Please read this entire document — believe it or not, it might just help you! I know Mac users hate manuals, but please read this one. It can’t hurt! Of course, Aurora makes full use of Balloon Help if you ever get stuck along the way.
Requirements
Aurora 4.1 requires System 7 or above and a color monitor (preferably set to 256 or more colors). Due to size constrains, the main screen is too large for a Macintosh Classic, but works for everything from 12" monitors to Powerbooks and up. If you try Aurora and it doesn’t work right, let me know and I’ll try to fix it.
This new version is a complete rewrite from the previous version (3.4), and so a few things have changed. Since I started over from scratch, I decided to drop support for System 6. Keeping around the code for both systems was a major hassle. I will continue to distribute Aurora 3.4 if you send me email and ask me. Furthermore, Aurora 4.0 no longer works on a Macintosh Classic monitor, since the main window just barely fits on a 12". Again, Aurora 3.4 works just fine.
I’ve run Aurora on my Mac IIcx, my PowerMac 6100/66 and a PowerMac 8100/100 running all sorts of crazy extensions. It runs great on all of them, but its not PowerMac native -- there’s truly no need for the little work that it does, and it's fast enough already! Furthermore, it works just dandy with RamDoubler.
What is Aurora?
Aurora 4.1 is a control panel that sits in the "Control Panels" folder inside your System Folder. With it, you have full control over the colors used to draw your windows, buttons, scroll bars, menus, and text highlight color. Ever wanted a mauve menu bar? No problem! Ever wanted puce scroll bars? Now’s your chance! It’s also very easy to do — as simple as choosing colors from the standard Apple color wheel — and you’re off to colorizing (and personalizing!) your desktop.
Aurora 4.1 is intended to completely replace the "Color" control panel that ships with System 7. Aurora can do everything "Color" can do and a whole lot more!
Aurora is not a system extension (INIT). It does not load at startup time, and if you remove the file from your System Folder, it will continue to work. If you need to "de-install" Aurora, see the next section.
What’s New In Aurora 4.1?
A lot. Aurora 4.1 is a total, ground up rewrite. Here's a list of new features:
• Support for small screens (except Classic's)
• Support for multiple color sets
• Totally redesigned main window that shows all your color settings in one window.
• Totally redesigned set editors that show the color of a given attribute next to the name
• Support for changing the highlight color -- replaces Apple's Color control panel!
• Even more balloon help!
• Removing Aurora also restores window and control colors
• More robust error handling
• fixed some drawing bugs (and a long outstanding GetFontInfo() bug)
• A "Current Environment" set that when selected will keep your system colored the way it was when you started -- an "undo" of sorts
• Easy registering using Kagi Software.
Installation
It's simple. Just drop it on your System Folder and you will be asked if Aurora should be placed in the Control Panels folder. Click OK. Have fun!
Removing Aurora From Your System
Removing all traces of Aurora from your system is almost as easy as intalling it. Simply open the control panel and click the "Remove Aurora" button. It will ask you if you really want to do this, and if you click "OK", your system colors will be restored to the standards.
If you only want to remove one of the color sets (menus, for example), you will need to remove them all, then re-install the ones you want with Aurora. This may change in a future version.
Remember, just throwing away the control panel does not change the colors back to the way they were. You must tell Aurora to remove itself.
Reboot after you remove the colors, since some applications (like the Finder) will still have the old colors and then Aurora will get confused if it is reopened before you restart.
Aurora and Aaron
Everyone in the Mac world (including myself) loves Aaron by Greg Landweber. For those of you who haven't seen it, Aaron makes your Mac look like the default theme from MacOS 8. However, because of Greg's committal to the exact default theme, most of Aurora will not work when Aaron is enabled. This is not my fault -- Aaron ignores the color information that Aurora stores in the System file.
While not everything works, the menu colors, window content color, and control text color work just fine. In fact, even though you cannot see it, the window tinge colors affect how Aaron colors its scroll bar thumb, so these colors can be used as well.
I use Aaron in addition to Aurora, as do a lot of people since I like more control over the colors used than Aaron gives me. If you want still more control (such as all the rest of the colors that Aurora provides), email Greg Landweber and express your views. He will probably stand firm on his position, but at least them him know the demand is there.
