Apple Views » design

Mac Signal Wallpaper

Tina Brunner — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:23:08 +0000

This wallpaper is for all the Batman and Mac fans out there.

1,900 x 1,200

Creative Implementation Of GeekTool And Yahoo Widgets

Tina Brunner — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 07:34:12 +0000

Todays article is about the creative implementation of GeekTool and Yahoo Widgets by Zack. He has done an excellent job implementing these tools into everyday scenes. Check these out.
GRAFFITI
On this desktop, Zack chose to use Graffiti as part of his customization. He used several fonts in GeekTool for the clock, date, month, weekday, CPU, RAM, Uptime, Top Processes, to do list and calendar. He used Yahoo widgets for the battery and weather. Blending it all into the background. This design was also featured in Lifehacker.

Wallpaper:
http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper_beta/details/949/train_with_graffiti.html
Dock Information:
www.bresink.de/osx/TinkerTool.html
Font Information:
Degrassi	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=degrassi
Time 65pt Date 36pt Uptime Text 18pt
Searfont	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=searfont
Month 48pt
Vandalism	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=vandalism
Weekday 36pt RAM Text 24pt
Garage Shock (Condensed)	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=garage+shock
Calander 17pt
Turntablz Bold	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=turntablz
To Do List 14pt Uptime 13pt Top Processes 12pt
Graffiti Treat	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=graffiti+treat
RAM 24pt CPU 24pt AM & PM 36pt
Graffonti 3D Drop	http://www.dafont.com/search.php?psize=m&q=graffonti
CPU Text 24pt
Geek Tool Commands
Top Processes	`top -FR -l2 -o cpu \| grep -v 0.0% \| cut -c 7-24\| sed -n '15, $p'`
Time	`date "+%l:%M"`
AM & PM	`date +%p`
Date Number	`date +%d`
Month	`date +%B`
Weekday	`date +%A`
Calendar	`cal`
To Do List	Create a text file with TextEdit but make sure you click Format>Make Plain Text before save. Then select the file in path in GeekTool.
Uptime	`uptime \| awk '{print "" $3 " " $4 " " $5 }' \| sed -e 's/.$//g';`
RAM	`top -l 1 \| awk '/PhysMem/ {print "" $8 " "}' ;`
CPU	`top -l 2 \| awk '/CPU usage/ && NR > 5 {print $12, $13}'`
Text, Uptime, CPU, RAM	Another text file, remember have to Make Plain Text before saving
Yahoo Widgets
Weather Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widescapeweather
Battery Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/wdscp-battery
Icons
iCal	www.blocksoft.net/iconical.html
Folders	http://jr050680.deviantart.com/art/Pry-System-95517859
Hard Drives	http://thvg.deviantart.com/art/Slick-Drives-95235862
Others
http://rimshotdesign.deviantart.com/art/Milkapp-26790473
http://kano89.deviantart.com/art/iPhoto-08-93032097
http://interfacelift.com/icons-mac/details.php?id=1980 (alumi icons)
Coversutra for iTunes integration – www.sophiestication.com/coversutra/

SPIDERMAC

On this desktop, Zack made it in Lifehacker (2nd time) & Gizmodo!!! On Flickr, Zack states that from reading what his viewers had commented on the Graffiti Desktop, viewers would rather have everything easier to read, so he came up with this idea, which is ingenious. All of the text bubbles have information such as CPU, RAM, Uptime, a To Do list, & Hard Drive. He used GeekTool along with Yahoo Widgets and a few other cool tools. See below for the goodies ;-)

Wallpaper:
www.flickr.com/photos/zackshackleton/3406234712/
Font:
Comic Book – www.dafont.com/comic-book.font
Taskbar/Finder:
Magnifique UNO-AE Theme – http://magnifique.pcwizcomputer.com/forum/filebase.php?c=2
Yahoo Widgets:
Weather	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widescapeweather
Battery	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/wdscp-battery
GeekTool Commands:
Top Processes	`top -FR -l2 -o cpu \| grep -v 0.0% \| cut -c 7-24\| sed -n ‘15, $p’`
Time	`date “+%l:%M”`
AM & PM	`date +%p`
Date Number	`date +%d`
Month	`date +%B`
Weekday	`date +%A`
Calendar	`cal`
To Do List	Create a text file with TextEdit but make sure you click Format>Make Plain Text before save. Then select the file in path in GeekTool.
Uptime	`uptime \| awk ‘{print “” $3 ” ” $4 ” ” $5 }’ \| sed -e ’s/.$//g’;`
RAM	`top -l 1 \| awk ‘/PhysMem/ {print “” $8 ” “}’ ;`
CPU	`top -l 2 \| awk ‘/CPU usage/ && NR > 5 {print $12, $13}’`
Hard Drive Space	`df -h \| grep disk0s2 \| awk ‘{print $4 }’`
The Text Uptime, CPU, RAM, HDD Space	Another text file, remember have to Make Plain Text before saving

TIMES SQUARE DESKTOP

Zack used a picture of Times Square, which he photoshopped to better suit his needs.
On Flickr, he stated that his favorite part of this desktop is the calendar with a twisted look as if it were on the street (all created with GeekTool). Here are the tools and information he provided on Flickr.

Wallpaper
By Michael Shane – www.flickr.com/photos/mbshane/2450094084/
Yahoo Widgets
Weather Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widescapeweather
Battery Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/wdscp-battery
GeekTool
Calendar using a picture from i61.photobucket.com/albums/h52/TheAEBeachbum/April.png (when I checked this link, it did not work). Zack did not leave any other GeekTool information for this desktop. If you have any questions though, he would more than likely give a response.

