How can I replace the 'Linen' that is prevalent in many Lion apps?

There are many places where the "linen" texture is used in Lion, from the Login Window to various app backgrounds like Safari and so on.

Is it possible to replace this image with something else? Let's say I have a nice hessian weave pattern from a lovely house I lived in that hasn't been decorated since 1979, or some sand, or a patchwork quilt depicting the transperambulation of pseudo cosmic anti matter?

Whatever I wish to change it to, a) can I change it, and b) will it change it for all instances where the linen appears, or does each application have it's own resources which would need ammending one by one with differing methods, and c) is there a particular size/fileformat/other feature that any replacement image must have, for example must it be a 200x200 PNG that tesselates etc.

Solution 1:

The linen backdrop file is /System/Library/Frameworks/AppKit.framework/Versions/C/Resources/NSTexturedFullScreenBackgroundColor.png

You can edit that file, or replace it with a file of the same name, but be certain that the replacement file has a resolution of 72 pixels per inch or you probably won't like the result.

ᔥ John Martellaro: OS X Lion: Change Login Screen’s Dirty Linen

Certain applications and situations draw their background from different sources. for example, the background file for Mission Control can be found at /System/Library/CoreServices/Dock.app/Contents/Resources/defaultdesktop.png

If you replace that file, you'll need to do a killall Dock command in the terminal before the change will take effect.

ᔥ OS X Daily: Change the Mission Control Background Wallpaper Image in Mac OS X Lion

Solution 2:

You can change the linen of the login background, but I've not seen this change affect other places (e.g. reading list in safari).

There is a tool, which combines various GUI tweaking options in an app. It's called...

Lion Designer

• customize backgrounds for Login Screen, Mission Control, Dashboard, Launchpad
• customize folder backgrounds in Launchpad
• get the colorful finder sidebar (like in previous version of OSX), requires SIMBL
• reset settings

Solution 3:

Removing linen in Safari

Safari uses two different sources of linen, one for scrolling past the edge of the page or resizing the page in full-screen mode, and one for use behind the Reading List. To replace the Reading List linen, gentmatt has identified the file you need to replace. Replacing the linen you see when you scroll past the edge of the page, however, is slightly trickier.

Here's how to change it:

1. You will need administrator access to make these changes. Login with an administrator account.

2. Download SArtFileTool and unzip. Note: I did not create this tool, and it is a compiled executable, so use at your own risk

3. Open the Terminal, and cd to the folder you unzipped.

4. Run sudo cp /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Resources/SArtFile.bin .. This copies your existing SArtFile.bin so we can work with it.

5. Run ./SArtFileTool -d SArtFile.bin sartfiles.

6. This creates a directory in the folder with system artwork called "sartfiles". Open it.

7. Inside, find 226.png and [email protected]. These are the linen textures Safari uses.

8. Make whatever changes you wish, so long as the files remain the same dimensions. When you're done, save over or replace the existing 226.png and [email protected] files.

9. Run ./SArtFileTool -e sartfiles SArtFile.bin SArtFile.new.bin. This creates your new SArtFile as SArtFile.new.bin.

10. Run sudo cp SArtFile.new.bin /System/Library/PrivateFrameworks/CoreUI.framework/Resources/SArtFile.bin and enter your password.

11. Shut down and restart your computer. When you log back in and Safari relaunches, it will use the new art file.

Here's an example of it in action. For simplicity, I just adjusted the color on mine, but it does demonstrate that it works: