News Archive
Title Page | Kaleidoscope News | Scheme Design | Scheme Authors
In a chat session with Greg Landweber, Arlo Rose and the Kaleidoscope Evangelist Eric Reid which I attended at gui junky's Hotline server tonight, Greg said that he was planning to release a public beta version of Kaleidoscope 2.0 in about a week. The final release will follow a few weeks after that. Two schemes will ship with Kaleidoscope 2.0: Scherzo, which uses muted pastel colors and interesting shapes and an unnamed scheme which uses a sort of French / Japanese style with lots of dark reds. The upgrade policy has not been decided yet, but it will most likely be a free upgrade.
According to reports Arlo Rose has received, the final version of Kaleidoscope 2.0 will be faster than the Theme technology Apple plan to implement in Mac OS 8.5. Greg still plans to make several speed improvements, so the final version will probably draw the windows faster than the public beta. It will not be as fast as the Appearance Manager in Mac OS 8, since all its drawings are hard coded. Kaleidoscope 2.0 schemes will be slightly slower than current color schemes, though, due to the added drawing complexity.
The memory requirements for Kaleidoscope 2.0 will vary from scheme to scheme, and the Kaleidoscope code itself uses around 200 Kb.
Kaleidoscope 2.0 will not include options to add sounds to system events like menu selections etc., but Greg said he had considered adding hooks for other programs to do that, and that he had been working with someone who wanted to release a utility which would add sounds to system events.
The scheme list in the control panel will not be improved and enhanced to offer hierarchical folders and bigger icons. As a matter of fact, Kaleidoscope 2.0 might not even have a color schemes folder any more. Since you can already switch to a new scheme just by double-clicking it in the Finder, there is no longer any need to put them all in one centralized place unless you want to. You can already get hierarchical views of your scheme folder by viewing its contents as a list, and there is no point in duplicating what the Finder already offers, Greg said.
Schemes for Kaleidoscope 2.0 will be easier to make. There is an initial learning curve, but once you have figured out the new resources, it is quite easy. It gives you a lot of flexibility, but for the best results, you should design the windows in a graphics program, not the ResEdit editor. Basically, you paste in a complete image of a window and then specify which parts correspond to what (close boxes, etc.) and what needs to be stretched. Widgets (close, zoom and windowshade boxes) and window titles can be placed anywhere on the window border, on the top, bottom, or even the sides. The window still needs to be built on a rectangular content region. You cannot have bits of the frame extending inside the window, but you can do most anything you want on the outside of the window.
Each scheme can specify its Finder background colors, as well as separate colors for list views, sort columns, and the divider line in the Finder. You can also set the text color for list views, icon views, and the desktop. Kaleidoscope 2.0 also supports replacement arrow cursors.
Greg will provide a ResEdit patch which will allow you to create cicn resources of any size you want. ResEdit can get confused with extremely large icons, though. Schemes created for Kaleidoscope 1.5 or later will still work with Kaleidoscope 2.0 and there will be no need to convert them to the new scheme format.
After Kaleidoscope 2.0 is released, Greg plans to update his other shareware programs, which have been ignoring for a while. A new version of SmoothType is in the works, and there are lots of cool things he has been meaning to do with Power Windows. He's also hoping to return to Greg's Browser.
The next version of SmoothType will let you switch between 4 shades or 16 shades of gray for the anti-aliasing (smoothing). Currently, SmoothType 1.3.2 uses 5 shades of gray. Drawing in 4 shades will be noticeably faster that what SmoothType currently offers, particularly on patterned backgrounds such as web pages. You can also set a smallest size that gets smoothed, if you want to keep your 12 point fonts nice and crisp.
His plans for Greg's Browser is to make it fully AppleScriptable and Mac OS 8-savvy (contextual menus, etc.). He also wants to add support for things besides file lists, such as a list of all running applications or all windows open in the finder. It could also be used as an FTP client, or a sophisticated way of browsing the web.
Alco Blom has released the first public beta version or URL Manager Pro 2.0v5. URL Manager Pro has been updated to version 2.0b4. URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing your URLs. It provides you with all the options you need to manage large bookmark files, and it integrates nicely with your browser, e-mail program, and even the Kaleidoscope savvy IRC client ircle, by adding a menu to the menubar. URL Manager Pro is also Kaleidoscope-savvy, and will use the colors from the selected Kaleidoscope Color Scheme to color its toolbar and window headers.
The following changes are mentioned in the release notes:
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0v5b1
Marla Erwin has added the following scheme authors to the Schemer's Gallery: Jesse Burgheimer, Roman Gauvin, Masaharu Sato, William Neidow, Ka Nguyen, Scott Simons, Toren Valimir, Damian Vila and Conrad Winslow. The number of features schemers has now reached 46.
One more scheme author, Franck Krieger, was added to Maury McCown's Kaleidoscope Creator Yearbook.
Recent additions to our list of scheme authors:
If you know some scheme authors with a web page which are not added to the lists here at KRP, let me know.
Answering my request for Kaleidoscope savvy applications and utilities a while ago, Brooks Seymore sent me an e-mail saying his favourite Kaleidoscope savvy application was the visual basic development tool REALbasic from REAL Software. With a slight learning curve, the application allows for quick-and-easy development of Macintosh applications.
This programming tool is still in development, and can be downloaded from REAL Software's web site for free. The final version will not be available for free, so here's a chance to test out a fast, modern and powerful programming tool which is not very hard to learn.
-> More Info | Download RealBasic DR1
Many users of the IRC client ircle (including all the scheme authors at #kaleidoscope, Undernet) has been slightly annoyed by the partial Kaleidoscope support in the beta versions of ircle 3.0. In the current beta version, the buttons and some other interface objects will still use the colors from the old color scheme when you switch from one scheme to another. This is very annoying if you change from a grey scheme like Apple Platinum to a very dark or very colorful scheme.
With the release of the final version 3.0, this will change. The release date has not been set, but from the information at the official Ircle page, it seems to be right around the corner. Version 3.0 will automatically update all buttons and other controls to show the colors of the active scheme when a different scheme is opened. It will also support the upcoming version of Kaleidoscope.
GoMac 1.5v1 was released on May 3rd and is a significant maintenance update of the handy system utility from Proteron Software which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac uses the colors from the active Kaleidoscope scheme to draw the program bar and menus.
All users should update to 1.5v1 which fixes several "memory leaks" capable of causing system instability. This version fixes the previoulsy reported problems which caused the cursor to disappear when dragging files.
GoMac 1.5v1 greatly improves the speed and stability. It now supports the Shift key to select the previous program in the Keyboard Switcher . Click-and-hold support for the Program Bar contextual menu for hands-free use has been added and numerous problems when using GoMac under System 7.5.x and on 68K Macs have been fixed. Some other conflicts and bugs have also been fixed.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.5v1
Layne Karkruff has released his third collection of Desktop Consoles. This set consists of 22 Desktop backgrounds. Six are available in a free sample pack and an additional 8 backgrounds can be downloaded if you register two or more of Layne's Desktop Consoles.
The third set of Desktop Consoles from Layne shows some stunning graphics, with everything from UFOs, a lightning bolt to a Chrome Duck and a heart.
A lot of scheme authors seems to be on the move nowadays. Recently, Jim Herzman got his own domain name, and this time, Maury McCown, known for his many schemes, scheme author profiles and the Kaleidoscope Creator Yearbook has moved his web site to www.maurym.com.
Maru McCow also creates fonts, and at the mFONTS section of his web site, he has previews of several fonts which can be ordered. There are also a couple of free fonts available for download. Maury also offers to take your handwriting and make a font out of it, immortalizing your writing forever.
Voting has closed and the winner of the Batman scheme contest was Richard Davis' scheme "Classic Batman" won with 60% of the votes, while Todd Johnson got the second place for his scheme "BatMac". "Batman" by BRY and Richard Bensam's "Belfry" shared the third place.
The FTP client VICOM FTP from Vicom Technology is now completely Mac OS 8 appearance manager and Kaleidoscope savvy. The FTP client from Vicom is very powerful. It runs natively on both 68K and PowerPC macs, and the FTP engine has been highly optimized faster file transfers and intelligent list updates.
A shareware version is available for download, but it does not have all the features of the Lite and Pro versions, which can be ordered from Vicom's web site..
All applications which support the Appearance Manager will automatically use the colors from the active Kaleidoscope color scheme. This means that there are a lot of applications out there which are Kaleidoscope savvy. If you find a Kaleidoscope savvy application which you think should be mentioned here, let me know.
-> More Info | Download shareware version of VICOM FTP 2.8
Beta testing is finished for Ben Blake's Sets Manager. The Sets Manager uses AppleScript to manage a 'set' of related files which modify the various parameters of your system such as: startup screen, background picture or pattern, system appearance, sounds on system events and window background pattern. Sets Manager will also let you change to a random set at shutdown and create new sets.
An updater is available if you have previously downloaded the installer of either b2 or b3 or b4. Note that you still need to have the scripting additions installed, otherwise the application wont work.
-> More Info | Download Sets Manager 1.0b2
Jim Herzman's web site CyberWorld of Trains has moved from geocities to a server dedicated to railroad web sites. His 40 railroad schemes is now available from the new domain name: cwt.railfan.net. Jim Herzman doesn't only create color schemes for Kaleidoscope. He has also created some Appearance plugins for the shareware extension Niji, in addition to a large Problem solving guide for both Kaleidoscope and Niji. His large collection of railroad pictures are also worth taking a look at.
Voting has started in Frank Turk's Batman scheme contest. 5 schemes were submitted: Batcave by Frank Turk, Batman by "BRY", BatMac by Todd Johnson, Belfry by Richard Bensam and Classic Batman by Richard Davis.
Voting closes at midnight on May 7, so download the schemes and vote on your favourite.
37 scheme authors have now submitted their information to Maury McCown for inclusion in the Kaleidoscope Creator Yearbook. The new additions this week were Michael Addison, Eric Baldwin, Jeremy Foy, Tomomi Imura, and Russell Silver.
Marla Erwin's web site, the Schemer's Gallery has moved to a new URL. The Schemer's Gallery is a web site where scheme authors submit their pictures and a short description of themselves, what they are doing when they are not making schemes, their interests, etc.
Since our last article about the Gallery, Eric Baldwin, Ruth Bartlett, Patrick Bores, Bryan Dickson, Bob Drake, Jeremy Foy, Sheri Frost, Grant Guthrie, Igarashi Susumu, Todd Johnson, Bud Lengtat, Jan Maher-Bontrager, Scott Naness, Ruth Parrott, Jeni Pleskow, Eric Reid, Jim Rowland, Russell Silver and Curtis Townson have been added, increasing the number of featured schemers to 38.
Jacob Kaplan has reopened his web site Scheme Central, which was closed down in March. Scheme Central will feature Kaleidoscope schemes, and in addition to the scheme preview, a short description of the scheme written by the scheme author will be displayed.
With the reopening of Scheme Central, the Kaleidoscope webring finally gets its information page back, and it is now possible to join the webring through Scheme Central.
With the help of their hosting service's webmaster, the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive have now incorporated a brand new, long-awaited, feature. Counters have now been added to to track the number of downloads the schemes receive. The counters are displayed on the New and Updated Color Schemes page, as well as on all the Author pages. Note that download numbers are not retroactive to the beginning of the Scheme Archive's existence; the numbers indicate the downloads a scheme has received starting from April 22.
The Kaleidoscope Evangelist, Eric Reid, has moved into a new house recental, and if you want to take a look at his bathroom, kitchen or the office where he makes all the pages for the Archive, point your browser to: http://www.kaleidoscope.net/schemes/house/. His house cat, Owl is also included, as well as a wonderful picture of the sunset.
The Japanese scheme athour Tochiro Hori has started a scheme archive for Japanese scheme authors. The archive is updated daily with new schemes and updates from a growing community of Japanese schemers. Some of then text is written in Japanese, but the links takes you to the authors' own pages, which for some of the authors are written in English. Some of the pages in this archive even displays previews of schemes that have not yet been released.
MacFixIt has posted several reports of bugs in the new GoMac 1.5, including one conflict with Kaleidoscope. When attempting to use spring loaded folders, the cursor vanishes if Kaleidoscope 1.8.2 is installed.Proteron Sotware has confirmed the bug, and are now working on version 1.5v1, which they expect to release later this week.Until then, GoMac 1.4.4 is still available for users who find 1.5 incompatible with software they use often.
GoMac 1.5 also becomes very unstable if used with RAMDoubler 2.0.2. Apple's virtual memory is recommended as an alternative. There have also been numerous reports of problems using GoMac with System 7.5.5, in addition to some problems when changing screen resolutions.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.4.4
GoMac 1.5 was released during my Easter vacation, and was not mentioned in last week's update. GoMac is a handy system utility from Proteron Software which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac uses the colors from the active Kaleidoscope scheme to draw the program bar and menus.
GoMac 1.5 is a major update, and Proteron Software goes as far as calling it a "brand new product". Large portions of the code have been rewritten and compiled PPC native, the interface has been radically redesigned, and innumerable features and bug fixes have been included. The significant new features in GoMac 1.5 include: Support for Apple Control Strip technology, Office 98 Integration, icons in all the menus, program specific settings and an easier installer.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.5
Get to know some of the talented folks who make up the Kaleidoscope design community. Marla Erwin has started the Schemer's Gallery. This is a new web site where scheme authors submit their pictures and a short description of themselves, what they are doing when they are not making schemes, their interests, etc.
So far, Charlie Austin, JP Bode, Jean Eichstedt, Marla Erwin, Graeme Hunt, Scott Hunter, Nancy Malvina Ibsen, Nitehawk Jarrett, Layne Karkruff, Mike "Finny" Kirkman, Billy Martin, Rik Osborne, Janet Parris, Martha Royer, Jack Sanders, Frank Turk, Albie Wong, Ric Zito and Taetia Zysshe have submitted their information.
Maury McCown, known for his many schemes and the Scheme Author Profiles, has now given up writing long profiles, and is now putting together a Kaleidoscope Creator Yearbook with information about many scheme authors.
The information in Maury's Yearbook is keyword-based, and you get to know the age, what mac they are using, their hobbies, most popular schemes, web site and email address. 29 scheme authors have been added to Maury's Yearbook so far.
The server where the official Kaleidoscope web site is located, has now added an additional T1 line to solve the bandwith problems. This should eliminate the last of the remaining bandwidth problems the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive was suffering from.
If you have tried clicking the link to the Scheme Warehouse in the article from March 29, you may have ended up at the homepage of some other person. The link was valid when the article was written, but aparently, Curtis Townson and Jacob Kaplan, have removed all the pages and cancelled the project.
Several issues have not yet been resolved. The Kaleidoscope webring, also started by Jacob Kaplan, is still missing an official web page. The 12 web pages which had entered the web ring can still be accessed through a list at www.webring.org but there is no information available on how to join the ring.
