why is itunes 10 grey?

[zxcvb]

what happened with beautiful color icons? now they are all grey, is that supposed to make itunes faster?

[California King]

Probably because all OS X icons are also 1 color. Just makes things easier on the eyes for some people, I guess.

[lbro]

what happened with beautiful color icons? now they are all grey, is that supposed to make itunes faster?

I guess the designers at Apple thought grey looks better. I liked the colored icons better too.

[XianPalin]

Came on here to see if anyone else had the problem or if they forgot to include the colors in my download :)

[amadeusamadeus]

i can't stand it

[rdowty]

Probably because all OS X icons are also 1 color. Just makes things easier on the eyes for some people, I guess.

The icons in finder are in color.

[techfreak85]

Because listening to music correctly requires no external color bias. It can distract from the true tone of the music. Plus, it gets you in the depressed mood that the artist was in when he wrote the music.

[Dejital]

Does anybody know where I could download the previous version of iTunes instead? Not impressed with the newest.

Edit: Found it right here:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/10057115

[alust2013]

I don't like it. Nor do I like the new icon

[nbnbxdnb]

That universal grey color works for me. I think it looks fantastic, except the new icon.

[H. Flower]

The idea is to visually emphasize content.

[Dejital]

Removing color from the little icons makes navigation more tough. Making everything look grey and hazy worsens that problem.

[Roofy.]

I think everything looks much better, including the icon.

[Richie2000]

I agree. The all Grey effect is grim. Bring back the coloured icons

[Revelation78]

I guess I'm one of the few that prefer the new look.

To each their own, I guess.

[Peace]

I think they made it grey because if a person has a big library the graphics get bogged down. This helps.

[jotade11]

That universal grey color works for me. I think it looks fantastic, except the new icon.

Are you kidding me?! It looks so ugly now :( Seems to have been rushed and I'm pretty disappointed. Why do you like it?


I agree. The all Grey effect is grim. Bring back the coloured icons

YES!
I can't imagine the color slows it down ALL that much...

[tjwaido]

I am not a fan of the gray scale of the icons. That is sore on the eyes for me. Color helps me navigate more easily.

I wouldn't mind seeing an option to turn the colors "on", because that is what I prefer. By default the colors should be on, if others want it off, so be it.

The icon is not a big deal for me, as you can change that by highlighting the iTunes icon in Finder, command-I, and change the icon if you know how using copy and paste with an older version icon in the iTunes Info window.

[atticus18244fsa]

I like the icon. Everything else, not so much.

[EricNau]

Even iTunes preferences is entirely grayscale. It's throwing me off, for sure. Hoping it'll grow on me with time.

[clientsiman]

I feel like I am color blind... This is the ugliest itunes yet.

[OutThere]

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.


edit: so I totally underestimated the demand for this and blew through 80gb of bandwidth on this file alone. :o Someone has mirrored it here: http://obamapacman.com/2010/09/how-to-add-color-icons-apple-itunes-10-gray-sidebar-mod/

[JCMusic]

I miss the colors. They could have offered a choice to use colors or not via preferences?

[Winni]

what happened with beautiful color icons? now they are all grey, is that supposed to make itunes faster?

Budget cuts. To meet their quarterly figures, they had to save somewhere. :)

[fatfreddy]

I like the new icon it reminds me of the 'Fluidtunes' icon. I don't really mind the lack of colour, because once I've chosen the album I want to listen to I just close the iTunes window.

[eyup]

These dismal grey icons are making navigation a lot harder - ugh.

[medopal]

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


Oh dude thanks, it works like charm. I tried it on Snow Leopard (updated) and its working very good.

One small request, how do you open the rsrc file and tweak it? Was that using XCode?

[ghostlyorb]

I like the color in the old builds. This is kinda annoying. I use iTunes all day and having everything one color makes it harder to use- a little.

[Jolly Jimmy]

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb) (http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10colors.zip)

Instructions included.


Thanks a bunch! Looking good, no problems here.

[xlii]

what happened with beautiful color icons? now they are all grey, is that supposed to make itunes faster?

Grey Powell was removed from the iPhone team and transferred to the iTunes 10 design team. He was given the important task of picking the color scheme... what color did you expect him to pick?

[ReggaeFire]

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.



Thanks, this is awesome! The only icons I saw that didn't get changed are the device icons, but that's not too big a deal.

[Pixel Eater]

Because listening to music correctly requires no external color bias. It can distract from the true tone of the music. Plus, it gets you in the depressed mood that the artist was in when he wrote the music.

No, listening to music correctly requires a whole different program ;(

[techfreak85]

No, listening to music correctly requires a whole different program ;(
Sadly, you are right. My favorite is this (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2583/3673408623_448f6afec6.jpg) one.

[Brinkman]

Like everything about the new design except the traffic light.

[zkhrhm]

It's simply a port of the iPod interface on the iPad. Seriously, does no one on MR have an iPad, and have you not noticed that this was what it looked like? :confused:

[OutThere]

Oh dude thanks, it works like charm. I tried it on Snow Leopard (updated) and its working very good.

One small request, how do you open the rsrc file and tweak it? Was that using XCode?

ThemePark 3. I'm on my iPhone right now so I cant get you a link but you can find it easily. Great little program.

[cash4chaos]

Thanks a bunch! Looking good, no problems here.

Bravo sir !:D

[BigJohno]

I have grown to like it. At first I thought it looked really ugly and hard to read. It does seem to be "snappier" when searching and scrolling through music. The icon looks like Microsoft. Why would they make it with a blue background when there isn't any color in the application?

[tlinford]

Surly the new mono-chrome side-bar is an error? Steve Jobs said some things had changed, like the iTunes icon. This is ok, the new icon, looks fine, doesn't really change anything though.... it doesn't make it harder or easier to find - in many ways this is an indifferent change: but the black and white side-bar icons, iCon, I've been conned by the powers of Job's reality distortion bubble !

The monochrome side bar makes iTunes harder to use. I am not a long in the tooth iTunes guy, just started using it a lot when i got an iPhone 4..... i used it before but by copying files to my phone via bluetooth... iTunes is really good.... started liking it, started using the iTunes store ... got the hang of all the different folders' music, movies, apps podcasts and audio books ... even started making my own movies and ringtones ...... but where has all the colour gone..?... what made it easy to learn was the colours!!!! what made it nice to use was the colours..... 'ping' ok I was prepared to have a look at 'ping', but this makes me not want to bother!!! really it's so bad!

Apple bring back the colours, ok, please!? .... pretty please ..... with knobs on?

and not to diminish my plea ....... do you know how many people miss the colourful old G3 clamshell design ..... lots! that's how many! I would like to say that I'm feeling 'Blue' but that be an exaggeration !?

[wwooden]

The new grey theme makes it look like iTunes is always in the background, I'm not a fan.

[jacg]

I like the new grey look but then I always hated it when a menubar icon used colour instead of the Mac black & white look. If I ever see iTunes 9.x again I'll probably wondered how I lived with all those XP-like colours.

Scrolling in 10 seems smoother and the other interface tweaks are generally effective. The vertical traffic light seems like a good idea to save vertical space until you double click a playlist to open a new window. I wonder if they will develop this idea for other apps which don't need a title along the top of the window? (admittedly most windows do rely on a title, but there is still a lot of empty space between the traffic lights and the pill)

Steve said syncing was improved but there didn't seem to be any new options, just a much more OS X-like interface when devices are connected and more detailed feedback during the sync process.

I like the new icon - it is distinctive in my busy (auto-hiding, too many colours!) dock.

[skiltrip]

I hate the grey icons. Depressing, drab, and indeed looks like I have another window selected. I hope they fix this in 10.0.1 or at least give us the option to turn the color back on.

[Night Spring]

+1 for hating the gray. I now have to squint at the icons to distinguish between them by shape, whereas I now realize that before, I was searching for icons mainly by their color -- hit the blue square to look at my apps, for example. And as other people have said, the gray makes it look like all the options are deselected or disabled. *And* it makes me feel depressed. :(

[JustsomedudeIRL]

Looks like a Windows program to be honest.

