Is Kaleidoscope compatible with Mac OS 8?
Yes, Kaleidoscope is now compatible with Mac OS 8. In fact, Kaleidoscope takes advantage of the new Appearance Manager, and it works even better under Mac OS 8 than it does under System 7. There are still some things that need to be addressed: spinning zoom rectangles and the System 7 color scheme do not yet work, we have not yet patched the pop-up windows or bevel buttons, and the Appearance Manager overrides the WindowShade sounds. None of these problems should prevent you from being able to use Kaleidoscope under Mac OS 8, and we hope to take care of these details soon.

What happened to the scroll bar ghost thumb?
Many applications, including Netscape and the Mac OS 8 Finder, support live scrolling, where the contents of the window move as you drag the scroll bar thumb. In these cases, Kaleidoscope does not draw its ghost thumb. This is not a bug. Since the solid thumb moves with the window contents as you drag, there is no need for a ghost thumb.

What are those plug-in interface modules called?
They are called Color Schemes.

Can users design their own Color Schemes?
Yes. The Color Scheme file format is designed to be easy to edit using ResEdit. See the “Creating Color Schemes“ document for more information on the color scheme format. There are also several third party guides for color scheme designers available on our Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive at <http://www.kaleidoscope.net/schemes/>.

Where can I get a High-Tech Color Scheme?
Apple's HI team does not want anybody implementing the High-Tech or Kids (Gizmo) interface designs that were originally planned for Copland. Although Apple's OS plans have changed, this policy has not, as Apple still intends to implement these themes themselves in a future system release. As of this writing, we are waiting for an updated official legal statement from Apple, and in the interim we will respect the wishes of Apple's HI team. So, we will not produce any such schemes ourselves, nor will we post such third party schemes on our Kaleidoscope Scheme Archive.

How do I make my software Kaleidoscope-savvy?
If you are a software developer, there are several ways that you can take advantage of Kaleidoscope. First of all, you should make your software Apperance-savvy for use under Mac OS 8. Kaleidoscope hooks into the Appearance Manager so that any Appearance-savvy application automatically uses Kaleidoscope's colors. If you want your software to be Kaleidoscope-savvy under System 7, you can get the colors for window backgrounds, text, tinges, and dividers from the “clut” resources, as documented in the “Creating Color Schemes” file. If you have any questions about this, please feel free to contact Greg at <greg@math.harvard.edu>.

Why don't my old color schemes work?
The format of the color scheme files has changed since Kaleidoscope 1.0.x. This means that old color schemes designed for Kaleidoscope 1.0.x no longer work with this version of Kaleidoscope (that is what I meant when I said that I was not supporting third party color schemes for Kaleidoscope 1.0.x). However, the new format is much more flexible and easy to edit, so you will soon be able to find even more and varied color schemes. If your favorite color scheme no longer works with this version of Kaleidoscope, contact the author of that color scheme and ask him to update it. You may find that there is already an update available. You can also use the included “Scheme Updater” application to convert your old color schemes to the new format.

How can I register if I don't have a credit card?
Kagi accepts payment by US check or by cash in various currencies, as well as by credit card. The “Register” application lists all of these payment methods, letting you create a customized registration form that you can mail or e-mail to Kagi (whose address is given on the form). For more information, see the “How to Register” document. Alternatively, you can register via credit card using the Kagi Online Order Processing service. Their web site is <http://order.kagi.com/?GL&S>.

How do I remove the Annoying Shareware Message?
First you need to register. Once Kagi processes your payment, which can take up to a week from when they receive it, they e-mail you a registration code in a message with subject “Thanks for your payment”. The registration code is near the end of that message, so be sure to read the entire thing. To enter your registration code, open up the Kaleidoscope control panel, click the “Register” button at the top right, and type your code into the box it gives you. Sometimes your registration or Kagi's reply may get lost in the mail or fall through the cracks. If you do not hear back from Kagi, send them e-mail at <admin@kagi.com>. It might take Kagi a few days to respond, but they eventually sort everything out.

Do I need to register again or pay an upgrade fee?
If you are a registered user of any previous version of Kaleidoscope, you do NOT need to reregister or pay an upgrade fee for this version. Your old registration code will still work with the new version, and in fact, Kaleidoscope should remember that you registered, so you should not even have to reenter the code.

Can I beta test new versions of Kaleidoscope?
Thanks for offering, but we already have all the beta testers we need for Kaleidoscope. Please do not send e-mail asking to be a beta tester since the answer will always be no (no matter how well qualified you are or how nicely you ask).

What happened to the “Aaron” color scheme?
We renamed it “Apple Grayscale”.

Is there a way to switch Kaleidoscope off without restarting?
If you want to switch Kaleidoscope off temporarily—such as if you need to take a screen shot of a normal Mac—just switch to the “System 7” color scheme. This color scheme is designed to look just like the plain old System 7 user interface. Unfortunately, the System 7 color scheme does not currently work under Mac OS 8. We hope to fix this soon.

Why don't Color Schemes other than “Apple Grayscale” have Accent Colors?
First of all, this is NOT a bug or something that has been overlooked. The other color schemes were not designed with accent colors in mind. It is better to think of this question the other way around: “Why does the Apple Grayscale color scheme have accent colors?” Phrased this way, the answer is that accent colors are an added feature of that particular color scheme which we included in order to duplicate all the functionality of the “Aaron” extension.

Do users of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons get a discount?
If you are a registered user of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons, you are entitled to register Kaleidoscope for the discounted price of $10. Please note that Kagi does not automatically give you this discount; rather, you must request the upgrade price yourself by checking the appropriate box. If you are using the “Kagi Online Order Processing” service, this Kaleidoscope upgrade is listed separately from the normal Kaleidoscope registration. To get this discount in the “Register” program, click the “Aaron / Buttons Upgrade” check box. When this box is checked, the prices shown are the upgrade prices. (I hate to mention it, but if you take this discount and are not a registered user of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons, we will bill you for the difference.)

Do users of more than one of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons get a further discount?
No, we do not offer an additional discount for people who are registered users of more than one of Aaron, BeView, or Greg's Buttons.

What's the difference between Espy and Espi?
Espy is a bitmap screen font that Apple uses with the Newton, eWorld, and AppleGuide. Espi looks essentially the same, but I have tweaked it and improved the spacing to make it work better as a system font. So, if you want to make Espy your system font, you should use my version of Espi instead. The same goes for Tekton (an Adobe font) and Tecton (my tweaked version).

Why do some dialog boxes have red backgrounds?
These dialog boxes are actually Alerts. Alerts are dialog boxes with an icon (stop, caution, note) at the top left corner and usually “OK” and “Cancel” buttons on the bottom right. Alerts require immediate attention, and so they are given red highlights to help them stand out. In the “Apple Grayscale” color scheme, alerts have just a red tinged border. In some other color schemes, alerts have red backgrounds.

Should the scroll bar track change color when scrolling?
Yes, in some color schemes such as “Onyx”, the scroll bar track changes color when scrolling. This is a feature, not a bug. Isn't it cool?

Will there be other Color Schemes?
We are working on several additional color schemes which will appear with future versions of Kaleidoscope.