The winning entries to Apple Wizards' Scheme Contest, where the contest entries had to reflect the theme and attitude of Apple Wizards, has been posted. Brian Basher was the grand prize winner with his scheme Apprentice, while Graeme C. Hunt won the second prize for his scheme AppleWiz.
"hardc0rp", Scott Simmons, Peter Baird and Francis Escuadro all won the third prizes for their entries.
-> More Info | Downlaod the winning schemes
Version 3.0.2 of St.Clair Software's Kaleidoscope-savvy screen saver utility, Sleeper, is now available. Sleeper can dim the screen, power down Energy Star compliant monitors, and spin down disk drives after periods of inactivity. It can also password protect your Macintosh and shut down your computer when it is idle. For more information about Sleeper's features, see the Sleeper page.
This version adds an option to turn warning sounds on and off for monitor power-up and automatic shutdown. The Sleeper Strip control strip module has been enhanced to allow users to temporarily turn off Sleeper, invoke sleep features separately, and open the Sleeper control panel. Sleeper also detects Quantum Fireball ST hard drives which may have faulty firmware.Sleeper is now more compatible with Toast and Virtual PC and a conflict that could occur with XCLAIM VR graphics cards during automatic shutdown has been solved.
-> More Info | Download Sleeper 3.0.2b2
The new SchemeCentral web site which was started by Jacob Kaplan a few weeks ago, is now gone. All the pages have simply been deleted, and there is not even posted an explanation to why the web site has been closed or any announcement about what will happen to the submitted schemes or the Kaleidoscope Webring, which also had its home at the SchemeCentral.
Another new Kaleidoscope related web site which Curtis Townson tried to start has also been taken down, because of some conflicts with the Kaleidoscope team. A public apology is now available at the web site.
Curtis and Jacob is not giving up, and are now trying to start yet another Kaleidoscope related web site. The Scheme Warehouse will be up and running as soon as possible, according to an announcement at their web site. Any schemes submitted to the SchemeCentral will have to be resubmitted to schemewarehouse@bigfoot.com to be posted at the Scheme Warehouse.
4 new Japanese scheme authors were added to the list of scheme authors this week. Rob-Roy presents his AquaLabyrinth schemes Dora, Fujiko, Gigen and Lupin, while Pierre (quite a strange name for a Japanese, no wonder he has to state in his readMe file that he is Japanese, not French) has released his first scheme, Tray. Scotch, which has previously only submitted his schemes to the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive, has now created his own web page where his schemes Black Knights!, Bulls!, Eagles!, EFR!, Gauntlets and Jolly Rogers! can be downloaded. Tosaka has created a Digital Kitty System GUI scheme and a scheme based on the BETACAM-SX.
Proteron is getting close to the final release of GoMac 1.5. GoMac is a Kaleidoscope-savvy system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor.
Version 1.5fc1 was released on Wednesday, and comes with a completely redesigned control panel. The control panel now reflects the macOS 8 Appearance, but does support the Appearance Manager. This means that the GoMac control panel will use the Platinum greyscale colors, and not the colors from the active Kaleidoscope scheme. This version also adds support for Office 98, icons are now available in all the menus of the Start menu, "Auto hide" has been improved, and settings are now available to alter a programs behavior in GoMac. Most of the known problems have been solved in this version, but the Finder still does some weird things with the arrangement of desktop icons when GoMac is installed.
-> More Info | Fill in form to get GoMac 1.5fc1 by e-mail
Martin Pfeiffer's font Virtue has been updated to version 2.0. Virtue is an improved version of the Charcoal font found in macOS 8. Virtue has better spacing between the characters and it also looks a bit more like Chicago than Charcoal.
The bitmaps have been changed slightly in version 2.1 (March 21). A Light version is now added (currently only as a bitmap font) for those who have smaller screens or are just tired of looking at bold fonts all day. Also, the patching process, which makes it possible to choose the Virtue font as the system font, has been changed. Virtue now comes with simple instructions on how to change the Appearance Extension on your own, instead of supplying a large number of localized patches.
-> More Info | Download Virtue 2.0
KaleidoSync, the handy scheme utility by Michael Robinette, which keeps track of which Desktop Pattern or Picture you want to use with each color scheme has been updated to version 1.1b4. Version 1.1 is completely rewritten in another language, the functionality is now split up into two different applications, KaleidoSync and KaleidoSync Setup, and OS 8 is now required to use KaleidoSync. This beta version fixes some bugs from the previous beta versions.
KaleidosSync is easy to use, just run the KaleidoSync Setup application.Select a scheme and enter the number of the pattern you want to use or selecting a picture to use with the scheme. Do this for all your schemes, and the next time you want to select a new scheme, simply open the KaleidoSync application, and choose the scheme from the popup menu. KaleidoSync will automatically switch to the chosen desktop pattern or picture. This saves you a trip to the "Desktop Pictures" control panel, and makes managing your schemes easier.
-> More Info | Download KaleidoSync 1.1b4
The Sets Manager by Ben Blake is a new utility which has just entered beta testing. The Sets Manager uses AppleScript to manage a 'set' of related files which modify the various parameters of your system such as: startup screen, background picture or pattern, system appearance, sounds on system events and window background pattern.
So for example you can have a Star Wars set which has a Star Wars startup screen & background, star wars sounds etc. Sets Manager will also let you change to a random set at shutdown and create new sets. Note that this is a beta release and as such there might be still a few bugs.
-> More Info | Download Sets Manager 1.0b2
The Macintosh News Network (macNN) has a special report by Lloyd Wood covering Apple's attack at Hi-Tech schemes and scheme authors.
"Apple's action worries me", Lloyd says, "once Hi-Tech and Gizmo are part of the operating system, will users not be allowed to modify the designs of their Mac's interfaces in any way, as that will be infringing on Apple's copyright? Will variations on the interface not be permitted?" Lloyd also points out that several of Apple's latest interface additions, like SuperClock!, desktop patterns, cascading Apple submenus and greyscale Motif-like appearances appeared first outside Apple.
Lloyd further says that by these actions, it seems like Apple feel these third party color schemes are competing against a coming operating system upgrade. After all, the hi-tech-like schemes have been available since Kaleidoscope first shipped over a year ago - but Apple didn't have a product then.
Jacob Kaplan,the man behind SchemeCentral and the Kaleidoscope webring has now started a Kaleidoscope newsgroup at Usenet. However, as Jacob didn't go trhough the official procedures when creating a new newsgroup, the kaleidoscope newsgroup is very unlikely to appear at your ISP's news server. To be able to read the newsgroup, you may try contacting your ISP and have the newsgroup added to their server, or you can use one of the many web-based Usenet archives, like DejaNews. DejaNews enables you to subscribe to newsgroups and post messages.
In case you want to subscribe, these are the rules for the newsgroup:
1). Please do not insult people. Even though it doesen't seem like thereis a person at the other end of the wire, there is, and he/she's feelingscan be hurt.
2). Please try to keep on topic. Off topic posts are not allowed,especially SPAM.
3). Enjoy yourself, and post often, as that is the only thing that willkeep this newsgroup alive.
The law department at Apple is now taking action against color schemes which infringe the intellectual property rights of Apple. One of these authors is Ed Deans. His scheme C-Futuro Classic has now been removed form his webpage at the request of Apple Computer's Copyright administration.
