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Make sure you check out some other articles at Need for Air. There's some interesting stuff there.

It's been said before, but iCal in Lion is just plain ugly.

Not only is it ugly – it's slow. I mean, just try flipping through more than three months at a time. No really, go try it. See what I mean?

Thankfully there's a solution. It's not the most straightforward hack, but it sure is worth the effort.

Please note: Before you begin, make sure you make a backup of iCal by copying the application to your desktop. You also want to make sure iCal is closed before proceeding further.

Out with the Old

1. Download the plain iCal theme that will replace the current look (courtesy of Simple and Usable).
2. Find iCal in your Applications folder and right click on it. Select "Show Package Contents".
3. Navigate to Contents > Resources.
4. Select all the files inside the "ical_lion_silver" folder that you downloaded and move them to the "Resources" folder.
5. Since iCal is a system program, you will be asked to authenticate the modification.
6. When the "Copy" dialog box appears, check the box "Apply to All" and then click "Replace".
7. Finally, enter your user password and your done!

No more page curls

1. You need to make sure you have SIMBL installed (the latest version can be found here).
2. Now go and download the bundle that will enable you to turn off the animation.
3. In Lion, the "Library" folder is hidden, so press ⌘⇧G ("Go to Folder…"), then type "/Library/Application Support/SIMBL/Plugins" and hit return.
4. Move the bundle into the "Plugins" folder and that's it.
5. In iCal, you should now be able to check the Disable Page Flip Animation box under Preferences > Advanced.

Now go revel in the simplicity and efficiency of your creation!

Wow. Excuse the cliché, but I really never thought learning to code could be so much fun! I just started doing some online courses through Codecademy, and I’ve even challenged myself to participate in Code Year. That means that I will hopefully be learning a new aspect of coding each week for the rest of the year!

Wish me luck!