Shinobi - January 08, 2004
Author: Takashi Izawa
Version: 2.2.1
Reviewed by: Steve Streza
User Rating: 
65%
Shinobi's mix of dark elements, contrasted by a nice, cool, vibrant blue hue from progress bars, radio buttons, and tabs works very well. The other widgets are also nicely realized. However, Shinobi is deceiving. While the aesthetics are pulled off successfully, the usability of this theme hurts Shinobi considerably.
Aesthetics
If you look at just the preview window of ShapeShifter, the aesthetics of Shinobi are brilliant (we'll get to real world tests in a bit). Buttons feel like they are stuck into the window. Sliders look and feel like you're controlling something physical, as though they are part of some physical control panel, and progress bars, radio buttons, and checkboxes all look fabulous because of the magificent blue that glows - yes, glows - on your monitor. It is truly a sight to behold.
Plus, the theme gets a lot of other little things right. The close, minimize, and maximize buttons in the titlebars look amazing, set in a rubber or black plastic mold. Many elements you never look at but use constantly, such as the resize button, was also conceptualized with a level of detail and consistency to deliver something exquisite. The apple that sits up in the top left of your screen also looks simply fantastic. Shinobi is a very graceful collage of industrial elements, and the theme turns out very well. At least, the aesthetics do. Now, when it comes to actually using these in the real world...
Usability
When you preview Shinobi, everything looks wonderful. The widgets seem to be stuck in their place, stationary, just doing their job. But, when you apply theme and start to play with it, you realize the truth that a preview cannot convey. As with all dark themes, there is some problem with too much contrast; for an example, the contents of finder windows can seem stark in comparison with the rest of the window. This is currently a problem with all dark themes however, and perhaps could be fixed up somewhat by future theme format updates.
Also, since Aqua isn't totally replaced by any theme, there are still elements of blue and grey showing up that don't mix at all with Shinobi. Mail looks strange. Safari looks terrible, even with the included Safari buttons; the theme makes it impossible for you to see me bookmarks in the bar or the URL you're typing in. If you have 3rd party menu extras, it becomes very difficult to read. (There is an additional installer calld "Shinobi Extras" that you can use to invert the clock and fast user switching, but nothing else). The whole thing just clashes horribly with the built in Mac UI.
Extras
Not a lot here. There is a skin for Safari buttons, but this doesn't make Safari much more usable. The aforementioned "Shinobi Extras" are a welcome addition, but does not help with 3rd menu extras. Finally, there are a couple interesting and high-quality, if a little strange, desktop pictures. There is one at the popular resolution of 1024x768 and another, smaller one, used for tiling. That's it. More resolutions and desktops would be highly welcome. Finally, one potential problem that the author avoids is that nearly everything has documentation in both English and Japanese, so you can't really screw your system up.
I had high hopes for Shinobi. I was teased with the notion of a really cool, dark theme with an insanely great blue glow to the widgets. Instead, all I get is a big mess on my desktop. Nice try, but OS X isn't ready for it yet.
Comments
Posted by WICKEDfour at January 8, 2004 08:41 PM | Edit | Delete
Good review. It's nice to see a new reviewer at MacThemes, very good maiden voyage for Steve here. However, I will note that I find the rating descriptions to be a bit vague. Otherwise, good arguments and statements about Shinobi.
Posted by Ernest Liu at January 9, 2004 01:47 PM | Edit | Delete
Woah! A dark theme that looks cool! The only complaint I have is that the dark theme doesn't match the white backgroup of a window...
Posted by at January 10, 2004 03:01 AM | Edit | Delete
When I first got into using new window themes/schemes (back when Kaleidoscope was the s**t an I was using OS 7.1 I had a fondness for black/dark interfaces. After a while and a lot eye strain headaches, I also came to the conclusion that the dark themes while beautiful to look at just aren't that functional. Shinobi is a testament to IZA's prowess as a themer/schemer (I still have copies of every single one of his KSchemes) but by it's nature it just doesn't work too well. It's a shame really, because the design and implementation of it are so nice.
Posted by KnightED at January 11, 2004 06:04 AM | Edit | Delete
This is definaly my favorite theme to use since all those white ones are hard on the eyes are the time i work because there is so little light it just works better for most things cept a few problems which can easily be overlooked for not having to use an entire white theme which is just annyoing.
Posted by Steve Streza at January 11, 2004 07:45 PM | Edit | Delete
KnightED, have you considered using a darker, but still more-usable theme, like Aluminum Alloy?
Posted by Casey Morgan at January 12, 2004 09:37 AM | Edit | Delete
I think this them is great! However, I have one small problem. I can't see what I am typing into the title bar on Safari as well as Window Boxes on web pages. If anyone has a fix, please let me know. Thanks!
Posted by ryddragyn at January 26, 2004 02:58 AM | Edit | Delete
I really do not perceive there to be any usability problems with this theme apart from the date and time menu item. Other than that, I consider this the best made OSX theme ever.
Posted by sb at February 4, 2004 01:09 PM | Edit | Delete
This theme (with SS's new capabilities) is awesome. No more unreadable text in Safari Bookmark Bar, and everything else looks great.
I think you need to update the review as it's been updated to fix any usability issues, IMHO.
SB
Posted by Jame at February 6, 2004 02:36 PM | Edit | Delete
Version 2.2.1 when used with the new Shapeshifter 1.1 makes Safari's Bookmark Bar and Tabs much more readable. Also, with this update you don't need the Shinobi Extras anymore. iPhoto, iCal and some other programs have a weird blue text on a white button which is hard to read... my only main complaint. Synergy has a white variant of it's buttons that looks really cool. All in all this is now a much more usable theme and I love it. Now all I need is an iTunes skin and some iChat buttons to match the Safari ones supplied.
Posted by jedimaster at February 17, 2004 01:02 PM | Edit | Delete
how do you get rid of it if you delete the themer? i like it, it is good, but after awhile it gave me headaches. i wouldn't say this is the best one, but it looks cool.
Posted by ricky at February 19, 2004 12:19 AM | Edit | Delete
i love all the dark themes and agree with most... i find that although the themes can be fantastic - they just feel unfinished and you only get one theme variation. it would be nice to change the font or highlight colors especially in neos.
also, i think, a theme should be a complete solution and include icons. a dark theme with standard icons looks odd.
Thanks
Posted by James at August 12, 2004 03:22 AM | Edit | Delete
I really Like this theme. It's the best one I've come across. V2.3 seems to take care of all the previously mentioned problems. Safari and the finder look fine. It even looks good with photoshop.