Why this has happened now, and not in mid-97, when Ed Deans tried to contact Apple to get their statement on the Hi-Tech scheme issue. Another message, which he received from Apple in January this year didn't mention this either. Also, the message Ed Deans received from Apple, requesting him to remove the offending material, had several unclear statements. The entire message from Apple can be read at Ed's webpage.
5 new scheme authors were added to our list of scheme authors this week. Daniel Vice debuts with a very VERY scheme inspired by a Pet Shop Boys CD. Andrew Pengelly has created a scheme based on the game Riven and another scheme called The Lost World. The Appearance Fan Naruoka shows us his N's OS 8 and a new SuperBlack scheme is under development. Ady Pratioto, known for his many updates at the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive, has created a webpage where his two schemes CoCo and Zobaa Zobaa can be downloaded. Philip Dokas at Quantum Mekanix Software has created an almost completely bright green scheme, It's Green To Me.
SchemeCentral is a new directory for Color Schemes. SchemeCentral is maintained by Jacob Kaplan, and he claims that this new web site will be updated as soon as he receives new schemes. New schemes will stay at the front page for a week. Unlike the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive, Kaplan only displays previews of the schemes and links to the downloadable files at the authors own web page instead of keeping local copies at his own site.
Kaplan encourages scheme authors to send him schemes for inclusion at SchemeCentral. In addition, he also offers free advertising for scheme authors' web pages. This can be done by creating a 480x60 pixel image, and sending it to schemecentral@iname.com along with a link to the scheme page.
So far, three schemes are available at the SchemeCentral. Amadeus by Lloyd Wood, and two schemes from Fred Higgins: Gel2 and Shamrock.
Smart Scroll by Marc Moini is a utility that enhances regular scroll bars to show how much of a document is displayed in a window, by displaying a proportional thumb. Smart Scroll also adds Live Scrolling, which updates the display as you drag the scrollbar thumb. Smart Scroll communicates with Kaleidoscope so scrollbars in color schemes can be proportional and have active scrolling.
Version 3.1 adds support for macOS 8.1 and Appearance 1.0.2. More applications now remember the correct proportions. Support has been added for Quark XPress 4.0, Adobe Photoshop and Claris Organiser 2. Most apps which have their own implementation of Live Scrolling do not have to be Excluded anymore. Smart Scroll is compatible with the latest DoubleScroll (2.2 preview 6).
-> More Info | Download Smart Scroll 3.2
Proteron has posted a public beta version of GoMac, their popular Kaleidoscope-savvy system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor.
This version fixes problems with the keyboard switcher. The program bar is slightly modified and icon support in the Drives menu is better. Some problems with control strip modules and control-clicking has also been fixed. Still, numerous problems exist because GoMac doesn't know when to hide itself. There are also some conflicts with a few applications, like JPEG Viewer, DocMaker, AOL 4.0, OMNIS 7 and Graphic Converter. Remember that this is not a final version, and all use is at your own risk.
-> More Info | Fill in form to get GoMac 1.5b2 by e-mail
The number of scheme authors with web pages is increasing for every week. Last week, four new scheme authors were added to our lists.
Michael Addison from Australia has created Treky, a Star Trek inspired scheme, while David vanWert has four schemes available for download: Ginger Bardot, Be Style Bardot, The Black Lama and Victor von Richter. Coming soon is a blue scheme called Rex Danger. Daniel R. Forbes shows us The Doctor's New Clothes and Puiple Alte. Ken Yaecker has specialised on OS scheme, and has 10 schemes based on different Operating systems and User Interfaces, including Memphis 98, AOL dot COM, Bookshelf and RhapStep. Andrew Stevenson's HI! Inc. four fairly new schemes: Buzzed, BeBuzzed, Bloody and Hi 2.0, in addition to a package of discontinued schemes.
The conflict between Greg Landweber and the Reailty section at Macintosh News Network (macNN) has now been resolved, and Reailty will resume publication some time this week. Over the weekend both parties made an extensive effort to finally put an end to the "madness," and it worked out quite well, according to a message currently available at macNN Reality's webpage.
Reality points out that MacNN did not shut them down. They voluntarily closed their doors for many reasons. Reality further says that "The blame for these childish actions still lies within the confines of the Kaleidoscope List." and refers to the members of the list as "a series of children who refuse to grow up."
Update: (3/10) The Reality section at The Macintosh News Network is up and running again, but the short article about Kaleidoscope 2.0 which started this is still available.
With the help of Jan Peter Bode, the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive has now temporarily solved the speed problems users have been suffering during the last weeks. Bode donated 10 MB of his own server space to the KSA cause and, because of his generosity, you now have access to the full versions of all the new and updated schemes. Since scheme transfers from the "New and Updated Color Schemes" page make up approximately 50% of the transfers from KSA, this will reduce the pressure on KSA's server, and you will be able to load the pages much faster.
Greg Landweber says he expects to move the Kaleidoscope web site to a new and faster server later this month. To give you some idea of how popular KSA is, 210 MB of schemes were transferred in less than 24 hours, and the Kaleidoscope web site had a total of about 5,2 million hits last moth.
The Kaleidoscope Evangelist Eric Reid has just informed the Kaleidoscope Scheme Mailing list that the scheme archive is running out of space. Only 12 Mb is still available, and the last update cionsisted of 6.6 Mb of compressed files. Not only are they short on space, they are also having sever speed difficulties. This is due to the extreme bandwidth being taken up by the downloaders at the KSA. In February, over 50 gigabytes of color schemes were transferred from the server.
Several actions are being taken to improve the conditions at the Kaleidoscope web site. Arlo Rose and Greg Landweber are currently looking into service providers to provide a dedicated high-speed internet connection for the Kaleidoscope web site and Scheme Archive. Once this is established, bandwidth problems, and disk space will no longer be an issue. It still looks like these issues won't be resolved for at least another two or three weeks.
Last week, copies of a development version of Kaleidoscope 2.0 were leaked to the public. This leak caused a serious disruption in the beta testing cycle, which may cause delays in the eventual release of Kaleidoscope 2.0.
Some screenshots were briefly displayed at several mac-related rumor pages on the internet, in addition to the leak of the actual control panel. Greg Landweber has posted parts of a message posted to the Kaleidoscope mailing list, where he explains the problems with such leaks from the point of view of the software author. "Someone on our beta team chose to leak copies of Kaleidoscope 2.0b3. This greatly disillusioned both me and Arlo. Our beta testing system is based upon trust, as is the whole idea of shareware, and this action directly violates that trust. As has been pointed out here, leaks do happen, and we expected that word of the new version would eventually make its way around the web. What disturbed us most is that someone leaked the actual control panel within mere hours of receiving it. This is not just leaking confidential information, but rather software piracy.", he said.
As a consequence of this leak, the Kaleidoscope team was flooded with e-mail from people (not on this list) asking them questions about Kaleidoscope 2.0 or offering to beta test. This caused Arlo and Greg to take a few days off from working on Kaleidoscope. They are now re-evaluating their beta strategy, and are planning to limit testing to a very small seeding list. This will likely cause the public beta release of Kaleidosacope to be delayed by a few weeks.
The posting of screenshots at MacNN Reality and the following discussion at the Kaleidoscope scheme mailing list caused the Reality section at the Macintosh News Network to close down until further notice. It will probably be up and running again when all this has settled down.
Proteron has posted a public beta version of GoMac, their popular system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
This version adds support for control strip modules, the Program contextual menus are more intuitive, the program bar now looks more 3D-ish, and a couple of bugs are fixed. All known problems with AfterDark, FileGuard and Kaleidoscope are now fixed.
