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106 Comments
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -5/+51iq70:
Here's the post you got -63 diggs for:
"Looks like same old crappy OSX circa 2000."
I don't call this constructive criticism, I call this bashing. Don't expect Mac users to throw you flowers with a comment like this. - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -2/+39"That tab preview bothers me, I think it needs to be transparent."
And why should it be? So you can continue reading the web page that's under the tab preview?
Let's face it, transparency looks cool but it's useless in most situations, often lessening clarity more than anything. - samus007, on 10/12/2007, -8/+39I still wish Apple would change the interface look of the OS. I am tired of looking at it after all these years. Brushed metal, sooo, last year. lol
And most of the skins that are available for shapeshifter are crap. IMO. - KissTheRing, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32Uno is a program that makes it easy to make all windows have a more consistent look
Free download:
http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/19384 - Radan, on 10/12/2007, -10/+40@Alucardbsm:
Erm... Well, I dunno about you but I think they have changed their UI quite a lot lately:
Mac OS 9 1999: http://tinyurl.com/2ge89n
Mac OS 10.0 2000: http://tinyurl.com/22nwlo
Mac OS 10.2 2002: http://tinyurl.com/yu6klq
Mac OS 10.3 2003: http://tinyurl.com/22wlgv
Mac OS 10.4 2005: http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/
Compared to Windows at least:
Windows 1.0: http://tinyurl.com/3ayqxx
Windows 95-98: http://tinyurl.com/3yp8x3
Windows NT: http://tinyurl.com/2muwg2
Windows CE: http://tinyurl.com/39ctro
Windows 2000: http://tinyurl.com/2t47l9
Windows XP-Vista: http://tinyurl.com/y2vkux - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24Eye candy isn't everything. You can't just take a shakey OS and pretty it up to compete with other OS's. What? I wasn't bashing Mircosoft...
- maverick808, on 10/12/2007, -3/+18Well, you can just press Apple-Enter to open that top hit.
- cinnix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15I haven't got a Mac yet, but one thing I noticed is that the skins/themes aren't consistent throughout. Eg. some windows are brushed metal, some are glossy white. Why is this?
- Radan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14@samus007:
Ok, well I have said this before and I'm gonna say it again. Apple is not going to release anything fancy in the public developer build before they have showed the rest of the world at a special event. Period. The reason that they do release a public build is so that the developers can get their applications working when Apple releases the final product. That is why they focus on updating things like the terminal and Xcode. They do however have another beta build which is only available for a very limited amount of people, that Apple can keep an eye on so that they don't leak any screenshots of the current build.
Ah, and btw, I believe they actually have released some screenshots of a new UI a while ago, which looked a bit like a combination of the Coverflow UI in iTunes, and the Adjust window in iPhoto, so yeah, I believe they are about to make some major changes in the UI. - KissTheRing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14I'm just glad they've changed it since Jaguar, too many horizontal lines
- smcavoy, on 10/12/2007, -7/+18hmm... more cowbell.
- Vector713, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12@ Delmonte
You're being defensive.
XD
Forgive me if nobody gets the joke - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I think Apple has done a great job of incrementally refining and improving the interface without wrecking anything. And even when they do change something, there's always some people who will complain.
After spending some time with Vista I realized that the current OS X interface is very mature, well done, and refined, and I don't think they should throw that away just for the sake of change.
One thing is for certain: they will tweak the interface just as they have done in the past with every other OS release, and those interface tweaks won't be enabled in the test builds they release to testers and developers. If there are changes, we'll see them the next time Jobs demos the OS. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11I remember all the Vista build screenshots that made it to the front page. People like this stuff, just live with it.
- rofflcopterr, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9there was an article once that i read which perfectly described the poetry in motion behind apple's inconsistent UI design.
basically it boils down to the user not being bored by having their iApps, basic productivity, and pro apps all having the same feel. if you think about it, most of the prominent linked applications do have some kind of similar feel (whether it be brushed, smooth, or graphite)
i kind of chuckle when i see how 'let down' people are to realize apple's focusing on things other than making their GUI prettier. i for one wouldn't mind keeping identical UI in 10.5 if there were a plethora of new features. - macdaddy23, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Direct Link to gallery http://thinksecret.com/archives/leopard9a377a/
- choopie911, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10Because they're screenshots showing the progress of the Leopard build (9A337a) not just "look at what it'll do eventually."
It's showing how far along they are, what little changes and tweaks are present, not the new huge things like time machine that have already been shown in demos. If you seriously dont get the difference..... - smspence, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10@ Vector713
Stop begging the question. - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Do you realize that the digg effect can multiply by 100x the normal load imposed on a web site? Why should companies invest in servers that can resist to 100x the average load for only 0.001% of the time? It would be a waste of resources and energy.
- uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7First of all, don't use "m$"...makes you look like you eat paint chips for breakfast every day.
Secondly, the "dock" can be resized to fit your own preferences, it can be hidden, and with the use of a nifty app (TransparentDock, for those interested), you can even relocate it to one of the edges of the screen, and make the background a different color, or invisible.
Finally, as far as taskbars go, Gome (maybe even KDE?) has offered the same sorting and sizing options (and then some more even) as Windows has for quite some time.
Get with the program. - __J__, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7Or use Quicksilver.
- macdaddy23, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7It's because it did when Tiger first came out, it's the iApps they have been changing around, If you noticed the new ones are starting to change over. But the time this things ships I would assume it will have a fluent design.
- MBX1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6you obviously don't know much about the os-x dock.
you can resize the dock. you can do auto-hide, so it only appears when you move your mouse at the edge of the screen. or you can hide it off completely. - brutalentropy, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8Site is down... coral cache has the gallery, it's pretty slow though.
http://www.thinksecret.com.nyud.net:8080/archives/leopard9a377a/ - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7This links to screenshots of 9A377a and your article link refers to 9A343. Two completely different articles.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I'd like a unified look, but at the same time I like to be able to distinguish windows from different apps with a quick glance.
- totorototoro, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I get the feeling these Leopard builds don't have the final UI included-stuff seems too random and plain looking.
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4There is a program called Shapeshifter (http://www.unsanity.com/haxies/shapeshifter), but it ain't free; you have to cough up $20 for it.
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4@Radan: I see what you mean now; and whilst I do still think themes are implemented significantly better in Windows (you can download and double click a .theme file, the theme is applied instantly) than in OS X, I do understand your point.
Re: single application control: that's actually really interesting; I didn't know that capability existed. Thanks! - DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Did anyone else noted the new "glowing blue" effect around selected controls? It's definitely different from Tiger, and in this picture http://thinksecret.com/archives/leopard9a377a/source/35.html you can see it applied around the "Photoshop apps" text.
- DelMonte, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5SirBotchness:
Maybe you should read before posting, it's not that hard to do:
9A343 != 9A337a
Maybe it just a bunch of numbers for you, this one is about build 9A337a while the other was about build 9A343. These are different screenshots, and there are noticeable changes in this build, like the brand new Spotlight interface.
(Edit: blinkcowz182 beat me to it.) - ScottBookG4, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Am I the only user on Digg who is tired of people talking ***** about someone's web server not being able to handle the "digg effect?" We all know by now that the popular content can, will, and does go down. STFU and stay on topic.
- uownedge, on 10/12/2007, -8/+12But I suppose it's okay that Windows has looked the same since 1995? Please. And don't even try to tell me the Luna (uxthemes) counts. It doesn't. It's a crappy theme overlaid on a mediocre interface. Vista is bringing the first major interface change sine '95, and the very basic versions don't even include it. Not to mention the hardware requirements.
Beyond that, I somewhat agree that some changes would be nice (maybe some more advanced scheme options?), but not really necessarily. Even as it is, they've been tweaking it more and more over each new version, and it's only been getting better with age (like a fine wine!).
If you're really hellbent about customizing the way your OS looks, you should be looking to Linux. It's the only one truly designed with customization in mind. - itswoody, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5These screenies are boooorin... wake me when the Leopard's been let out of the cage.
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6@astrosmash: read the link you just posted: the themes there are for a third party theming engine called Shapeshifter that runs on top of OS X and is non-free. It's analogous to using WindowsBlinds on Windows 2000: a great third-party theming engine, sure, but resource-intensive and hardly the same as having it built into the OS.
- thasmadawg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Just what are your parameters?
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5> How many trolls have you come by that take the time to pull up more than 10 links and run them through tinyurl just to make a point? Not that many? That's what I thought.
You haven't come across many good trolls, apparently. The difference is that trolls don't do it "to make a point", they do it to in order to provoke a reaction. That's the whole point. Nevertheless, Radans post make it clear that he was not trolling, so accusation retracted. As you said yourself, however, it was apparently a joke -- posting BSOD pics is hardly "mak[ing] a [serious] point"..
> Secondly, the whole point of Mac OS, is that it simply works without modding, themeing (and there goes the english language) or changing anything in anyway, as Apple is the uncrowned king when it comes to UI designs.
Not everyone has the same aesthetic sense. In fact, I would even go so far as saying no two people have the same aesthetic sense. Lots of interfaces "work" in the default theme, doesn't mean I wouldn't change them if I could.
> http://www.macthemes.net/ is a great resource of different themes, wallpapers and icons for Mac OS X, if you are interested.
I'll repeat what I said above: the themes there are for a third party theming engine called Shapeshifter that runs on top of OS X and is non-free. It's analogous to using WindowsBlinds on Windows 2000: a great third-party theming engine, sure, but resource-intensive and hardly the same as having it built into the OS. - TwilightKing, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5@semw
If you had looked at all Radan's Windows screenshots, you would notice that they are all blue screen of death pics. If you were any smarter, you would realize that he is making a joke, and is not a troll. How many trolls have you come by that take the time to pull up more than 10 links and run them through tinyurl just to make a point?
Not that many?
That's what I thought. - newbill123, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Some explanations of the various Mac OS X skins try to gloss over that the interface is evolving. That alone explains a great deal about the reason for so many skins.
The Mac OS X Aqua skin that debuted in 10.0 (Cheetah) needed strong color and high-contrast blue and black lines to make it show up in many of the areas where translucency was used (menus, sheets, dialogs, pallettes, etc). It was designed and intended for "business forms".
Almost immediately, artists started complaining loudly about the high contrast colors being problematic to work with. Apple offered a desturated "Graphite" appearance that hid the stoplight colors and strong blues via an option in System Preferences. The choice was system wide though, you couldn't desaturate the colors just for Photoshop while having them used in Office.
With it's debut in iLife and later migration to Mac OS X, the "Brushed Metal" appearance was an alternative that looked more like an engraved set of machine controls. Although the guidelines made some argument about it being intended for single window applications, it was widely adopted by many apps because it looked cool and it was reminisceint of the grey interface of the pre-OS X days (which many users were still migrating from). If you didn't make custom controls, the change was simply a checkbox to use the new theme.
In 10.2 (Jaguar) Apple toned down the default Aqua interface considerably. The translucency in sheets, menus and other elements was made more opaque which allowed the colors to be lower-contrast. No announcements were made specifically about this and some custom controls developers made to fit in with the brighter version of Aqua looked a bit more garish in Jaguar. For the most part though, users didn't even notice this change.
Along the way, Apple started making a line of "Pro" applications. Their user interface gurus developed a private framework that was significantly different from Aqua. It had black controls on white backgrounds, more gloss, and low contrast. Perhaps learning lessons from the "Graphite" interface, perhaps just trying to make things look like a mixing board or a competitors' products. Whatever the reason, this remains a private framework even now in Tiger. It's not "standard" since a Pro app has to be installed on a users computer, but some developers have since hacked into these private API's (if present) or made a similar-looking but custom-implementation of the Apple "pro interface" for their apps.
