Diagnosed

30 July 2007

There is a disease that is common amongst a specific type of computer users. More debilitating then RSI. More productivity sapping then Bohemian Rhapsody coming on the radio. The cause of more lost hours per year then the combined total of all the time spent scrabbling around on the floor when you’ve dropped your pen.

I am, of course, talking about Irritable UI Syndrome, or IUS for short.

IUS typically occurs in Mac using graphic designers, often striking near a deadline when everything isn’t quite going to plan. The symptoms include a necessity to make sure all of your folder icons have custom icons, frequently changing them to match the current latest Iconfactory release; changing the toolbar icons in your apps by swapping out the .tiff resources in the app package; making sure that your windows line up and have enough padding around them (well, they’d look rubbish touching the sides of the screen…); using ShapeShifter to apply a system theme (but only one of the Apple-like themes – most are rubbish) and spending far too long tweaking the perfect amount of transparency on your buddy list in Adium.

For me, IUS comes in fits and waves; like some horrific stomach bug picked up in a cafe in Eastern Turkey. I can go for months using a standard OS X install – brushed metal and all – but then one little thing can tip me over the precipice.

At the moment, I’ve got it bad.

The forthcoming Leopard release, and its overhaul of the system UI, is what’s done it this time. I’m just far to curious to see how it all works out in practice, new folders, transparent menu bar, grey windows and all. Then, like a car dealer popping round for tea on the same day your car was crushed into a cube accidentally by the council, I spied Liger, a 10.5 theme for 10.4.

And of course, I can’t stop there; oh no.

One of the related ailments to IUS is Hicks Disease, named after its discoverer Jon Hicks, which causes the poor sufferer to switch preferred web browsers on an almost weekly basis. Now, I used to be a pretty major sufferer – to the point that I gave up using bookmarks as I switched browsers too often to keep them in sync – but recently I’ve settled on OmniWeb, as the 5.6 sneaky peaks combine serious speed with amazing functionality.

Now, the reason for this digression is that due to my browser-dementia past I still pay attention to the Camino forums, where I found this lovely 10.5 toolbar button theme. With a little filename tweaking – and the addition of my OmniWeb titlebar modification – my browser now looks like this:

I think I may need help…

From: Articles

30 July 2007