Brushed aluminum swept aside as Apple’s Mail 2.0 will reportedly sport an updated theme.
Latest Apple interface spotted in new 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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Everything that is old is new again?
Now my Linux desktop [with platinum apple’ish theme] looks like a Mac, or vice verca
Aqua was better! No, brushed metal was better! I like the new look! The old platinum was the best!! I swear by the System 0.9 interface! I only use CP/M, you insensitive clod!
Anyway, I think this is an improvement over the brushed metal look, which I found unoriginal and not too good looking. Me, I use LighthouseBlue. 🙂
apple people once paraded consistency around like it was gospel, back in the os9 days.
now that apple is trotting out a new theme (and mixing it with the old) on a release-by-release basis, all i hear from apple people is how consistency is overrated and how they actually like the different apps having different skins.
its sad that gnome users are probably using a more consistent interface these days…someone needs to do a sanity check on the interface guidelines in osx.
It would be even cooler if you could switch in Preferences between Aqua, Pinstripe Aqua, Brushed Metal and this Platinum.
Yeah, that’s better. Reminds me a bit of my Gnome desktop, actually. Modern, but won’t get in the way.
Aqua is looking a bit dated these days (perhaps in part as the result of a million knockoffs). I still prefer it to that garish aluminum stuff, which violates Apple’s own human interface guidelines. Let’s hope they pick a theme and run with it.
I like it, it looks pretty slick. Then of course, I’m a confessed Apple fanboy, so I like anything they do. ;p
Would like them to stick to one theme only. I do not like it when lots of applications look different – it is one of the reasons that I do not like to use X11 applications. Other gripes I have with X11 applications are that they are not designed for one mouse button only and they always use the ctrl button and not the command/apple button for short cuts …
But then again. Who have ever listened to my complaints
I like how they removed the Mailbox drawer, and honestly it just looks a whole lot better with that theme. I hope that theme is used throughout OS X and not just for a few apps (like safari vs mail, etc).
Plus the new semi-brushed metal will match my powerbook, yay.
It looks alot cleaner and easier on the eyes than the brushed metal look. Hopefully, this is what’s replacing the Aluminum look and not just adding to it. We don’t need 100 different interfaces used in Mac OS X. Just give us 2.
“Now my Linux desktop [with platinum apple’ish theme] looks like a Mac, or vice verca”
—> we can clearly note that you never used mac
Are they actually gonna use this as an addition to Brushed Metal and Aqua?
Oh dear god, there goes my consistent iMac… Let’s hope it’s a replacement for Brushed Metal, and not an addition.
Movies like I, robot and such are telling us that in future we’re all gonna use all those green/black interfaces with rounded buttons that play sounds when pressed *ughhh*
I think it’s time to begin mess up with green colors …
Anyways, the new design is much better and clearer than the awful brushed metall. I hope Apple will stick with this one. They could have done something better though.
Glider on Gnome is still my favorite !
Oh well, yet another theme for the KDE/GNOME-themers to imitate. 😉
i have NO problem with multiple themes. however i only want to see one at any one time. i’m getting sick of the lack of consistency with my applications!
I’m OK with 100 or 1000 different themes, just allow us to use 1 at a time. Themes should be CONFIGURABLE across the OS…in other words, let me CHOOSE to use aqua EVERYWHERE or brushed metal EVERYWHERE or anything else someone dreams up EVERYWHERE. I don’t want every application to look different, and I especially don’t like the Apple fascism that gives each app a fixed, Apple-determined look.
And how about some slightly darker backgrounds, for those of us that feel like we’re staring at a light bulb after looking at all of that which for hours? Or better, yet, let us configure color schemes on top of themes.
I’m also happy the drawers are gone. Drawers will go down the drain, because they offer nothing new, and just f**k up the UI-Design.
Glad, finally Apple realized that *at least a bit*.
New Theme looks also OK, much better than brushed crapple.
Maybe X evolves in something really timeless, the first AQUA looked like 80ies when it just came out, at least 80ies in the sense of “the designers do what they’re dreamed of in the 80ies: Dropshadows, bazillion colors, stripes, whoo-whoo” … IMHO.
i’m optimistic…
YES!! I COULD NOT AGREE MORE!!!!!! Sorry for shouting, but for CRYING OUT LOUD. When I saw the all-in-one window for mail, I shed a thousand tears of joy. The damn drawer screwed with me so much that I had been investigating alternative mail clients. That says a lot, because Mail.app does SO MUCH right that it’s hard to move away. Flakiness reported by some people aside, (not experienced here) Mail is beautiful.
Anyway, I was so irritated by the drawer that I submitted a *multi-page* feedback to Apple detailing why the drawer did not fit Apple’s own UI guidelines, and how it hampered my work. I illustrated several interruptions to work flow caused by the drawer, and explained from my best understanding the psychological effects of the drawer (I am not a UI psychologist, but to have an inferior section of a window controlling the contents of the main window seems disorienting,) and each step of the way I referenced Apple’s user interface guidelines.
I’m glad that Apple listens to its customers. Hooray! Now let’s get them to incorporate the (gratis) 3rd party GPG .bundle plugin into mail, and make iCal not suck. (There’s a great foundation laid with iCal, but it’s nowhere near complete- the fact that it’s got modeless editing of information, just like Address Book should set the example for all others. (Listening KMail/Evolution?) I never was able to fit my working style into a strict linear flow dictated to me by a program.)