-> More Info | Fill in form to get GoMac 1.5b1 by e-mail
A public beta of St.Clair Software's Kaleidoscope-savvy screen saver utility, Sleeper, is now available. Sleeper can dim the screen, power down Energy Star compliant monitors, and spin down disk drives after periods of inactivity. It can also password protect your Macintosh and shut down your computer when it is idle.
This beta includes additional error checking during disk wake-up, adds significant functionality to the Sleeper Control Strip module, and automatically checks for Quantum disks with faulty firmware.
-> More Info | Download Sleeper 3.0.2b2
Rik Osborne has updated his Playball Collection to version 2.0. The Playball collection is a set of 30 baseball schemes based on the colors of the big league baseball teams - from Anaheim to Toronto. If you are a baseball fan, you will definitely find your favorite team among these schemes!
-> More Info | Download from the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive
We are constantly adding scheme authors to our list to keep you updated on the latest schemes. Last week, three new scheme authors were added.
Ed Latimer has a couple of schemes at his webpage, including an Olympic scheme and Shamrock, a scheme for St. Patrick's day, complete with pots of gold and rainbows and a couple of dark schemes. Groupe des Adorateurs du Macintosh has five schemes at their webpage. One of their schemes are based on the Nintendo 64 video game console. Jen Maher-Bontrager has a webpage loaded with fun stuff. His three schemes, Fishy, Katze and Wrench-Carrot are available for download.
Tiger Technologies has released the final version of Window Monkey 1.2.3. Window Monkey is a utility which enables you to add patterns to Finder windows, by adding a "Pattern" submenu to the "View" menu in the Finder. With Window Monkey installed at your mac, you will never need to look at boring white, or single-colored Finder windows again.
Version 1.2.3 includes ten new patterns and offers improved compatibility.
-> More Info | Download WindowMonky 1.2.3
Klaeidoscope 1.8.2 was released yesterday. This version fixes the previously reported bug which caused crashes when quitting an application in macOS 8.1. This version also fixes some problems with FaxSTF, DiskCopy and Acrobat. The disclosure triangles are finally patched in macOS 8, and the Finder dialog boxes (Get Info, Preferences, View Options, and progress boxes) now correctly use the dialog box text color instead of the window header text color. A few minor problems with the text color in Finder windows were also fixed, and Japanese (or other non-Roman) utility window titles are no longer gibberish.
-> More Info | Download mirrors for Kaleidoscope 1.8.2
The grand prize winner from the First Official Color Scheme Competition, Mozco Igarashi, has released a new scheme: !.Emperor
This scheme is yet another example of how well Igarashi is able to colorize his golden schemes. The active windows, menus, folders, and even the trash can look like they are created of real gold. Inactive windows use a dark green color, which adds contrast to the scheme, and actually matches the gold in the active windows in an excellent way. This is definitely a scheme worth adding to your scheme collection!
-> More Info | Download !.Emperor
TigerTech has released a beta test version of the upcoming Window Monkey 1.2.3. Nothing has been changed or improved since the fifth beta version, but TigerTech has removed some debugging code that was accidentally left in previous test versions.
If you plan to download this version, remember that test versions may have problems that could cause crashes or data loss.
Somebody informed me of a very cool web art page. One of the many pieces on it makes art out of web interface elements such as buttons, pull down menus, and the like.
View it running a scheme and it makes art out of the buttons, scroll bars, radio buttons and check boxes from the scheme you are using. You may need to use a older version of Netscape or Explorer, as the 4.0 versions are using their own buttons.
To try finding some information about the upcoming update to the Kaleidoscope control panel, I entered the string "Kaleidoscope 2.0" at AltaVista. I was a bit surprised when the result appeared, because one of the pages listed was a page where you could buy "Kaleidoscope 2.0" for macintosh now.
After visiting the web page, it turned out that this "Kaleidoscope 2.0" from Abbot Systems was a commercial application aimed at creating fractal graphics. This product should not be confused with the control panel Kaleidoscope, which is shareware, and created by Greg Landweber.
With the existence of Kaleidoscope 2.0, will this mean trouble to Greg Landweber and the Kaleidoscope team when they release the next major update to Kaleidoscope? No, not at all. According to Greg Landweber, Abbot Systems' Kaleidoscope is an entirely unrelated commercial product. "We have been in touch with them", he said, "and they don't mind us using the Kaleidoscope name as long as we remain shareware. We have been coexisting ever since the start of Kaleidoscope, and it has never presented a problem before."
This review of Abbot Systems' Kaleidoscope 2.0 isn't very positive to the product, and I would not recommend it. Again, this product has nothing to do with the Kaleidoscope you use to add a bit more color to your mac.
Allen Murray has released a Kaleidoscope Color scheme based on the game "Myth: The fallen Lords" by Bungie software.
A preview of the scheme is available at myth.nontoxic.org, one of the many Myth related websites, you can also download the scheme from the website.
-> More Info | Download Myth scheme
Finally, there is some competition in the Kaleidoscope news area.
Kaleidoscope Information Page is a new webpage started by Doug Hardester. Doug says he will continue to update the news section at his KIP news page as long as he don't get lazy... This week, Doug has posted some links to some very cool Allegro screenshots.
Not all the pages at KIP seems to be up yet, but I'm sure Doug will continue to improve his webpage, and make his page yet another invaluable news source for Kaleidoscope news.
TigerTech has released a beta test version of the upcoming Window Monkey 1.2.3. If you plan to download this version, remember that test versions may have problems that could cause crashes or data loss. You should be familiar with Window Monkey before downloading this test version, because it does not include documentation.
This version fixes a cosmetic problem with Kaleidoscope's BeBox color scheme. It also fixes a cosmetic problem with CoolViews, in addition to some bug fixes. Windows opened in the Finder are now remembered as Recent Folders.
4 new scheme authors were added to the lists this week.
Curtis Townson's Mainframe scheme is available at Curtis' schemes, Josh Oakes has released three schemes: Floating, OaXT and OS Bold which can all be downloaded from Josh's Oakes schemes webpage. Hellraiser is a new scheme from TKOnet, and the Sun-Hater, Rebecca Riall, has created four schemes: Alienate, Alienate Deslimed, Molly and Molly Delensed.
Also, M's hobby page, where Norizumi Morooka's schemes are presented, is finally up and running again after a long break. Five new schemes have been added: Be the Martian, BeXT, GGG, Larghetto and M's Triangle GSBe.
Kaysha (a.k.a. Lorenzo Raphael) has created a Kaleidoscope Top Ten page at his Interface Palace. This is an automated page where you can enter your own top ten list of Kaleidoscope Color Schemes, and read the lists from other Kaleidoscope users.
Finally, Maury McCown has decided to finally feature one of the female scheme authors at his Schemer's Profile web site.
Taetia Zysshe, the scheme author from Australia, which is rumored to spend a lot of time at the IRC channel #kaleidoscope at Undernet, is featured in the current Schemer Profile.
Alco Blom's URL Manager Pro 2.0 has been released. URL Manager Pro has been updated to version 2.0b4. This version has some new features, and some bugs have been fixed. URL Manager Pro is Kaleidoscope-savvy, and will use the colors from the selected Kaleidoscope Color Scheme to color its toolbar and window headers.
URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing your URLs. It provides you with all the options you need to manage large bookmark files, and it integrates nicely with your browser, e-mail program, and even the Kaleidoscope savvy IRC client ircle, by adding a menu to the menubar.
