As Apple strives to complete the development of Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger for a potential launch in early 2005, several system utilities are being revamped and rejuvenated.
System utilities receive facelift in recent Tiger builds
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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Pick one! It doesn’t matter which one, just pick one! Stop pissing away the Apple tradition of UI excellence by having a schizo look and feel.
Do you mean because they are mixed (some aqua-ish widgets, metal frame)? Or because the menu bar is aqua and the file system and Apple apps are metal?
Either way, I agree. I have had macs for 20 years now and while OS X is a fine OS in most regards, they UI is a mess. It is not as consistent as it used to be.
Still a great OS, tho’ and I am looking forward to Tiger!!
Mike
Actually, their choice of metal for the apps pictured in the article conforms to their interface guidelines. Metal is reserved for applications that mirror a real world device (like the DVD player, calculator, etc) and apps that use a single-window, sidebar-pane approach to information display/navigation (like iTunes and the Finder).
Of course, Safari doesn’t follow the guidelines unless you consider the view to manage your bookmarks, so I won’t argue that Apple doesn’t occasionally break their own rules. But they’re more consistent than people give them credit for.
I’m one of those people that doesn’t really care. I think both themes (Aqua and Metal) look good. And as long as keyboard shortcuts + menus are consistent and widgets act consistently, usability isn’t compromised by having different texture/color schemes.
So, they follow their own made-up rules, but even then they break them occasionally? That’s really not saying much, especially considering that they seem to keep changing the guidelines for Metal apps. It used to be that Metal only applied to media applications, and now they’ve apparently added the single-window qualification. Seems pretty damn silly and arbitrary to me.
if you hate metal, snag this: http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/21363
and you’ll no longer see metal with the exception of a few apps (itunes, quicktime remain metal..)
Art has a way of breaking rules if they are following artist rules………who knows, but I like it.
I’m one who likes the two different themes as it keeps the interface from getting overly repetitive but I do think that all system utilities should have one consistent theme. I mean look at Windows with the default blue and then apps like WMP plus all the 3rd party apps like Real Player & Adobe programs which use there own interfaces so OS X is actually more consistent then Windows.
They should let you choose metal or aqua in the apps preferences. It’s just a checkbox to turn it on and off in Interface Builder.
Anyhow, I enjoy watching the OS X look evolve. Go check out some screenshots from 10.0 and compare them to 10.3 and 10.4.
I wish they would stick to the Aqua look whenever possible. I like metal on iTunes and “utilitarian”, i.e. single window UI’s, but brushed metal for the Keychain app? What’s the point? I also wish they would update metal windows to something more subtle and less bulky.
I really don’t care about the Metal vs Aqua thing. I barely even notice when an app is metal and when it isn’t. It makes no difference whatsoever to me. Of course, I’m coming from a Linux background, so I’m used to every app using a random toolkit and look and feel
I wish they would stick to the Aqua look whenever possible. I like metal on iTunes and “utilitarian”, i.e. single window UI’s, but brushed metal for the Keychain app? What’s the point? I also wish they would update metal windows to something more subtle and less bulky.
Well they should decide on one look and then go with it for the new operating system. It would make a lot of sense to create a new look for 10.4, to set it apart from everything that has gone before, rather than going with metal, aqua, or a mix.
Whilst the metal is too obtrusive (and dark), I find the aqua striped backgrounds unnecessary and distracting – what are those stripes in menus supposed to hint at, writing paper? On a menu? If they could choose something smooth and unobtrusive, and apply it to all windows, I think it would make a lot of people happy –
http://images.appleinsider.com/images/tigerdp1spotlightresults.jpg
I can’t believe people are still trying to defend that old excuse ‘metal is for utilities’ and ‘metal is for single window apps’ when Safari, iChat, iPhoto, iCal, iTunes, iMovie, iSync and Font Book all have it, yet Preview (like iPhoto?), Garage Band, Image Capture (single window utility), Terminal, and Mail don’t.
Distressingly, they show no signs of attempting to unify the look and interface of the different utilities and applications. Apple applications at present have 3 distinct styles (metal, aqua, spotlight), and then there’s garageband (wood!)! They need to create new HIGs for all the widgets (including placement, it’d be nice if search fields etc were often in the same place), and at least *try* not to break them.
iPhoto uses Metal-theme as well.
I don’t think that having different themes as well that having different themes is such a bad thing, as long as the behaviour of the apps is similar (this is a real issue: some apps are closed when (x) is hit, e.g. System Properties, normally only the main window is hidden).
But this problem seems to disappear, as Apple streamlines it’s interface again.
To give a simple guideline: Metal is for application windows with big white boxes. Aqua is for application windows with controls. Aqua windows with BWBs would appear too white overall, and the metal look on the frame gives the whole thing a more balanced apperance.
