What is Digg?92 Comments
- Mookeh, on 01/14/2009, -1/+93Ugh, sorry for missing the question mark in the title, guys. I hate misleading news titles too. It was an honest mistake, not a lame attempt at getting your attention. :)
- brockwoolf, on 01/14/2009, -5/+62You are not an evil, god forsaken power user.
Therefore no apology necessary :) - bittermang, on 01/14/2009, -0/+31It probably has more to do with the vector graphics engine to draw the windows to make the filesizes of applications smaller by not requiring raster graphics for all the window edges and corners, and that being pushed across all applications in 10.6.
My two cents. - fahrvergnuugen, on 01/15/2009, -1/+24We now have a dock, spaces and expose. How many multitasking aids do you need?
- dandonia, on 01/15/2009, -0/+22Big question mark in the image - seems fair to me.
- whiteyMcBrown, on 01/15/2009, -4/+25I think it's a great direction. Just as glass and overuse of transparency becomes old, Apple moves on. It now seems to be about cleanliness and usability. Your information and tools are front and center. The dark grey frames your work, like many professional applications do, without distracting. In a time of 'prosumers' I think this is more and more apt.
Palm's Pre shows a good understanding of Apple's aesthetics. Palm used a lot of Apple's visual cues but shown that they know what they're doing with it. I really don't think that Windows has. I use a Windows computer at least 40 hrs a week, so it's not like I'm just another Apple user. I just feel they've always had a far more elegant interface.
Although I think that Vista and Windows 7 have moved, in most ways, in the right direction, I still feel like the people making the decisions at Microsoft don't really get it. They might start off with a great designer making something that looks great, but it seems like a programmer figured out something else he could do and stuck it in. Then someone else said that they need to show off the processing power of newer computers so they arbitrarily throw in something else. I've done work for Microsoft. Although it's never on the Windows UI, I think I know where the problem stems from: There are too many cooks in the kitchen and design decisions are made by committee. They don't have a Jonathan Ive or Steve Jobs – these guys might be dictatorial and we may not always agree with them, but in most rooms I think they've shown that they usually do know the best design directions and seem to use their power to trump everyone else's.
To use a metaphor, you may not like a story, but there's an elegance to it if it's written with one author's voice. As an Art Director, and a heavy user of both Mac and Windows computers, I really do prefer this 'single voice' on the Mac.
I really hope Apple does this unification of UI in Snow Leopard. I was worried that we might have to wait for OS XI. - brockwoolf, on 01/14/2009, -2/+23This is the rumoured (not a spelling mistake, I'm Australian) marble interface taken from the AppleInsider article
Marble Interface: http://i44.tinypic.com/nvxl46.jpg
Original Article: http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/01/14/appl ... - Kwinti, on 01/15/2009, -5/+21Snow Leopard a service pack? It's much, much more than that.
- KSUdesigner, on 01/15/2009, -5/+15You've never actually used OS9 have you?
- ElRayQuieres, on 01/15/2009, -2/+12An option? This is Apple we're talking about. They'll make a decision and you'll have to live with it or hack it.
- failedpimp, on 01/15/2009, -3/+13I need exactly 42 multitasking aids.
- jdh24, on 01/14/2009, -3/+12So, the same as iTunes 8?
- Taiyoryu, on 01/15/2009, -3/+12Will Apple allow users to change themes using System Preferences? I don't mind Aqua, but sometimes I like a change of pace and would rather not have to resort to third party apps to do what every other desktop environment already lets you do.
- brockwoolf, on 01/14/2009, -19/+27Well, I don't mind the marble interface in iPhoto, but seriously, can't we get an Apple take on a blue gradient version of what Microsoft are doing with Windows 7?
I am the biggest Apple fanboy you can imagine, and while I hate to admit it, Microsoft are actually doing alright with their new UI in Windows 7. - TheLedFloyd, on 01/15/2009, -1/+8As much as I want to get rid of the aqua scrollbars that picture is just cropped from iTunes 8
http://crew.techzine.nl/good-fella/dump/iTunes8cro ... - netdroid9, on 01/15/2009, -1/+7But it was there, in the thumbnail.
- normalkid, on 01/14/2009, -1/+6that seems to be just a mockup based on the description from the original macrumors/daring fireball articles.
- Elranzer, on 01/15/2009, -1/+6Yeah, it's "much, much more" expensive. Service Packs are free.
- suraZ, on 01/15/2009, -0/+5I'm obviously very weird.
- steviesteveo, on 01/15/2009, -1/+6A pretty common complaint on Liunx systems was people who used programs that relied on KDE, Gnome and whatever other desktop libraries they needed so that each program window (potentially) had a completely different appearance. It sounds petty but people like to have cohesive systems in their computers, if you're going to be staring at it for a long time you may as well.
It's surprising how jarring that can be - it's certainly important enough to me that I make sure the skin on my web browser isn't wildly clashing with everything else. - zephc, on 01/15/2009, -0/+5The functionality is called 'window shade'
There is/was a version for OS X at
http://unsanity.com/haxies/wsx
but the developers got lazy and hadn't supported it for some time, but it appears that it works now, so enjoy! - Angostura, on 01/15/2009, -0/+5I'm obviously very weird. I remember the marketing line when Aqua first came out "No more grey", since then the OS X interface has got greyer and greyer. I some rather hanker for the 'lickable' 10.2 - pinstripes and all.
- ThirdPrize, on 01/15/2009, -0/+4I agree. What is so wrong with wanting different colours on screen? I love the XP green theme but some like the silver. Knowing Apple they would let you change them but pop up a window saying "Green scrollbars and Orange background, hellloooo, that looks dreadful"
- NSResponder, on 01/15/2009, -2/+6"Palm's Pre shows a good understanding of Apple's aesthetics."
Palm has a number of ex-Apple engineers and designers these days.
-jcr - Doktag, on 01/15/2009, -0/+4Elranzer, I can't help it! They're catchy! ♫
- NSResponder, on 01/15/2009, -3/+6What Unsanity does to implement windowshades and their other hacks is unsupported, and will make your system unstable.
-jcr - moleeyes, on 01/15/2009, -0/+3I haven't had Aqua scroll bars for a while. It's possible to replace them with the iTunes style bars and its easy.
http://ukmac.net/2007/11/29/get-rid-of-aqua-scroll ... - VyRuZ, on 01/15/2009, -0/+3/sarcasm much?
- inactive, on 01/15/2009, -0/+3you don't think different enough
- 16x9, on 01/15/2009, -0/+2hamobu asks: "How is that not a service pack?"
Fair question. Of course I don't think I've ever seen an agreed upon dictionary definition for the term "service pack" even in the WIndows world where the term is frequently used.
It's difficult to know how much of Snow Leopard is being rewritten but if the changes are as deep and as extensive as I'm hearing then I tend to think of this next OS update as being even _less_ of a "service pack" than some of the previous updates. Why? Because a fair percentage of what was changed in previous updates was surface stuff. Important additions (to one degree or another) but still surface stuff. The coming Snow Leopard update, however, appears to be more like strengthening the building and its foundation than it does painting the garage. - CptnEvilStomper, on 01/15/2009, -0/+2The reason for the switch the vector graphics actually has less to do with saving space and more to do with OS X having full resolution independence. Tiger and Leopard both technically have support for resolution independence already, but most of the graphics are still bitmaps and don't scale well. They've gotten around it to some extent in Leopard by making most of the graphics 512 x 512 and scaling everything down to the right size, but it doesn't really work as well as just using vector graphics for everything.
- regeya, on 01/17/2009, -0/+2'a lot of that assumed "isn't as good for creative" is based on industrial design no doubt.'
History lesson: For the longest time, MacOS had the best colormatching support out of the box, which made it attractive for print creative.
I don't know how they are these days. I've talked to some folks at a competing company who mandate Windows, and I know that they're not particularly fond of doing creative work on Windows (except for the guy who made the policy.) - graeh, on 01/16/2009, -0/+2Thank christ - it's about time. Using a PC in a studio has at times been akin to being suspected of leprosy by those who get their Illustrator on Mac stylez - a lot of that assumed "isn't as good for creative" is based on industrial design no doubt. But MS previous stagnation of the UI and UX contributed significantly. Side by side - XP next to OSX, XP just doesn't engage.
Vista didn't really help.
Here's hoping Windows 7 competes with OSX ui for look, feel and functionality, microsoft has been dragging their feet. And we know they can do it - witness 360 and surface. Creatives aren't the brightest bunch, but when it's a common assumption that XP based PCs aren't capable in the creative field by writ of the UI, it's fair to say microsoft have some ca tching up to do. - Elranzer, on 01/15/2009, -2/+4Stop singing your posts.
- jcr - Chirp08, on 01/15/2009, -1/+3It stems from having strict UI guidelines that dictate the application layout to begin with. It really doesn't matter what the skin looks like at the end of the day as long as similar components and windows look the same application to application the UI is going to feel better as a whole. Windows has no rules and that's what is hurting it.
- newbill123, on 01/15/2009, -0/+2People get these code names for appearances in Apple's internal bug database. The iTunes team probably has reference to their theme. And the OS X Appearance team probably have a swirly patterned, obtrusively colored, non-standard dimensioned appearance they use to shake out bugs and which gets named a few times in the internal Radar system. But it means nothing about the name, design, or timeframe that a new appearance might show up in Mac OS X.
On the other hand, this summer Webkit heavily re-engineered the gui widgets in areas they have taken shortcuts with in the past such as scroll bars and popup menus. It's very likely Safari 4 will be fully theme-able to at least match CSS standards. And with the substantial rewrite, it could be ensure all Webkit apps will properly support the OS X native theme without having to re-engineer each theme when finally released.
Apple learned a lot of nasty lessons from the technical failures and artistic difficulties of the Mac OS 8 Appearance Manager, so it's no surprise they have been slow, conservative "control freaks" in their development OS X's Appearance. I don't doubt there will be huge changes under the hood for Snow Leopard's engine but does that mean a new theme?
The proper time to release such a user-visible feature is with Mac OS 10.7; they've already said 10.6 will be light on user visible features. And few would say a major, new, system-wide appearance change will not be the type of light user-visible feature they are implying will come in Snow Leopard. - inactive, on 01/15/2009, -0/+2http://macthemes2.net/2008/07/10/theme-review-ileo ...
- graeh, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1I remember visiting a friend of my dad's family back in - maybe late 1989, or 1990.
At home we were rocking a text based, 4 colour, monolith of an XT. It was used for the text based WordPerfect, and some Loderunner for gaming. My dad's mate was running a small home based publishing business for friends, local businesses etc. He took us to his home office, and demonstrated a GUI based desktop publishing application, with fonts, typesetting, clipart, an A4 oriented high res screen, all quick and intuitive. At that point in time - the PC and Mac were not even in the same domain as computers. Mac was clearly, the creative platform. The PC was clearly, the accounting, budgeting, basic word processing (and if you were me - nascent interactive graphic coding with BASIC and its mighty Draw and Line methods - with a solid goto thrown in for good worst practice measure!).
Mac - through Xerox - were unquestionably the machine with the creative industry pedigree.
