Titanium - January 19, 2004
Author: John Tewksbury
Version: 7
Reviewed by: Steve Streza
User Rating: 
64%
In the past, I've had a theory. Dark themes in OS X just don't work. Between contrast and hard-to-see text, dark themes don't fare very well on OS X. Then I get my hands on John Tewskbury's Titanium. And that theory, in one swift, bold stroke, has been proven completely wrong. The curious will be rewarded.
Aesthetics
Let's get the obvious out of the way. Titanium is dark. Between the grey, black, and more grey, there's a lot that could go wrong here. Fortunately, no matter where widgets are placed in any window, they always complement one another in a beautiful blend. Everything is stuck on the window, which makes the system feel totally depth-less, but it works very nicely, as if it were a piece of, well, etched titanium.
The single, coolest item in this entire package however are without a doubt the menus. The menu implementation here is stunning. Reminiscent of Panther's labels, the menus not only look awesome, but work even better. My only gripe is that sometimes, whenever content beneath an open menu is a bright color, such as white or yellow, it can cause the text to be a little tough to read. But I can say that Titanium has the slickest, most unique implentation of menus in any system I have ever used. Kudos to the author.
Usability
Like I said before, I'm pretty hesitant to rank dark themes very well, just because by nature, they are too contrasting. In contrast (pun intended), Titanium works extremely well in brighter situations, like Safari windows. Perhaps it is because the theme is lighter in general than other dark themes, but Titanium pulls off the contrast successfully. For whatever reason (most likely a ShapeShifter limitation), nobody can seem to get Safari bookmarks right, and just like most themes, this will leave your bookmarks bar unreadable. But other than that, there aren't any real flaws to this theme. Titanium will nicely handle pretty much any application you throw at it.
Extras
Wow. Titanium sure has a mess of stuff. While the theme itself gets a majority of OS X stuff taken care of, certain apps need specialized widgets. Tewskbury takes care of apps I never would have even considered themeable. For instance, there is a theme here for Safari, iTunes, QuickTime...standard fare. But there are also ones for Camino, Apple DVD Player, and VLC. Instructions are included for everything, but can be somewhat daunting for people who don't know about application packages. Perhaps installers that safetly back up original resources would be a good idea. In addition, there are two files for desktops: one for 1280x854 monitors and one for tiling at 256x256. However, one thing this theme really, truly, and sorely needs is a system icons set. Perhaps its something the developer could consider in the future?
As an aside, it's nice to know where this guy's roots lie. Titanium 1 was one of the very first OS X themes. Ever. So, this guy knows what it takes to make a theme. That being said, I guess that it is possible for a dark theme, with an emphasis on blacks and greys, to hold up as well as Titanium. It is also interesting to note that not only is this the finest dark theme I've ever used, it's one of the top themes I've ever used, period. Superb job on Tewskbury's part, his extensive works shows, and I can only hope he'll use any knowledge he gained from making this theme in creating another one.
Comments
Posted by codesmith at January 21, 2004 09:00 PM | Edit | Delete
I find that dark themes also fare poorly in applications like Adobe Illustrator or OmniGraffle which have line drawing style pop-up menus. These types of menus list a large number of various dashed and dotted line styles, which of course are drawn in black. Against a dark theme, they become almost unreadable.
Posted by Joe Buhler at January 22, 2004 05:20 PM | Edit | Delete
Share the reviewers opinion. This is a great dark theme, with the limitations he mentions, i.e. Safari bookmark title.
Only wish this could be combined with the blue highlight color of neos and the pulsing buttons. Also, if someone would come up with a color scheme such as this MacThemes site that would be great.
Posted by golgo13 at January 28, 2004 01:26 AM | Edit | Delete
can i get a working link to download this theme, please? the one provided (resexellence) doesn't work, the one in xthemes.com doesn't work, the author's website doesn't give any info, and i can't find it anyehere else
Posted by xkalibur at February 6, 2004 11:39 AM | Edit | Delete
same here. no link to d/l. :( this SUX!
Posted by dyergin at February 9, 2004 12:20 PM | Edit | Delete
Not sure why they haven't posted a working link here, kind of ireesponsible, but the theme kit is available for download from xthemes.net. -dave
Posted by keyser at February 21, 2004 02:39 PM | Edit | Delete
This theme really has a lot of potential. The buttons and some other elements look as if they are just re-coloured versions of brushed, and the contrast looks a bit off. Also, while the menus look cool they're not that usable IMHO. They are too distracting for me personally.
Overall, I really like this theme and look forward to version 8.
Posted by johnson at February 26, 2004 04:57 PM | Edit | Delete
i find it hard to believe that lacking icons knocks this down a whole 2 points in extras. i mean, how many themes REALLY have icons, and how many of those icons completely suck?
Posted by Red at February 28, 2004 09:05 PM | Edit | Delete
Absolutely adore this theme! I have one problem with it though, in some menus the text is difficult to read. Other than that, everything is perfect: love the colors, love the menu layouts, love how easy it is on the eyes, and love how well it goes with dark/gothic desktop pics.
Posted by Kelsey at April 13, 2004 12:16 PM | Edit | Delete
Hm. Seems like a nice enough theme . . . but I am a bit confused why you think the bookmark bar has been an issue. I use JetBlack, which obviously has major usability issues in applications like Word (unless you know where the menu items are already it's a bit rough to get around), but the bookmarks bar is fine! I've never tried a theme that made that a problem in fact . . . am I missing something?
Posted by Ryan Butler at April 15, 2004 08:33 PM | Edit | Delete
I think it's because version 1.1 of ShapeShifter added Bookmark Bar text control.
Posted by outsider at February 4, 2006 12:16 PM | Edit | Delete
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