This READ ME file is just to get you started. For complete documentation, click the Help icon at the top right of the Kaleidoscope control panel. This built-in help gives contact information , instructions for using the control panel, a FAQ, a list of known problems, and the version history. There is an option to save this documentation into a text file to peruse at your leisure. The Kaleidoscope control panel is also equipped with Balloon Help.
Contacting the Authors
If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or bug reports about Kaleidoscope, please feel free to e-mail them to Greg Landweber at <greg@math.harvard.edu>. Please read the “Frequently Asked Questions” and “Known Problems” sections of the built-in help (click the Help icon at the top right of the Kaleidoscope control panel) before sending e-mail.
This is NOT where you send your registrations; those go to Kagi, whose e-mail and postal addresses are given on the form you create with the “Register” application. Conversely, do not send questions about Kaleidoscope to Kagi; they are a payment processing service, not a software publisher, and all they know about Kaleidoscope is that it costs $20 (or $10 for registered users of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons—see below).
The above e-mail address is the ONLY way we provide support for Kaleidoscope. We do not provide support by “snail-mail”, telephone, or FAX. Also, although we welcome and attempt to answer all e-mail, the response to our shareware is quite overwhelming and our mailboxes fill up very quickly. Please forgive us if we do not always reply promptly to your messages. We assure you that we do read all incoming e-mail, and in particular, we keep track of all bugs that are reported. Please do not include screen shots or lists of your system extensions as these take up a great deal of space and are usually not necessary. Thank you.
How to Register
NOTE: If you have already registered a previous version of Kaleidoscope, you do NOT need to reregister or pay an upgrade fee. Your old registration code will still work with the new version, and you should not even need to reenter the code.
Kaleidoscope is shareware, and the registration fee is $20 (or $10 for registered users of Aaron or Greg's Buttons—see below). Registrations are handled by Kagi, a payment processing service. To register, use the enclosed “Register” application to create a customized form, which you then mail or e-mail to Kagi, whose address is given on the form. The “How to Register” document gives detailed instructions. You can pay by credit card, check, or cash in various currencies.
Alternatively, you can register via credit card over the web using the Kagi Online Order Processing service. The URL is <http://order.kagi.com/?GL&S> (or <http://order.kagi.com/?GL> if your browser cannot handle secure transactions).
Once Kagi processes your payment, which takes up to a week, they e-mail you the registration code in a message with subject “Thanks for your payment”. (If you do not have an e-mail address, you must check the “Postcard Receipt” box.) If you do not receive this message, contact Kagi at <admin@kagi.com>.
What is Kaleidoscope?
Kaleidoscope is a control panel that completely overhauls your Mac's user interface using plug in Color Scheme files. Instead of me trying to describe what it does, you should really just install it and see for yourself. You will not be disappointed... If you still are not convinced, here are just a few of Kaleidoscope's features:
• Kaleidoscope includes an “Apple Grayscale” plug in Color Scheme that gives you the Mac OS 8 Platinum interface. This Color Scheme provides all of the functionality of our shareware extension “Aaron”, and registered users of Aaron can upgrade to Kaleidoscope for the reduced price of $10 (see below).
• Kaleidoscope also includes a “BeBox” Color Scheme that gives you the BeOS user interface from Be, Inc. For more information about the BeOS, see the Be web site: <http://www.be.com/>. This color scheme is based on our shareware extension “BeView”, and registered users of BeView can upgrade to Kaleidoscope for the reduced price of $10 (see below).
• Kaleidoscope also comes with several other color schemes, each providing a completely different user interface. In addition, there are hundreds of third party color schemes available all over the world. You can download a wide selection of third party schemes from the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive (maintained by Eric Reid) on our web site: <http://www.kaleidoscope.net/> . The Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive also has links to many other Kaleidoscope-related web pages as well as resources for color scheme designers.
• Kaleidoscope puts a WindowShade widget at the top right of window title bars. Clicking on it collapses the window to just its title bar. Clicking again restores the window to full size. Alternatively, you can collapse or expand a window by double-clicking on its title bar, just like with Apple's WindowShade control panel. Kaleidoscope also has an option to play “whoosh” sounds to accompany these actions.
• Kaleidoscope gives document windows a thick border which you can use to drag windows from any side.
• Kaleidoscope lets you replace the Chicago 12 system font with any font and size of your choice (with the restriction that the system font cannot be too large or else text will no longer fit in buttons and dialog boxes). Please note that the system font is NOT the font used in Finder windows; you can set the Finder window font with the “Views” control panel.
• Kaleidoscope comes with various suggested system fonts, including Veritas (based on Apple's Truth or Charcoal font rumored to be the system font under Mac OS 8), BeBox (based on the system font used under the BeOS), Espi Sans, and Tecton.
• Kaleidoscope lets you set the background of Finder windows to any color you want. It also has an option to colorize Finder windows according to the label color of the folder.
Installing Kaleidoscope
To install Kaleidoscope, place the “Kaleidoscope” file in your Control Panels folder, and put the “Kaleidoscope Color Schemes” folder (which is contained in the folder named “Put in your Extensions Folder”) into your Extensions folder. Then restart your Macintosh. In order to open the Kaleidoscope control panel, it must have been installed at startup, and Kaleidoscope will not install itself it if cannot find the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder in your Extensions folder.
