Menubar icon to be black

Discussion in 'Parallels Toolbox Feature Suggestions' started by BonBowman, Oct 9, 2016.

  1. BonBowman

    BonBowman Bit poster

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    Please add an option to change the icon color to monochrome so it matches all the icons. The red pause icon is eye catching even though it doesn't need my attention.
     
    LanN, MarcinN1, KatelynD and 54 others like this.
  2. ChristianS11

    ChristianS11 Bit poster

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    +1
     
    PhilipF5 likes this.
  3. pinkcanvas

    pinkcanvas Bit poster

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    Please give us the option to have a menubar icon that is black. My eye is drawn to the red stripes unnecessarily. Lots of other software (e.g. Dropbox, MAMP) has this.
    Thank you!
     
    Hagbard1 likes this.
  4. ParallelsU54

    ParallelsU54 Bit poster

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    And a plain white icon (with no highlight color please) for those with 'Use dark menu bar and Dock' set true in Preferences -> General. Thanks!
     
    Parallels User likes this.
  5. ParallelsU54

    ParallelsU54 Bit poster

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    a plain white icon (with no highlight color please) for those with 'Use dark menu bar and Dock' set true in Preferences -> General. Thanks!
    Ian
     
    Parallels User likes this.
  6. MattJ3

    MattJ3 Junior Member

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    I know there are threads on this already, but I can't a) find a recent one, and b) find one that offers a solution.

    My question - is it possible to change the Parallels for Mac Menu Bar icon? i.e. not the dock icon, the 2 little red lines that appear in the Menu Bar at the top of the screen when it's running? I know you can turn it off, but I'm trying to find out if you can change it (I want it to be white like all my others, not red).

    Thanks for any help.
     
    Hagbard1 likes this.
  7. MattJ3

    MattJ3 Junior Member

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    Anyone?
     
  8. MattJ3

    MattJ3 Junior Member

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    One last shot, anyone?
     
  9. PaulChristopher@Parallels

    PaulChristopher@Parallels Product Expert Staff Member

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    Hi MattJ3, unfortunately, it's not possible to change Parallels Desktop for Mac menu bar icon. As you've said the only option we have is to hide or remove the icon.
     
  10. DanielT3

    DanielT3 Bit poster

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    I would love this. The red is distracting
     
  11. GregF2

    GregF2 Bit poster

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    PLEASE remove all colour from ALL Parallels menu bar icons including Parallels and Parallels toolbox and respect OS X visual conventions. I do not want your brand colour creating visual noise on my menu bar.
     
  12. GregF2

    GregF2 Bit poster

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    Agreed! PLEASE remove all colour from ALL Parallels menu bar icons including Parallels and Parallels toolbox and respect OS X visual conventions. I do not want your brand colour creating visual noise on my menu bar.
     
  13. PaulChristopher@Parallels

    PaulChristopher@Parallels Product Expert Staff Member

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    3,158
    Thanks for your feedback Greg! We do not have an option to remove the brand color as it represents our Brand. However, we have an option to hide Parallels icon from menu bar by following the steps mentioned below:
    1. Go to Parallels icon(from mac menu bar)-> Preferences -> General -> Parallels menu -> uncheck " Show Parallels icon in menu bar"
    2. Check " Show Parallels icon in menu bar" when you need that icon.
     
  14. GregF2

    GregF2 Bit poster

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    I appreciate the response Paul. Please convey to your design, branding and management teams that while this may seem like a minor detail it is the kind of design decision which creates ill will amongst your customers. MY menu bar is not a space that I wish to hand over to PARALLELS' branding, it is not an ad space for Parallels.
    The decision to make the solution to this problem a user preference is a curious one. The parallels brand colour is apparently so important that the Parallels team would rather that I hide the icon and functionality entirely rather than allow me to display a brand-less icon. To me, this tells a story of company that cannot get their act together. Some obstinate executive has mandated that the menu bar icon has to have the brand colour in it and some developer has had to sneak in a pref because a bunch of people are complaining about the icon. So, now I have to use a user setting as a tool toggle (which is not the purpose of user settings) whenever I want the convenience of menu bar functionality. So, users get a workaround instead of a simple to solve, next to zero technical cost solution of replacing the offending icon. The fact that the actual icon is hidden from the resources folder of the app means that someone is being a complete control freak instead of listening to users. This does not add up to a great user experience.
    Anyway Paul, I know that this is not your decision to make as the intrepid support guy but please pass on to the team that the purpose of a brand is to make people feel connected to your company, not irritate them every time they look at it. You stated, "we do not have an option to remove the brand color"... well, actually, while I don't have the option to remove it the company that you are working for DOES.
     
  15. Hemnath@Parallels

    Hemnath@Parallels Parallels Support

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    Your feedback will be forwarded to the management. Please get back to us for any further queries.
     
  16. ScottS13

    ScottS13 Bit poster

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  17. StephenT2

    StephenT2 Bit poster

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    I'm sure that the tech heads at Parallels can work out a way of detecting if the menu bar is in "dark menus" mode or not, and use an appropriate menu bar icon. When using "dark menus", the Parallels Toolbox icon is virtually invisible!
     
  18. MarcinS1

    MarcinS1 Bit poster

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    I managed to fix the icon on my computer. I won't share any of the files, but I will describe my process for those who are also bothered by the unnecessary use of color in the menu bar that only has monochromatic icons.

    1. I used this app https://github.com/insidegui/AssetCatalogTinkerer to open the Assets.car file located in /Applications/Parallels Toolbox.app/Contents/Resources/. I extracted all the assets and edited the StatusBarIcon.png and StatusBarIcon@2x.png in Photoshop to remove the red bars.
    2. I made a new Cocoa Application project in Xcode and added all the assets including the modified ones to the Assets.xcassets folder inside the project.
    3. I compiled the application, extracted the Assets.car file and replaced the old Assets.car inside the Parallels Toolbox Resources folder.
    4. After restarting the app I now have a clean menu bar once again.
    [​IMG]

    All this really shouldn't be necessary and I definitively won't be paying for any Parallels products in the future unless they at least add the option to use monochromatic menu bar icons.
     
    AndyTheJunkFoodKing likes this.
  19. JeremyH5

    JeremyH5 Bit poster

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    Title says it all, please make it so I can hide the menu or barring that can you make the icon look better? Maybe ditch the red? Or maybe if you could make your logo optional that would be perfect. Its ugly and distracting. Cheers.
     
  20. DimitrK

    DimitrK Bit poster

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    I agree with other users. The red looks like a notification has just popped up and it diverts my attention from what I'm doing. Please respect the conventions of the operating system you are developing for. I understand that you're going for the 'brand' look, but it shouldn't come at the cost of inconveniencing your users.
     

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