Must have customisation applications

[Wannes]

Hey,

There are a lot of applications out there to customize your Mac but many unknown. Therefore I'm creating this list so all applications are bundled and people do not have to continuously browse around in search of a specific application.

Are you aware of an application? Please reply to this thread and I'll add it to the topic.

Application List

• TinkerTool
  Gives you access to additional settings in Leopard such as font, dock, finder, ... settings.
  http://www.bresink.com/osx/TinkerTool.html
  
• Silk $
  Allows you to change the system font
  http://unsanity.com/haxies/silk/
  
• Coversutra $
  Show your "Now playing" song on your desktop
  http://coversutra.com/
  
• Candybar $
  Change your icons
  http://www.panic.com/candybar/
  
• iStat Menu
  Tweak your menu bar with graphs and statistics. You can also edit your clock.
  http://islayer.com/apps/istatmenus/
  
• LiteIcon
  Free alternative to CandyBar
  http://www.freemacsoft.net/LiteIcon/
  
• Kameleon app $
  Change the look of Leopard
  http://www.kameleonapp.com/
  
• Bowtie
  Control iTunes from your desktop
  http://www.bowtieapp.com/
  
• OnyX
  Gives access to hidden system parameters (much like TinkerTool); also provides front ends for system cleanup and some *nix tools
  http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_leopard.html
  
• Cocktail $
  Very similar to OnyX; allows access to hidden system parameters; provides front ends for system cleanup and some *nix tools
  http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php
  
• CLIX
  Essentially a database of Unix commands that you can use to get at your system, including appearance hacks like Cocktail, OnyX, TinkerTool, but also 1000s of other commands. Provides a frontend for running these commands, as well as descriptions for the included commands so you actually know what you're doing.
  http://rixstep.com/4/0/clix/
  
• DeskShade $
  Allows you to hide all the icons on your desktop, and/or hide the menubar shadow. Also includes features to build a collection of desktops, color shift wallpapers, play movies as your desktop, and has a customizable screen locking feature.
  http://macrabbit.com/deskshade/
  
• Magnifique
  Change your Mac's appearance.
  http://magnifique.pcwizcomputer.com/forum/portal.php
  

Advanced Utilities

• Lingon
  Allows you to create and edit launchd configuration files from a graphical frontend. If you don't know what launchd is don't mess with this.
  http://tuppis.com/lingon/
  
• iServeBox
  A tool for managing network daemons.
  http://www.hanynet.com/iservebox/index.html
  
• Fink
  A package repository of 1000s of *nix programs installable on OS X. Aims to make these programs as easy as possible to compile (or install, if precompiled binaries are available) on OS X. Requires you to have Developer tools and X11 installed.
  http://www.finkproject.org/
  
• MacPorts
  Very similar to Fink. A package repository of 1000s of *nix programs installable on OS X. Aims to make these programs as easy as possible to compile (or install, if precompiled binaries are available) on OS X. Requires you to have Developer tools and X11 installed.
  http://www.macports.org/
  

More to be added shortly...

Thanks to Insanor, FurryBeagle

Edited March 3, 2009 by Couch Potato

[Insanor]

• LiteIcon
  Free alternative to CandyBar
  http://www.freemacsoft.net/LiteIcon/
  

[Wannes]

• LiteIcon
  Free alternative to CandyBar
  http://www.freemacsoft.net/LiteIcon/
  

Application added.

[L3thal Veteran]

Thanks for the list! I am loving my Mac.

[Wannes]

Bowtie added.

[Furrybeagle]

• OnyX
  Gives access to hidden system parameters (much like TinkerTool); also provides front ends for system cleanup and some *nix tools
  http://www.titanium.free.fr/pgs2/english/onyx_leopard.html
  
• Cocktail $
  Very similar to OnyX; allows access to hidden system parameters; provides front ends for system cleanup and some *nix tools
  http://www.maintain.se/cocktail/index.php
  
• CLIX
  Essentially a database of Unix commands that you can use to get at your system, including appearance hacks like Cocktail, OnyX, TinkerTool, but also 1000s of other commands. Provides a frontend for running these commands, as well as descriptions for the included commands so you actually know what you're doing.
  http://rixstep.com/4/0/clix/
  
• DeskShade $
  Allows you to hide all the icons on your desktop, and/or hide the menubar shadow. Also includes features to build a collection of desktops, color shift wallpapers, play movies as your desktop, and has a customizable screen locking feature.
  http://macrabbit.com/deskshade/
  

These are some more advanced and harder to use utilities, but some may find them useful:

• Lingon
  Allows you to create and edit launchd configuration files from a graphical frontend. If you don't know what launchd is don't mess with this.
  http://tuppis.com/lingon/
  
• iServeBox
  A tool for managing network daemons.
  http://www.hanynet.com/iservebox/index.html
  
• Fink
  A package repository of 1000s of *nix programs installable on OS X. Aims to make these programs as easy as possible to compile (or install, if precompiled binaries are available) on OS X. Requires you to have Developer tools and X11 installed.
  http://www.finkproject.org/
  
• MacPorts
  Very similar to Fink. A package repository of 1000s of *nix programs installable on OS X. Aims to make these programs as easy as possible to compile (or install, if precompiled binaries are available) on OS X. Requires you to have Developer tools and X11 installed.
  http://www.macports.org/
  

[Wannes]

Holy submission! (Y) Thank you.

[suicide_pact]

Hopefully soon, FACADE it looks promising, and it seems like ShapeShifter will never be compatible with Leopard.

[Wannes]

I'll only include released applications in the list so Facade will have to wait a while to be featured in this awesome list. :laugh:

[suicide_pact]

My bad, sorry for not RTFM. Apologies. Great recommendations so far. Except for mine that is.

[Wannes]

Don't worry about it, it's good to see submissions. :)

[DigitalE]

Great list :)

I love iStat Menus.

[Wannes]

Keep on submitting. I've added "Magnifique" to the list.

[suicide_pact]

Just been trying Magnifique. Seems to be pretty good. Thanks for the tip!