Within the Aaron Aesthetics package is a self-running application that will modify your copy of Aaron (the screamingly popular extension written by Greg Landweber and Edward Voas) into a version I've made to my own taste. The changes are listed below. This is the second release of Aaron Aesthetics!
Wait, before I go any further, what will it cost me to use it?
Aaron Aesthetics is still absolutely free. However, I ask is that you send me an email message if you like it. If you don't like it, please send me suggestions of what you'd like different and I can fix you up with a custom patch.
What's new in AA?
The most obvious changes from the original Aaron are the scroll bars, the trash can icon, the WindowShade widget (the little box you click to roll up a window), the Finder's icon when displayed in the Application Menu, and the icons you see in alert dialogs. For those that would like to see the changes without changing anything (!) I've included a picture included in this package showing my System folder and you'll see the differences.
The chages since AA 1.0 are very exciting. First, the double-scrolling scroll bars work perfectly! The scroll bars look just like the way they do in System 7.5 (and 7.1, 7.0, etc) except they have a double-scrolling feature similar to what you see offered in separate utilities, like DoubleScroll and Scroll2. Now you get all the best features seen elsewhere in the same extension.
In the picture I have set my window color in the Colors control panel to gray (which changes the scroll thumb and the scroll arrow color), and I have changed the scroll bar pattern to a solid gray by using a utility called ScrollBarPAT. You can also use Aurora, written by Mike Pinkerton to change your scroll bar's color.
I've recieved a few requests from people that like Aaron Aesthetics but they prefer the Copland-style trach can instead of the 'Recycling Bin' trash can I drew. In honor of the endless quest to satisfy my customers, there is another patch to revert Aaron Aesthetics' trash can back to the the original Aaron trash can.
A minor change is that the System font shown in the top of windows is no longer imbossed. It has no outline, which makes the font look much nicer, I think so, at least. The font you see in the picture, by the way, is Tekton 12, thanks to the shareware utility, Greg's Buttons (written by the same person who wrote Aaron!). I highly recommend Greg's Buttons; it is one utility I will never give up.
The last change is that Aaron Aesthetics no longer change's Aaron's name to 'Arion.' The reason behind this is because people have confused the name Arion with Aryan, a most unfortunate mistake! I have been asked too many times if I was a white supremacist. The name Arion is derived from Greek mythology, not Hitler's campaign to take over the wold.
Oh, yes, Aaron Aesthetics is spelled correctly this time, with an 'e' in 'aesthetics.' I can't believe I mispelled it!
About the author (me!):
My name is Stefan Anthony. I'm a student living in a small college town in Southwestern Ohio named Yellow Springs. I couldn't stand the high-school in my town so a few years ago, I withdrew from the public school system. That's when I started spending a lot of time at home and from the lack of things to do my focus turned to computing. Now I'm starting to program and I'm trying to raise some money together in order to purchase the Inside Macintosh book series. If you have any questions or requests of having your system customized, upgraded, or personlized, please get in touch with me at the address below and I will send you my resume.
Where I can be reached:
Stefan Anthony
Custom Software & Hardware Consulting
America Online: Arion SW
Internet Email: arionsw@aol.com
I am online at at least two or three times a week and I look forward to recieving any feedback.
Okay, the Read Me is over, but here's a personal note:
I'd like to say that at the time that AA went into it's second release, AA 1.0 had been downloaded over 600 times from America Online and yet I've recieved only 11 responses. This is very disappointing, as well as discouraging. Please, if you download and use AA 1.1, put aside a minute or two and send me a small note saying that you liked it. AA is free, but work has been put into it, and I'd appreciate suggestions, requests, and any ideas.
