ThinkPad Firefox Theme [PICS]

[Radioguy]

EDIT: PLEASE CHECK LATEST POSTS AT END OF THREAD FOR CURRENT VERSION.

Got your attention?

I was looking for one (still am) when I ran across the next best thing. It's called RedShift, and as you might guess, it IS a black theme with some red highlights.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/4521

Some of you may already know about it and have installed it already. It's a great theme, and probably the best so far to fit the ThinkVantage GUI, but I was tinkering with it to customize it even more, and so I created a ThinkPad logo to replace the (very nice) dev logo used.






It's not hard to mod. You just replace two images in the jar file (really just a zip), restart, and you're set. Bigger images might be usable too, but I didn't want to risk it.

If I get the hang of it, I might do my own theme some day.

EDIT: Removed img tags from theme page ink.

[Radioguy]

Thanks to the moderator who hotlinked the images. I actually just posted them as url's so the thread wouldn't violate any rules.

Moving it here was puzzling, though. I was looking for it in General, but there was no "moved" link, and the images aren't really of a desktop. Just of the theme mod.

[arlab]

Love it! Nice theme.

By the way, what's that "TMN: Off" (next to the yellow fish).

[Radioguy]

Ah, that's just another extension I have installed called "Track Me Not". It's a cookie killer.

http://mrl.nyu.edu/~dhowe/TrackMeNot/

[sportfreak]

installed it..very nice and fast tooo.....

[Radioguy]

Alas, I see Red Shift's new version didn't allow me to swap those logos, and even that version isn't new enough to be compatible with FF 3.6. However, 3.6 is compatible with personas, so....

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/90607 (Crtl+F gives a little peek-a-boo too)

There's also a white theme there with a Think logo, and one with lenovo too. It's not hard to skin this way. I may do some more TP-themed ones.

[thePCxp]

That's a great theme Radioguy. I think that you should do more themes.

[Radioguy]

I added another based on the 15th anniversary but it may not show up until monday. (Crtl+F will reveal a similar goody)

[A31]

That's one cool theme - sadly though I won't use it as I don't use or like Firefox...
Congrats!

[Radioguy]

IE6 or 7 was skinnable with an app, but I don't see it for IE8. Looks like no as well on Safari. Shame. Opera and Chrome can be skinned, though.

EDIT: It popped up.

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/persona/91393

[Norway Pad]

Just installed the RedShift theme, and it was Nice! Thanks for sharing this one with us.

FIY: The "Colorful Tabs" add on didn't look too good with RedSHift, so that has to be disabled. In case someone runs that add on. It looked Nasty. He, he.

[Utwig]

Black dots Firefox theme goes very well with Thinkpads.

[Radioguy]

I don't see that as a persona or theme.

[hunterman223]

Nice persona. Lookin good on Firefox 4.0b4.

[ParatoOptimal]

This theme doesn't work in the latest FF.
Do you have another?
Thanks

[Radioguy]

The original theme, or the personas?

As I mentioned a few posts ago, RedShift made changes to their theme which prevented my previous mod on the earlier build.

As for the ThinkPad personas I've made, they seem to be fine in 3.6.8 (the current stable version for Windows), and hunterman223 reports no issues with using the current beta.

If I do any others (will, when I have the time), you'll find them here:

http://www.getpersonas.com/en-US/galler ... r/Radioguy

[ParatoOptimal]

Thanks, I had tried your original theme long ago but it was after an FF update that didn't accept it. I'm on an I.E. machine now. I'll load your personaes when I get home.
Thanks again.

[ParatoOptimal]

Is there a version of this theme available for the current version of Firefox?
If so, does anyone have a link to it?
Thanks

[Radioguy]

Actually, a new version of the original RedShift theme (v4) just came out:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefo ... dshift-v4/

However, the last revision of v3 didn't allow for my TP branding mod as did earlier builds. I'll see if I can do it again with v4. If I can, I'll post about it here.

[Radioguy]

That didn't take long...

Yes, I was able to mod it back in, and the pictures in the first post pretty much represent what it still looks like. The main difference is that the there's only one image to replace now.

Here's how I did it for FF 4.01 on Windows 7:
(Should also apply for FF5)

Do at your own risk, of course. I don't expect you'd screw this up, but you're you, and I'm me.