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0v4
KaleidoSync, the handy scheme utility by Michael Robinette, which keeps track of which Desktop Pattern or Picture you want to use with each color scheme has been updated to version 1.1. This version is completely rewritten in another language, the functionality is now split up into two different applications, KaleidoSync and KaleidoSync Setup, and OS 8 is now required to use KaleidoSync.
KaleidosCync is easy to use, just run the KaleidoSync Setup application.Select a scheme and enter the number of the pattern you want to use or selecting a picture to use with the scheme. Do this for all your schemes, and the next time you want to select a new scheme, simply open the KaleidoSync application, and choose the scheme from the popup menu. KaleidoSync will automatically switch to the chosen desktop pattern or picture. This saves you a trip to the "Desktop Pictures" control panel, and makes managing your schemes easier.
-> More Info | Download KaleidoSync 1.1b1
Several Kaleidoscope users have reported problems when running Kaleidoscope with macOS 8.1. According to Greg Landweber, the crashes are caused by color schemes which use patterns in the menu bar or window title bar.
Kaleidoscope 1.8.1 can cause crashes under Mac OS 8.1 if Virtual Memory is turned on and you use a scheme with a pattern in the menu bar or window title bar. To avoid this problem, turn off Virtual Memory (RAM Doubler does not appear to trigger this problem) or switch to a scheme that does not use patterns. This will be fixed in the next version of Kaleidoscope, 1.8.2.
Several Japanese scheme authors have been added to the list of scheme authors lately.
Some of their schemes are included at the "New and Updated color schemes" pages, but I would strongly suggest visiting these authors' web pages to find all their schemes.
Finally, Layne Karkruff at Blue Skyheart Graphics, has updated all his 12 Scrollites color schemes to take advantage of Mac OS 8' s tabbed pop-up windows and buttons. Some of the schemes feature redesigned scrollbars, odds and ends.
Also, a new scheme has been added to the Scrollites scheme family. Phoneix is a silver and glass color scheme, which is available for download from the Scrollites web page.
Despite the release of version 2.2 some weeks ago, Michael Robinette has now released version 1.8.2 of Random Scheme. Random Scheme is an AppleScript application that selects a random color scheme from the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder and uses that the next time you boot your mac.
Version 1.8.2 (which actually is newer than version 2.2) fixes some bugs and is also compatible with system 7.x.
-> More Info | Download Random Scheme 2.2
Our sponsor, MacOSZone has received yet another color scheme based on their website's colors. DollyDotsFynky by Roger van Erven is a variation of his DollyDots scheme. Roger has so far created 6 other variations of his DollyDots scheme, and more are to come.
Jim Herzman, the railroad schemer and creator of the CyberWorld of Trains webpage and the Kaleidoscope Problem Solving Guide has gathered a lot of Kaleidoscope logos on one webpage. His page features both Kaleidoscope and Niji gifs that might be useful for decorating any Kaleidoscope web pages.
Jim is also offering free registration of his schemes at his webpage.
KaleidoColor, by Sven Berg Ryen is a small utility that helps system 7.x users generate colored text in Finder windows by changing the Finder window color.
Version 1.1 has improved compatibility for Kaleidoscope 1.8, lets you restart your mac for the changes to take effect. Color handling has also been improved.
-> More Info | Download KaleidoColor 1.2
Greg Landweber has updated Kaleidoscope to version 1.8.1.
Version 1.8.1 is a maintenance release with many improvements and fixes for problems with ATM, Director, OneClick, Window Monkey,StuffIt TFI, Eudora 4, Microsoft Outlook Express, MacMoney, and others.
The Kaleidoscope Classic Pack has also been updated to version 1.8.1, to bring it in line with the changes made in Kaleidoscope 1.8.
-> More Info | Download Kaleidoscope 1.8.1
The Zito/Wong partnership continues, and this time the two scheme authors have created a very special color scheme. (Ric Zito still claims he has retired from making schemes, but this scheme shows he has not given up Kaleidoscope completely.)
The scheme "Pink Cadillac" was created as a birthday gift to "The Mistress of Apricots, The Goddess of Ping": Taetia Zysshe, who Ric and Albie has spent long nights talking to at the #kaleidoscope IRC channel at Undernet. "Pink Cadillac" is a pink scheme, and like any other scheme from Albie and Ric it is extremely well designed and very useable. And since Taetia, Ric and Albie spend a lot of time on IRC, the windowshade sounds are similar to the noise one hears when using the Kaleidoscope savvy IRC client Ircle.
This scheme is now available for download from KRP for one week before Ric and Albie releases it at their own webpages.
-> More Info | Download Pink Cadillac
Greg Landweber and the Kaleidoscope team are offering a contest for people registering Kaleidoscope between January 5 and January 9. Each day, they will give away two Kaleidoscope baseball caps and one copy of the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive CD-ROM to winners chosen randomly from the day's registrations.
In addition, Macintosh Resource Page are offering another Kaleidoscope promition to randomly chosen winners among the registrations.
Scott Hunter has created Yggdrasill, a scheme based on the art and traditions of the Vikings, whose positive contributions to western European culture have been overlooked by scholars in favor of the better-known influences of Egyptian and other Mediterranean civilizations. "Yggdrasil" itself is the symbolic World Ash Tree, whose various parts represent the major elements of the Norse universe: Asgard, home of the gods; Midgard, where we mortals dwell; and Nifheim, the Underworld, home of Loki and his evil minions.
As was typical of other aspects of Viking culture, these wayfaring merchant-marauders both borrowed liberally from and contributed to the artistic traditions they came accross. Viking traders were instrumental in spreading the important Animal Style, noted for its bold, abstract treatment of natural forms, from the East, where it originated, to as far west as Ireland and northern France. And the Viking love of fine craftsmanship and complex design was stimulated by the art of the Celts, one of the most influential cultures in the Europe of the early Middle Ages. You will find distributed in key parts of the Yggdrasill interface, reflections of both the history and art of these violent, yet fascinating people.
-> More Info | Download Yggdrasill
Martin Pfeiffer has moved his fonts to a new website. Some of Martin's fonts work great as replacements for the boring system fonts Chicago and Charcoal.
One of the fonts, Virtue is an improved version of the Charcoal font found in macOS 8. In Charcoal, it seems like Apple couldn't decide whether to use two pixels between the letters or just one. This leads to a cramped appearance on screen. Virtue has better spacing between the characters and it also looks a bit more like Chicago than Charcoal. An Appearance Extension patch that allows Mac OS 8 users to select Virtue in the Appearance Control Panel is included in the package. The latest version of Virtue is 2.0 (Nov 18.)
-> More Info | Download Virtue 2.0
Two of the winners from the Kaleidoscope Scheme Contest, Ric Zito and Albie Wong has collaborated on the Ultimate Project,the Kaleidoscope Scheme That Would Change The World. The result, * le must de CARTIER, was released at midnight on New Year's Eve. Named after a totally insignificant and little known provincial German butcher, Herr Must, this scheme is an attempt to chic-en up your desktop, and make you feel more like an Uptown person.
Ric Zito has said that this is his last Kaleidoscope Color Scheme. He is currently too busy to create any schemes in the near future. Let us hope his depart from the Kaleidoscope world will only be a short break, and that he will be back and scheming soon. I know he has lot of ideas for new schemes which has yet to be accomplished.
-> More Info | Download le must de CARTIER
At December 19, Onno Tijdgat posted the third release of Ircle 3.0b10. This release fixes several small bugs. Crashes which could occur when using popup menus and the about box has been fixed. For more information on this update, read the Version History.