INTERESTING BOOK DESKTOP

On this desktop, Zack used GeekTool on some of the spines of the book. (CPU, RAM, Hard Drive Space, Time, Date and others hidden in the spines.) He also used some Yahoo Widgets. He didn’t give too much detail about the GeekTool user commands on this design.

Wallpaper
By OutofPrint – www.flickr.com/photos/22309082@N07/2157407789/
Yahoo Widgets
Weather Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/widescapeweather
Battery Widget	widgets.yahoo.com/widgets/wdscp-battery

As you can see, there is a ton of information listed. Some of it is duplicate information but was necessary to include so that you may know what exactly was used for each design. Zack has all of his designs on Flickr and is seen in various groups. If you have any questions for Zack, you can find him on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/zackshackleton/ and he will be happy to answer any questions you may have. Sorry this was such a long article guys, I just really like the creativity that Zack has shown using several of the available tools for Mac. You can also click on the link below the article to be directed to his information. Thanks!
-TINA

My Love-ly Customized Desktop

Tina Brunner — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:34:15 +0000

I’ve been working most of the day to come up with this design. My husband is extremely proficient in PhotoShop. For this desktop, I wanted something to show what my idea desktop would look like. I also wanted to show my love for my husband, hence the love note in my moleskine. So I gathered as many pictures as I could from Google Images and incorporated them into the desktop. I arranged everything to my liking and my husband worked his magic with PhotoShop. I used GeekTool only for the small calendar and the Month, Day and Year. This is what the outcome is. Enjoy!

-TINA

UPDATE:

I just made a few changes to this desktop. I had removed a few items and added a few items. Then, I added some Yahoo Widgets to it. The widgets that I used are the Pictures (which change every five minutes), the calculator, the clock, yahoo mail and a tiny post it note (by the plant) which allow you to add stickies on your desktop. Here is a screenshot of the new desktop:

[starrating template_id=4]

Pixus Is The Perfect (FREE) App For Screen Object Measurements

Tina Brunner — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 21:26:35 +0000

Have you ever had a time where you wanted to add a picture to a web site, but needed it to be an exact pixel size? I know I have. I used to open up PhotoShop and set the dimensions in a new document to the size that I needed for the picture being placed on the web site I was using. That was a lot of extra work! Then, I found Pixus in the Adobe Market Place. Best of all, it was FREE!!! So, I installed the application and it takes a lot of work out of trying to get the right sized images for web sites. Pixus is basically a ruler for screen objects. Below are some key features along with screenshots. (Words with underlines will display a screenshot when clicked.)
Pixus is a measurement tool used to measure screen objects in pixels using both mouse and keyboard control
You can measure the screen object size with an overlay mode (the box).
You can also use presets for your measurements and preview how your design/image will look in the real environment.
You can measure the screen object size by dragging the ‘dragging button’ until you are at the position you are happy with.
Click on the cross hair for Multi-Screen support.
You can toggle the guide color by pressing the Spacebar.
The preferences window contains 5 panels, accessible by right clicking above the word Pixus. Inside the preferences window are Presets, Skins, Options, Help and About.
The Presets panel displays various preset sizes and allows for New Presets.
The Skins panel displays the skins available and allows for finding new Panels.
The Options panel displays General Options and Quick Guides Options.
The Help panel displays Keyboard Controls for Mac OS X
The About panel displays information about the application.
This application does require Adobe Air. To download the application, click on the Px image to be directed to the Adobe Air Market Place for Pixus.
Overall, this is a very handy tool for graphic designers, web designers, etc. If anyone has used this application and has suggestions, feel free to leave a comment to help others interested in it. Hopefully, this article has helped you gather a better understanding of this application. Thanks!
-TINA

Realistic ‘Coming of Age’ Desktop Customization

Tina Brunner — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 18:41:12 +0000

I’ve been working on a new MacBook desktop design. I wanted to have a customized desktop screen with the look of a home office that I’d see my Grandfather in. But, at the same time, I wanted to add something new to bring it up-to-date….My husband offered the suggestion of adding a New MacBook Pro laptop with a screenshot, and Voila! He worked his magic and here is the outcome…
(click the picture to view larger)

Here is the work that was involved in building the desktop as you see above.
First, I looked for all the images. The desk, the armoire (I wanted to make the desk and armoire merge together to have it look like a hutch is on top of the desk), the 2 old framed photos, the 2 tiffany lamps, the chair with the blanket, the plant (which was duplicated – to have on each side of the desk), the desk blotter, the ink pen, the ink jar, the grandfather clock, the cat, the vase, the DaVinci Anatomy of Man art, the Last Supper picture, the antique phone, the antique typewriter, the coffee cup with steam, the old map, the old framed map (above grandfather clock), the stack of papers, the stack of books….I could go on and on. Every single item was found on Google Images.
I drove my husband crazy….every time he would get things arranged on the screen, I’d find more items to put into the room. LOL. For those of you who work with PhotoShop, there were 40+ layers involved in making this a beautiful piece of art. It took HOURS for him to get it Just Right.
Overall, I’m extremely happy with the outcome and will probably keep this background for a couple of weeks. Leave a comment and tell me what YOU think about this desktop! Thanks for visiting!!!
-TINA