If the big white box is absolutely all there is, it may stand alone (Finder window without controls), since there is no frame anyway.
couldn’t agree more…
and Apple still offers mediocre font-preferences and sub-standard rendering, esp. hinting of desktop-fonts is crap… Bitmap-Fonts in X suck too, Apple has to fix this.
and please let me disable all that eye-candy fx, which may nice for newbies and slowclickers but i’m extremely annoyed by all the zooms, fades and crap. Slows down the UI-Experience. Inacceptable.
let’s see…
It just doesn’t matter.. Safari isn’t any less usable because it uses a metal skin, instead of an aqua skin. Theme consistency is highly overhyped by UI amateurs, and I have yet to find a decent *scientific* research (not just an editorial) that proves that it affects the usability of an application.
actually the app closings are consistent(well, when they are apple apps, some windows port are not but they were ported b windows developers)
applications that have the ability to have multiple windows or applications that are useful to keep open to monitor something like mail or ical stay open when you close the window. applications that cannot have multiple windows open (iphoto, imovie, preferences) close when you close the window. it is consistent and it has reasoning. the real question is whether or not it is obvious enough for the end user and if it impact their ability to use the application. since the applications that are used repeatedly through out the day are also many times the ones that stay open, I would say that unless you have a memory starved machine (and most people are advised to upgrade the memory or get a free one if you buy from places like macmall) that it does not hurt the usability of the machine.
Metal is less usable. Open Safari and go to a page. Now click on the desktop. Can you quickly tell that Safari is in the background. Especially on a large monitor the changes might not be too much. I end up making a lot of aliases hitting command-L instead of going to the address.
Whilst the metal is too obtrusive (and dark), I find the aqua striped backgrounds unnecessary and distracting – what are those stripes in menus supposed to hint at, writing paper?
What it suggests is the look of the front of the original Bondi iMac. Hasn’t anyone noticed that the UI is mirroring the look of the machines. When the original iMac was all the rage, OS X (Aqua) looked like the computer.
Now the laptops and G5s are aluminum, and so we have metal apps. Only the new iMac and iBooks have the shiny pearl drop appearance; so Aqua remains, but the stripes have mostly faded away.
Personally, I prefer the grayed-out apps that aren’t metal, such as shown here:
http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/tiger/
but it’s not much of an issue.
yes, I can. how you ask? the window buttons are grey, the page title i grey, the scroll bar is grey and the tool bar says finder.
also, I would like to add that you seem to have a problem with selecting windows if you think that focus follows your desires with no input from you.
if you like you can use the pager to move between apps if clicking is to hard for you.
why can’t theming be system wide and just let the user choose whether to have a metal system or an aqua system (or any other that apple or third parties should dream up) ? Why hardwire applications to one or the other?
Who really gives a flying f**k? You people love to bitch about everything. If you don’t like it, go out and create your own friggin’ OS.
“why can’t theming be system wide and just let the user choose whether to have a metal system or an aqua system (or any other that apple or third parties should dream up) ? Why hardwire applications to one or the other?”
3rd party apps do it already, and probably about as well as Apple would.
I started to love Aqua but Metal is really cool too. I especially like when the two are combined, like in iSync or Safari but c’mon Apple! When the rust starts to show?
Anyway…
The most anoying UI-wide bug in OSX I guess is the bad handing of mouse pointer change events. C’mon, even Windows can make it right and I have to do with pressing the Back button in Safari with either the text select or link pressing hand pointer time to time?
Or instead of changing the look of apps all the time why can’t they just fix the column view widget in Finder? Every srollbar function works just fine if you’re using the scrollbar arrows but try to drag the slidebar…
Anyway, I still think that my PowerBook 12″ worth every HUFs I payed for it (HUF=Hungarian Forints if you don’t happen to know what is that
(and my Bluetooth mouse too) and to me Apple is the present day Amiga and Be combined.
@The Raven:
I won’t say that I think you’re a sad wanker, but what I will say is that OS X costs money, and therefor people have the right to complain if they don’t like it.
Now someone mentioned that the fonts look bad on the OSX desktop. That’s strange, because I really like it. Could someone give me a screenshot example of “good” hinting? OSX’s fonts may not be the best, but at least it isn’t as bad as “cleartype”. I saw a screenshot of Windows imitating the OS X look and was confused at first. Until I noticed the out of focus fonts. They just hurt my eyes, even on my own laptop with a 1400×1050 resolution.
Now about the UI look, I don’t mind that there’s some variation. Like some people pointed out, it prevents the desktop from becoming boring.
If you like an OS, except for a few things. Would it make sense to build an entirely new one just to fix those things?
Wouldn’t it be better to try to improve the existing one?
richard, os-x fonts have gotten better since 10.0, but are still suboptimal IMHO.
see: http://smithz.org/x/DesktopFontsOS9vsOSX.gif
I will prefer bitmap-fonts over aa-fonts, but even when i choose aa-fonts i want better rendering than apple currently offers. Sometimes chars are rendered acceptable, then the same chars are rendered differently.
