Hannes Bretschneider has written a script that displays notifications about newly arrived mail on the Desktop using the GeekTool utilty.

GeekTool is a Preference Pane utility that can pipe the result of Unix commands, scripts and other things onto the Desktop. There are many ways to use it. For example, Lifehacker journo Gina Trapani uses it to pipe her plain text to-do files onto her Desktop.

Hannes’ script grabs the sender and subject line of new messages. When a GeekTool entry is created for it:

It outputs the results to the Desktop:

Like all GeekTool outputs, the font face, point size, position on the Desktop and many other options can be set in the GeekTool Preference Pane.

This elegant notification solution runs in the background and avoids the need to use another notification utility.

On the other hand, in order to get the most of out it, you need to be able to see your Desktop. I can’t remember when I last saw mine.mail.app, apple mail, notification, plugin, geektool, script, new mail

Aved asks on the MacOSX support forum:

I was wondering if anyone knows how to edit the color for the unread mail dock icon? Default is red, but I have been messing around with new icons and mine is grey now and doesn’t really stand out.

His problem is complicated by the fact that he is using something called ShapeShifter , a GUI hack from Unsanity that applies “themes” to the whole Mac OS X interface.

If you are not using ShapeShifter, the answer is simple enough. You will find blow-by-blow instructions in an earlier Hawk Wings post.

You can roll your own badges by editing the existing ones in Photoshop.

Or you can take the easy way out. Hawk Wings now hosts a blue set and a green set of mail badges, as well as a mixed set that was once hosted on ResExcellence (R.I.P.?).

Once you get started hacking away at the look of Mail, it can be hard to stop. See “Hacking Mail’s interface” for more interface hatchet goodness.

UPDATE: As Chris points out in the comments, you can also go completely berserk with Dockstar:

(Or, for that matter, with Docktopus.)mail.app, apple mail, interface, icons, mail badges, hacks, new mail

Logan Rockmore has updated his Mail Unread Menu app, a menubar utility that offers discreet notifications for your Mail.app messages.

A count of new mail in the menubar treads the thin line between over-bearing notification and no notification at all.

Logan has added a drop-down menu with options to jump to the readme file or the app’s preferences.

In addition since I last looked, it can now count new messages in either your Inbox or all your folders, making it much more flexible:

Mail Unread Menu is freeware (donations not refused) and is available from Logan’s web site .notification, plugins, mail.app, apple mail, new mail, alerts