The Unified interface made it's debut with iTunes and then later in 10.4 (Tiger). Some user interface elements like toolbars and drawers had controls to show or hide them, and since they could be closed they were drawn differently from the omni-present control areas like the tiltlebar. When apps like Mail were used in a way that almost always demanded these elements to be open, it was unnecessary and distracting to see your simple window sectioned off for no good reason. Unified visually blended the toolbar and titlebar together (you still have to redesign your window to do without the drawer).
Apple recently introduced another interface with iTunes. It's controls are fundamentally different from the Mac OS X user interfaces. Like the "Pro" apps, these are private frameworks, but the reason why they were developed is still speculative. Some say this will become the default Leopard GUI? The controls seem simpler and without as computationally-intensive effects so I speculate these are the seeds of an interface to be used on the iPod platform (now that Apple is talking about the iPod as a platform all by itself). Being cross-platform with Macs and Windows, iTunes will always be somewhat of the ugly step-child. If Apple makes on an iPod GUI to use on iPod's, iPhones, and iTunes, then it's less of a problem which OS the iPod imitates; it uses the iPod GUI.
One other interface that isn't talked about much is Dashboard. Though confined to a special mode, you certainly would look out of place by making a Dashboard widget with a "business forms" style of Aqua interface controls. Beyond the basic controls though, Apple seems willing to let the creativity and chaos reign the Dashboard (which is a better outlet than in the OS space in general).
What does the future hold?
Even if the interfaces evolve, I doubt the use cases will change. The business forms and unified interface may merge since they share similar use cases. People will always want to personalize the balance in flash vs. distraction in the system preferences even if "Graphite" changes its meaning. Dashboard will still be creatively chaotic in its own sandbox, and the things that make iTunes stick out on XP and OS X won't go away tomorrow. There will undoubtedly still be a machine-like-feel interface even if brushed metal itself changes to be less reminiscent of "Mac OS 9 rubbed by steel-wool". And the "pro apps" private interfaces will probably evolve it's own use case and be standardized in OS X so that Apple can make sure there won't be any horrible imitations or half-broken implementations in the future.
As an aside, I also expect that with so many changes being made "under the hood" for resolution independence in Leopard there will be no significant GUI changes except to simplify the under-the-hood problems. Perhaps certain textures or colors may be different, but everything will remain pixel compatible with pre-Leopard GUIs. Brushed metal might take on a dark copper look, or the business forms might have gold lines instead of blue ones, but drawers, fields, radio buttons, and checkboxes aren't going to take on radically different looks. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7@semw
OS X has always used a theme engine, and there are tons of alternate themes available.
http://interfacelift.com/themes-mac/ - Derfus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3anyone have a good mirror?
- Darcy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Has Apple dropped any hints about a new look?
- Phatt138, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4Because...you can kinda see through it? GLQuake had transparency...
- SEMW, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3(...and again, damnit)
- fowleryo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4I'd like for there to be a way to turn them off.
- blackjack75, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5These build numbers are so linear.
- IQ70, on 10/12/2007, -3/+5Oh all Apple users are happy with what it is currently. I am sure when Apple releases a new UI they will say that it was long needed. But when I say it now, they will act like kids and start calling names.
Morons. - Radan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3@Radan (myself)
God, that got to be worst use of grammar ever. "Simply simple dark simple windows which should simply be as simple and dark as possible" - drakethegreat, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2The windows having different looks is something that doesn't bother me really. If was in the field of design or more specifically graphic design, then I probably would care but honestly since the feel of pretty much everything is complete and not half assed as far as graphic quality is on OS X, it really doesn't bother me. Anyone else feel the same way? Just seems so much effort is put on making things brushed metal when the white isn't bad, its just not brushed metal...
- ScottBookG4, on 10/12/2007, -2/+3Or use Digg how I do...Digg what you know you're going to like during the workday, then check things out at home after the servers have rebooted.
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