YouTube Black Theme, A Dark-Style for YouTube

Not every YouTube visitor loves the new layout and design of the popular video hosting website. You may remember that the design has been changed not long ago, moving subscriptions and channels more into the focus on the start page, along with a big flashy ad at the top of the page.

While it was possible back then to restore the old layout of the site, it does not seem possible anymore. The next best thing is to make the best out of the new homepage. You can do that with a bunch of userscripts to improve the functionality on the site, or styles that change the design and layout.

I have for instance reviewed userscripts and browser extension to return the inbox to the frontpage, skip ads on YouTube or hide watched videos on the site.

If you are not a fan of the light design, and liked the earth hour design that YouTube had for some time, then you may like the YouTube Black Theme that you can install as a dark-style for the site.

Here are two screenshots how this theme looks like on the YouTube website. First the frontpage where a darker background has taken over except for the middle part of the site that is listing recent subscription activities.

The second screenshot shows a video page. Unlike on the frontpage, where parts remained in lighter colors, everything has been turned into darker shades on this page.

The theme is provided as a userscript that needs to be installed into the web browser of choice. I was able to test the userscript both in the Firefox web browser with the Greasemonkey extension installed, and the Google Chrome browser. It worked identical in both browsers, and it is likely that it will work in other browsers, like Opera, as well.

Firefox users need to install Greasemonkey first, before they head over to the userscript website to install the script in their browser. Once done, any new page load on YouTube or a new visit to the site will feature the new dark layout. If you prefer to turn off the black theme again you can simply uninstall or disable the userscript to do so.

Changing the style to a darker theme does not change the site’s functionality in any way. It is purely an aesthetic choice.

Have you ever installed a userscript, or style, to modify a web page?

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Sunday April 15, 2012 -
Tags:userscripts, youtube

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How To Install The Windows 7 Mac OS X Lion Theme

Windows 7 users have a lot of personalization options right at their hands, without having to modify system files to do so. These basic themes make a handful of modifications to the system, they change the wallpaper, sounds or cursors for instance, but leave the rest of the interface alone. Full conversions and custom themes on the other hand require the manipulation of system files, which many users may shy away from.

This guide explains how you can install a Mac OS X Lion theme for Windows 7. Lets start with the requirements.

The first thing that you need to do is to download the UXTheme Patch program. It is compatible with 32-bit and 64-bit Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 systems. Start the appropriate version (there is one for 32-bit and one for 64-bit systems), and click on the Patch icons to patch the three system files.

You can use the program later on again to restore the original file versions. The changes take effect after a restart of your computer.

CustoPack Tools has been designed to make the installation of themes easier by installing them as packs. The Mac OS X Lion theme is such a pack, and you need this program to install it on your system.

You can download the free CustoPack Tools from the official website. There you also find additional themes in the gallery in case you are interested in those.

Make sure you pay attention to the installation dialog, as you may end up with the Ask Toolbar otherwise. If you do, check out how to remove the Ask Toolbar here.

Please note that you need to have a full Aero theme running before you can install the Mac theme on Windows 7. While the installation will complete just fine if you do not, you will end up with only half of the theme installed.

Now that you have installed all the prerequisites, you can install the Mac OS X Lion theme for Windows 7.  Download it from its Deviant art project page and extract it to a directory on your computer. Switch to the themes Setup folder and start the installation by executing the Mac OSX Lion Inspirat (Transformation Pack).exe file.

You will notice that the CustoPack interface is now loaded. The author suggests you select the full installation, but you can theoretically block parts of the conversion from being installed. If you do not like Rocketdock for instance, you can block the installation quite easily in this step. For a total conversion, you should install all theme components though.

Just follow the instructions to install the OS X theme on your system. Please note that you need to make a final restart after the installation before you will see the theme in all of its glory on your computer.

Here is how it looks like once it has been installed completely:

Uninstallation

You repeat the same process, only backwards. Start CustoPack (for instance from the start menu), and select the Choose a CustoPack option in the main interface. Select Default Windows theme there by hovering your mouse over the theme and selecting the restore option that is displayed afterwards. Uninstallation may take a while, and you will have to restart your computer to finalize it.

The second thing that you need to do after your computer reboots is to restore the patched system files. Start the UXtheme patcher file again and select the restore option this time.

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About the Author:Martin Brinkmann is a journalist from Germany who founded Ghacks Technology News Back in 2005. He is passionate about all things tech and knows the Internet and computers like the back of his hand. You can follow Martin on Facebook or Twitter.Author: Martin Brinkmann, Wednesday March 21, 2012 -
Tags:personalization, uxtheme patch, windows 7, windows theme

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