[gorby]

Why not?


I think it looks better.

[f00f]

Not a huge fan of the colors scheme either; as someone else said it makes me feel colorblind!

Also not a fan of the placement of the red/yellow/green buttons. However, these preference reverts it back to the old arrangement:


defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -boolean TRUE


Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20015428-263.html

[Dim3wit]

Why would they make it with a blue background when there isn't any color in the application?

The new grey theme makes it look like iTunes is always in the background, I'm not a fan.

Looks like a Windows program to be honest.

I remember when I first downloaded iTunes9 and thought, "Wow, this is ugly!"

Now I'm glad just to get its theme back. Thanks, OutThere, for making such a thing possible.

The icon is terrible, the interface it terrible, the vertical buttons...

Occasionally, Apple does something to disappoint me... but this is really bad. I'm worried about what Apple is going to do next. :(

[yadmonkey]

The new grey theme makes it look like iTunes is always in the background, I'm not a fan.

You hit it on the nose. Last night I kept clicking on the iTunes window to try and bring it to the front.

[manu chao]

I remember when I first downloaded iTunes9 and thought, "Wow, this is ugly!"

Now I'm glad just to get its theme back. Thanks, OutThere, for making such a thing possible.

The icon is terrible, the interface it terrible, the vertical buttons...

The icon is weird, the storage indicator is definitely ugly (the old one had some flair to it) and the list view harder to read (and takes up more space).

But the vertical traffic lights are fine with me, they anyway don't really have any function (I never used the minimized interface and there is no point in a close button).

[gorby]

I think the list view is actually easier to read. The spacing makes everything less cramped.

[celticpride678]

I am actually a very big fan of the new iTunes UI. I think Apple finally nailed it. Only thing that's going to take a bit getting used to is the vertical traffic lights.

[VaderMonkey]

I hate the greyness so much I emailed Steve this morning about how dull and grey it is and he simply replied, "The focus is on the album art, not the tiny icons.".

I just hope enough people hate it for them to add some colour back in.

[aeldron]

The icons for me they look like everything is disabled. That's the convention on any software, greyed out things means 'disabled', 'unavailable', 'innactive', etc.

Is there a way to customize the look? It's making navigating really difficult, I can't quickly spot the option I want, everything looks the same!

[TuffLuffJimmy]

I think they made it grey because if a person has a big library the graphics get bogged down. This helps.

LOL WUT?

I dig the new interface only because now you can remove the icons from the sidebar, iTunes has a thinner chrome, and you can remove the check boxes from view.


I only wish there were a way to remove Ping. Anyone know how to get that out of the sidebar?

[kilzo]

Incredible. The one consistent thing across all operating systems has always been: greyed out = disabled. When I first launched iTunes 10 and it began to update my library, I thought "Weird that they would disable the left menu for that". But apparently, that's how Apple wants iTunes to look: permanently disabled.

And about the new icon: it doesn't even matter if you like it or not. I guess I like it fine, when viewed by itself. Problem is, I will never see it by itself. I see it in the Dock, among dozens of other icons, where its total breech of style makes it stand out like a sore thumb.

The key to ANY good design is consistency. I NEVER thought this would be something that needed to be explained to Apple.

[manu chao]

I hate the greyness so much I emailed Steve this morning about how dull and grey it is and he simply replied, "The focus is on the album art, not the tiny icons.".

Guess what, a lot of people prefer plain list mode. I search my music by artist, song, or album name. With over 800 albums, visually searching through album art is just not practical. And a playlist with all songs from different albums is not very practical to browse via album art.

[fcortese]

I guess the designers at Apple thought grey looks better. I liked the colored icons better too.
+1 although the R/Y/G buttons in the top left are now vertically aligned rather than horizontal.

[AcesHigh87]

I find it kinda gives it a nice sleek look which is probably what they were going for but that's just one graphic designer's opinion.

As far as people saying they don't like the logo, I actually love that as well, but at least that's easy to change if you want to. Run a search on here, you'll find plenty of topics about changing icons.

[gorby]

I hate the greyness so much I emailed Steve this morning about how dull and grey it is and he simply replied, "The focus is on the album art, not the tiny icons.".
.

lmao

+1 for steve

I really don't get why there has to be color all over the place. No one complains that they don't make the finder menu rainbow colored :confused:

[Claod]

Hi everyone !!!

What's wrong with apple ...
No colors ...
What is this icone --' ... in my dock ...
Stone age is back ?

I can't do anything with the sidebar ... because the firewall say all time " do you want ...connexion itunes.app blabla blaaa"
--'
So I just can change the iTunes icone ...yes the blue thing in my dock ... I can change it without have this message ... But nothing work for the rest please help me because I don't want listen any music with this no-:apple:'s app

><

Sorry for my English ... I'm French xD
Thank you if you can find issues for me, actually I just want to see iTunes 9 style back in my mac without any pop-up message ...

And now you know ... I hate black icons and the dock icon me too... one more !

[chrono1081]

Not a huge fan of the colors scheme either; as someone else said it makes me feel colorblind!

Also not a fan of the placement of the red/yellow/green buttons. However, these preference reverts it back to the old arrangement:


defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -boolean TRUE


Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20015428-263.html

Thank you!!! I HATED the traffic light!

The first thing I did was do the feedback button in iTunes. I hate the grey icons. I actually have to read everything to know what it is since it doesn't stand out :(

[Bozley0621]

I like everything but Ping under the iTunes store. I'm not touching that thing.

[Zepaw]

Is there a way to get the lines back in list view? I don't want all the damn text merging into each other like this.

[JustsomedudeIRL]

lmao

+1 for steve

I really don't get why there has to be color all over the place. No one complains that they don't make the finder menu rainbow colored :confused:There never really was. It is just common design that an icon is associated with shape and color. Apple might as well make the dock icons monochromatic too, because the focus should be on the pretty background picture. I understand trying to be 'aesthetically' pleasing, but a bad design is still a bad design.

I think Apple is on to something with this monochromatic idea. I'm going to start watching TV in black and white. Color is so yesterday.

[UltimaLink]

Wait, what? Really?

Apple is taking away one of the things that makes OS X look so great?

Why the hell?

[Melanotis]

Without the icon colours and the feint lines I can hardly navigate. Why? I'm dyslexic. Not only is the contrast really crappy but I relied on the colours to help me navigate quickly in itunes 10 everything looks the same. I also hate the new application icon but wouldn't mind if I could just have the colours and lines back. I can't imagine it would be impossible to at least list it as an option under preferences.

I actually used my timecapsule to restore my older version of itunes. If anyone else wants to do the same just remember to also restore your library file. Not the whole darn folder of actual media but the item in the itunes folder called well "itunes library".

[H. Flower]

There never really was. It is just common design that an icon is associated with shape and color. Apple might as well make the dock icons monochromatic too, because the focus should be on the pretty background picture. I understand trying to be 'aesthetically' pleasing, but a bad design is still a bad design.

You're wrong about this. Most professional software uses monochromatic icon schemes because it places visual emphasis on the content itself. And Apple's designs have always been media-centric, so its a bit surprising it took them this long to focus all visual emphasis on the album covers themselves.

Think about it....how much of your itunes experience is delegated to the sidebar, compared to consuming the content itself? Probably a tenth of a fraction. The majority of your time is spent media managing. Form follows function.

Your dock icon example is D.O.A because the function of the dock isn't to manage visual media.


I think Apple is on to something with this monochromatic idea. I'm going to start watching TV in black and white. Color is so yesterday.

You really should watch b&w movies....particularly noir.....you may learn something from the masters on monochromatic design aesthetics!

[H. Flower]

The icons for me they look like everything is disabled. That's the convention on any software, greyed out things means 'disabled', 'unavailable', 'innactive', etc.

