Kolor is a program for Macintosh II owners. It allows you to change the default colors associated with:
Ñ Controls (buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and scroll bars)
Ñ Windows
Ñ Menus
Ñ Hiliting (most notably used for text hiliting)
Kolor is used in conjunction with the Control Panel. It creates resources which are used by the various Managers as default color tables if an application hasn╒t supplied them. As of this writing, very few programs written for the Macintosh ╥colorize╙ their own resources, thus allowing you to customize your system to suit your tastes.
How do I use Kolor?
All you have to do is drag the Kolor icon into the System Folder of the disk you boot from. (You must put the icon directly in the folder, not in a folder inside the System Folder.) Then, the next time you open the Control Panel, the Kolor icon will appear in the scrolling list. Select the Kolor icon to choose your personalized colors. When you do, you╒ll see a window something like this:
╥A╙ points to the color boxes. These boxes (or their accompanying labels) are what you╒ll click on to change an individual color. ╥B╙ points to an associated picture. When you select a color to change, the pertinent portions of the picture will flash to show you what you╒re about to change. (If you hold down the mouse button, the picture will continue to flash in case you want to get a better look at what╒s going on.) ╥C╙ points to the text hiliting area. This color is what TextEdit will use to hilite text, as well as the color some programs like the Finder use to hilite objects. You click anywhere in the picture to change the hilite color. ╥D╙ points to the Revert button. If you make changes you don╒t like, you can always change things back to the way they were before you started editing by clicking in this button.
A little experimenting will teach you how a color change affects a resource. The change isn╒t always as obvious as it might seem at first glance.
Color tables are only used with these resources if the screen those resources are displayed on is currently showing 16 or more colors. For this reason, Kolor will only allow you to edit colors if your screen is in such a mode (that is, showing 16 or more colors.) (If you are lucky enough to have multiple screens, you can continue if any screen is showing 16 or more colors.) If you get an alert stating that you can╒t go on, you can select the Monitors icon in the Control Panel scrolling list to change the number of colors displayed. See your owners manual if you need more information.
When you select a color box, or the text hiliting area, you╒ll see the following dialog called the ╥Color Picker╙:
╥A╙ points to the dot showing the present selection. You move the crosshair around the circle, and click, to select the hue you desire. (A hue is what is usually meant by ╥color╙; whether it╒s red, blue, green, or yellow, and so on.) ╥B╙ points to a scroll bar which allows you to change the brightness of the color. (Brightness represents how light or dark a color is; that is, how much white is in it. Some pure hues are naturally brigher than others: yellow is the brightest hue; magenta is the darkest.) ╥C╙ points to the box which shows you what your presently selected color is. ╥D╙ points to the box which shows you the color when you entered the Color Picker. You select the color you desire, then click in the OK button to select it, or the Cancel button to ignore your changes.
(Note to Power Users: Clicking in ╥D╙ will cause the Color Picker to revert to the color which was selected when you entered the Color Picker. Also, you can directly edit any of the values associated with Hue, Saturation, Brightness, Red, Green, or Blue if you know what those values represent. Those values range in an ordered scale from 0 to 65535.)
Once you╒ve selected a color, the associated color and areas of the associated picture will change to show you what you╒ve done. If you╒ve selected a truly horrible color, don╒t panic! You can always click in the Revert button to undo all changes you╒ve currently made.
When does the System start using my new colors?
The System file is only updated if you do one of the following two things:
Ñ Exit Kolor by clicking on another icon in the Control Panel scrolling list, or
Ñ Close the Control Panel.
Until the System file is updated, your new colors are only known to the Kolor application. Remember: you can always choose to click in the Revert button to undo any changes that you╒ve made.
Once you╒ve finalized your color selections, the screen will be refreshed to reflect your new choices. If you can╒t see your changes right away, don╒t panic. Chances are that the application you╒re currently running has its own color tables, and thus ignores the system defaults which you╒ve been editing.
Yuk! In spite of my better instincts, I╒ve created some truly horrible colors! What do I do?
Don╒t fret. If you hold down the Option key while you select the Kolor icon in the Control Panel scrolling list, the various colors will all be reset to their ╥factory defaults╙. Once you╒ve done this, just close the Control Panel and all will be right with the world again.
I have more than one monitor hooked up to my Macintosh II. Is there anything special I should know?
As a matter of fact, yes, there is. Since most people with multiple monitors use them in different screen depths (technical-ese for ╥how many colors a screen will produce╙) colored resources will appear differently on different screens. You may wish to call the color picker on different screens, in order to choose your colors in their proper context - that is, on the screen on which they will appear. Kolor will bring up the Color Picker on the screen which contains the upper-left hand corner of the Control Panel.
Note: just because you can choose a color in the Color Picker, don't expect Color Quickdraw to display it in that exact color on your screen. Color Quickdraw always tries to ╥best match╙ a desired color to the colors it has available, but sometimes a color is not available and a ╥best match╙ yields an unexpected result. (For example, a very light cyan, in 16 color mode, will probably be displayed as white, since this would be the ╥closest╙ color in its color tables. Your chances for an exact match are much closer in a mode with 256 or more colors.)
What, precisely, are the legal ramifications of my using this product, passing it to friends, attempting to sell copies of it for profit, etc., etc.?
Well, okay, so you didn╒t ask. But I need to say it anyway, so here goes╔
I╒m an employee of Apple Computer, Inc. (hereafter referred to as ╘Apple╒). They╒ve given me permission to distribute Kolor and its accompanying documentation, and for this permission I am most thankful. There is no charge for distributing Kolor , and you should feel free to pass it to whomever you desire. You can post Kolor on any electronic bulletin board system where a separate charge would not be incurred for downloading it. Kolor is owned by Apple, which is the sole owner and purveyor of rights regarding its licensing and distribution. You may not sell Kolor as part of a package, whether or not a profit is derived from its distribution. Apple reserves the right to change Kolor , its documentation, or its method of distribution at any time, for whatever reason it sees fit. If you use this program, you do so at your own risk.
In other words, you don╒t own this program, so don╒t try to act like you do; and you recognize that nobody╒s perfect, and that to err is human (and nobody╒s fault). Simple as that.