-> More Info | Download ircle 3.0b10r3
Finally, the final version of Alco Blom's URL Manager Pro 2.0 has been released. URL Manager Pro 2.0 is Kaleidoscope-savvy, and will use the colors from the selected Kaleidoscope Color Scheme to color its toolbar and window headers.
URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing your URLs. It provides you with all the options you need to manage large bookmark files, and it integrates nicely with your browser and e-mail program by adding a menu to the menubar.
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0
ImageMaker Studios has started a new Kaleidoscope related page, The Best of Kaleidoscope. This site will feature one scheme every week, and the scheme will be criticized by 7 Kaleidoscope designers. The first scheme was Ric Zito's "Maximalist".
Maury McCown has started a new Schemer's Profile web site. At this website, you'll get to know a random scheme designer every two weeks. You will get a little bit of personal history, their likes and dislikes, what they do for a living, what they do for fun, etc. The goal of this site is draw the Kaleidoscope Creator Community that much more close together.
The first scheme author to be presented is Quentin Hill, the author of the schemes Apple Monochrome, Platimun, Silver and X-Files. To be notified when new Schemer Profiles are available, you can subscribe to Maury's Update List.
Josh Lewis has posted a new scheme on his Kaleidoscope Salon. Kaleidoscope Salon is dedicated to giving feedback to Kaleidoscope scheme authors who wish to be featured. Instructions on how to give feedback can be found at the Salon.
The scheme currently being previewed is Hairbrained by Patrick Bores.
Ircle, the Kaleidoscope savvy IRC client byOnno Tijdgat, has been updated to 3.0b10. This version adds more AppleScript compatibility, color popup menus in the inputline and relevant dialogs, and a Find option. It also supports Shared Menus as provided by Frontier or URL Manager, in addition to some other bug fixes and improvements.
-> More Info | Download ircle 3.0b10
Alco Blom has released yet another beta version of URL Manager Pro 2.0. URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the universal address format of the Internet. URL Manager Pro 2.0 is Kaleidoscope-savvy, and will use the colors from the selected Kaleidoscope Color Scheme to color its toolbar and window headers.
Version 2.0b5 adds the "Share As Menu" command to the folder Contextual Menu. You can now switch between the tabbed folders in the Favorites Window with the TAB key and you can create a new bookmark/favorite with Option-Return. This version also fixes a bug that was introduced in 2.0b4.
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0b5
The final version of Kaleidoscope 1.8 was released today. This new version brings several new enhancements to the Kaleidoscope product. Kaleidoscope 1.8 now patches the bevel buttons (which are used in Finder column headers) and popup winodws in macOS 8. Also added is the Kaleidoscope Extension which lets you switch to a scheme by opening it in the Finder. With the help of Arlo Rose, former head of Apple Computer's human interface team, all the schemes that come with Kaleidoscope have been significally improved and a complete set of custom folders has been added for each scheme. The window drawing code has been optimized for faster drawing, and many other fixes and improvements have been made.
-> More Info | Download Kaleidoscope 1.8
Michael Robinette has created yet another Kaleidoscope utility, KaleidoSync. KaleidoSync keeps track of which Desktop Pattern or Picture you want to use with each color scheme. When you use this application to chenge the scheme it also changes the pattern for you. This saves you a trip to the "Desktop Pictures" control panel, and makes managing your schemes easier.
KaleidoSync is shareware ($5) and is currently at version 1.0
-> More Info | Download KaleidoSync
KaleidoColor, by Sven Berg Ryen is a small utility that helps system 7.x users generate colored text in Finder windows by changing the Finder window color.
Version 1.1 add compatibility for Kaleidoscope 1.8 and displays an error message when used with macOS 8.
-> More Info | Download KaleidoColor 1.1
Proteron has now posted an update of GoMac, their popular system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
Version 1.4.4 fixes a problem with Myth crashing at startup, a small problem where a strip of unusable real-estate was left across the bottom of the screen when the program bar was hidden, as well some problems with the Start Menu items not being sorted correctly. Read the version history to see some more fixes/changes.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.4.4
RandomScheme, Michael Robinette's AppleScript application that selects a random color scheme from the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder and uses that the next time you boot your mac, has been updated to work better with the recently released Kaleidoscope 1.8 beta.
-> More Info | Download Random Scheme 2.2
Josh Lewis has started a new service for scheme authors, Salon, which is dedicated to giving feedback to Kaleidoscope scheme authors who wish to be featured. A new author will be featured on Salon the 1st and 15th of every month and instructions on how to give feedback can be found at the Salon
. The first scheme to be previewed is Beyond the Pale by Jeni Pleskow.
Smart Scroll by Marc Moini is a utility that enhances regular scroll bars to show how much of a document is displayed in a window, by displaying a proportional thumb. Smart Scroll also adds Live Scrolling, which updates the display as you drag the scrollbar thumb. Smart Scroll is compatible with Kaleidoscope, and when Smart Scroll is installed, the scrollbars of the active color scheme are proportional.
Version 3.1 adds support for ClarisWorks 4 and 5, Netscape and CodeWarrior. Live Scrolling can now be turned off and the Exclusions List ispreserved after Restart.
-> More Info | Download Smart Scroll 3.1
RandomScheme by Michael Robinette is an AppleScript application that selects a random color scheme from the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder and uses that the next time you boot your mac. You also have the option of specifying a desktop picture/desktop pattern for each scheme.
Version 2.1 comes with an improved interface, and the ability to assign window color to schemes, has been added.
-> More Info | Download Random Scheme 2.1
A public beta of Kaleidoscope 1.8 is now available for download. Kaleidoscope 1.8 represents a significant improvement over previous versions, customizing the Mac OS 8 bevel buttons (used in Finder list view column headers) and popup windows (tabbed windows), letting you switch color schemes just by double-clicking them in the Finder, and much more.
-> More Info | Download Kaleidoscope 1.8 public beta
Julian Harris has written an article on Kaleidoscope at "The Mining Company's Focus on Mac Software".
This article tells the story of Kaleidoscope, from the early beginning with the Aaron extension to the most recent version.
Martin Pfeiffer's font Virtue has been updated to version 2.0. Virtue is an improved version of the Charcoal font found in macOS 8. In Charcoal, it seems like Apple couldn't decide whether to use two pixels between the letters or just one. This leads to a cramped appearance on screen. Virtue has better spacing between the characters and it also looks a bit more like Chicago than Charcoal. An Appearance Extension patch that allows Mac OS 8 users to select Virtue in the Appearance Control Panel is included in the package.
Version 2.0 (November 18) fixes a problem which appeared when using Greg Landweber's "Smooth Type" to antialiasing Virtue at 12 pt. Also, a 11 pt bitmap size has been added.
-> More Info | Download Virtue 2.0
Prewiev release 4 of URL Manager Pro 2.0 by Alco Blom has been released. URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the universal address format of the Internet. URL Manager Pro 2.0 is Kaleidoscope-savvy, and will use the selected Kaleidoscope Color Scheme to color its toolbar and window headers.
Version 2.0b4 adds the Sort command to the contextual menu. Furthermore, you can now sort any selection of bookmarks. A new
option in the Preferences dialog lets you hide all windows of URL Manager Pro when it is in the background. Support has been
added for Microsoft Outlook Express and NetFinder and locating Navigator's User Profiles has been improved. Several bugs have been
fixed and the Mondriaan module now lets you open the 'Daily' set via Control-Click.
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0b4
St.Clair Software's screen saver utility Sleeper has been updated to version 3.0.1. Sleeper can dim the screen, power down Energy Star compliant monitors, and spin down disk drives after periods of inactivity. It can also password protect your Macintosh and shut down your computer when it is idle.
