Apple has done some GREAT things with UI recently--like Exposé--but at the same time they've allowed some odd visual inconsistencies, like different variations on the Metal theme (iTunes 6 vs. Safari) and toolbar icons (Mail vs. the World). Things that I wouldn't even blink at coming from any other company... but from Apple, in the middle of such a slick, well-crafted, thoughful UI... they stand out like glaring problems. They bug me!
Now, having BOTH metal and white doesn't bother me, as long as they get to just ONE version of each. I like the variety, and Apple's moving more and more toward a consistent pattern of how they are used: white for document-centric "workspace" apps (ones where File-Open, and File-Save are central), metal for compact "viewer/manager" apps (ones where your data is always open and always saved).
And I don't mind widgets having their own colorful "plastic" theme: widgets in a sense ARE their own icons, and so visual variety is a vital UI cue for Dashboard. I see that now. And this doesn't confuse or harm others apps since it takes the whole screen anyway.
I am convinced Apple will finally bring OS X into a higher level of consistency with Leopard. Reasons:
1. We know Apple knows better--and cares.
2. iTunes has a new metal look and iLife 06 has used it too. This must be the future of metal.
3. This job posting!
4.
Resolution-independent GUI! A TRUE, fully-scalable, resolution-independent interface, with everything scalable as a whole by a single global slider. See everything (menu text, apps, toolbar buttons, everything) larger OR smaller than we see them now. Show more detail or fit more windows? It will be YOUR choice, and you can change your setting at will. That means everything from window borders to stoplight widgets must be redrawn by apple at much larger bitmap sizes (and some vector images).
How do we know Leopars will have a res-independent UI?
* Because higher-res displays will increase the need for it, and because Vista will have it (I believe).
* Because some Tiger UI elements (not just text, but buttons) are already vector, even though they may look just the same as their bitmap-based fellow GUI elements.
* But mainly because a res-independent UI is already IN Tiger--but half-finished and hidden. The developer tools can enable it for testing (use Quartz Debug, which Pacifist can extract if you don't want all the tools). And Apple has told developers clearly and publicly to get their apps ready for this.
Here's a sample image (with Safari at 200% scaling--BUT imagine that the window borders/buttons were redrawn to be as nice as the fonts are):
http://arstechnica.com/reviews/os/macosx-10.4.ars/20
(Search for "Scalable User Interface" and click to zoom the image to full size.)
And here's Apple's page on the matter:
http://developer.apple.com/releasenotes/GraphicsImaging/ResolutionIndependentUI.html
Pretty clear
Now, if they are re-building EVERY element of the UI anyway, to work at larger sizes... why re-make half a dozen slightly-different themes? That makes no sense. Apple will re-build ONE version of metal, not four.
So the process of adding a res-independent UI also implies more visual consistency I predict.