Please, please, please do not report this to me as a bug! Thank you :-)
How to Use Aurora
When you open Aurora, you get a large window divided into four sections, with some extra buttons along the bottom. The four sections of the main window correspond to the four elements of your system that Aurora allows you to color: window, menus, buttons and scroll bars, and the text highlight color. One of the buttons along the bottom is an icon of a balloon. Clicking on it toggles the state of Balloon Help (turning it on or off). Use this if you ever want more information on a button or a region of the screen and don't want to refer to the manual.
Each area contains two components: A menu listing the available color sets and a preview area. The Set Menu, new to Aurora 4.1, provides a user-customizable list of color sets to choose from. The Preview Area allows you to see what the colors would look like applied to the actual system if you were to keep them. For example, the "Window" section contains a drawing of a window colored with the set chosen from the menu. Each of these components will be discussed in more detail in the coming sections.
To create a new set, choose "New Set..." from the Set Menu in the appropriate section. This will bring up an editor with a brand new set in it. To edit an existing set, click in the Preview Area to bring up the editor for the set currently being displayed. To remove or rename color sets, use the "Edit Set List..." option in the appropriate Set Menu.
If you try to open Aurora with your monitor set to 2 colors, it will refuse to open. Just change your screen depth (preferably to 256 colors) and re-open it.
Working With Color Sets
Any time you work with Aurora 4.1, you are working with a variety of color sets. A color set is a collection containing the colors used to draw a particular system element such as a window or a button. Each element of your system has its own separate list of color sets (for example, you cannot apply a menu color set to windows or buttons).
To modify the colors of a given set, make sure that it is selected in the Set Menu (and its colors visible in the Preview Area), and then click in the Preview Area. An editor will appear which allows you to edit the individual colors of a set, or cancel your changes.
The Set Menu provides a list of the color sets available for a given system component. This list is fully customizable which means you can add new sets or remove undesired ones. The set that you choose from this menu is the set that will be used to color your system when you close Aurora. When you re-open Aurora, this set will be pre-selected in the Set Menu.
Each set menu has an "Edit Set List..." option at the top. Choosing this allows you to rename, duplicate, or delete color sets. You are not allowed to delete a set that is currently selected to be used as the system colors.
Creating A New Set
To create a new color set, choose "New Set..." in the Set Menu of the system element for which you want to create the new set. A new set will be created (with the name "New Set") and you will be presented with the Set Editor dialog where you should modify the colors for this set as well as give it a more appropriate name. The new set inherits the colors of the currently selected set.
Another way to create a new set is to duplicate an existing set in the Set List Editor dialog. Finally, editing the "Current Environment" color set will create a new set, leaving the old one intact (see below).
Saving Color Sets
When you close Aurora, the sets you have selected are automatically saved to the System file. In addition, if you have made any changes to other color sets, they are also saved automatically into the "Aurora(4) Preferences" file in the Preferences folder.
NOTE: To get your new colors to show up in all applications, you should reboot your machine.
The Current Environment
Each system element has a special set that represents the colors currently in use by your computer. This set is called the "Current Environment." The Current Environment set acts as an Undo feature because you are not allowed to directly change this set. If at any time you realize that you want to discard the changes made to the system colors, choose the Current Environment set from popup menu and Aurora will not modify your system when you quit.
If you try to directly edit the Current Environment set, a brand new set will be created (you will be prompted for a name) with the new colors in it, leaving the Current Environment intact.
For a full description of what colors can be changed, see below.
An Example of Use
Let’s say you want to change the menu bar to a light blue (as I have mine). There are three ways that you can accomplish this.
Use Existing Sets
First see if there is an existing color set that already suits your needs. Aurora comes preinstalled with a collection of color sets to pick from in order to simplify the job of colorizing your computer. Try out the different menu color sets by choosing them from the "Sets" menu in the "Menu" area. Notice how when you pick a new set from the Set Menu, the picture of the menu will be redrawn with the colors in that set.
Customizing an Existing Set
If none of them come close enough, you can modify an existing set to achieve the exact look that you want. Clicking in the Preview Area brings up a dialog allowing you to tailor individual colors within a set. Along the left side are the names of the different attributes that can be colored and a colored square indicating the current color of that attribute. There is also a picture of a standard menu, colored appropriately, on the right. To change the color of a particular attribute, click on its colored square and a color picker dialog will appear.
