Kaleidoscope is a Control Panel which allows you to customise virtually any element of the Finder GUI. If you don’t have it, it can be obtained from http://www.seagull.net/kaleidoscope/ . This module will work with Kaleidoscope v.1.5 and above only. If you have an earlier version, Kaleidoscope will refuse to load Hidden Gold.
What’s special about Hidden Gold?
Many of the Kaleidoscope modules available are far more exciting than Hidden Gold, but tend to hurt the eyes after a while. Hidden Gold is probably the most understated module ever - most of the time it shows the world a very dark exterior, until you click on a button - then suddenly it’s very pretty indeed.
What do I do with it?
Drop it into the folder “Kaleidoscope Color Schemes” in the Extensions folder (in the System folder, dummy). Then open the Kaleidoscope control panel and select Hidden Gold.
What colour modes does this work in?
It should work in any number of colours, although anything less than 256 colours and it looks terrible. No really, just take my word for it.
Who are you?
What do you care? Actually I’m a musician, who on occasion spends days sitting in front of my Mac working on arrangements of music, so a module that didn’t attack the eyes was needed.
Is this really all your own work?
Umm... yes and no. Much of the credit should go to Kosh’s Nightshade module. It can be obtained, along with some other lovely modules of his, at http://home.earthlink.net/~kosh/kaleidoscope.html. While officially all the buttons etc. have been changed, much of the artistic copyright is still really kosh’s.
Do I owe you anything?
Apart from everlasting gratitude, no, of course not. This is freeware - although I would ask you to ensure if you distribute it that you have changed nothing in the colour scheme, and that this documentation remains with it.
How do I get my desktop looking like that gorgeous screenshot at the top?
It is good, isn’t it? Open the Colour control panel, and set Window Colour to “Gold”, and Highlight Colour to “Other”: RGB 80:60:20. In Kaleidoscope, you need to use Espi Sans Bold 10 for your screen font, and “colorize” (I may be Canadian, but I hate North American spellings) your Finder Windows to RGB 80:80:80. As for the picture, it’s Hirtle’s Beach just south of Lunenburg in Nova Scotia, Canada at some ungodly hour in the morning. Go take your own picture. Alternatively, if you email me and tell me what size and no. of colours you need I might send you a copy. I’m afraid it’s not available for download, as I don’t have a webpage. Don’t ask for it at 15000x7000 trillions of colours - local phone calls cost in the UK, and I’m not that altruistic. I’ve pasted it on the desktop using After Dark, but rumours are that MacOS 8 will let us do it also (when it arrives in 2027).
Version History:
1.0
First release - to kosh only
1.01
Fixed a horrible red dialog
1.02
Made compatible with Smart Scroll (Marc Moini - marc@kagi.com)
1.5
Made compatible with Kaleidoscope 1.5
1.6
Added marbled effect
Changed window-resize gadget and window-top icons
1.6.1
Decided I didn't like marbled effect - changed it.
Decided I didn't like window-resize gadget and window-top icons - changed them.
