Latium - February 25, 2004
Author: Harlan Lewis
Version: 1.2
Reviewed by: Steve Streza
User Rating: 
65%
The third place winner of the Unsanity/OWC ShapeShifter Contest, Latium is one of those themes you either love or you hate. Latium is a futuristic and unique blend of greens and whites, and regardless whether you like it or not, it is a great technical accomplishment by a themeing newbie.
Aesthetics
Latium is a truly unique mix of olive greens, greys, and whites, and a very subtle mix at that. Surprisingly, the rather strange combination of colors works. I've said this before about other themes, but this theme really is a very fitting replacement for Aqua. The strength of Latium lies in its truly fresh look. It's not the smooth, polished metal that we'd expect from a futuristic theme, but more softened and pastel, yet the industrial taste is still very much there.
Of all the widgets here, Harlan's best accomplishments are the progress bars and sliders. Progress bars look almost like conveyor belts or chains being pulled. They make you want to stick a small object into the grooves of the progress bar just to see it get pulled away. Sliders also seem like industrial controls that are stuck right into the panel. Very impressive. What it comes down to, is the fact that Latium is very interesting. The color, the unique shapes, the seemingly random dips and bulges really make the theme a visual treat.
The windows themselves are also extremely nice. Some having transparent corners, some not, but as a whole, the windows are very aesthetically pleasing. However, the titelbar widgets, while being very nice to look at and again very unique, don't truly convey the action of the button. It can be disconcerting to some, though if you're applying a new theme to the OS, you probably know what each widget does. Nevertheless, a little tweaking would be desirable.
Usability
Applying a new theme is like buying a new car. You can see pictures of it, hear what other people have said about it, etc. But you'll never really understand it unless you take it out for a test spin. And Latium handles in real world tests like a brand-new Ferrari.
My preferred variation being opaque/nifty, Latium is a treat for your eyes, but one that wears well. Pretty much everything looks good with this theme. Especially other applications. Apps that I thought would never look good in anything but Aqua look excellent here. Photoshop, Flash, even Limewire. Built-in OS X apps look good as well. Mail looks very nice. I wasn't too big a fan of Safari, even with the included Safari toolbar icons, but it was still usable. For the most part however, they all looked really good, and of course Harlan's application skins help tremendously. As already stated, window widgets could use some defining, but I don't think this is much of a problem for themes at this point. If Latium is willing to push the envelope this far, it shouldn't be constricted by such small details.
Extras
What else does Latium have? Harlan packed in not just a guiKit, but also ten wallpapers and skins for Safari, iTunes, iChat, and Adium 2 included in the package as well as being available at his site. The desktops are impressive, as are the many application skins. However, this app is so sorely lacking an icon set. It's crying, screaming for one. Even just an olive set of Aqua icons would be extremely desirable. Finally, Harlan has added a little treat that I'd like to see more; Latium comes with its own modded Finder labels. Neat!
Latium happens to be my favorite out of all of the entries to the Unsanity/OWC contest. At version 1.2, it has some flaws, but nothing that can't be ironed out in future versions of the theme. I highly encourage the artist to make this even better, as Latium could ultimately become one of the best OS X themes out there, and already it has a place on my hard drive for its fresh look.
Comments
Posted by Daniel Grenell at February 26, 2004 07:09 AM | Edit | Delete
i really like this theme. it's pretty fantastic. but i can't stand it for more than a couple of days. not because the theme is bad, but because it brings out a fickle, creative side in me.
Posted by Jahnoth at February 26, 2004 10:06 AM | Edit | Delete
I wasn't sure I'd like this theme. I thought it looked nifty when I first saw a screenshot using it for Unsanity's contest, but it just didn't look like something I could use on a constant basis.
But, I took Steve's advice and decided to test drive this for awhile. I like it. It is definitely up in my top 5 of favorite themes.
Well done, Harlan.
Posted by NetworkShadow at February 26, 2004 11:12 AM | Edit | Delete
Should have given it a 9, it's a great theme.
Posted by JoE950 at February 26, 2004 11:28 AM | Edit | Delete
its terrible that it only took 3rd place in the contest. it was the best of show in my opinion.