1. Install the current v4 version of RedShift linked above.
2. Download and install a file compressor program that supports opening .jar files as .zip files
   (There are many, but most popular free one is 7-Zip: http://www.7-zip.org ).
3. Exit Firefox.
   (You can't mod the files while it's running with the theme enabled)
4. Browse in explorer to "C:\Users\*****\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles"
   (Swap ***** with your Windows account user name)
5. Now you should see a *****.defualt folder. Enter that and go to Extensions.
   (The **** represents a randomly generated name)
6. Find redshift_V4@shift-themes,com.xpi and open with 7-Zip.
7. Enter the chrome folder, and then double-click rshift.jar
8. Browse down to Global and then Shared.
   The address in 7-Zip should look something like this when you're there:
   C:\Users\****\AppData\Roaming\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\******.default\extensions\redshift_V4@shift-themes.com.xpi\chrome\Rshift.jar\global\shared\
9. Replace the image "logoBG.png" with one of the images linked below.
   (You MUST make sure to rename the file you download as logoBG.png before replacing the original)
   
   
   http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/8708/logobgf.png <- Basic TP logo.
   (Not totally clean, but looks clean in this theme. If you have another cleaner transparent PNG with the same dimensions, post it!)
   
   
   http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/5172/logobgs.png <- Same "red" version as in the original post.
   (Fits the theme best, IMO. For a Thinkpadder, that is.)
   
   
   http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/9552/logobgy.png <- Like above, but with a white interior instead of black.
   (My least favorite. Just here for diversity.)
10. Browse back up until the message asks if you want to save the archive, and answer yes.

If all went well, you should see the new TP logo embedded in various places when you start FF. If not, well you can always reinstall FF.

If you want to go back to the stock theme, you could reverse the process, or just uninstall the theme, restart FF, and then choose to download it again at addons.mozilla.org.

In case you're wondering at this point: No, I won't post a modded xpi here. That would violate the license accompanying the theme. I might get in touch with the devs to see if it would be OK, but as-is, this is just info for personal use.

Good luck!

EDIT: Upgraded to FF5 yesterday, and grabbed some screencaps of theme using the basic logo (not red, like above):

[Radioguy]

Some users of Firefox and the RedShift theme may have noticed that the latest version of Red Shift is not yet compatible with the latest version of FF.

As usual, developers set a "maximum version" number in the code of their extension or theme so that when FF is updated, the extension (even if it might be functional) will be disabled. This is to prevent conflicts that may arise in FF code that the extension dev may not have prepared for. The developer is usually apprised if their extension becomes listed as incompatible. Once they are aware, they have the opportunity to check it for bugs, and if compatible, increase the maximum version in the code (along with the extension/theme build version) and resubmit it to Mozilla. Now, more often than not, there is no need for major code revision, and, in effect, the assigned maximum version turns out to have been an overcautious choice (rather than set the maximum version to a higher build of FF). Of course, code revision is necessary along the way for any extension to remain compatible with Firefox, but assigning a maxversion is often arbitrary, and the likelihood that major revision is necessary with the passing of a specific build number is not high.

Well, I thought that might be the case here, and I revised the maxversion in the latest RedShift xpi to be compatible. I currently have RedShift V4 (6.0.2) running on Firefox 4 (9.0.1) without issues.

To make it so, once has to change the maxVersion field in a file called install.rdf. You may notice it in passing when you apply the mod I posted above. It is essentially a text file that can be opened with notepad.

If you wish to try an apply the same fix for current compatibility (RedShift is reported as incompatible on your version of FF), then you need to shut down FF, and use my previous instructions to get to the install.rdf file. Open it in notepad, and make sure to change the maxversion to the following:

<em:maxVersion>9.*</em:maxVersion>

If you do this, make sure to re-enable the theme afterward in FF and restart again.

If you have a current version of Firefox and attempt to install RedShift for the first time, it may not work. In that situation, save the xpi to your PC, and make the changes in the file (including the image mod while you're at it), and re-save it. You can open Firefox and then drag and drop it into the browser for an install.

I haven't had any issues after doing this, but, as always, you do so at your own risk. Changing an extension maxversion to suit an updated version of FF usually goes smoothly, but on occasion, there are some conflicts that require more code changes to be compatible with a current FF build. As the guinea pig here, I have survived unscathed with full functionality. Of course, you can wait until the RedShift devs update the theme, but you can try this for now if you can't wait.

Good luck.

[Radioguy]

Just updated to FF13, and reinstalled RedShift v4 with the TP logo mod (according to the how-to) again:

[Radioguy]

There's a new update today of RS v4 for FF 15.0. If you are running it with the TP logo mod, you need you re-mod it since it will have gone back to the default PNG.

The same instructions apply as before.

[Radioguy]

FF updated again, and with a repeat of the max version tweak, the TP-modded version of RedShift is still going strong without any hiccups: