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143 Comments
- EBFoxbat, on 10/12/2007, -5/+86Ok, new colors != new interface
- gllopc, on 10/12/2007, -4/+71"New Interface" - I got excited; but then I saw the screenshots.
- ROFLance, on 10/12/2007, -16/+74That's pretty ugly.. it's probably just a placeholder for a better theme that's in the making. This is just the first step.
- zioxide, on 10/12/2007, -18/+68Looks better.. however I think if they lightened that grey just a little bit it would be even nicer.
- rodrigo74, on 10/12/2007, -4/+34I don't think this is the final look; my guess (and hope) is that Apple will hold that surprise until as late as possible
- gmarks, on 10/12/2007, -6/+33This guy put the wrong link in. Here is all the screenshots. http://www.thinksecret.com/archives/leopard9a410/
Someone get it before Apple takes it down. Directory Appliction? - Jawsh91, on 10/12/2007, -4/+26@Fag564
Can I just say on behalf of the entire digg community, shut the ***** up.
I looked through your dugg articles and they are ALL anti-apple news, and your comments are ALWAYS dugg down, I just don't quite understand why someone like you would waste their time to troll through digg. Go digg and comment on articles about the raging success of the Zune, or the completely original design of Vista...oh wait. - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23Many seem to be missing the point... the keyword here is "unified".
Uno had to patch like 4 or 5 sections of the OS to achieve the same effect. With a unified interface, Apple can now make global changes to the interface look.
Many don't know that there's a major change under the hood of the UI engine in Leopard. First, for resolution independence, every interface widget is being vectorized. Second, the new interface is stored in a neatly organized modular package called "Aqua.bundle" instead of the archaic and messy "Extra.rsrc" resource file. That means that Apple (or third parties) could provide alternate UIs in package form instead of having to patch various parts of the OS.
But also, I think chloran is on the right track. With the unification and vectorization of the interface, changing the tint (color) and/or brightness of the interface is a matter of changing a couple of variables, heck it could be done in real time, and on a per-window/per-application basis. At worse, if Apple doesn't provide the means to do it, third parties could easily provide this feature, simply by changing a variable or two. But I don't see why Apple wouldn't take this opportunity themselves. The reason they don't officially provide built-in theming in OS X is that themes that change the location and shape of interface widgets could be a nightmare to support. But changing the tint/brightness of the UI wouldn't affect those.
As I pointed out in another digg thread, Apple has been recently awarded a patent for "custom shading of a UI" that shows the possibility of smoothly transitioning from a black text on gray/white background interface to a white text on dark/black bg as night comes by. And obviously, it could also be done in a permanent manner by the user, or according to other external variables, like the outside temperature :) - aussieNickuss, on 10/12/2007, -8/+28Thank god the brushed metal is gone but those title bars are way to dark.
- mrfrosti, on 10/12/2007, -6/+24Hmm, looks one step closer to Microsoft depression-inducing corporate gray.
- Topher06, on 10/12/2007, -7/+25On the whole though, I think Apple could to much better. Its like they are trying to be completely different from Windows. When Windows was grey and institutional, Apple introduced Aqua with bubbly buttons and glass like interface, now that Vista has bubbly buttons and glass like interface, Apple has gone back to grey and institutional. On the whole Apple needs to jazz up their UI more, add a little bit of color, the whole flat plastic look is already old and this OS isn't even out yet. If the current iTunes is any indication of where Apple is headed with UI, then Leopard looks to be a snorefest in the UI department. When you look at interfaces for AppleTV, FrontRow, and CoverFlow along with a lot of their Pro Apps like Aperature, its obvious there are two distict groups of people working on UI at Apple.
What is most dissapointing is that Apple, in Leopard, will have Core Animation and Core Graphics, two very complete and high performance librarys for image manipulation, yet Apple seems to choose not to implement these technologies into their OS X UI except for gimmicks like the genie effect and screensavers. Come on Apple, recognize there is a high performance GPU in most of your products, start using it for the UI other then just blitting textures on screen. While I know most people think Vista's UI is garish (MS needs to learn to tone it down a bit), its obvious MS spent a lot of time learning how to use the GPU to improve the performance and capabilities of their UI. MS looks to actually want to implement new technologies like Windows Presentation Foundation (akin to Core Graphics and Core Animation), Apple just seems to want to make the technology available, but not use it. Its time for Apple to pull their UI out of the last millennium. - stinkipete, on 10/12/2007, -12/+27Yeah, it's looking a little dark and dingy.
Saying that, I like that black vista UI, so maybe it's the matte, flatness of the thing. - eam52guy, on 10/12/2007, -4/+18"Many will rejoice because the Brushed Metal UI is gone"
If you're among those 'many', I'm sorry, but you probably don't make very interesting conversation at dinner parties. - Hydroxyl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13If you guys look at itunes, you'll find that they already implemented that shade of grey.
- Marwood, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Am I misunderstanding what you are saying or haven't you tried clicking the white button at the top right that turns the toolbar on and off?
- Radan, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15@mediaphile:
Yes, of course, read my whole comment, but that is one of the things that Apple is very good at. Take Exposé for instance. The effect looks good, and it has a purpose. If the windows would just instantly snap to their places, it would be hard to see which window belongs which program, hence it doesn't really count as a "useless" animation. However, the transparency effect in Vista for example is a useless effect, it looks nice, but makes it even harder to work with the UI.
Again, I like nice effects as anyone else, but they should never come over the actual purpose of the UI. - BZKyle, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I think you meant XP, not OS X...
- MephistoX, on 10/12/2007, -4/+16It does. But he's not talking about XP, he's talking about Vista.... which does actually LOOK very nice.
- mediaphile, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12@Radan:
but i'll bet you like the animation when you minimize something down to the dock, or when you go into expose.
i find both of those animations to be both aesthetically pleasing and useful. i have the feeling Apple will be using core animation to further both ends. - awinn233, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Those are not the same pictures.
- gmarks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+12Unisanity from Shapeshifter.
- mr_england, on 10/12/2007, -6/+15Is it ok that I like the brushed metal? This one is way dark no?
- aaaaa, on 10/12/2007, -9/+17Yup, Vista has Aero and there's Compiz/Beryl under Linux. Apple will definitely have to come up with something. "Core Animation" sounds cool enough.
- Radan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Well, it's not really much of a surprise that they changed to the Unified theme, and personally I love the "new" darker theme. The new theme makes the system look more professional and I really hope they will make it even more iTunes like before they release it. One thing is for sure though, Aqua is going down.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+131. Why would you want different applications to look the identical? (Especially if you use features like Expose)
2. Explain how IE, Office 2003, Office 2007, and WMP have a "consistent look". - zachlutz, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9My last comment on the topic got me dugg down more than ever before. (I guess Diggers don't like ***** and apple in the same sentence.) At any rate, all I can say is that my hopes were (and still are) a lot higher than this.
- slundal, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I agree. This is NOT a new interface, even by a long shot. They've just change some colors in the already existing interface.
- deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10I completely disagree. There's a time and a place for flashy graphics (FrontRow, Dashboard, etc) but when I'm just sitting at my computer writing an e-mail I don't want to be distracted by tons of animations, colors, and flashy graphics. I don't want to focus on my operating system visuals -- I want to focus on my applications. There are a lot of cases where I think CoreAnimation will be used (iLife) but I really don't understand why anyone would want to see it added t Finder, the Dock, Mail, Safari, etc. There's just no need for it to be in the core OS components.
- Iwantawii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7The removal of brushed metal may spark the change that we need to start taking control of our lives. Thank you Apple.
o_O - tvashtar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11"except for gimmicks like the genie effect"
But that's where you're completely wrong. Apple's use of "flashy" graphics is totally opposed to gimmicks. That's why transparency is used very sparingly for example — because it's often just distracting. Where intensive graphics are used — like the genie effect — they have a very definite purpose. The genie effect serves to draw the users eye to where the window has gone; this way the user is never at a loss for what has happened, it is openly apparent what has happened and how to undo it. This is exactly how graphics should be used — they should only be included when they add functionality without the expense of cluttering the interface. - newbill123, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8In other screen shot galleries, you can see that the dark grey is only for the frontmost window (the window with focus). Background windows have a significantly lighter coloring. The darkness is your visual cue that if you start typing your keystrokes show up in this window. Brushed metal didn't make this distinction clear for the user. This would be much more obvious, but all of the screenshots in the gallery only show one window at a time.
- TheWorm, on 10/12/2007, -2/+8The matte look is an improvement, but I'm waiting for them to do something with the interface that really makes me say "wow".
No Vista reference intended. - DaffyDuck, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Personally, I think it looks bad and un-Apple-like with the buttons spread out at the top of the Finder.
- iFungus, on 10/12/2007, -9/+15You made a typo, switch OSX and Vista
- ROFLance, on 10/12/2007, -3/+9@qpdb
There are themes for the mac, you just need to get ShapeShifter to use them
Themes: http://interfacelift.com/themes-mac/
ShapeShifter: http://unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6http://www.duggmirror.com
- chloran, on 10/12/2007, -24/+29Posted 2 days ago http://digg.com/apple/Mac_OS_X_Theme_Change_in_Newest_Leopard_Build
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6Ah, another instance of "hm, involves apple? must waste time posting vitriolic, hateful comment instead of simply ignoring the article."
lame. - nixr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I actually like that it's a bit darker than previous versions. I think it adds a better contrast to the rest of the UI.
- phoomp, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5ummmm ... new colours does not equal "new interface"
- kotatsu, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Dare I say it, I think Windows Vista actually looks flashier than MacOS X. I remember Steve saying he wanted OS X to be so pretty it was 'lickable', but now it's looking like a lot of dull greys.
Maybe they will add a bunch of animation to things before the final version, as they demoed with the backup app at the last macworld. - ElbridgeGerry, on 10/12/2007, -5/+9Dangit, I prefer Aqua over Unified.
- alej744, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You can even customize the position of all the buttons, and add or remove buttons.
- Iwantawii, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I thought we all agreed some time back that the interface in the developers' builds was just a placeholder because the real interface was still being kept under wraps. These builds are good for developers and bug hunters but they're not "previews" of Leopard for the rest of us sinners.
UNO (and others) proved that it's relatively simple to force all apps to have a unified theme (pick one of three), but since Apple introduced resolution independance with Leopard they had to reconstruct entirely the way that window elements are drawn from 10.4. Couple this with Core Animation and there's almost gotta (yeah that's my english) be something new on the UI side. - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4You're right that it's more than probably not the final interface, and that they are trying things out, but as for brushed metal, don't count on it coming back as it scales pretty badly with resolution independence.
- 8177, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5CrushThemTorg
Welcome to OSX - fbriggs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3As mentioned elsewhere, a program called UNO will get you a very similar result in 10.4. There are a couple of reasons why this is probably better than UNO:
- UNO makes things look like this, but the draggable regions of windows do not change correspondingly. I assume this will work better in 10.5 than with UNO. Generally, this style leads to more draggable area for user interfaces, which I like.
- This likely also reflects a massive effort to replace bitmap graphics with vector graphics, to take advantage of resolution independence. - cbreaker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I'm glad I'm not the only one. I think the brushed metal looks good, and I'll miss it.
I don't like the very plain iTunes color, which is nearly identical to the brushed metal color except that it's been sanded with a finer grain sandpaper.
Unfortunately with MacOS it's "Do it our way or go home." There will be no option to keep the brushed metal even if you liked it. - MephistoX, on 10/20/2007, -3/+6Me too. I thought it was great.
- Inkifymark, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Eh, honestly I hope they make a lot of changes by October. I mean, I'll buy it either way but I really prefer the Aqua interface - or even what I've seen of Vista - to those screenshots.
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