Posted by cmove at February 26, 2004 11:57 AM | Edit | Delete
yeah that was the best and original theme
9,5 for myself
Posted by sb at February 26, 2004 12:34 PM | Edit | Delete
This theme makes me feel like I'm using OS 9 and Kaleidoscope - and that's no longer a good thing. Seriously, I'm not dissing those who like it or the theme itself - I'm just not a fan of making X look like 9.
The beauty of Quartz gets totally lost on themes like these, and I don't think I can use one for more than a day without missing the eye-candy.
SB
Posted by ZachRL at February 26, 2004 02:16 PM | Edit | Delete
This is one of the only themes I use, I love it. It's one of the most abstractly scifi themes there are. I'll have to agree that this review sells it a tad short, but I can deal as long as it can have a re-review when the icons are done.
Posted by wibs at February 26, 2004 02:46 PM | Edit | Delete
heh, wow, better than I expected and probably than it deserved. I can't even look at those pulldown menus anymore without cringing.
that said, thanks for the kind words, and if anyone has any specific criticisms, i'd love to hear them so I can improve them for Latium 2.
Speaking of Latium 2, there's a (very small) preview for it up at http://www.digitalramen.com.
Posted by Hopper at February 26, 2004 03:21 PM | Edit | Delete
Heh wibs, the pull down menus aren't my favorite, either.
But agreeing with most everyone else, this theme is awesome. I'm looking forward to Latium 2.
Posted by Traxxer at February 28, 2004 07:12 AM | Edit | Delete
I personally enjoy the menu's, and if I didn't browse the internet, I think it I'd be using it right now. The thing with colored themes in my opinion is that it usually clashes with the colors on webpages. Maybe for Latium2 you can have a gray version.
Posted by wibs at February 29, 2004 01:28 AM | Edit | Delete
Oh man, I just realized that this review doesn't credit the desktop artists for their work! I'd hate for people to get the impression that I did them... I'm no desktop artist :). Without further ado...
Latium Creature (aka Prebinding Problem): ZachRL (http://www.necopia.com/)
Dusk3030: netghost (http://netghost.deviantart.com/)
D-Industries: Shocks (http://shocks.deviantart.com/)
00101: Mike Emery (sleepypeanut@optusnet.com.au)
and as long as I'm on the subject, thanks mrtew for being an excellent mentor :).
Traxxer, color variants, a gray one especially (sooo many requests hehe), will come shortly after the green Latium 2. I want to have something I'm really happy with before converting it to other colors though, it's too much work to update a bunch of themes at the same time.
Posted by Apoch at March 1, 2004 04:46 PM | Edit | Delete
Great theme, very creative.
Latium 2
I really love this theme but I can not use it since I use VectorWorks alot, and some window pane options appear completely blank with this theme. Once I select the 'invisible' selection it appears. This is a bug with a few of other themes but usually just the darker themes.
Great theme though, tops for creativity I believe.
cheers!
Posted by wibs at March 2, 2004 03:49 PM | Edit | Delete
Apoch, got a screenshot of VectorWorks in action with the bug? Send it to my email (my name is linked) and I'll see what I can do.
Posted by Brad at April 19, 2004 11:22 PM | Edit | Delete
Nice theme, wibs :-)
When I first looked at it I thought "too much green", but after using it for a while, I love it.
I use the "light solid" variants, because the pull down menus with the darker variants are just too green to me. They contrast with the rest of the theme.
Unfortunately, with Latium 2, there's no longer a light variant :'(
So I'll be sticking with 1.2 till, hopefully, light variants might find their way back to the theme :D
Posted by Ernest Liu at April 24, 2004 10:24 PM | Edit | Delete
Wow, unique and original! Well done. Its usibility, on the other hand, isn't too great, and like others, I can't imagine myself using this for more than a few days.
Posted by news- at August 19, 2004 03:23 AM | Edit | Delete
Posted by Fioricet at October 15, 2004 09:43 PM | Edit | Delete
Fioricet Butalbital
Posted by outsider at February 4, 2006 07:14 AM | Edit | Delete
mieszkania Warszawa, ogłoszenia nieruchomości, projektowanie stron, tworzenie stron, agencja reklamowa, reklama w internecie
Posted by git at February 4, 2006 11:28 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