We want to change the Menu Bar Background color, so click there. Up comes the color picker wheel, pick out a nice blue, and click OK. Notice that the menu bar on the right is now the color you picked.
Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before
If you really hate all of the sets that are currently available, create your own by choosing "New Set..." from the appropriate Set Menu. This allows you to begin with an existing set and then create something completely different while leaving the old set alone. This is a good place to start when you want to start from scratch.
Other Fun Features
Balloon Help
Aurora provides Balloon help for the main window and all color selection dialogs. Every button or clickable area has a help balloon. Let me know if they are helpful. Of course, you should still read the manual ;).
Auto-Saving
There is no explicit "Save" in Aurora 4.1. When you close the control panel, the currently selected sets become the colors that are saved into the System file. Any sets that are modified are also saved into the preferences file. This way, you never have to worry about saving your changes.
If you made changes to the current color set and do not want them saved into your System, just choose the Current Environment color set and the system colors will not be updated (though your changes will still be saved in the preferences folder).
Highlight Color
New to version 4.1 is the ability to color the highlight color. This is the color used by your Macintosh to highlight selected text or icons in the Finder. This color is not saved in the System file, but in PRAM (parameter RAM). Thus, resetting PRAM will reset this color to black. No problem, though. Just change it back with Aurora!
IMPORTANT: You need to reboot in order to see your new highlight color.
Important Interface Notes
This works by replacing the ‘wctb’, ‘cctb’, and ‘mctb’ ID = 0 resources in the current System file. That means that different Systems can have different window, control, and menu colors. Also, if you use the Installer to update your system version, your colors should remain intact as the Installer does not (normally) touch these resources. I’ve kept the same colors going from 7.0 to 7.1 to 7.5 and even to 7.5.3!!
When you change the window/control/menu colors, only new applications will have the new colors. Even though the changes may not be visible on the screen they are saved in the System file. You need to reboot in order to see your new highlight color.
For better looking (and faster) screen updates, keep the window background color white. Some applications (such as the Finder and Microsoft Word) don’t like the background color to be anything but white — so they EXPLICITLY paint it that way. This means that whatever color you pick for the background color WILL BE PAINTED OVER WITH WHITE! This is NOT a bug in my program!!! The application calls the shots, not the control panel (isn’t that how it should be?).
If you don’t want the title bar to be inverted (black on white) when you switch to 2 colors, keep the Title Bar Color either white or a light color. Some people might think an inverted title bar is neat - to each their own....
If the window was not designed to be color (by the actual programmer), the control colors will act funny: The frame color will be matched to the closest ORIGINAL color (red, green, blue, cyan, magenta, yellow, black, white) no matter what you tell it to be. The text color, body color, and thumb color (for scroll bars) will also behave the same way. This is a limitation of the Macintosh - not of my program. If a window is created to take advantage of color (such as some in Word 5.1), everything will work as specified.
If you are running at or below 8bit color (256 colors or less), sometimes the colors appear to be wrong. This is caused by you not having enough colors in the system pallette to display all the colors that you want. Ususally, closing the set editor and reopening it will fix this.
Try to stick as closely as possible to the normal menu colors. Keeping all item and menu names black makes for easier reading. Also try to keep the menu background color as light as possible for easier reading of the items. Menus are made to be used, and even though they may look nice, if you can’t read them, they’re useless.
Try to keep the tinge colors the same for windows and controls. It looks better, IMHO.
Control Parts
Frame Color : Outside border of the control.
Body Color : Shading of the scroll bar when it is active
Text Color : Text color for check boxes and radio buttons.
ScrollBar Light : Arrow colors in scroll bar.
Tinge Light/Dark : Determines highlights for arrows and scroll bar thumb.
Window Parts
Content Color : Everything but the title bar and border — the guts of the window. Some applications explicitly paint this white. 8-(
Frame Color : Outside border of the window.
Title Bar Text Color : Text color of the title of the window.
Tinge Color : Determines highlights for close/zoom boxes and the grow box. Also mixes with the border of the title bar.
Menu Parts
Menu Title Color : Color of menu titles, of course.
Menu Background Color : Color of background when menu is pulled down.
Menu Item Color : Color of the individual menu items when menu is pulled down.
Menu Bar Color : Guess.
