ShapeShifter  2.5
Released 12 September 2007
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Requires Mac OS X 10.4.x
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US $20.00
ShapeShifter is compatible with the ICBMs (Intel-based Macs).ShapeShifter currently does not work on Mac OS X 10.5. More Info.

ShapeShifter is a revolutionary new product that lets you change the overall appearance of your Mac using 'themes'. We're not talking about just desktop backgrounds and icons here, we're talking about everything - the look of windows, menus, apps, buttons, absolutely everything. You don't wear the same clothes every day, your house doesn't look exactly like your neighbor's - why should the computing interface you use every day be any different. You personalize your physical workspace to suit your tastes and whims, so why not your Mac? With ShapeShifter, you can:

  • Change the overall appearance of your operating system safely, quickly, and reliably
  • Tweak existing themes to create the one that's perfect for you
  • Experience things that haven't been possible with Mac themes before
  • Quickly preview themes without actually applying them
  • Use Jaguar or Panther themes in Tiger effortlessly
  • User specific theme and icon set installations
  • Add and remove themes effortlessly

Where To Find More Themes:
In addition to the themes that are available through ShapeShifter's "Download" tab, many others are available on the internet. Websites where themes can be found include:

Active discussions about themes, oftentimes including new release announcements, can be found at:

* Note: ShapeShifter 2.4 and newer is NOT compatible with Mac OS X 10.3. Please download version 2.3.1 if you are running Mac OS X 10.3.

A few pictures are surely worth a thousand words:

The Apply tab of the ShapeShifter preference pane. (picture, 56K)
Preview and download themes directly into ShapeShifter. (picture, 44K)

Know how to improve ShapeShifter? Tell us!

New in version 2.5:

  • ShapeShifter no longer causes instabilities when used with Apple's Pro applications.
  • ShapeShifter now works properly with beta versions of Safari 3.
  • Cocoa pull-down menus now use the correct text color when pressed.
  • Cocoa box titles now use the correct text color.
  • guiTweak now presents a more informative error dialog when an insurmountable error prevents tweaking from concluding properly.
  • ShapeShifter now honor's Camino's "CAMINO_DISABLE_HACKS" environment variable.
  • The preference pane no longer erroneously states that new version "(null)" is available when an internet connection is present, but is unreliable.
  • ShapeShifter now properly handles OS versions with a bugfix number greater than 9 (e.g., OS X 10.4.10).
  • Windows bmp "magic pink" transparency conversion now works properly on x86 machines.
  • Adding a new guiKit to the ShapeShifter prefpane no longer causes the names of guiKits that are available to all users on the computer to disappear from the ShapeShifter prefpane.
  • Resolved an obscure issue that could cause applications to crash occasionally when ShapeShifter is loaded.

New in version 2.4:

    Features
  • ShapeShifter and guiTweak are now Universal Binaries!
  • ShapeShifter now requires Mac OS X 10.4 "Tiger" or newer.
  • ShapeShifter now supports windows with a "Unified" toolbar. These are windows which are draggable by the entire toolbar, yet are not metal windows.
  • ShapeShifter now supports "Application" iContainers.
  • "Small Square Buttons" are now themed properly.
  • guiTweak sliders now update as you drag them.
  • The ShapeShifter preference pane now uses much less system memory while loaded.
  • Large-scale speed improvement when generating a new guiTweaked theme.
  • ShapeShifter Bug Fixes
  • Updated iContainer support.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause certain "System" iContainers not to work properly.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause scroll view frames to become transparent. And, they are now themed properly again.
  • Application skins created for a version of iTunes earlier than 7.0 will not be used if the installed version of iTunes is 7.0 or higher. And vice versa.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause the ShapeShifter preference pane to crash when applying certain themes if iTunes 7.0 is present (Graphite Ultra_Thin).
  • The ShapeShifter preferences pane no longer crashes if you preview the same theme multiple times.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause application skins not to be applied after previewing a theme in the ShapeShifter preference pane.
  • Patterns that use more than 128 colors now render properly.
  • guiTweak Bug Fixes
  • Resolved an issue that caused crashes and even kernel panics when generating a variant using guiTweak.
  • guiTweak is now smarter about using your current Desktop Picture.
  • Resolved an issue that prevented quitting quiTweak if an error had occurred while generating a tweaked theme.
  • guiTweak no longer freaks out when creating a tweak that will result in partially-transparent images. So you can now use it to create translucent variants of your favorite themes.

New in version 2.3.1:

  • Resolved an issue that caused menu text in Photoshop CS2 and Firefox to be black regardless of the theme color.
  • Changing screen resolution no longer leaves garbage behind the menubar status items.
  • Carbon windows now disable use of a unified toolbar since it's not easily themeable yet.
  • Resolved an issue that caused Carbon apps that use a unified toolbar to hang (iClip and Interarchy 8, for example).

New in version 2.3:

    Features
  • ShapeShifter's Download tab now has a shiny indicator that lights up when new themes are available for download.
  • guiTweak now allows you to manually set colors in any theme. For each color present in a theme, you can change them to the color of your choosing, let Core Image set them, or remove them from the theme. You can use this to easily turn off stuff like Mail list background or Dock customization, or to add it to a theme that doesn't have it. You can also tweak text colors after hue shifting a theme.
  • You can now type the name of a theme to select it (Tiger only).
  • ShapeShifter can now optionally notify you when a new version is available.
  • "Growl" (if present) will be used to indicate that themes were applied successfully when the normal indicator sheet has been turned off.
  • Completely revamped the app skin compatibility system. ShapeShifter is now much smarter about how it disables app skins when a new version of a skinned application has been released.
  • Minor improvements in menu drawing performance.
  • Minor improvements in application launch speed when a theme is applied.
  • Includes Smart Crash Reports 1.0.2.
  • New Theme Capabilities
  • Dark themes with light text colors are much more usable within Carbon apps such as Photoshop.
  • ShapeShifter now honors the Aqua/Graphite setting in menu highlights for themes that were designed to differentiate between the two.
  • DVD Player can now use custom application skins.
  • guiTweak now works properly on "pct" images.
  • Bug Fixes
  • Window titlebar widgets of Panther themes used in Tiger no longer have green fringes.
  • Finder desktop and icon view label colors are properly themed again in Tiger. Selected desktop icon labels no longer use the selected menu text color when a color is not explicitely set in the theme.
  • Application skins created for a version of iTunes earlier than 5.0 will not be used if the installed version of iTunes is 5.0 or higher. And vice versa.
  • Finder windows no longer occasionally draw with a completely black background.
  • Resolved an issue that caused excessive logging from some Carbon applications, and that caused text within Carbon bevel buttons, popup buttons, and pushbuttons to display incorrectly (Eudora, Ircle).
  • Resolved an issue that could cause small visual glitches in certain apps (like Proteus, when using themes that include patterns larger than 8x8 pixels).
  • The System Preferences Dock icon is no longer badged with the ShapeShifter icon at inappropriate times.
  • Quitting guiTweak with an unsaved tweak, choosing to save the tweak, and then cancelling the save no longer prevents guiTweak from being quittable thereafter.
  • Saving a guiTweak document by closing the document and then choosing to save from the sheet no longer results in a crash.
  • Resolved an issue that could cause crashes when using themes that don't include enhanced menu customization.

New in version 2.2:

  • Added a spiffolicious new module "guiTweak" that provides the ability to modify guiKit files using Core Image filters. guiTweak makes it simple to tweak a theme that you like into a theme that you love. It also lets you move variants between guiKit files, rename variants, remove variants, or change the preview image or description for variants. Tiger only.
  • It's now possible to change the pressed state text color of push buttons independently from the other text colors.
  • Some problematic applications, like Proteus, are again themed properly.
  • ShapeShifter no longer logs error messages to the Console on Panther while using Finder list view windows.
  • ShapeShifter no longer logs error messages to the Console when theme images contain ColorSync profiles.
  • Menubar status items now work properly on systems that are set to always use the metal appearance for Cocoa windows.
  • Resolved an issue that could prevent menu mouse-over highlights from displaying in certain themes.


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