Remove brushed metal appearance from Safari

Jan 08, '03 09:55:26AM

Contributed by: quellish

So Apple released the first beta of their Safari browser today. Unfortunately, like all their other recent iApps, it uses the "brushed metal" look introduced with QuickTime Player 4. This use of the metal appearance actually violates Apple's own Jaguar Human Interface Guidelines:

Avoid using the textured window appearance in applications or utilities that are unrelated to digital peripherals or to the data associated with these devices.
Well, it turns out that Safari looks a LOT better without the silly brushed metal look! Here's how to turn off the heavy metal in the browser. Make a backup of your Safari before trying this!
  1. Control-click on Safari to bring up the "Show Package Contents" contextual menu.
  2. Navigate into Safari -> Contents -> Resources -> English.lproj
  3. Open Browser.nib; You will need the most recent MacOS X Developer Tools package to do this!
  4. In the window marked 'Broswer.nib,' select 'Window' and hit Shift-Command-I to bring up the Inspector. The last item in the Inspector is a checkbox labeled "Textured Window." Uncheck that, save, and quit.
Now start up your modified Safari. Now it looks like it should!

[Editor's note: I haven't tested this yet, as I don't have the December Developer Tools on the iBook. However, it's consistent with other hints regarding disabling the brushed metal look. I trimmed the quoted Human Interface Guidelines blurb down to just the last key line; you can read the full text of the comment on textured windows on this page of the online Human Interface Guidelines.]

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