That was the convention on windows, not OSX. And it certainly isn't a convention in software.


Is there a way to customize the look? It's making navigating really difficult, I can't quickly spot the option I want, everything looks the same!

No offense, I'm just having a really hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that the sidebar is extremely difficult for you or anyone else to navigate. To me it's like an admission that you can't read or something. How did you ever navigate the songs themselves?

[Melanotis]

No offense, I'm just having a really hard time wrapping my mind around the idea that the sidebar is hard for you or anyone else to navigate. To me it's like an admission that you can't read or something.

How about this for you. I'm dyslexic. I'm a writer. I am a capable reader. I manage because black on white is clear. I have used apple computers since the mac plus and my life got easier the day I bought my colour computer because colour icons make it easier for people like me to navigate.

So yeah. I can barely navigate the gray on gray bar. And if you give me gray on gray paper I can 't read that either.

[Migra]

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb) (http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10colors.zip)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.

http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10screenshot.png

(http://www.drien.com/projects.php)

Thanx so much!!! the gray ones are terribly ugly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[mousouchop]

Not a huge fan of the colors scheme either; as someone else said it makes me feel colorblind!

Also not a fan of the placement of the red/yellow/green buttons. However, these preference reverts it back to the old arrangement:


defaults write com.apple.iTunes full-window -boolean TRUE


Source: http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20015428-263.html

Thank you! I use the Graphite theme on Mac OS X (hate the green, yellow, red buttons), and my vertical buttons were blue for some reason! Now they are back to their good old horizontal, grey self.

I also agree with a previous poster. The focus is on the content, the media. Think about Adobe Photoshop-- the toolbox icons are monochrome. You should be focused on the media, not the menu.

[H. Flower]

How about this for you. I'm dyslexic. I'm a writer. I am a capable reader. I manage because black on white is clear. I have used apple computers since the mac plus and my life got easier the day I bought my colour computer because colour icons make it easier for people like me to navigate.

So yeah. I can barely navigate the gray on gray bar. And if you give me gray on gray paper I can 't read that either.

Then that makes you the first person I've read to have a legitimate gripe about this topic.

[medgirl2001]

Probably because all OS X icons are also 1 color. Just makes things easier on the eyes for some people, I guess.

Sidebar icons are different colors in iPhoto. The iPhoto sidebar is closely analogous to the iTunes sidebar.

I don't like the gray icons. It looks non-functional and makes it harder to move quickly from one thing to another.

It's ironic to me that the ads and web site for the iPod nano and shuffle are so colorful, while iTunes is bland and gray.

[Claod]

I'm french but ... I'm very very ... very cool ^^

I know how to remove the " do you want to ... itunes.app to accept incoming connexions blabla "

Here there is a way http://forums.macnn.com/79/developer-center/355720/how-re-sign-apples-applications-once/
You must re-sign the application !

Create certificate like them
make it valid export the certificate like .cer in your desktop
rename in .crt
and put it in this folder (create it if it's not here)
/etc/certificates

ex:

name your certificate A
export it like A.cer
rename A.crt
put it in/etc/certificate
so the way is /etc/certificates/A.crt now

type in the terminal.app : codesign -f -s A (or /etc/certificates/A.crt /Applications/iTunes (or another)

let's finish

Hop your App is signed
Start the application ... crap ... this message again ! Yes but juste once ! ^^

So now I have everything working find !

Hope It helps ++

[illegalprelude]

I love everything about the new setup except the lack of color. Im ok with the new icons and the new font it seems. A lot more clarity and a lot more crisp but why no color!. The icons just dont stand out anymore. Bring back the colors!

[thejadedmonkey]

Ugh this is disgusting.

[Night Spring]

Then that makes you the first person I've read to have a legitimate gripe about this topic.

I'm not dyslexic, but the text in iTunes sidebar are too small for me to read comfortably, and now that they are grey, even harder to make out. I want dark black on white, and I want my icons colored!

And whomever said they spend the majority of their time in iTunes managing content, well, perhaps that's fine if all you have in iTunes is music. But nowadays, iTunes handles podcasts, ibooks, movies, tv shows, music videos, apps -- I spend most of my time switching between the various media. It never bothered me before, until the icons turned all grey and now I have to squint to distinguish between them.

BTW, any chance someone could do a Windows version of that mod that lets you usethe colored sidebar icons from iTunes 9?

[iFanaddic]

Apple is very very minimalistic (comes from the word minimum). They want everything to look zen, clean and uncluttered. IMO that's one of the reason people love apple so much..No? Think about it..it's part what defines them just look at their stores or their packaging. Sleek, clean and uniform. If it does not need to be there it won't be. It's all about perceptions.

In other words
You see it like this Color or Grey
Apple see's it this way Disparity or Uniformity

I didn't have any problem's with the old icons, but I don't miss them either.. Change is good! Embrace it! (just kidding ;))

[Night Spring]

If it does not need to be there it won't be.

Key word here is "need." As I said earlier, I needed the color. Or at least it made my life easier.

[NicoleRichie]

I like change... that is what I am telling myself.

[iFanaddic]

Key word here is "need." As I said earlier, I needed the color. Or at least it made my life easier.

I don't think you can call it a need if you can live without it. But I do see you're point of view don't worry. I think in most cases people who do like it colored, like it because of aesthetic reasons not for helping them navigate around.

Hopefully you'll get use to it or apple will come out with a toggle to turn that option on/off.

[QuarterSwede]

I'm not dyslexic, but the text in iTunes sidebar are too small for me to read comfortably, and now that they are grey, even harder to make out. I want dark black on white, and I want my icons colored!
...
It never bothered me before, until the icons turned all grey and now I have to squint to distinguish between them.

Preferences > General > Source Text: Large


Hopefully you'll get use to it or apple will come out with a toggle to turn that option on/off.
LOL ... Riiiiiiiiiiight.

[iFanaddic]

Preferences > General > Source Text: Large


LOL ... Riiiiiiiiiiight.

Well they did add the Dark/Light grid view because of all the complaints they were getting... I agree with you chances are slim but they've done it in the past.

[freebooter]

I completely agree with those who say the new grey icons make it harder to navigate.
Dumb choice.

[Night Spring]

Preferences > General > Source Text: Large

I do have it set to Large. It's still too small. I think everyone at Apple must have 20/20 eyesight. One of the things I don't like about OSX is that the system font, in general, is so tiny, and I couldn't find any way to change the font size.

[spacepower7]

Anybody remember M$ Internet Explorer 5 on Mac that actually let users pic a color theme? I guess choice was so 1999 :rolleyes:

[manu chao]

You're wrong about this. Most professional software uses monochromatic icon schemes because it places visual emphasis on the content itself. And Apple's designs have always been media-centric, so its a bit surprising it took them this long to focus all visual emphasis on the album covers themselves.
And that is because these people have to judge and adjust the colour of their content and thus need as little as possible of distraction when actually doing work. When you select anything in iTunes, you do not judge or adjust the colour of album artwork. Having undisturbed colour judgment is definitely not necessary inside iTunes.

Think about it....how much of your itunes experience is delegated to the sidebar, compared to consuming the content itself? Probably a tenth of a fraction. The majority of your time is spent media managing. Form follows function.

Your dock icon example is D.O.A because the function of the dock isn't to manage visual media.

The Dock is used to switch between different applications (similarly to switching between different types of content within iTunes). And no, I don't manage visual media in iTunes, my library is Artist-centric and podcast-name-centric, not album-centric, thus using album art to find something is not really useful (certainly not with over 800 different albums).

[Elbradamontes]

Your current iTunes library is grey and dull. You used to enjoy it, but now each time you use it, it just seems less and less satisfying. The iTunes store however, full of color! Wow. Just look at all those shiny colorful icons and pictures. Jeez, I sure could be happy...if I just download all that color into my iTunes account.