What's In Store For Future Versions?
With Copland (MacOS 8.0) a year away, I think Aurora has a good amount of life left, especially on 68K based machines who won't be able to run Copland. I'll continue to upgrade it as long as people tell me that they like it.
I'll try to rework Aurora for the Appearance Manager of the mid-term release (code named Harmony). We'll see!
Bugs?
Aurora seems pretty bug free when I use it - it has yet to crash on me. This program has been evolving for 5 years now, so it should be pretty stable.
• You need to reboot in order to see the new highlight color. This will be fixed when I have more time. Forgive me, I'm in grad school.
• Removing Aurora then re-opening it will pick up the control colors since the Finder has yet to release them, which is confusing. If you reboot before using Aurora again, everything will be ok.
Thank You’s
I want to thank all the people who tested my earlier versions. I would have been lost without you. There are too many to list here, but I know who you are!
Revision History
8/11/96: Version 4.1.1
• Removing Aurora now sets the Set Menus correctly upon completion (Current
Environment instead of the next to last set). This is purely cosmetic, as the colors are
removed in any case.
8/9/96: Version 4.1.
• Redesigned main window to work on 12" monitors (no easy task, mind you!). The new
user interface may take some fiddling before it is perfect.
8/8/96: Version 4.0.1 shrinks down the main window so it will work on a 13" monitor
8/5/96: Version 4.0 Released
SHAREWARE NOTICE (I thought that would get your attention)
This program is "sort of Shareware." This means that I’m charging for it and I retain all the rights to the program and its documentation, but the idea behind Shareware sets out to make people feel guilty about not paying for software - almost a “Big Brother Is Watching You” type of deal - I don’t want to do this to people! I want people to feel good about using my software!
I have spent a lot of time and effort on this so if you like it (or anything else with my name on it for that fact), I’d appreciate it if you sent me what you think it is worth - a better name would be Pay-If-You-Use-It-Ware. The only reason 4.0 came out was because a good number of people sent checks (usually about $15) and ideas to me!!
Paying for Aurora is fairly simple. Open the Register program that accompanies Aurora and enter your name, email address, and the number of single user licenses you desire. Save or Copy or Print the data from the Register program and send the data and payment to Kagi. More specifics on the Register program to follow. Kagi handles my payment processing (so I don't have to!)
If paying with Credit Card or First Virtual, you can email or fax the data to Kagi. Their email address is sales@kagi.com and their fax number is +1 510 652-6589. You can either Copy the data from Register and paste into the body of an email message or you can Save the data to a file and you can attach that file to an email message. There is no need to compress the data file, it's already pretty small. If you have a fax modem, just Print the data to the Kagi fax number.
Payments sent via email are processed within 3 to 4 days. You will receive an email acknowledgement when it is processed. Payments sent via fax take up to 10 days and if you provide a correct internet email address you will receive an email acknowledgement. If you are paying with Cash or USD Check you should print the data using the Register application and send it to the address shown on the form, which is:
Kagi
1442-A Walnut Street #392-MO
Berkeley, California 94709-1405
USA
You can pay with a wide variety of cash from different countries but at present if you pay via check, it must be a check drawn in US Dollars. Kagi cannot accept checks in other currencies, the conversion rate for non-USD checks is around USD 15 per check and that is just not practical.
Please do not fax or email payment forms that indicate Cash, Check or Invoice as the payment method. As far as we know, there is still no technology to transfer physical objects via fax or email and without the payment, the form cannot be processed.
Payments send via postal mail take time to reach Kagi and then up to 10 days for processing. Again, if you include a correct email address, you will hear from Kagi when the form is processed.
How To Get In Touch With Me (and other legal stuff)
If you have any suggestions, feel free to send me some mail at:
INTERNET: mpinkert@kagi.com
I'm always open to new ideas and I'm pretty good about tracking down bugs!
The StuffIt file on here is for distributing these files anywhere you please
under the following conditions:
1. This document accompanies ANY OR ALL files
2. My name is not removed from any program IN ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM
3. The code is not changed, fiddled with, or eaten.
4. You tell me how you like it and how well it works.
Contact me about my site license policy (yes, some people actually wanted site licenses!).
This software is offered "As Is" and the neither the author nor his cats are responsible for any damages caused by Aurora to the user's machine.