The long and the short of it is that I’m pleased as punch. If you’ve got feedback that Apple needs to hear, let them know. Being Insanely Great is a community endeavor.
Ha! There was a time when Apples’ operating systems used to be the epitome of consistency and usability. Now my Linux box is more consistent. Of course, I acknowledge consistency and usability are unduly exaggerated. After all, the most used operating system in the world hardly exhibits the qualities in question.
The “new” apple interface appears to be inspired from the excellent Plastik style of KDE …
You need to learn what consistency really means…
I’m not claiming that Apple is, and Linux isn’t… but to have 3 UIs don’t not necessary mean the system is inconsitent. Having one UI (whether it is skinnable or not) does not make it consistent.
Just compare keyboard shortcuts across apps for about five seconds on the 2 different OSes and I think my point will speak for itself.
Sorry… that was supposed to be “does not”
I happen to like the drawer on Mail, myself. I like keeping windows on screen as small as possible, and Mail shrinks down pretty nicely. My favorite app for screen utilization is Sylpheed, which allows you to separate the mail list, the preview pane, and the folder view into separate windows. That was an interface that worked really well for me.
I relate discussions about UIs to the allegations that Kerry flip-flops. This is not an attempt to politicize the discussion, but I believe that both sides argue their points from similar lines. The Kerry camp would argue for the necessity of evaluating the politics for what they are at that moment, in relationship to everything else, and the Bush camp would argue the necessity of having a consistent approach to everything, wrong or right. Obviously, the truth lies somewhere in the middle, and trying to draw absolutes is going to lead to problems either way. One way, you stifle better approaches to solve sub-problems within the system, but the other way, a lack of pervading definition will cost dearly in predictability, and certain efficiencies. Right tool for the right job say I. Misapplication of either approach will cost dearly in good solutions to difficult problems. No need to feel violated from a theoretical approach. To address anyone who might respond, and I KNOW that someone will, real world results are the test. If something fails, scrap it. If something is great, keep it. Not to continue too far in a philosophical discussion, but I constantly marvel at the dichotomy of reality. On one hand, there is clear order present in our universe, but on the other hand, it always seems brimming with possibility waiting to burst forth, going around the rules to make something new and wonderful. Maybe I’m just too much of a starry-eyed youngster, to easily finding content in the “British Compromise,” but it seems to me that there are many schizophrenic, and yet complementary levels of reality which constitute a unified whole.
Right, so I believe UI design is best done by rational, pragmatic humans who are just looking for the best overall solution for a given set of tasks a computer could be expected to perform, and is not hell-bent on focusing on either a large- or small- scale approach to addressing the problem. Reality will bear out the results. On some levels, we’re just along for the ride to have fun making and doing and living, but this does not preclude a purpose for life.
Can you all see what I mean? (Am I crazy?)
I like the new theme. It looks much more sleek than the brushed metal, which I was never a big fan of.
The screenshots were removed from AppleInsider. Here is another link to the screenshots:
http://community.games4mac.de/index.php?s=c969fd3770fa2c9bf5485b513…
Hmm, personally I don’t like this mix theme too much. In fact I don’t like it at all. This theme hurts your eyes. It is similar to some GNOME/KDE themes that try miming the OSX interface but they get an awfull result.
And the fact that they seem to drop the mailbox drawer is another thing that bother me. I hope they will release the new iChatAV with Jabber suppport for Panther and I could happily stick to my 10.3 (fortunatelly the features that Dashboard offer are already available in Konfabulator).
http://images.appleinsider.com/images/tigermailshot1.gif
I like it! :o) smooth
but the smooth gradient theme reminds me of the Persephone GUI idea I came up with for the SkyOS interface contest. Not quite as smooth as this new “Platinum 2”, but still nice IMHO.
I wish they were still on Nathan Palmer’s site (where the contest was hosted). I have it on my own machine somewhere, but it has no net access for now 🙂
It’s good to see what everyone is talking about…
I like it.
And I agree with the comments that something like Kaliedoscope ought to be part of OS X, and have every app adhere to whatever theme is selected.
Steve HATES themes, however….
This might be an opportunity for a third party developer.
Brushed Aqua?
Missed it. Anybody got a link to that screenshot somewhere else?
> Missed it. Anybody got a link to that screenshot somewhere else?
Whoops. Sorry, accidentally hadn’t read comments past “1-15”.
Still wish Apple would just make a nice fully Platinum theme for OS X.
It looks as though dot mac accounts now share this new interface on the web.
Another thing I don’t like about the OSX look are the window borders. Where are them? I mean, what’s wrong with a border??? They make a window easier to recognize over other windows and provides a place for the resize grip. And now, with this new look (like in brushed metal), they’re removing the window title bar also.
Apple uses drop shadows to show the seperation of windows. I like this much more than window borders. The transparency of the shadows allows you see the info underneath the edge of the front window. Borders also take up precious pixels, which can account for a lot of real estate if you have a lot of windows open. One thing that borders do have going for them is the ability to drag the window around by it, I think that’s what Apple uses it’s brused metal interface for though.
What a friendly bunch.
And people bitch about Microsoft’s legal threats……..
Good grief.