One thing though, iTunes 10 was much more successful at finding artwork to download. Now about 45% of my albums have artwork. And I've never torrented. Maybe copied four cds from friends. So I do wish it did a better job. Oh well, I don't buy cds anymore. I just go to Color Wonderland where all my music color tv movie dreams can come true!

[aeldron]

That works beautifully, thank you!!


I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb) (http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10colors.zip)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.

http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10screenshot.png

(http://www.drien.com/projects.php)

[gojira]

I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but....

Thank you!

It's good enough for me!

[maflynn]

What the heck. Why is apple doing this, the close/min/max traffic light is vertical not horizontal. Why does apple develop standards only to ignore them :confused: And the monochromatic icons are plain and bland.

The more I see of apple lately, the more I wonder if they lost their way.

[gojira]

What the heck. Why is apple doing this, the close/min/max traffic light is vertical not horizontal. Why does apple develop standards only to ignore them :confused: And the monochromatic icons are plain and bland.

The more I see of apple lately, the more I wonder if they lost their way.

I suppose they're trying new things. But this is one change that seems to be random and kills usability.

Remember when they changed the way the iTunes minimize button? LOTS of people complained and they changed it back on the next point release update.

Hopefully they'll switch back to colors, or add a Color or Graphite Preference.

I just applied swapped out the .rsrc files in iTunes X (saving a copy of the original just in case) and it works fine and looks good.

[maflynn]

One question I have, will we suddenly see a vertical close/min/max traffic light in 10.7? If apps are starting to have it, is it unreasonable to assume this may make its way into the next version of OSX?

[yojo056]

So i was googling today and I found a fix to get the color back. I hope this helps! I sure don't like the color change.

http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/09/03/apple-itunes-10-comes-with-cosmetic-changes-lack-of-colorful-icons-here-is-how-you-can-add-the-missing-color-back-into-itunes-10-move-the-minimizezoom-buttons-back-to-the-top/

[medgirl2001]

It's simply a port of the iPod interface on the iPad. Seriously, does no one on MR have an iPad, and have you not noticed that this was what it looked like? :confused:

Now that you mention it, I do see that it is like the iPad interface. I actually rarely use the iPod app on the iPad, so I didn't even think of it.

I think it's a different issue with iTunes, though. On the iPad, space is more limited and a lot of colorful icons might be distracting. With iTunes on a computer, there is plenty of room for a bit of color.

Someone posted here a supposed email reply from Steve Jobs saying it lets the album art stand out, which is fine in views where you see album art. But you see the same, boring gray when viewing other things, too (Ringtones, for example, or playlists where art isn't selected as the view).

[fcortese]

I suppose they're trying new things. But this is one change that seems to be random and kills usability.

Remember when they changed the way the iTunes minimize button? LOTS of people complained and they changed it back on the next point release update.

Hopefully they'll switch back to colors, or add a Color or Graphite Preference.

I just applied swapped out the .rsrc files in iTunes X (saving a copy of the original just in case) and it works fine and looks good.

If enough people give feed back on iTunes about this, maybe they will change it back. It's worth a try. It would be like signing a petition.

[sashakla]

i don't care about the color or the "traffic light" (although the analogy is amusing and i have to admit i've never thought about it this way until i saw the buttons placed vertically).
question: clicking on the artwork in the lower-left corner (when set to Now Playing) had always brought up the original size art work for the song. but i've never noticed that window actually becoming a player window with full controls!
once it's there i can click on the red button in the traffic light of the main window and the whole iTunes juggernaut goes away, while a light control window stays. nice. always hated the mini-player mode, but this looks much better to me.
is it new in 10 or did i just figure out something that's always been there??

[chrono1081]

Open iTunes

Click on iTunes->Provide iTunes Feedback and write what you hate about it in the little block. I did! :D

[tkermit]

Well they did add the Dark/Light grid view because of all the complaints they were getting... I agree with you chances are slim but they've done it in the past.

I could see them rearranging the preferences window a little bit.

http://grab.by/grabs/e28e85559fa12a5773117f0488097f1e.png
http://grab.by/grabs/10a3c32dc1b242f0a8e0536a5f3c973e.png

Or, you know, not... :p

[fcortese]

Open iTunes

Click on iTunes->Provide iTunes Feedback and write what you hate about it in the little block. I did! :D

thanks chrono...that's what I was trying to say and I also did give feedback.:)

[chrono1081]

So i was googling today and I found a fix to get the color back. I hope this helps! I sure don't like the color change.

http://nexus404.com/Blog/2010/09/03/apple-itunes-10-comes-with-cosmetic-changes-lack-of-colorful-icons-here-is-how-you-can-add-the-missing-color-back-into-itunes-10-move-the-minimizezoom-buttons-back-to-the-top/

This worked FLAWLESSLY.

[manu chao]

Now that you mention it, I do see that it is like the iPad interface.
Except naturally that the iPod app on the iPad only has three categories: Music, Audiobooks, and Podcasts. And that the distinction between playlists and smart playlists is irrelevant on the iPad as they behave identically (one cannot create or edit a smart playlist on an iPad).

And that there is a nice colourful violet icon for the Store (the iTunes app), a nice colourful turquoise icon for Movies (the Videos app), a nice colourful blue icon for the Appstore (the App Store app), and last but not least the nice colourful orange icon for the iPod app itself.

[Rialc]

Is it just me or doesn't the new iTunes look very much like the famous 1984 commercial.
Are we turning into proles.

[sltyler1]

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb) (http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10colors.zip)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.

http://www.drien.com/macrumors/random/itunes10screenshot.png

(http://www.drien.com/projects.php)

anyone know how to fix it for pc users? :(

[JRoDDz]

what happened with beautiful color icons? now they are all grey, is that supposed to make itunes faster?

Mr. Jobs suddenly went color blind? :eek:

[x7tommy]

Now it takes up more screen space too! I could usually fit around 44 tracks on a 15" screen now only 37 show. I had no problems before finding songs without that extra spacing. Its stupid. You should be able to shrink down your page like other programs using the command or option +/- keys.

Also bring back some color, music is supposed to be fun not grey and boring!!

Now its time on Sprockets when we dance!!

[roadbloc]

I think even Linux would be embarrassed with the state of iTunes at the moment. The past 3 releases have done nothing but make it uglier and harder to use.

[benh911f]

Any fix for the PC version? Besides, "Get a Mac,":rolleyes: which I plan on getting for my next computer.

[clientsiman]

I think even Linux would be embarrassed with the state of iTunes at the moment. The past 3 releases have done nothing but make it uglier and harder to use.

I don't follow you. Linux is getting better every year and it's beautiful in you know how to do some basic customisation.

On the other hand, iTunes it's getting useless features, makes at least questionable UI changes.

I think nowadays its all about iDevices and sadly not mac. (Where is iLife,iWork?)

[Prinz Tamino]

Is there any solution out there that continues to work when the "Large" font is chosen? Could someone help with that too?

Thanks!

[Blondie :)]

Yeah I think it's pretty lame they got rid of the colors. It kept iTunes more interesting. O well, at least they have a more colorful icon now :) haha

[Melanotis]

I don't follow you. Linux is getting better every year and it's beautiful in you know how to do some basic customisation.

On the other hand, iTunes it's getting useless features, makes at least questionable UI changes.

I think nowadays its all about iDevices and sadly not mac. (Where is iLife,iWork?)

I'm kind of at a loss on this one too. It's been a few years since I played with ubuntu but I rather liked it. I can only imagine it's gotten better.

I've also been thinking about the focus on the ipod/phone/pad what have you. Maybe they feel like they have reached the end of OS potential with Snow Leopard, which honestly doesn't seem that different to Leopard. But while I come up blank when thinking of improvements, I'm sure many people on this forum have great ideas on what to change.

I'm better with examining the usability of individual programs and can definitely see how iLife and iWork have room for improvement.

As for iTunes? I just wish it was more customizable.