The back and forth of a modern studio - filled with more people who's first impression of macs is the iMac, and the G... 3? - those who do use macs tend to confer its assumed superiority as a creative platform, really have that view informed by as I said, a comprehensive appealing industrial design aesthetic, and a more engaging user experience and in places functional user interface of OSX. Specifically in contrast to the until recently entirely non-existent or tacky inconsistent and seemingly random industrial design of the multi-manufacturer produced PCs, and the... to be honest, 'cheaply skinned' appearance and transitionless jarring appearing and disappearing bare bones user experience of windows XP user interface. In a studio mixed with PC and Mac, just at a glance, the macs imply a more visually engaging and potentially creative potential. You really do get people saying retarded things like "you use a PC? I thought you did creative?" - it's assumed by some that PCs are for the producers, accountants, technical producers - because the macs are better.
I rock the PC because I pay for my own gear, I like to get the best performance for price, and the widest available selection of software. But in a studio, that choice really does mark you as "odd" or "non-creative" to some. Sure, I'm using the same illustrator, it clips along a bit faster on my cheaper and more powerful machine, but XP is totally unsexy, and microsofts dragging of their feet responding to the innovations and engagement of OSX has done nothing to make the PC seem like it's got the pizzaz OSX does.
It's not based on potentially correct or incorrect histories of superior colour calibration, or the clear dominance of the early mac as a creative machine compared to the text based number crunching pc. Hell - for a while the dell 24" LCD and the "mac cinema display" were the same panel from samsung in a different bezel.
***** all of that. It's microsoft's fault for not "bringing it" in terms of user experience to OSXs clear step up which was smacked down what... 8 years ago?
Windows 7 had ***** well better be at least vaguely legitimate as an engaging OS user experience to OSX. I'm sick of justifying my decision to rock the Adobe suite on PC for boring but sensible reasons - I wanna be able to be shallow too. It'd be neat if just once - I could be a douchebag like a mac creative and look down my black rimmed glasses at someone using the exact same creative package on a mac as I'm using on windows and say "I thought you were a creative, why are you using OSX?". And I'd have the extra smug benefit of being a thousand bucks better off - you can buy a lot of black skivies with that kinda green. - regeya, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1That's why I wish there were more themes like QtCurve.
This is a lousy screenshot; unlike others, though, this one is mine.
http://flickr.com/photos/71922227@N00/3202951340/
And yeah, I know I'll get attacked as being a Mac fanboy. What can I say? I spend 40 hours/week in front of a Mac at work. I'm just used to having an OS X-style Dock by now. Heck, I'm still a little frustrated that it doesn't work more like the old-school NeXT Dock ;-) - tomis, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1Are people seriously digging unsubstantiated rumors about a theme change when there aren't even any supporting screenshots?
As others have stated; it is inevitable they will go with more gradients as they transition to a fully implemented Resolution Independent interface. Of course, that's been in the works since 10.4, and judging by the pace of development probably won't be here until 10.7, but we'll see. - championchap, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1I know you can, it's Aero I have a problem with really.
The whole this is just horribly inconsistant.
And thos big bulky borders around each window are a waste. - graeh, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1@regeya: history indeed.
- regeya, on 01/17/2009, -0/+1@graeh, well you at least have to say that print's likely history in the near future ;-)
- kitsua, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1The link in that post is dead. Any ideas on how to get that Extras.zip?
- Elranzer, on 01/15/2009, -2/+3Mac OS X's UI... now available in Blue and Graphite (and ONLY Blue and Graphite... like it's always been).
- ametitul, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1pretty nice info about this update to mac os x
- Baryn, on 01/15/2009, -1/+2DAMN LIES
- ziggotron, on 01/15/2009, -2/+3The new supposed UI has no similarities or any visual cues to marble, why give it such a ***** name? I nominate Svelte as a better UI name, taken that it's taking a more darker look with less prominent graphics.
- Elranzer, on 01/15/2009, -0/+1You can shrink the size of the 7 taskbar from 64px back to its original size (32px), and still have the icon-ified launcher. It's an option in Control Panel.
- waterboy1628, on 01/15/2009, -1/+2why are you getting dugg down?
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