I know i’m talking about 1 black pixel-line VS blurry 2-pixel-lines. But imagine the massive use of text-elements in any GUI, it SUMS up.
Text and fonts are one the most important element of a GUI, so it must be better than mediocre, and at least it must be customizable.
I think it’d make things a little boring to have all apps having the same theme. Just Metal would make things too grey and boring and just working with Aqua apps would probably get too hard on the eyes after a while. Apps using two different themes gives a little variety.
Yeah I must agree with you that the fonts on the bottom window look bad. But I have screenshots where subpixel anti-aliasing is used, and those fonts didn’t appear blurry to me.
What font smoothing style did you choose from the System Preferences Appearance Panel?
Those fonts look pretty bad, I think keath is right, you should check your preferences.
99% of all aa-fonts simply suck.
No prefs help in there. I tried all smoothing styles. Doesn’t help – those prefs just control the amount of smoothing not the algorithm itself. Hinting is sub at all settings. Err… and I don’t know a cure against all this. Plus 99% of all os-x users doesn’t give a crap about it.
..i forgot: fonts are a personal thing. And humans get used to things. You can get used to aa-fonts or bitmap-fonts or whatever… It’s highly subjective.
The only solution is, that OS must offer both and serve the user well.
I agree, it’s highly subjective. I, for example, like the “blurry” fonts on the bottom better. They simply make more sense when you put it together in long words and sentences. It just flows better. You are right that it may look ugly up close, but I think there is too much focus on the single letter than on the whole picture.
If you want clear hinting, you need to sacrifice letter shaping, no matter how nicely done it is. The letters look unevenly shaped and spaced. Round edges become cornered where thy shouldn’t (is that an O or a D?), plus it becomes unreadable when hinting is applied on very small fonts, because you are litterally bending the font out of shape.
AA fonts are for simulating higher resolution displays. When you apply hinting, you are reducing the simulated resolution.
hey i wonder why they still do not have any function in osx like maximizing windows. i switched from windows to osx in januari, love the os but i really really miss the maximize button. just sold my imac 700 and i am now waiting for tiger to be released. at that point i will buy a new mac. but i really hope they put in a maximize button, or at least a short cut to it.
jabber support in iChat really kicks ass.
and for as far i experienced osx and windowss, i consider the osx GUI a 1000x better then windows. and i worked with windows for about 10 years. osx for half a year.
*Maybe* it’s because running apps fullscreen is a thing from the 1980’s, when DOS and the like ruled the world. These days we have a windowing system. Maximizing everything breaks the purpose of ‘windows’.
I can’t help but laugh out really loud when I see someone run their MSN contact list *FULLSCREEN*. I mean, what is wrong with those people, is the concept of a windowing system really so hard to grasp? And a *lot* of people run everything maximized… Maybe I’m just stupid for not running my apps maximized in Windows & Linux.
But then again, there’s one situation where fullscreen is useful. When completely dedicating your time to a certain task. Maximizing the application you’re working with will keep you from getting disctracted. Oops, I’m contradicting myself here
Anyways, AFAIK there is a key you need to hold when pressing the + sign to maximize a window…
Thou it’s there, just we call it Zoom
Perhaps it’s because OSX is better at getting windowed apps playing together using drag’n’drop. I feel no need to maximise OSX apps even though I’ve used maximize the time on windows.
Having a high resolution screen could be a factor though.
Go look at your system preferences panel.
*Maybe* it’s because running apps fullscreen is a thing from the 1980’s, when DOS and the like ruled the world. These days we have a windowing system. Maximizing everything breaks the purpose of ‘windows’.
What exactly do you do with your computer if you never maximize anything? Its very helpful to maximize when you have something you actually need to accomplish with your computer.
…there’s no tradition of “maximizing” windows on mac, that’s why. Or i should better say it’s up to each app to integrate a maximize function.
Eh yes, read my post again, all of it, instead of just the first paragraph. Especially the third. But then again, in normal life, there’s much distraction as well. Where I live, in europe, people don’t get placed in cubicles. We have been taught the dicipline to stay focused at our tasks, no matter if there’s distraction around us.
Same goes for computers. If you really can’t stand the fact that there’s multiple windows on the desktop, hide them all but the one(s) you’re using.
Then again, maximizing a window could be useful if one has a very small resolution and the program wasn’t designed to scale nicely.
umm, there is a consistent manor about the closing of apps, it is just deeper than you seem capable of looking (and most people for that matter) system utilities are a class of apps that you do not need to stay open if the window is closed unless their function is to monitor something. Mail and iTunes stay open because you want to monitor the incoming mail or keep playing a song with out itunes open. preferences closes right away because when your done with it, your done. applications that can have multiple windows open stay loaded, and applications that cannot have multiple windows open close down.
each behavior is directly related the the function of the application. if you like, you can always get your consistent closing of apps by going to “app name -> quit”