Upgrading to a New Version
NOTE: If you have already registered a previous version of Kaleidoscope, you do NOT need to reregister or pay an upgrade fee. Your old registration code will still work with the new version, and you should not even need to reenter the code.
To install a new version of Kaleidoscope, first drag the old version of Kaleidoscope from the Control Panels folder to the Trash, then place the new version into your Control Panels folder, and finally restart your Macintosh. If you try to copy the new version of Kaleidoscope over the old version, the Finder will tell you that the Kaleidoscope file is in use.
To install a new “Kaleidoscope Color Schemes” folder, drag the old folder from the Extensions folder to the Trash. Then put the new “Kaleidoscope Color Schemes” folder into your Extensions folder. You can now open the Kaleidoscope control panel and select the new color schemes, without having to restart your Macintosh. You can also replace individual color scheme files by dragging the old ones from the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder to the Trash and then putting the new ones into the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder. To add completely new color schemes, just drop them into the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder, and you can use them immediately without having to restart.
Removing Kaleidoscope
To disable Kaleidoscope, just take the “Kaleidoscope” file out of your Control Panels folder (either by dragging it out yourself or by disabling it with an extensions manager) and restart your Macintosh. Kaleidoscope does not make any permanent changes to your system, so once you disable it, it will no longer have any effect on your Macintosh. The color scheme files in the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder do nothing on their own without the Kaleidoscope control panel, so when you disable Kaleidoscope, it does not matter whether you remove them.
Note for Aaron, BeView, and Greg's Buttons Users
Before you install Kaleidoscope, you must disable Aaron, BeView, and Greg's Buttons. Kaleidoscope includes “Apple Grayscale” and “BeBox” plug in Color Schemes that provide the same interfaces as Aaron and BeView, and Kaleidoscope also duplicates most of the functionality of Greg's Buttons. To disable Aaron or BeView, just drag it out of the Extensions folder or disable it with your extensions manager. To disable Greg's Buttons, drag it out of the Control Panels folder, disable it with your extensions manager, or uncheck its general “On” check box in the control panel.
If you are a registered user of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons, you are entitled to register Kaleidoscope for the discounted price of $10. Please note that Kagi does not automatically give you this discount; rather, you must request the upgrade price yourself by check the appropriate box. If you are using the “Kagi Online Order Processing” service, this Kaleidoscope upgrade is listed separately from the normal Kaleidoscope registration. To get this discount in the “Register” program, click the “Aaron / Buttons Upgrade” check box. When this box is checked, the prices shown are the upgrade prices. We do not offer an additional discount for people who are registered users of more than one of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons. (I hate to mention it, but if you take this discount and are not a registered user of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons, we will bill you for the difference.)
The Suggested Fonts
The fonts “Veritas” and “BeBox” are good matches for the system fonts used under Mac OS 8 and the BeOS respectively. I have also included fonts “Espi Sans” and “Tecton”, which are versions of the popular fonts “Espy Sans” and “Tekton” that I have specially modified to work well as system fonts. I have adjusted their spacing to fix minor aesthetic problems with ClarisWorks, Eudora, the menu bar clock, and menus in various applications. So, if you like Espy or Tekton and want to make it your system font, you should use my Espi or Tecton instead.
Please note that this font 'Veritas' is unrelated to the 'A*I Veritas' font sold by Alphabets, Inc. and the "STF Veritas" font sold by Brian Sooy & Co. The font name “Veritas” (Latin for “Truth”) is a trademark of Alphabets, Inc., and is used here with their permission.
The “Paste this onto your hard disk” icon
Kaleidoscope comes with a Mac OS 8-style hard disk icon for you to install on your hard disk. To install it, select the “Paste this onto your hard disk” file and choose “Get Info” from the “File” menu. Then click on the large icon at the top left of the info window and choose “Copy” from the “Edit” menu. Close the info window and select your hard disk icon on the desktop. Choose “Get Info” again and click on the icon at the top left of the info window. Now select “Paste” from the “Edit” menu and close the info window. Your hard disk should now have a Mac OS 8-style icon.
New Color Scheme Format
The format of the color scheme files has changed since Kaleidoscope 1.0.x. This means that old color schemes designed for Kaleidoscope 1.0.x no longer work with this version of Kaleidoscope (that is what I meant when I said that I was not supporting third party color schemes for Kaleidoscope 1.0.x). However, the new format is much more flexible and easy to edit, so you will soon be able to find even more and varied color schemes. If your favorite color scheme no longer works with this version of Kaleidoscope, contact the author of that color scheme and ask him to update it. You may find that there is already an update available. You can also use the included “Scheme Updater” application to convert old color schemes to the new format. See the “Creating Color Schemes” document for more information on the color scheme format.
FAQ, Known Problems, Version History, etc.
This READ ME file is just to get you started. For complete documentation, click the Help icon at the top right of the Kaleidoscope control panel. This built-in help gives contact information , instructions for using the control panel, a FAQ, a list of known problems, and the version history. There is an option to save this documentation into a text file to peruse at your leisure. The Kaleidoscope control panel is also equipped with Balloon Help.
