Transparent Menu Bar on Tiger

[AmazingHenry]

One more step to completing that Tiger Sierra Theme would be a transparent menu bar.

Couldn't find anything with a DuckDuckGo search, but I know it's possible because @swamprock had showed screenshots with it. Anyone know of a way to get a transparent menu bar on Tiger?

Thanks in advance.

 

[amagichnich]

What about using a semi transparent png as menubar background? Don't know if that's possible or how...

 

[ckweb]

I know, right? I'm trying to do the same exact thing on classic!

WindowShade may do the trick though, don't know if you've tried this one. It looks like a very tiny download right now, so hopefully it's still part of their products download page here.

For my GUI mod it may be a little harder, either a resedit hack more than an old classic extension or control panel. I'd even go for a pic replacement. Somehow I remember that something was doable along those lines, but I can't remember what that was for the life of me, lol!

Try this one out and let us know if it works, or if the download is even on their site anymore! If not, it may be worth huting this software down just to see if it works.

I don't have a running Tiger OS at the moment to test it out, although I've been thinking of running it virtually on one of my Intel Macs.

 

[AmazingHenry]

I know, right? I'm trying to do the same exact thing on classic!

WindowShade may do the trick though, don't know if you've tried this one. It looks like a very tiny download right now, so hopefully it's still part of their products download page here.

For my GUI mod it may be a little harder, either a resedit hack more than an old classic extension or control panel. I'd even go for a pic replacement. Somehow I remember that something was doable along those lines, but I can't remember what that was for the life of me, lol!

Try this one out and let us know if it works, or if the download is even on their site anymore! If not, it may be worth huting this software down just to see if it works.

I don't have a running Tiger OS at the moment to test it out, although I've been thinking of running it virtually on one of my Intel Macs.

Unfortunately the download isn't there anymore. Thanks for your suggestion though! I may still find WindowShade elsewhere.

 

[ckweb]

Unfortunately the download isn't there anymore. Thanks for your suggestion though! I may still find WindowShade elsewhere.

Found it. Let me know how if it works out!

 

[AmazingHenry]

Found it. Let me know how if it works out!

I saw MenuShade on their website but assumed it wasn't the same as WindowShade. I'll be sure to try it!

 

[ckweb]

I saw MenuShade on their website but assumed it wasn't the same as WindowShade. I'll be sure to try it!

Awesome! At least one PPC Mac can have the latest look, too!

Now onto how to make my Mac OS 8.1 menubar transparent.. lol

I've seen some hacks to completely transform a Mac OS 9 menubar, so I know it's doable

 

[dustinschings]

A Sierra theme for Tiger is going to be sweet

 

[ckweb]

A Sierra theme for Tiger is going to be sweet

Ha! A Sierra theme for System 7 and 8.1 will be crazy too! We're going bananas with our Apples!

 

[amagichnich]

I'm curious now, is there something like themepark for ppc? I couldn't find a version that's not intel only. A couple of years ago I managed to modify my snow leopard to have a semi transparent pinstripe menu bar which looked great! Just can't find a tool alike for leopard ppc - as I have a bit of free time now I would try that again, this time making leopard look a bit like jaguar

 

[eyoungren]

I'm curious now, is there something like themepark for ppc? I couldn't find a version that's not intel only. A couple of years ago I managed to modify my snow leopard to have a semi transparent pinstripe menu bar which looked great! Just can't find a tool alike for leopard ppc - as I have a bit of free time now I would try that again, this time making leopard look a bit like jaguar

Themepark
Candybar
Magnafique

Magnafique and Candybar are what I use.

 

[AmazingHenry]

 

[pochopsp]

It looks so amazing! Which app is that?

 

[AmazingHenry]

It looks so amazing! Which app is that?

MenuShade. However, it's more than just checking "Transparency" to get a menu bar like mine. You have to check that box AS WELL AS set the color to the color of your desktop picture.

 

[pochopsp]

Thank you Henry, I'll try it on leopard!

 

[AmazingHenry]

Thank you Henry, I'll try it on leopard!

Hope it works! One problem I have with MenuShade , however, is that it takes up dock space. We need a way to run it without a dock icon.

 

[ckweb]

Hope it works! One problem I have with MenuShade , however, is that it takes up dock space. We need a way to run it without a dock icon.

You may want to give this tool a whirl. Edit: Ooops, I think Dock Doger only works on Tiger and up

Although I remember another tool that used to do this was called Dockless. It ran on Jaguar first and then was updated for Panther.

 

[AmazingHenry]

Edit: Ooops, I think Dock Doger only works on Tiger and up

Perfectly fine as I'm running Tiger . It works. However, the transparency function doesn't work in the Dock Dodged version. Works fine in unmodified version. So, if you're going to use this tool, all you can do is set the color to the color of your desktop, and checking transparency just makes it white.

 

[ckweb]

The transparency function doesn't work if you're going to use this tool, all you can do is set the color to the color of your desktop.

It's a real catch-22 then. I do recall that it faked transparency, and I guess that was the reason why. You may want to try hiding the dock icon manually to see if it affects the transparency. If it works, then an applescript may work to hide the icon automatically at startup.

 

[AmazingHenry]

It's a real catch-22 then. I do recall that it faked transparency, and I guess that was the reason why. You may want to try hiding the dock icon manually to see if it affects the transparency. If it works, then an applescript may work to hide the icon automatically at startup.

Manually? How would I do that?

 

[ckweb]

Manually? How would I do that?

I got it wrong you can hide the app, but not the icon

 

[AmazingHenry]

I got it wrong you can hide the app, but not the icon

Ok, thanks anyway! You've been a lot of help.

 

[ckweb]

you bet, helping each other out is what it's all about!

 

[AmazingHenry]

In the final theme, I'll leave this up to user option as it depends on your desktop picture.

If you have a picture that is pretty much all a solid color at the top, just set the menu bar color to the color of the wallpaper. Then you can hide MenuShade from the dock.

If you have a picture that changes colors across the menu bar, you'll probably want to fake transparency. But if you do, you'll have to have a dock icon. I suppose it won't matter for people who hide the dock.

On my G5, which has a picture that is all blue across the top, option 1 works great!