Aluminium Kai 2.

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Frank Lion
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Aluminium Kai 2.

Post by Frank Lion »

As some of you know (haha), this is the version update of the original Aluminum Kai theme by Kozakura Inko, that was recently officially adopted by me, when he ceased development on it.

Now renamed, Aluminium Kai 2, I have completed the version update for Firefox 2 and also added many new features and areas of interest, throughout the theme.

Theme Preview and Downloads picture - 'Bamboo' with the kind permission of Robert N. Oddy http://www.RobertOddy.com


Download here : http://franklion.co.uk/AK2-N/ak2.html

Right, couple of pics and then the Changelog stuff. Always best just to let my themes do the talking for me, I reckon :



Image




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Image




Image



Image


...maybe more pics later.


CHANGELOG (brief) - changes from the last version of Aluminum Kai :

1. Updated for use with the latest Firefox 2 version, but is also compatible with Firefox 1.5 versions*

2. Toolbar background remade to give a slightly darker effect on the right side, instead of just the left. Matching statusbar background added.

3. Hover state colour of Home and Reload changed, Stop had shade adjusted and all given a luminous quality. Luminous effect applied the Back/Forward.

4. Inactive tabs are now slightly higher and tab close buttons improved.

5. Green glass scrollbars, progressmeter balls and shaded scrolltracks added.

6. All Windows now fully themed to give a unifying identity throughout, including, Options window, Customize, Bookmarks Addons Manager, Option windows of extensions, etc.

7. Graduated backgrounds now on all Menus.

8. New 'secure' state background on Urlbar.

9. Dropdown arrows now have a consistent appearance throughout.

10. Complete restyle of Downloads window and Firefox 'About' window.

11. Searchbar given a Search History dropdown Menu, in addition to the Firefox 2, 'Search Suggestions' feature.

12. New Preview picture, based on 'Bamboo' by Robert N. Oddy, which is also seen in the Downloads window.

13. Sidebar now resizes from 40 pixels wide to 800 pixels.

14. Mail button added for use in Firefox 1.5 versions and, later, will be available for Mail type extensions in Firefox 2.

* Important Note** Due to the complexity of the Firefox 2 theme code now, when this version is used in Firefox 1.5, the tab appearance has had to be slightly changed. There is also an issue with the first tab used. - until a full fix in place, please use TWO homepages! Odd, but it works!...or use Tab Mix Plus extension....or upgrade to Firefox 2....or, if that's too much trouble, just don't use this theme. :)

'Known Issues.' - AIOS 'extension' causes centre of Customize window to have a white background - Marked, non urgent fix.

Frank :)
Last edited by Frank Lion on June 9th, 2008, 8:41 pm, edited 4 times in total.
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Cato62
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Post by Cato62 »

Damn, Frank! Another fine job on this theme. Great job of picking up the ball and running with it! I tip my hat to you sir. :)
"It is difficult to fight against anger, for a man will buy revenge with his soul." ~ Heraclites, 500 B.C.

The Blood Series: BloodFire, BloodFire 3, BloodThunder, BloodSun, & BloodSong
Havin_it
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Post by Havin_it »

Hi Frank, generally lovin' this refresh of my old favourite theme. Couple of things I noticed though:

1) The "New Tab" and "List All Tabs" buttons are a bit disjoint: the former 'floats' above the bottom of the tab bar, the latter is 'embedded' into the bottom.

2) The search-field (area in which typed text is visible) is about 1.5cm shorter than the search box, so there's a blank area on the right-hand side before the dropdown arrow.

3) The white text-colour for disabled context-menu items is quite hard on the eyes. A mid-grey (like the default theme) would probably work better here.

4) Personal aesthetic crit: the cylinder gradient on addons lists: Aaaaagh, my brain it hurts!

Thanks for your time :)
Lost User 162649
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Post by Lost User 162649 »

nice job Franky...;)
thanks a lot..:)
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Frank Lion
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Post by Frank Lion »

Havin_it wrote:Hi Frank, generally lovin' this refresh of my old favourite theme. Couple of things I noticed though:

Hi, as some know, Aluminium Kai was also one of my favourites, before I started making themes. Rather than just updating the original for FF2, which is not what I 'do', haha, I took this opportunity to breathe some new life into it for the 'next generation' of users.

Of course, the difficulty that I had, unlike a brand new theme, was to do these changes in exactly the right places, in a way that wouldn't disappoint existing Aluminium Kai users.

We shall see. :)

1) The "New Tab" and "List All Tabs" buttons are a bit disjoint: the former 'floats' above the bottom of the tab bar, the latter is 'embedded' into the bottom.

I remade and repositioned the Alltabs button ("List All Tabs") as, er, I could see it! I've not seen a New Tab button on the tab bar, which is why it didn't get done, haha. I imagine that you are using an extension to do this - let me know which one and I can fix.

2) The search-field (area in which typed text is visible) is about 1.5cm shorter than the search box, so there's a blank area on the right-hand side before the dropdown arrow.

This was fine for Firefox 2, but I had to haul the code around a fair bit, to get the back compatibility for FF1.5 and that must have been when it broke there. Easily fixed - added to bug list.

3) The white text-colour for disabled context-menu items is quite hard on the eyes. A mid-grey (like the default theme) would probably work better here.

I agree - added to bug list.