[x7tommy]

I hear you can copy the icons from the iTunes 9 "resources" folder and drag them back into 10 "resources". (If you have 9 backed up probably)

that should work too?

I renamed iTunes 9 before I loaded up 10 anyway so it wouldn't copy over it.
Then I saved my library and made sure to hit option and choose which library to open.

[JustsomedudeIRL]

I can't tell if it is just in my head or not. Does iTunes 10 use a different text? If it does is there a simple way to change it back to iTunes 9 text?

[Shaun.P]

Your current iTunes library is grey and dull. You used to enjoy it, but now each time you use it, it just seems less and less satisfying. The iTunes store however, full of color! Wow. Just look at all those shiny colorful icons and pictures. Jeez, I sure could be happy...if I just download all that color into my iTunes account.

One thing though, iTunes 10 was much more successful at finding artwork to download. Now about 45% of my albums have artwork. And I've never torrented. Maybe copied four cds from friends. So I do wish it did a better job. Oh well, I don't buy cds anymore. I just go to Color Wonderland where all my music color tv movie dreams can come true!

Very amusing! :p

[cecilia123]

Plus, it gets you in the depressed mood that the artist was in when he wrote the music.

[x7tommy]

I can't tell if it is just in my head or not. Does iTunes 10 use a different text? If it does is there a simple way to change it back to iTunes 9 text?

I don't think they changed the font but they made more spacing in between the lines. So now you can see even LESS songs in your library. There were no problems with readability before now it just takes you that much longer to scroll through your whole library...great job guys!!

Before I could fit about 44 tracks on a page with a 15" screen. Now it fits about 37 tracks. They need an option to shrink or resize your text a little more!!

[tkermit]

I don't think they changed the font but they made more spacing in between the lines. So now you can see even LESS songs in your library. There were no problems with readability before now it just takes you that much longer to scroll through your whole library...great job guys!!

Before I could fit about 44 tracks on a page with a 15" screen. Now it fits about 37 tracks. They need an option to shrink or resize your text a little more!!

I'm not sure whether the change has improved readibility, but personally I think I appreciate the added whitespace. Everything has a bit of breathing room. It makes the whole thing seem a little lighter, more airy and pleasing. I feel like I can still fit a lot of songs on one page, even on my 13" 1280x800 screen. In fact, I'm losing only a total of 4 songs per displayed page when no artwork is displayed. On the other hand, if you like to have your artwork shown, the new iTunes is much more efficient with space - in my example picture I can display 16 more songs on that one page. Not too shabby…

But I also appreciate the grayness, so what do I know ;)

[Hrududu]

Mac OS and its software is starting to look more and more like Mac OS 8 than early versions of OSX. Boot up a Jaguar system and compare it to Leopard or Snow Leopard. Then compare it to Mac OS 8 or 9's platinum look.

[phonk]

I'm not sure whether the change has improved readibility, but personally I think I appreciate the added whitespace. Everything has a bit of breathing room. It makes the whole thing seem a little lighter, more airy and pleasing. I feel like I can still fit a lot of songs on one page, even on my 13" 1280x800 screen. In fact, I'm losing only a total of 4 songs per displayed page when no artwork is displayed. On the other hand, if you like to have your artwork shown, the new iTunes is much more efficient with space - in my example picture I can display 16 more songs on that one page. Not too shabby…

But I also appreciate the grayness, so what do I know ;)

Thanks for the comparison. I like the new look much better. Very nice and uncluttered.

[JustsomedudeIRL]

It's all a matter of taste. There was a time when I absolutely loved browsing my music by Cover Flow. Then after some time when the grid view came out I grew fond of that, using the artist sort column. Currently I'm not a huge fan of either. I've been in a text view + search bar mood.

With that said, iTunes 10 just isn't jiving with me. List view simply looks and feels better in iTunes 9. I gave hybrid a try but found the inconsistent appearance of album art to look a bit random for my tastes.

Who knows though, maybe in a week I may come around and like hybrid view and iTunes 10. Apple seems to know what I want before I actually want it.

[ViViDboarder]

First some thoughts on the lack of color... Such a poor design choice. I don't know what the heck they were thinking! Color makes it easier for users to jump to certain aspects of menus faster. Not that I have anything against reading... but it's easier to see the colors than to read the menu item. Color is a technology we accept as standard now! Grey? Why Grey? I'd rather have it solid Black. Also, what's with the new volume slider? Why can't Apple make iTunes fit the theme for the rest of OSX?

Second, the spacing is rediculous! The only reason I tolerate a music library is that it's easier for me to sift through my large collection of music. To do that I need to fit the most info on my screen at once.

Lastly, I'm kind of growing tired of Apple "knowing what's best for us". Why not make it an option to add color? The images are already made. Why not let us use the old version of Expose if it works better for us instead of the crappy one in Snow Leopard? The other versions are already there!!! Nope. Newer version is the future! Apple says it's the best way so no going back.

It's crap. It makes me appreciate my Linux box more and more and start resenting my iMac...

I think this is going to be the final straw that pushes me to DoubleTwist full time...

I think even Linux would be embarrassed with the state of iTunes at the moment. The past 3 releases have done nothing but make it uglier and harder to use.

I'm pretty sure Linux users don't even miss not having iTunes... Most Linux users aren't fans of Bloatware.

[tkermit]

First some thoughts on the lack of color... Such a poor design choice. I don't know what the heck they were thinking! Color makes it easier for users to jump to certain aspects of menus faster. Not that I have anything against reading... but it's easier to see the colors than to read the menu item. Color is a technology we accept as standard now!

But if you think about it, wouldn't such a rule have to be applied to real world user interfaces as well, when it comes to "selecting a source" ? I definitely wouldn't want to have an interface colored in such a way on my stereo - would you? :eek:

I'm pretty sure that there's not a clear and definite rule here, since color can be distracting as well, or may simply not look as good as monochrome icons in certain contexts. It's certainly possible for usability and/or enjoyability to actually suffer due to the use of color. Especially when the focus should be on something else most of the time. Not saying that that's definitely the case here, but it's worth keeping in mind.

It's crap. It makes me appreciate my Linux box more and more and start resenting my iMac...

Now you've lost me. :)

Mac OS and its software is starting to look more and more like Mac OS 8 than early versions of OSX. Boot up a Jaguar system and compare it to Leopard or Snow Leopard. Then compare it to Mac OS 8 or 9's platinum look.

I don't know about that...well, I guess you do have a point, but, in so far as that is true, I think it's a positive development. I mean, thank god we got rid of some of the overdone transparency, superfluous stripes and cheesy metal. Early versions of OS X definitely had their charm, but I still think that some of the specific UI decisions there were due to a trend whose time has come and gone. Although I feel that it had a certain endearing quality to it that has, sadly, been lost.

http://grab.by/grabs/968cf75ba779ebedf46df495e8b55876.png
http://grab.by/grabs/ae20dc2f8686647011d352fd91375d84.png

(both screenshots taken from here (http://iindigo3d.com/blog/?page_id=40))

[ViViDboarder]

But if you think about it, wouldn't such a rule have to be applied to real world user interfaces as well, when it comes to "selecting a source" ? I definitely wouldn't want to have an interface colored in such a way on my stereo - would you? :eek:

I'm pretty sure that there's not a clear and definite rule here, since color can be distracting as well, or may simply not look as good as monochrome icons in certain contexts. It's certainly possible for usability and/or enjoyability to actually suffer due to the use of color. Especially when the focus should be on something else most of the time. Not saying that that's definitely the case here, but it's worth keeping in mind.



Now you've lost me. :)


True, it shouldn't be a rule, but there are plenty of places where color is used and used very well. I think menu items are one of them. You look at menus on your TV even. Mine have color icons. Look at video game controllers. Not only do they have letter markings, but most have a different color for each button. There are a lot of memorization games that use colors and letters. I always find I do far better memorizing patterns in colors than in letters.

