A CrystalClear Interface?
  • 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...
Let Your Creativity Gene Re-Imagine Aqua
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 decorations
And much, much more:
    • Contextual menu functions
    • Rounded boxes
    • Auto-contrast text
    • Automatic HUD-style for utility windows
    • Text tools
As Clear As You Want

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?

Any Color You Want

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 
Custom Window Frames

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).

Indulge Your Mood With Preset Themes

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 Fire
  • Teal Lover
  • Sunset
  • In the Dark
  • 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.

Ready for a New Aqua?
Auto-Contrast Text
Text contrast changes as you change your window's color, frame and transparency.
Rounded Boxes
CCI turns all those boring rectangular layout boxes into beautiful, color-matching rounded ones.
Etched Text
Why should etched text only appear on “metal” windows and buttons? With CCI, it appears the same way on all windows and buttons!
Background Blur
CCI automatically blurs the background of your windows, reducing the possibility of distraction with your see-through windows.
Recessed Buttons
If you like this style, you have the option of using it for all popup buttons.
HUD Style Windows
Fans of Apple’s HUD window style will be happy to see that CCI extends the style logically to all “helper” windows your apps use.
Dress Up Your Files with Crystal Document Icons

New in CrystalClear Interface 2.5 is an installer (and uninstaller) for the Crystal Documents icon set recently released on Mars. 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 initial 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:
Edgies
Espresso
Photoshop
Smultron
ThemePark
Amadeus Pro
BannerZest
CandyBar
Coda
DevonThink
A Few . . .

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.
  • Movable windows. By default, CCI lets you move windows by any exposed background area, not just by their titlebar. You can, however, disable this if you prefer.
More . . .
  • 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?
. . . Things
  • 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.
  • Use application icon in Menubar. Particularly if your menubar is too crowded, this can save you space, as well as look great!
  • 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: ⌘-'.
Screen Videos
Using Transparency
Using Frames
Using Colors
Using Preset Themes
Installing Icons
Using SAM
What's New in . . .
Works With Snow Leopard!

CCI 2.5 is a major release with many new features, including a full implementation for Snow Leopard!

  • Cozy With Snow Leopard. CCI 2.5 not only now works with Snow Leopard, it's actually more stable and app-compatible than on Mac OS X 10.5!
  • Makes Friends With the Finder. On Snow Leopard, the Finder is finally able to dress up in a gorgeous, CrystalClear Interface!
  • New "Glossy" Button Theme. Especially for Snow Leopard, we've designed an entire new theme you Gloss Button Stylecan swap out for the standard Aqua Crystal Document Iconsbuttons.
  • Crystal Docs Icons. You can install (and uninstall) these icons right from the CCI Preferences Panel. They cover most standard types of OS X documents, as well as a starter set of icons for third-party apps.
  • More Menu Enhancements.
    • Access the global menu with a right-click on any titlebar.
    • Use the CCI Text Tools from any editable text view through a handy contextual, popup menu.
  • Sparkle. CCI now uses Sparkle to keep you up to date with the latest releases.
. . . CrystalClear Interface 2.5?
  • Robust toggling between button themes. You can now fully switch between Aqua and the CCI button styles.
  • Eight New Preset Themes. These beautiful new themes are are designed to complement the set of eight "Frosted Crystal" desktop pictures introduced with CCI 2.2.
  • Cool New Preference Options. Do things with your Mac's windows you just couldn't do before, like:
    • Make all toolbars customizable. Ever wanted to rearrange, make smaller, or eliminate text on standard Preference window toolbars? Now you can!
      • Crystal Document IconsCrystal Document Icons
    • Make (almost) all windows resizable.
  • New Interface Fluff. We've revived the overlay "shine" option of CCI 1.9 and fed it some serious steroids. Now available in two beautiful flavors!
  • Redesigned window frames. The "Gradient" style has been completely redesigned as well as reprogrammed, so it's totally stable now. The "Glass HUD" frame has also been refined.
  • More Stable and Robust. Lots of bug fixes left from the previous release, plus requested features like being able to swap CCI's graphics out for Aqua entirely (including scrollbars and "traffic light" buttons).
CrystalClear Interface 2.5

You can download CCI 2.5 and use it freely for 15 days. If you'd like to continue using it beyond the trial period, you'll need to purchase a license for $12.00. Be sure to take a few minutes to peruse the User 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 for CCI's glossy and gradient button themes
    • Alternative graphics for selected applications (Safari, Mail, iWork, Login window)


Latest release: Version 2.5.6.3. (08/01/10)
Version 2.5.5 is still available for download here.
Version History

CrystalClear Interface and this Website @ 2008-10, Leland Scott, Musings from Mars
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