Milk - December 31, 2003
Author: Max Rudberg
Version: 2.0
Reviewed by: Phillip Ryu
User Rating: 
70%
The best way to describe this theme is to imagine a glass full of that white, slightly creamy, opaque liquid that goes well with chocolate chip cookies. Take that analogy a bit further. Milk is a good theme on its own, but requires darker, contrasting elements to make it usable. Does Max provide chocolate chip cookies with his Milk? Absolutely.
Aesthetics
Milk comes in 3 variations: Milk, Chrome Milk, and Black Milk, which we industry insiders call Chocolate Milk. Or so I wish. Black Milk's differences include a black Apple menu icon and black, translucent menus. The chrome variation contains modified window widgets and scrollbars in a celshaded, chrome style (glare on top). As I will explain later, these two variations are an immensely great addition to the Milk theme.
The rest of the theme generally reeks of quality. One of the coolest elements I have ever seen in a theme are the spinning wheel progress indicators, or rather, what was once spinning wheel progress indicators. Max's interpretation of this classic and often unchanged element is dripping milk; a perfect example of his attention to detail and flawless execution. Every element has been redone in a smoothed, white style that is so successful in recreating the milky look that, well, it becomes too much of a good thing.
Usability
While there is no doubt that Max has completely succeeded in his quest to achieve milk in OS X, one wonders if the quest was flawed. The default "Milk" variation is simply too white and too milky bland that it hurt my eyes to stare at it too long. Perhaps this is because the theme is currently loaded on an iBook, or perhaps not. Though this takes off points from Milk's usability, Max has luckily provided useful extras to overcome the perils of a cool, but low contrast and blindingly white theme.
Extras
Max's extras in this theme go beyond most other extras, in that they actually enhance the usability of the theme in addition to its aesthetics. Though the default Milk variation is often disorienting in its purity, the included Chrome and Black "I still think this should be Chocolate" variations help enormously to bring contrast to the interface. Furthermore, one of Max's included desktops, "Milk Splash", is a great companion to the theme, for those interested in further contrast and a pleasant desktop. In fact, all of Max's included desktops are great on their own, but most are unfortunately too bright and white for the author to use with Milk's default variant.
Finally, Max has gone a step farther than most with his extras by including an entire system icon replacement set (which captures the whole "Milk" theme pretty well) as well as the now standard Safari toolbar replacement set.
Milk is a top notch theme, thanks to its extras. Without its variations and desktops, the theme would've been dismissed for its unusable brightness, but the extras pull through and make this one a keeper. Again, the I'd like to stress the high quality work that can be seen throughout the theme, and the quirky and imaginative elements that pop up every once in a while that make me grin in appreciation of Max's talent .
Comments
Posted by rorschach at January 2, 2004 12:05 PM | Edit | Delete
I have a Titanium PowerBook, so Milk is a nice contrast to the metallic outside appearance. Very soothing, and an excellent theme! (My second fav after SmoothStripes Sunken Aqua!)
Posted by mac15 at January 2, 2004 09:29 PM | Edit | Delete
Milk is an awesome theme, one of my favourites. I have to the same deeling too where previous brushed windows would becomes to bright and really painful to look at.
Yes I secound that Black Milk should becomes Chocolate Milk!
Posted by danielgrenell at January 4, 2004 01:34 AM | Edit | Delete
personally i rate this theme a 9, really great, but yes, it is occasionally to bright.
Posted by Alex at January 4, 2004 09:43 PM | Edit | Delete
I've been using Milk 2.0 with Panther ever since it was released and I haven't gotten sick of it yet. There's just something about it that I love.
Posted by angelrendon at January 5, 2004 06:36 PM | Edit | Delete
I used milk on my pc for a while but I stopped using it and switched over to smooth stripes 4 gloss. Looking back, I guess I switched because the color of smoothstripes was an escape after the lack of variety in Milk. Though, the first time I saw milk, I was personally stunned. Milk is a very nice theme and I think your rating is fitting.
Posted by Dudebroguy at January 27, 2004 06:12 AM | Edit | Delete
I have found that Milk is my favorite theme for OSX. The simple clean interface, with its pleasant shadows and smooth edges are a pleasure to work with. I'd have to say the the review is flawed in its rating of the "usability" score. It even mentions that there are three different versions of Milk available...so why give it a 6/10? I prefer the "Black Milk" version (as shown in the highlighted menu bar above), it's nearly perfect for my uses on a large CRT monitor.
Posted by Gramage at February 11, 2004 11:15 PM | Edit | Delete
Using it right now.
I usually HATE really light themes, but using the "Black Milk" variation and a practically all-black wallpaper gives it a black-and-white feel, rather than an "OMG ITS SO BRIGHT!" feel, if you know what I mean...
Posted by Holigen at February 21, 2004 02:15 PM | Edit | Delete
You know guys, if this theme gets too bright, almost all of Apples LCDs and CRTs have a brightness controller
Posted by HalberMensch at March 5, 2004 09:44 AM | Edit | Delete
Simply my favorite theme...
Posted by Todd Dominey at April 5, 2004 06:09 PM | Edit | Delete
MUST....HAVE.......CHOCOLATE!
Posted by iNeusch at April 24, 2004 09:02 AM | Edit | Delete
One of the most complete theme out there...
A little too white for me ;)
Posted by Dan Gilbey at May 2, 2004 06:28 PM | Edit | Delete
Help, I think I'm missing the obvious but could someone please help me to get the milk theme up and running on my Pc. Where do i have to install it?
Posted by Cristina Marie at March 27, 2005 02:39 PM | Edit | Delete
I'm unable to download the Milk 3 theme in blue. The link won't work. Where can I get it?
Posted by outsider at February 4, 2006 08:03 AM | Edit | Delete
mieszkania Warszawa, ogłoszenia nieruchomości, projektowanie stron, tworzenie stron, agencja reklamowa, reklama w internecie
Posted by git at February 4, 2006 11:46 AM | Edit | Delete
zdrowa żywność, psycholog, nauka angielskiego, soczewki kontaktowe, psyche sf, jk, ns, projektowanie wnętrz, hydraulik, opcat, domy opieki, freetimes, jidds, fabrykapoe, sfworks, polskepoeje, pb, pp, jk, wypadki, opony, agroturystyka, klimatyzacja, apteka, dentysta, fs, kray, eway, angs, gits, akupunktura, sw, sf, puz