- A gorgeous user interface for those who think completely different.
- A fully realized theming tool for customizing your Mac's natural beauty.
- A set of integrated text tools for maximizing your productivity when writing or editing.
- A great solution for eliminating Window Clutter and helping you focus on the task at hand.
- Much more than meets the eye...
- Now with more support for Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion"). (See "About CCI and Lion" for more info.)
Full control over window transparency...
Full control over window colors...
Full control over the shape and style of application windows...
Color-coordinated tables, boxes, and text areas
Beautiful etched text that changes contrast to maintain readability as you change your themes...
Quickly switch from among 8 stunning themes to suit your mood...
Deploy Single Application Mode (SAM) to keep your desktop clutter-free
Choose between three different button styles
Add some gratuitous interface fluff: Window animations and decorationsAnd much, much more:
- Contextual menu functions
- Rounded boxes
- Auto-contrast text
- Automatic HUD-style for utility windows
- Text tools
Windows were meant to be clear. Apple's Dictionary defines windows as
"an opening ... that is fitted with glass or other transparent material in a frame to admit light or air and allow people to see out"
So why not let a little light shine through?
Tired of gray? CrystalClear Interface lets you create windows with any color your Mac can display. Pick a matching color right off your desktop if you want a really smooth look.
Change your window colors any time you like to suit your mood or complement your desktop.
Enjoy adding a little transparency to any color you choose... in any app!
But you can color more than just your windows. With CCI, you can set separate colors for
- Sheets
- Alerts
- Text backgrounds
CrystalClear Interface lets you choose from among:
- 9 different frames for regular windows
- 7 frames for panels
- 3 frames for sheets
- 3 frames for alerts
Of course, each of these frames can be further customized with its own color and alpha value (transparency).
CrystalClear Interface includes eight prebuilt themes designed to complement different kinds of desktop pictures (including the eight "frosted crystal" desktops that get installed with CCI):
- Sunrise
- Sienna Shine
- Dark Light
- Teal Lovers
- Sunset
- Dark Fire
- Emerald
- Rose Garden
CCI Themes let you quickly and easily switch the frame style, transparency, and color of windows and text areas... all at once! On the roadmap for a future release, CCI will let users design and save their own custom themes.
CrystalClear Interface 2.5 contains an installer (and uninstaller) for the Crystal Documents icon set from MarsThemes. These icons are designed to complement my set of Crystal Albook icons, released some years ago and based on the Albook icons designed by Laurent Baumann.
The set of 74 icons covers most of the document types used by Apple's applications, as well as a limited set of document types for third-party applications.
Built-in OS X applications:
Automator
Font Book
Preview
QuickTime
Safari
System Preferences
TextEdit
Mac utilities and core services:
AppleScript Editor
Archive Utility
Console
Disk Image Mounter
Installer
iLife Application Suite:
iDVD
iMovie
iPhoto
iTunes
iWeb
iLife Suite
Keynote
Numbers
Pages
Mac Developer Tools:
Interface Builder
PackageMaker
Xcode
Selected Third-Party Apps:
Espresso
Photoshop
Smultron
ThemePark
BannerZest
CandyBar
Coda
DevonThink
CrystalClear Interface has many more tricks up its sleeves. Some you may notice right away, but others are more subtle. Here are a few of those tricks:
- Window animations. Windows fade open and animate closed, unless you turn this option off.
- Single Application Mode (SAM). SAM is the default application switching mode, but you can turn this off too. SAM reduces window clutter by keeping only one application active at a time. Use the built-in application switcher (⌘-Tab) to switch applications. For more about SAM, check out "The Ultimate Solution To Window Clutter: You Can Call Me SAM" on the developer's blog.
- Use application icon in Menubar. Particularly if your menubar is too crowded, this can save you space, as well as look great!
- Matching colors. Instead of the same grey and white alternating row colors for tables all the time, CCI dynamically sets the colors to match the color you've chosen for your outline views. Boxed areas, also normally grey, get a light matching color with a darker matching outline.
- Rounded text fields. Why should search boxes be the only text fields that get that smooth, rounded-corner look? In CCI, they aren’t.
- Transparent colors. Ever wanted to use a translucent black background when working in an application like Smultron or Coda? Well, now you can.
- Resizable windows. Developers usually have a good reason to keep users from resizing certain windows. Still, occasionally you may need to.