4) Personal aesthetic crit: the cylinder gradient on addons lists: Aaaaagh, my brain it hurts!

Originally was using variations of the menu gradient there, wasn't working, looked flat and slabby. Stick with it, you'll grow to love that new look ....eventually.

Thanks for your time :)

My pleasure. :)


@ Thanks Nik and Cato. :)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Havin_it
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Post by Havin_it »

Frank Lion wrote:
1) The "New Tab" and "List All Tabs" buttons are a bit disjoint: the former 'floats' above the bottom of the tab bar, the latter is 'embedded' into the bottom.

I remade and repositioned the Alltabs button ("List All Tabs") as, er, I could see it! I've not seen a New Tab button on the tab bar, which is why it didn't get done, haha. I imagine that you are using an extension to do this - let me know which one and I can fix.


My bad! It's been present so long I forgot it wasn't part of the base install! It's from Tabbrowser Preferences. It has an appropriately-themed graphic: is that somehow a remnant from the old version, or is it in your version unwittingly?
Old Rick 752
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Post by Old Rick 752 »

Nice job Frank!

This is nicely done and has a very nice 'striking' look to it without being 'gawdy'. The background graphics, the nicely-shadowed icons and the tabs have very nice visual flow between them.

My only problem is that the top menu black text has a tendency to "wash out" in the first 1/3 of the very top row .... maybe a slightly lighter text color there? Outside of that, a "first-rate" job!

I may try this one for a while :)
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Frank Lion
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Post by Frank Lion »

rick752 wrote:Nice job Frank!

This is nicely done and has a very nice 'striking' look to it without being 'gawdy'. The background graphics, the nicely-shadowed icons and the tabs have very nice visual flow between them.

My only problem is that the top menu black text has a tendency to "wash out" in the first 1/3 of the very top row .... maybe a slightly lighter text color there? Outside of that, a "first-rate" job!

I may try this one for a while :)


Many thanks for your kind words.

Tricky decision on the Menu items. I put the text in white on the statusbar, where I felt it was essential that it could be read there. I chose black text for the menu parts as I felt that it looked right and people sort of knew what they were. However, in the next update, a lighter text colour for the hover states, I think.

I'm explaining this, as people quite often ask me how I decide things in my themes.

Your own problem, however, is easily solved, just put the code below into your userChrome.css BELOW the namespace, Save and Restart Firefox :

Code: Select all

/* Frank's Fix - Menu Items in Light Grey*/
label.menubar-text {
color:#D3D3D3 !important;
}


Obviously, that colour can be anything you like.

Hope that helps,

Frank :)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Cato62
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Post by Cato62 »

Hey Frank, I am really enjoying your new version of Aluminium Kai 2! And I'm having a ball customizing things here and there (I feel like I have a new toy, LOL). I am customizing this theme to fit my favorite NFL football teams colors. Is there an easy way to change the statusbar text color? And while I'm at it, is there an easy way to change the menu popup text color?

Thanks in advance!

<b>EDIT: solved!</b>
"It is difficult to fight against anger, for a man will buy revenge with his soul." ~ Heraclites, 500 B.C.

The Blood Series: BloodFire, BloodFire 3, BloodThunder, BloodSun, & BloodSong
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Post by Lost User 18071 »

Very awesome design.

Could make an orange version and a blue version as well ?

Christian
cenonmin
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Post by cenonmin »

Only two things wrong with an otherwise great theme:
1) You get a focus rectangle when clicking the close button on a tab
2) The status bar you get at the bottom when doing a page refresh does not format well or is not centered.
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Frank Lion
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Post by Frank Lion »

cenonmin wrote:Only two things wrong... .

Maybe I should be using your list...I have a list of 50+. :)

cenonmin wrote:1) You get a focus rectangle when clicking the close button on a tab
2) The status bar you get at the bottom when doing a page refresh does not format well or is not centered.

#1. This maybe related to an extension that you are using as I and others are not seeing this in Firefox 1.5 or 2.0. Please post a picture of your problem here. It can be fixed in seconds...once I know.

#2. Perhaps you can elaborate as, er, I do not understand what you mean.

Frank :)
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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Frank Lion
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Post by Frank Lion »

...and now, if you will excuse me, gentlemen, 'Frank' is now on holiday.

Bye for now. :P
"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil, is for good men to do nothing." - Edmund Burke (attrib.)
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cenonmin
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Here are the screen shots...

Post by cenonmin »

Frank Lion wrote:
cenonmin wrote:Only two things wrong... .

Maybe I should be using your list...I have a list of 50+. :)

cenonmin wrote:1) You get a focus rectangle when clicking the close button on a tab
2) The status bar you get at the bottom when doing a page refresh does not format well or is not centered.

#1. This maybe related to an extension that you are using as I and others are not seeing this in Firefox 1.5 or 2.0. Please post a picture of your problem here. It can be fixed in seconds...once I know.

#2. Perhaps you can elaborate as, er, I do not understand what you mean.

Frank :)


Here are the screen shots for both problems:
1) http://www.flickr.com/photos/69989494@N00/297585821/
2) http://www.flickr.com/photos/69989494@N00/297585824/

With (2) note that the progress bar is a bit cut off at the top and not vertically centered.
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wild
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Post by wild »

I like everything you've done but really miss the color changing icon circle for internet connection (top right).Can you add that back?
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