Welcome!
We hope you find LeoColorBar useful. This page provides some additional information, including notes on some “hidden” features. If you arrived here from somewhere else, you can download LeoColorBar here.
Basic Features
LeoColorBar makes a copy of your current main desktop image and modifies it to display a solid color behind Leopard’s transparent menubar.
  1. •Select the color you want to display by clicking on the rounded rectangle at the top of the LeoColorBar window. Use the standard color chooser to pick a color.
  2. •The image window will display the current desktop picture. You can click on it to select another picture, or drag a picture to the display area.
  3. •Select a method for displaying the image. The options are:
  4. Fit to screen: the image is made as large as possible without cropping* Fill Screen: The image is expanded to cover the entire screen, though some may be cropped Stretch to Fill Screen: The image is distorted to fill the screen; none is cropped. Center: The original image is displayed at the center of the screen*. Tile: The original image is displayed at the center of the screen, and copies are displayed around it to cover the screen. * In “Fit to Screen” and “Center” modes, a color rectangle will appear next to the popup menu. This color will be used to fill the portion of the screen not covered by the image. Click the rectangle to select a color.
 
  1. •Check “Keep image below menubar” to render the entire image without any being cropped by the menubar.
  2. •Check “Round-off corners” to give the corners of the screen under the menubar a slightly rounded appearance, like older versions of Mac OS X. Note that, due to the way Leopard renders the menubar, this effect doesn’t result in sharply defined corners.
  3. •Click “Set Desktop” to apply the changes.
  4. •Click “Revert Desktop” to return to the original picture.
  5. •Select “Automatically apply to changes” to have LeoColorBar watch for changes to the desktop picture and apply these updates. LeoColorBar must be running for this to take effect. Note: LeoColorBar cannot apply updates to desktop images set to automatically change on a timed interval in Leopard. Also, see note to the left: LeoColorBar must be running for this to have any effect. If you change your configuration often, keep it running and it will update when it detects the change, or run it manually each time.
 
Advanced Features
  1. •“Fix my dock, too” will change your dock from the 3D glass to the 2D no-glass appearance. When you turn this on or off, the dock will momentarily disappear and then restart with the new appearance.
  2. •Opening the Advanced section of the window will reveal two more options:
  3. ‣You can select the format in which images will be saved. By default, it is JPEG, though if you prefer lossless images, you can switch to PNG.
  4. ‣Use the “Adjust menubar height” option to change the height of the area rendered under the menubar. Positive numbers increase the height, while negative numbers decrease it. This can be used to create some subtle effects or compensate for undesirable effects caused by certain images.
  5. •When clicking the “Set Desktop” button, if you hold down the Option key, instead of setting the desktop, you will be given the choice to save the modified file. This will not change the desktop, but will let you create a folder of modified images that can be automatically changed by Leopard.
  6. •When clicking the “Revert Desktop” button, holding the Option key will attempt to revert all desktops instead of just the main desktop. This may be helpful if your monitors have been switched.
  7. •Enter text in the “Text to center in menubar” field and choose a color for it. This will make an imprint of the text in the menubar. Note that, because of the way Leopard processes the background image to create the transparency effect, the text will be quite blurry; selecting an appropriate font, weight and spacing can help enhance the effect. You can make the text a different style (font, bold, etc.) by editing it in a word-processor and pasting it into the field. The text should easily fit in the display area of the field and should not exceed 13pt type (though some fonts may require an even smaller type size). If the imprint does not appear when you set the desktop background, it is probably because the text is too large.
 
A Few Notes:
  1. ★ LeoColorBar does not modify your system. You can always return to your original configuration by clicking the “Revert Desktop” button or by simply choosing a new picture in Leopard in the usual way: control-click on the desktop, select “Change Desktop Background...” from the popup menu, and choose a new picture.
  2. ★LeoColorBar creates a copy of your selected image, modifies it and saves it in your Pictures folder with the name LeoColorBarDesktopPicture.jpg. Clicking the “Revert Desktop” button deletes this file, if present. You can also manually remove it if you are not using LeoColorBar.
  3. ★LeoColorBar does not keep a daemon or hidden extension running in memory. If you have “Automatically apply changes” turned on, it’s only automatic when LeoColorBar is running. So, if you plug in a monitor (such as docking your laptop to a desktop monitor) and the main screen changes to the desktop, you either need to keep LeoColorBar running to automatically adjust for the change, or run it manually after changing configurations. Your choice.
  4. ★If you want a real solution to the Leopard menubar issue, look here. However, read the warnings carefully, since this modification will mess with your system. LeoColorBar won’t.