As for Linux... I really was referring to the fact that it's such a customizable system. I can use any version of any software or even change specific parts easily. Also, when features are added to most software... they are just added. As there in addition to the old features. It's just that this is not the first time that Apple took away features I really liked.

[tkermit]

@ViViDBoarder Yeah that sounds reasonable. :)

[phonk]

Look at video game controllers. Not only do they have letter markings, but most have a different color for each button.

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//2010/08/31/New_controller_610x537.jpg
Source http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20015189-17.html

Grey is the new colorful.

[JustsomedudeIRL]

http://i.i.com.com/cnwk.1d/i/tim//2010/08/31/New_controller_610x537.jpg
Source http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20015189-17.html

Grey is the new colorful.
That would be a good example minus the fact they are marketing that as a 'premium' controller. People associate those colors with more expensive and higher quality goods. The colored buttons on controllers are still way more user friendly.

[jasone6]

...But I also appreciate the grayness, so what do I know ;)
Thanks for the comparisons. By switching back and forth between your images, I was able to confirm in even greater measure that I hate the new interface in just about every way! I don't think I'll ever be "upgrading" unless/until they return to a better interface. I want my information densely packed, clearly delineated and easy to navigate (including important color-cues for peripheral perception). I detest this new design.

[wjlafrance]

All these posts about the colors bogging it down remind me of back in the day when you set your Mac OS 7 laptop to black and white to save battery life.

[tkermit]

Thanks for the comparisons. By switching back and forth between your images, I was able to confirm in even greater measure that I hate the new interface in just about every way! I don't think I'll ever be "upgrading" unless/until they return to a better interface. I want my information densely packed, clearly delineated and easy to navigate (including important color-cues for peripheral perception). I detest this new design.

While I think what you've posted is a perfectly fine description of your needs and wants (and who knows whether the current design will even last - although I must say I don't hear Spotify (http://www.spotify.com/int/) users complaining), wouldn't you agree that the exact same point you've made about peripheral perception could similarly be made by proponents of the new design? Only they would argue, that when you're not looking at the source icons you want to be distracted by them as little as possible. So you'd actually try to eliminate peripheral perception of details in the source list. Especially in a content-driven application. It seems like a simple trade-off to me: Usability of the source list vs. distraction by it. Of course I'd be interested in user testing results that show by how much usability is even reduced now (if at all). I may be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if users were quicker to read the text label when there's a black-and-white icon next to it, which might give them an advantage in this respect.

Seems to me, that eliminating distraction as much as possible is the point behind OS X's menu bar being completely b&w nowadays - and the same thinking could even be applied to the dock as well, but of course there you have the option to hide it if you want to (and in the case of the dock, lack of color would probably really ruin its usability). Admittedly, all of these UI elements serve very different purposes. But remember that Windows' notification area did actually have color icons up until Windows 7, where only hidden icons remain colored.

Of course, it may just be a transient design that Apple has fallen in love with - like pinstripes or something... :eek:

[JustsomedudeIRL]

While I think what you've posted is a perfectly fine description of your needs and wants (and who knows whether the current design will even last - although I must say I don't hear Spotify (http://www.spotify.com/int/) users complaining), wouldn't you agree that the exact same point you've made about peripheral perception could similarly be made by proponents of the new design? Only they would argue, that when you're not looking at the source icons you want to be distracted by them as little as possible. So you'd actually try to eliminate peripheral perception of details in the source list. Especially in a content-driven application. It seems like a simple trade-off to me: Usability of the source list vs. distraction by it. Of course I'd be interested in user testing results that show by how much usability is even reduced now (if at all). I may be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if users were quicker to read the text label when there's a black-and-white icon next to it, which might give them an advantage in this respect.

Seems to me, that eliminating distraction as much as possible is the point behind OS X's menu bar being completely b&w nowadays - and the same thinking could even be applied to the dock as well, but of course there you have the option to hide it if you want to (and in the case of the dock, lack of color would probably really ruin its usability). Admittedly, all of these UI elements serve very different purposes. But remember that Windows' notification area did actually have color icons up until Windows 7, where only hidden icons remain colored.

Of course, it may just be a transient design that Apple has fallen in love with - like pinstripes or something... :eek:Because people have been complaining for years that the sidebar icons are far too distracting :rolleyes:

[JFMusikk]

I agree, I get tired of everything being grey. My safari browser is grey, my whole user interface is grey, including Logic Pro.. and now my iTunes is completely grey.

What happened to having some color ??

The newest quicktime for example, with the black bar and the stop light glyphs.

love it.

I want my interface to be like that.

and the new iTunes icon is lacking depth and personality. it looks like a rubber stamp mark sitting on my dock.

[tkermit]

Because people have been complaining for years that the sidebar icons are far too distracting :rolleyes:

Since when does Apple listen to what people are actually complaining about? They fix what you didn't even realize was broken and improve , or should I write "improve", what you were perfectly happy with :D

[JustsomedudeIRL]

Since when does Apple listen to what people are actually complaining about? They fix what you didn't even realize was broken and improve , or should I write "improve", what you were perfectly happy with :D*don't take this post personal* Where did I say anything about Apple? My point was that your post is terribly inaccurate for the simple fact that the complaint of distraction hasn't ever been an issue. Using that as a counter-argument puts your point null and void. You find and see the icons when you are consciously thinking about them, otherwise they get lost in the distance. This is true for many things. Think about when you are focusing on your computer screen. Do you notice things to the left of the screen, the right of the screen, above the screen, and so on? Do you feel the seat against your butt? Now you do, because I brought it to your conscious level. How about the clothes on your body? I think you get the idea.

Let me break down the usability of the icons in iTunes 9 vs iTunes 10 in a very simple method.

iTunes 9 icons: shape, text, color
iTunes 10 icons: shape, text

iTunes 10 takes away a thought path in the recognition process. If I recall correctly processing shapes is different from processing color which is different from processing words. Those who recognize by shape or text wouldn't notice any issues. Those who rely heavily on color in the recognition process may suffer greatly. If this was Apples goal (now I've mentioned Apple) they have succeeded.

[tkermit]

*don't take this post personal*
I'll try ;)


Where did I say anything about Apple? My point was that your post is terribly inaccurate for the simple fact that the complaint of distraction hasn't ever been an issue. Using that as a counter-argument puts your point null and void.


Yeah, but my jokily made point was, that while people didn't complain about being distracted, the distraction may still have existed. Just like I'm currently "distracted" by the dock on my screen although I'm certainly not complaining about it. Now that people do realize that they were being distracted before, and are offered a solution that fixes this, they have an argument for the new design. It's kinda like a Jedi mind trick. ;) Admittedly it's kind of a stretch to argue like this. You'd really have to do tests to see whether people are actually less distracted now and able to better focus on and/or enjoy the content in iTunes.


You find and see the icons when you are consciously thinking about them, otherwise they get lost in the distance. This is true for many things. Think about when you are focusing on your computer screen. Do you notice things to the left of the screen, the right of the screen, above the screen, and so on? Do you feel the sneat against your butt? Now you do, because I brought it to your conscious level. How about the clothes on your body? I think you get the idea.

Unless one is uncomfortable, noticing what one's body parts are rubbing against is usually little more than proprioception. I wouldn't compare that to the sight of colorful symbols that appear in front of you, almost in your direct line of sight at almost the exact same distance as whatever you're currently looking at (I have a relatively small screen). I would disagree with you that things in your field of view that you're not focusing on automatically fade into the distance. There's a reason why traffic lights are colorful. I've made this analogy before in this thread, but I wouldn't want to have a colorful control panel in my car, because I'd expect that it would actually distract me slightly (I also might not like the look of it).

[mattwolfmatt]

I just searched for "109" in this thead, and it came up with nothing. I can't believe no one has mentioned it. It's all over the place on Macworld.com.

Try iTunes 109 (http://erambert.me/). Download it after you download iTunes 10. It keeps everything the same, but it restores the color. You even have the chance to keep or change the icon. I chose the new icon - I kinda like it.

