While the VLC team broods about the hows and whens of reinventing the VLC experience on the Mac, Hirogen has gone ahead with his own version of what VLC should look like. In fact, he doesn’t stop at VLC, instead creating an entirely new user interface style, which he calls BlackPearl. It’s not only gorgeous matte UI, it also fits just perfectly on a Snow Leopard desktop.
Installing the BlackPearl mod for VLC involves downloading the disk image and moving around a few files, as instructed by the generous how-to. I’m using the single window version, which I prefer to having a separate window for the controller. Sadly though, the fullscreen HUD still sports the old flat HUD, along with several other unchanged UI elements, so hopefully when the official VLC UI overhaul arrives, it’ll get the slickness that is the QuickTime X controller. Oh, and while you’re modding the user interface, you might as well change the hideous icon along with it. MacRabbit has got an excellent replacement kit for the application icon and file associations.
This is just for starters…
Hirogen has also created a BlackPearl mod for Transmission. While the new look isn’t as drastic a change in your regular usage, flip out the torrent inspector and you’ll see some glorious pixels strewn about the place. There’s also a VisualHub mod, but since it advises one should delete the preference file, I’m afraid it might not be able to reactivate the now de-funct VisualHub. Any cool application mods you know of?