This version adds speaker muting, corrects insomnia on PowerMac 4400's, eliminates black screens with ATI XCLAIM VR cards, corrects several bugs with disk wake-up, and fixes numerous smaller problems, including some display problems, which could be experienced when Kaleidoscope was running. Sleeper is now compatible with Proteron's GoMac utility.
-> More Info | Download Sleeper 3.0.1
Proteron has now posted an update of GoMac, their popular system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
Version 1.4.3 fixes problems with Speed Doubler 8.0.1, Timbuktu 4.0 and Apple Video Player. It also solves a bug which could cause crashes when the Start button was clicked, in addition to a few other bug fixes.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.4.3
Quite a few scheme designers use Kagi to handle their shareware registrations. To make it easier to register your shareware schemes, Lloyd Wood has created a web page where Kaleidoscope users easily can register their favourite shareware schemes.
Remember, paying the shareware fee encourages scheme designers to create more and better schemes to the benefit of all Kaleidoscope users.
The Zone by Maury McCown has been added to the MacOSZone scheme page. "The Zone" is a bright and clownlike scheme which matches the colors of the MacOSZone site.
If you are interested in creating a scheme for MacOSZone, contact macoszone@macconnect.com
Arlo Rose, the former Human Interface lead for the Appearance project, and the Macintosh Toolbox at Apple, has joined the Kaleidoscope team and, as a result, many incredible things loom on the horizon. One of the first new changes is to the Kaleidoscope web site. You may already have noticed the new scheme previews and the new look of the Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive.
Greg Landweber and Arlo Rose are making a commitment to shipping high quality software with a soft spot for utilities that make Mac OS computers easier and more fun to use. The first thing on their list is to infuse Kaleidoscope and its related ventures with a new level of quality.
RandomScheme by Michael Robinette is an AppleScript application that selects a random color scheme from the Kaleidoscope Color Schemes folder and uses that the next time you boot your mac. You also have the option of specifying a desktop picture/desktop pattern for each scheme.
Version 2.0 comes with an improved interface, and the ability to
assign a desktop pattern to schemes, as well as a picture, has been added.
-> More Info | Download Random Scheme 2.0
Getting tired of locating your scheme folder every time you want to install a new scheme? Quentin Hill has created a small AppleScript application, Install Color Scheme, which properly installs any schemes dropped on it.
Version 1.0.2 fixes a bug which could cause crashes and errors at startup.
-> More Info | Download Install Color Scheme 1.0.2
KaleidoSwitcher by Takashi Yoshida is a utility software that randomly switches Color Schemes of Kaleidoscope each time when you restart your machine. And at the same time, it can randomize desktop patterns, startupscreens, disk icons, and Window Monkey patterns, or it can switch them to the ones you have previously chosen.
Version 2.4.0 adds support for StartupScreens, disk icons, and Window Monkey patterns. To support this, the Color Scheme Manager was completely renewed.
-> More Info | Download KaleidoSwitcher 2.4.0
Prewiev release 2 of the previously mentioned URL Manager Pro 2.0 has been released. URL Manager Pro 2.0 is Kaleidoscope-savvy. This means that URL Manager will use the color schemes of Kaleidoscope to color its toolbar and window headers.
Version 2.0b3 adds a new set "Daily" to the Favorites window. Furthermore, the contextual menu (control-click) now also works on a
selection of bookmarks. This release also fixes a small bug in the Add Bookmark command and fixes a scrollbar bug (hopefully).
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0b3
Program Switcher, by Michael F. Kamprath, is a convenient timesaving control panel that allows you to switch between the applications running on your System 7 or greater Macintosh via a simple two-key keystroke.
Version 4.4.2 fixes a problem which caused Program Switcher to crash at stratup when the mac was using a system version earlier than MacOS 8.
-> More Info | Download ProgramSwitcher 4.4.2
Proteron has now posted an update of GoMac, their popular system utility, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
Version 1.4.2 is a maintainance release which fixes some bugs.
GoMac is a system utility for the Mac OS, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.4.2
MacOSZone has posted a few color schemes at their website. These schemes are created exclusivly for MacOSZone and are not available elsewhere.
Catara Software has just released MiniCalendar, a small and elegant system calendar. In MiniCalendar, you can view a basic calendar for any month between January 1582 and December 29940.
New in version 2.0 is among other things support for macOS 8.0 and Kaleidoscope.
-> More Info | Download MiniCalendar 2.0
Greg Landweber has released Kaleidoscope 1.7.3. The new version is already available for downlaod from several mirror sites.
Version 1.7.3 is a maintenance release. It provides the complete
spectrum of Mac OS 8 accent colors, improves support for black
and white monitors, and addresses many Mac OS 8 issues.
-> More Info | Download Kaleidoscope 1.7.3 from DOWNLOAD.com
David-Artur Daix has updated his popular Patterned, Silver and Hi-Tech Schemes Collections. Version 1.7.4 can now be downloaded from DOWNLOAD.com:
-> More Info | A list of download options
This Kaleidoscope Classic Collection, a collection containing the original selection of themes available with Kaleidoscope 1.0, have been updated to version 1.7.2 This version corrects some minor bugs and decreases the file size of the schemes.
-> More Info | Download Classic Scheme Pack 1.7.2
Alco Blom has announced the release of URL Manager Pro 2.0, Preview 1. URL Manager Pro is an excellent program for managing Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), the universal address format of the Internet.
Preview release 1 of URL Manager Pro 2.0 adds, among many other features support for macOS 8 and is now Kaleidoscope-savvy, using the colors from the active color scheme to draw the content of its windows.
-> More Info | Download URL Manager Pro 2.0p1
Version 1.4 of GoMac had a bug which caused problems when it was used together with Kaleidoscope. Proteron has now posted an update which fixes this, and some other bugs.
GoMac is a system utility for the Mac OS, which places a Start Menu and Program Bar at the bottom of a Mac's main monitor. GoMac is Kaleidoscope-savvy.
-> More Info | Download GoMac 1.4.1
Jim Herzman have just released his 30th Railroad scheme, but he claims to still to have enough ideas to keep himself busy for a year. His fourth series of schemes will start with a Pacific Electric Rail Lines scheme number 31, with the colors of Dark Gray and Red. We should expect a release of this scheme within a few days. Scheme number 32 will be the NSB (Norges Statsbaner=The Norwegian State Railways) scheme.
Martin Pfeiffer's font Virtue has been updated to version 1.9. Virtue is an improved version of the Charcoal font found in macOS 8. In Charcoal, it seems that Apple couldn't decide whether to use two pixels between the letters or just one. This leads to a cramped appearance on screen. Virtue has better spacing between the characters and it also looks a bit more like Chicago than Charcoal.
An Appearance
Extension patch that allows Mac OS 8 users to select Virtue in the Appearance Control Panel is included in the package.
Version 1.9 (September 25) fixes a spacing problem with the "j" and "'".
-> More Info | Download Virtue 1.9
KRP is a collection of info, news and links to Kaleidoscope related information. It will be updated at least twice a week. So bookmark this page, and remember to stop by for more Kaleidoscope news!
KRP keeps you informed about new or updated schemes. Since it links to the scheme authors' own webpage, you will be able to get the new schemes before they appear in the regular archives. Some of the schemes you'll find mentioned here may for various reasons not appear in the archives at all.
Kaleidoscope Resource Page © 1997-98, Sven Berg Ryen (KRP@MacOSZone.com)