But it's restored all the color to the sidebar!
Again, I can't believe no one has mentioned this.

[Corndog5595]

I think they made it grey because if a person has a big library the graphics get bogged down. This helps.

No.

[tkermit]

Try iTunes 109 (http://erambert.me/).

Dude you "scared" me - For a second there I thought Apple had released an updated version of iTunes that restored color to the icons. Wouldn't that be awful :eek:

[Corndog5595]

I like the gray (or is it grey?) sidebar icons. It looks nice and doesn’t pop out as much as they did in previous versions.

[tpg]

Probably because all OS X icons are also 1 color. Just makes things easier on the eyes for some people, I guess.

Er... really? I can count 4 different colours on the Numbers icon, for example. OS X icons have always seemed colourful to me.

[tpg]

I like the gray (or is it grey?) sidebar icons. It looks nice and doesn’t pop out as much as they did in previous versions.

Grey if you're British, gray if you're american :-)

[Corndog5595]

Grey if you're British, gray if you're american :-)

Thanks, I’ve been writing it incorrectly (Gray) for the last few years.
I mean: I’ve been spelling the colour gray wrong for the last few years ;)


And as long as the default theme in 10.7 isn’t graphite, I’m fine with a little grey. as long as its a nice gradient instead of just one color. iTunes looks fine IMO, except the vertical traffic lights.

[zkhrhm]

um... well, Safari is all gray, and people haven't gone apoplectic about it. Or have they...?

[jasone6]

While I think what you've posted is a perfectly fine description of your needs and wants ... wouldn't you agree that the exact same point you've made about peripheral perception could similarly be made by proponents of the new design? ... I may be wrong, but I wouldn't be surprised if users were quicker to read the text label when there's a black-and-white icon next to it, which might give them an advantage in this respect.

Your question regarding peripheral perception is a fair one. Respectfully, I would answer it in this way: No. :) The color of the icons (in iTunes 9) provides an instant dose of important information either sub- or semi-consciously. Without the color cue, it becomes necessary to "read" the icon by consciously—albeit briefly—examining the form of the graphic elements in order to gather the information about the type of item(s) at which you are looking. The new interface is clearly less-efficient at communicating that information. "Less-efficient" = "absolute failure" when it comes to user-interfaces—especially on this scale. Although made up of fractions of seconds—the cumulative amount of wasted time across the massive iTunes user-base (millions of people) would be an interesting stat to know.

As I type this, I have iTunes maximized behind my Safari window. I can see without even taking my eye off of what I'm typing that I have a small-ish folder of Smart Playlists expanded, and a larger folder of Regular Playlists expanded below that. I wouldn't have that ability with iTunes 10.

One final point—I'm a graphic designer and I appreciate the value of minimalism very much. I would have loved a more streamlined design in iTunes 10 (compared to iTunes 9), but "streamlined" is most definitely not what we got. "Less-color" doesn't necessarily make something more minimalistic. By removing the color from the icons, the iTunes design team abandoned a highly-functional resource. The need for—and the task of—communicating and differentiating the types of items hasn't gone away; it's just been reassigned. The forms of the icons themselves (rather than the color) are now tasked with communicating that information to the end-user. Have you ever read the words on someone's t-shirt before you "read" the color of the shirt? No—you haven't. It requires more cognitive effort to examine a shape than it does to perceive color. Fire-hydrants are red for a reason—because it's much easier to spot them by their color than by their shape.

I would have supported changing the purple "folded-page + gear" icon and the blue "folded-page + music-note" icon to a simpler form. Simple rectangles would have done it. Heck—simple little colored dots would function well too. Instead—we have playlist icons that are comprised of 3 horizontal lines plus a musical note. In a list of 30 playlists, that equates to 120 individual graphic elements—not counting the typographic information! In addition to being less-efficient, the new icon system is inelegant and unattractive (in my personal/professional opinion) and it's demonstrably less-functional than the previous design.

If you like the aesthetic look of it more, I can understand that—but "cooler-looking" ≠ "improvement" in this case.

[JustsomedudeIRL]

I'll try ;)



Yeah, but my jokily made point was, that while people didn't complain about being distracted, the distraction may still have existed. Just like I'm currently "distracted" by the dock on my screen although I'm certainly not complaining about it. Now that people do realize that they were being distracted before, and are offered a solution that fixes this, they have an argument for the new design. It's kinda like a Jedi mind trick. ;) Admittedly it's kind of a stretch to argue like this. You'd really have to do tests to see whether people are actually less distracted now and able to better focus on and/or enjoy the content in iTunes.



Unless one is uncomfortable, noticing what one's body parts are rubbing against is usually little more than proprioception. I wouldn't compare that to the sight of colorful symbols that appear in front of you, almost in your direct line of sight at almost the exact same distance as whatever you're currently looking at (I have a relatively small screen). I would disagree with you that things in your field of view that you're not focusing on automatically fade into the distance. There's a reason why traffic lights are colorful. I've made this analogy before in this thread, but I wouldn't want to have a colorful control panel in my car, because I'd expect that it would actually distract me slightly (I also might not like the look of it).Can you explain the reasoning why people happen to run red lights? It's because they weren't consciously aware of it. When you are driving you are looking for lights, stop signs, things running out in the road, and other vehicles. These things could even be happening on the subconscious level. I don't feel this is a reasonable comparison to navigating iTunes. (and as for traffic lights, do you notice the Mac window buttons when you are typing a post? ;)) It has a lot less to do with color than it does brightness compared to it's surroundings. The color is used for differentiating what to do, which validates the point of color and association.

On to the colorful car control panel. I'd agree that, if you are moving from a non colorful control panel to a colorful, you would be distracted. We humans have this amazing ability though, some better than others, to habituate. That can bring us into the topic that iTunes icons could have been distracting but now we have become accustomed to them (which is the point you made earlier in a way). Them no longer being there now feels foreign for many. In simple terms, people will say 'get used to it'.

[andiwm2003]

All programs go Black/White because they are preparing eInk devices that have only B/W screens similar to the Kindle. Basically a "iKindle touch". I would buy it if it was $139 :D

[Benjy91]

http://www.unitedgadget.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Apple-Macbook-Pro-Unibody-laptop-computers.jpg

Now it matches the machines, think different ;)

[x7tommy]

I'll try ;)

There's a reason why traffic lights are colorful. I've made this analogy before in this thread, but I wouldn't want to have a colorful control panel in my car, because I'd expect that it would actually distract me slightly (I also might not like the look of it).

I like the analogy... but the only thing is when your driving a car your supposed to be looking at the road not your dashboard and only occasionally glancing down quickly. When your on your computer your always looking at the screen. Why not have something exciting with easy to recognize colors!! Why don't we just go back to boring black screens with white text?? lol

[tkermit]

Thanks guys for the very reasoned replies! :) You've made very good points.
Can you explain the reasoning why people happen to run red lights? It's because they weren't consciously aware of it.

I always thought people ran red lights because they incorrectly assumed they could still make it. At least that's how it's always been for me…um, I mean…for people I know.

When you are driving you are looking for lights, stop signs, things running out in the road, and other vehicles. These things could even be happening on the subconscious level

Well yes, you are sensitive to visual elements in your field of view that your brain deems to be important during that situation. The exact nature of that sensitivity is based on your experience, learnt traffic symbols, cultural elements as well as simple human nature. There's a quite natural reaction for example to the color red, which is used to signify importance of some kind. Other colors similarly convey an automatic message and your brain is attuned to noticing such colored objects. It makes it relatively easy to drive in a foreign country without being aware of the exact signage they use. Notice that some metaphors that are used for traffic signage can be found in UI design as well: The traffic light, warning signs, the sign that looks like a "no parking" sign (red circle and a red diagonal line) used in some places etc.

I don't feel this is a reasonable comparison to navigating iTunes.

