kaliedoscope's theme editor (what was it called?). Another thing you should follow Kaliedoscope's lead in is release the theme editor as freeware, or at least free to registered XTender users. That one is very important, don't charge theme editors when you're already making money from the people using their themes. Kaliedoscope even hosted the themes. Another thing you could copy... Theming was almost perfect in MacOS 9, we should work towards what we once had before thinking of new things.
Posted by at March 17, 2004 01:40 PM | Edit | Delete
i agree themePark is very unituitive (the only thing keeping me from designing themes currently). a PSD template that can be imported to a program and automatically sliced into the correct pieces would be superb.
Posted by wibs at March 17, 2004 04:18 PM | Edit | Delete
Abhi and the unnamed guy... the imminent version of ThemePark promises usability improvements, and, well... you just might get some of the things you're asking for ;)
Posted by Chris Grande at March 28, 2004 11:02 PM | Edit | Delete
Well, won't install here..... says errors during install, try again. Just this in console: 2004-03-28 22:59:08.976 Installer[5206] Exception raised during posting of notification. Ignored. exception: Some files for XtenderPB may not have been written correctly. (code 1)
Posted by Josha Chapman-Dodson at March 31, 2004 09:23 PM | Edit | Delete
It won't install on my admin account, it says you can't install on this volume with out admin permission, and then I logged into root and I installed it there, it worked, then I logged on to my admin account, it there was no pane in the System Preferences app, what should I do next.
Reply: josha@pixikon.com
Posted by Deb Baverstock at April 3, 2004 11:09 AM | Edit | Delete
I have installed the Beta. It installed 2 theme groups as well as Aqua. One is Aqua Extreme and one is Milk. The interface looks really good and promises alot of functionality. I know it is a beta, so I did not expect too much but I just wanted to let you know for the sake of feedback that it does not load the themes properly as yet. At least not under OS 10.2.8. If this program will require 10.3.x you might want to post this. Keep it up!
Posted by iindigo at April 7, 2004 12:09 AM | Edit | Delete
Just curious, how's the development going? I can't wait to try 1.0!
iindigo
Posted by Absolute Zero at April 23, 2004 03:28 AM | Edit | Delete
When will this be ready? It's past mid April...
Posted by zZ iNs0mNiAk Zz at May 2, 2004 07:37 PM | Edit | Delete
Ok, it's May... release was supposed to be mid April, but nothing!
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