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 4.0 requires System 7 or above and a color monitor (preferably set to 256 or more colors). If you try Aurora and it doesn’t work right, let me know and I’ll try to fix it. For now, I might politely suggest upgrading to System 7.5.3.
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.
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 4.0 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 4.0 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 4.0?
A lot. Aurora 4.0 is a total, ground up rewrite. Here's a list of new features:
• 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
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.
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 several components: A menu listing the available color sets, a preview area, and an "Edit" button. The Set Menu, new in Aurora 4.0, provides a user customizable list of color sets that 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. Finally, the "Edit Set..." button allows you to edit the currently selected color set. Each of these components will be discussed in more detail in the coming sections.
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 4.0, 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).
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. You can also modify the colors of any of the sets in the menu by clicking the "Edit Set" button.
Each set menu has an "Edit Sets..." 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, click on the "New Set.." button 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 "Edit Set..." 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 clicking the "New Set..." button. 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 4.0. 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 4.0 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.
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!
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!!
Send your checks to the address below. I am working on a way to permit electronic registration. If you have a system you'd like to show me, let me know!
How To Get In Touch With Me (and other legal stuff)
If you have any suggestions, feel free to send me some mail at:
Mike Pinkerton
2136 Owls Cove Ln
Reston, VA 20191
INTERNET: mpinkert@cc.gatech.edu
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.