I think even the verb you're using indicates that such a comparison may have its merits.

as for traffic lights, do you notice the Mac window buttons when you are typing a post?

Yes, they do act as a stimulus while I'm typing my post and whether I notice it or not, it takes effort for my brain to not let myself be distracted by them.



It has a lot less to do with color than it does brightness compared to it's surroundings. The color is used for differentiating what to do, which validates the point of color and association.

I would think that (bright, saturated) color is, in a (relatively colorless) UI that is already very uniformly bright, most effective at grabbing your attention.Of course, as far as I can see, the source list icons are still in color actually, just a very muted color.


On to the colorful car control panel. I'd agree that, if you are moving from a non colorful control panel to a colorful, you would be distracted. We humans have this amazing ability though, some better than others, to habituate. That can bring us into the topic that iTunes icons could have been distracting but now we have become accustomed to them

True. The brain is an amazing thing. Of course, just because it will adapt to almost any situation, doesn't mean that there aren't ultimately conditions that it favors (http://www.google.com/images?q=mac%20os%20x) and those that it merely endures (http://www.google.com/images?q=windows%20xp) and which may drain a lot more of one's energy.




Your question regarding peripheral perception is a fair one. Respectfully, I would answer it in this way: No. :) The color of the icons (in iTunes 9) provides an instant dose of important information either sub- or semi-consciously. Without the color cue, it becomes necessary to "read" the icon by consciously—albeit briefly—examining the form of the graphic elements in order to gather the information about the type of item(s) at which you are looking. The new interface is clearly less-efficient at communicating that information. "Less-efficient" = "absolute failure" when it comes to user-interfaces—especially on this scale. Although made up of fractions of seconds—the cumulative amount of wasted time across the massive iTunes user-base (millions of people) would be an interesting stat to know.

But you're singling out one UI element here without considering whether the overall UI may be more efficiently usable now for the reasons mentioned in my previous posts. And even if that's not the case, the new interface may still be able to further your enjoyment of your music library. After all we're talking about a non-productive application that people use in their leisure time. I'll readily trade in a few seconds per day if that makes the whole experience more enjoyable.

If I'm not overlooking anything, the basic dominating colors of the iTunes interface were muted blue/grayish tones, with more or less the only exception being bright colors appearing in four UI element categories:
- window buttons
- activated buttons at the bottom of the window
- source list icons
- Content (album covers)

It's obvious to me, that elements from these categories serve as more of a stimulus to your brain than other parts of the interface. It's also obvious to me that telling your mind what to pay attention to, which naturally requires effort, is easier to do when there are less stimuli competing for your attention. It would follow that it's easier and more relaxing to focus on your album covers if you remove bright color from the source list, which was, apart from the album covers, most prominently colored and spread out over a relatively wide screen area.


As I type this, I have iTunes maximized behind my Safari window. I can see without even taking my eye off of what I'm typing that I have a small-ish folder of Smart Playlists expanded, and a larger folder of Regular Playlists expanded below that. I wouldn't have that ability with iTunes 10.


Now this I don't quite get. Why would you want the source list content to stand out when it's not your current focus?

[JustsomedudeIRL]

Yes, they do act as a stimulus while I'm typing my post and whether I notice it or not, it takes effort for my brain to not let myself be distracted by them.Actually that is incorrect. In my previous post I brought up noticing various things such as feeling your seat or the clothes on your body. The reason you aren't always consciously aware of these senses is that it would require far too much energy and resources.

The fact of the matter is, we are getting far too concerned with the psychological aspects of a computer applications aesthetic design. While it has been fun to discuss the various prospectives of this design, let us agree to disagree.

[tkermit]

Actually that is incorrect. In my previous post I brought up noticing various things such as feeling your seat or the clothes on your body. The reason you aren't always consciously aware of these senses is that it would require far too much energy and resources.

The fact of the matter is, we are getting far too concerned with the psychological aspects of a computer applications aesthetic design. While it has been fun to discuss the various prospectives of this design, let us agree to disagree.

Well alright then :p Probably a good idea :)

[Resist]

I really hate the new look of iTunes. The pastel colors on the summary page for the capacity of my iPhone about makes me puke.

[jasone6]

Thanks guys for the very reasoned replies! :) You've made very good points. ... But you're singling out one UI element here without considering whether the overall UI may be more efficiently usable now for the reasons mentioned in my previous posts. And even if that's not the case, the new interface may still be able to further your enjoyment of your music library. After all we're talking about a non-productive application that people use in their leisure time. I'll readily trade in a few seconds per day if that makes the whole experience more enjoyable. ... Now this I don't quite get. Why would you want the source list content to stand out when it's not your current focus?

1. I certainly have considered the efficiency of the overall interface.
2. iTunes is significantly more about productivity for me, than it is about leisure. I'm a DJ, and I use iTunes to:
- sort a large, rapidly-expanding music library;
- review music;
- edit tag information;
- perform powerful, flexible searches using a multitude of variables;
- sync iTunes to my iPad and iPhone

I don't mind iTunes looking good. As I said, I'm also a graphic designer by profession. I spend the majority of my life making things look good. That's what I do. iTunes 10 doesn't suit my aesthetic tastes as well as iTunes 9—but that's not even my point. I wouldn't care if iTunes 10 was less-pleasing to my eye if it was more functional. It's not—plain and simple.

[tkermit]

1. I certainly have considered the efficiency of the overall interface.
2. iTunes is significantly more about productivity for me, than it is about leisure. I'm a DJ, and I use iTunes to:
- sort a large, rapidly-expanding music library;
- review music;
- edit tag information;
- perform powerful, flexible searches using a multitude of variables;
- sync iTunes to my iPad and iPhone

I don't mind iTunes looking good. As I said, I'm also a graphic designer by profession. I spend the majority of my life making things look good. That's what I do. iTunes 10 doesn't suit my aesthetic tastes as well as iTunes 9—but that's not even my point. I wouldn't care if iTunes 10 was less-pleasing to my eye if it was more functional. It's not—plain and simple.

I would only argue that there can be different points of view here. One thing I should make clear:

It's not that I think the iTunes UI, taken on its own, looks so much better now. But, from my perspective, the application actually seems more usable now since it feels easier for me to concentrate on the content which may or may not lead to higher efficiency in that regard. I also enjoy working with iTunes more, even though the UI has become less interesting and may have reduced the speed with which I'm able to select a source.

[x7tommy]

I would only argue that there can be different points of view here. One thing I should make clear:

It's not that I think the iTunes UI, taken on its own, looks so much better now. But, from my perspective, the application actually seems more usable now since it feels easier for me to concentrate on the content which may or may not lead to higher efficiency in that regard. I also enjoy working with iTunes more, even though the UI has become less interesting and may have reduced the speed with which I'm able to select a source.

I don't mind it that much... only thing is that I can't fit as many songs on one page. When you have a large 40,000 song library sometimes you want to be able to see more tracks on the screen. I think the UI needs a way to make the text smaller for those of us who don't have eye problems, or a way to make the text bigger for those that do. Some DJ apps already have that option with the command +/- (like in your browser too)

What happened to skins anyway?? Anyone remember old player apps of the past like SoundJam MP that used to give the user the option of coloring the app for themselves with a theme. If you want the color go nuts if not use the default skin. Stupid Apple has full control of the whole interface now. Its like a love/hate relationship!!!

[mcneale]

The last time I tried fixing icons like this, the OS got worried that iTunes had been hacked, and asked me if it was ok for iTunes to access the internet EVERY TIME I started it. This got stale pretty quickly, and didn't disappear until a major upgrade (iTunes or OS, I forget which).

So I am in the camp of preferring color, but am wary of this helpful post:

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal. :p

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.


edit: so I totally underestimated the demand for this and blew through 80gb of bandwidth on this file alone. :o Someone has mirrored it here: http://obamapacman.com/2010/09/how-to-add-color-icons-apple-itunes-10-gray-sidebar-mod/