- Customizable toolbars. By default, the toolbars of an application's Preferences window can't be customized. How come?
- Text tools. Always have ready access to the full power of the Cocoa text system, no matter what application you're working in. Stickies? Pop in a ruler, table, list, etc. Use the CCI global menu's Text Tools functions, or right-click and use CCI's "Format" menu that shows up whenever it's needed.
- Contextual CCI menu. Access the CCI global's menu by right-clicking on a window's titlebar.
- CCI Preferences shortcut. Summon the CCI Preferences window with a quick shortcut: ⌘-'.
- Window overlays. Decorate your Mac's windows with a shiny overly, available in two styles — diagonal or horizontal.
- Application-specific mods. CCI contains dozens of built-in theming modifications for specific apps, but you also get two controllable options — one for Mail, and one for the quick-access application Fresh.
CCI 2.5.8 is a major release that introduces a new architecture for the software, adds support for Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion"), and drops support for Mac OS X 10.5 ("Leopard").
- Runs with the Lions. This latest release is quite stable on Mac OS X 10.7 ("Lion"), and though not equal to its performance and features on Snow Leopard, the progress is exciting. With update 2.5.8.5, CCI now runs on Lion 10.7.2.
- Loads on its own. CCI 2.5.8 dispenses with the generic loader SIMBL, as well as the deprecated InputManager method. Its rebuilt and simplified architecture enables a variety of improvements:
- A new MarsThemes Agent program watches application launch events and automatically loads CCI into themeable applications.
- Use of the agent extends the reach of CCI to "menubar" (or "agent") apps that previously ignored it, and to
- System processes that generate alert windows — including the LoginWindow process and User Notifications.
- The architecture will enable CCI and Crystal Black — as well as any future MarsThemes plugins — to be installed and used simultaneously.
- Using application's icon in the menubar. All apps on both Snow Leopard and Lion can now have their name replaced by their icon in the main menubar... a major real-estate gain on smaller screens.
- More love for third-party Crystal Docs icons. You can now uninstall, as well as install, third-party Crystal Docs icons from the CCI Prefs Panel.
- Hide the Crystal Menubar. Probably the top user request over the years is finally fixed. Now, you can now hide the Crystal Menubar permanently if you choose.
- Updated graphics for Safari and iWork. This release updates the application graphics installed for Safari and iWork, for compatibility with changes Apple introduced in July 2011.
- Even more components themed. CCI now reaches out and themes a variety of built-in bits of the interface, including:
- The eject button in Finder to provide appropriate contrast color when the outline view background changes.
- The ruler view in RTF editing applications.
- Buttons in the Font Panel.
- Improved uninstaller. The Uninstaller now offers to remove any Crystal Docs icon sets the user has installed.
- More dark outline views. This release expands the set of outline and table views that can support dark backgrounds with white text. Examples are Activity Monitor and System Preferences.
- Many other changes. As you use CCI 2.5.8, you're sure to notice the wide variety of more subtle changes and other improvements, including better performance.
You can use CCI 2.5 freely for 15 days. To use it beyond the trial period, you'll need to buy a license for $12.00. Be sure to take a few minutes to peruse the User's Guide, or refer to it during your trial if questions arise.
The download includes:
- CrystalClear Interface theming software
- System Preference Pane
- Crystal Document icons
- Frosted Crystals desktop pictures
- Crystal Menubar
- Alternative system graphics, and alternative graphics for selected applications.
Latest release: Version 2.5.8.5. (60 MB)
(11.10.11)
Update 11/10/11: With the release of version 2.5.8.5, CrystalClear Interface now supports versions of Lion through 10.7.2. On Lion, CCI generally works well, but one annoying problem is that Lion's aggressive caching of windows and graphics can make it appear that CCI is not working after installation, or that it is still in effect after uninstall. Both appearances are deceiving. You can minimize the long delay that can occur in theming Lion by declining Lion's offer to restore your windows when you log back in. Once you prevent Lion from re-opening files/windows on login, it seems you can re-enable the option without enduring the annoying delay. You may also encounter bugs on Lion that do not affect Snow Leopard (see the Known Bugs page for details).
In addition to this issues, CCI's button theme isn't yet as fully realized as on Snow Leopard. For more information about the differences between CCI on Lion and Snow Leopard, refer to the User's Guide.
Note: Do not attempt to install any version of CCI prior to 2.5.7.2 on Lion, as doing so will corrupt its system graphics.
