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Change Lion Finder Sidebar icons to color version?

iVeBeenDrinkin' said:
Yes
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Of course.

Jerome Morrow said:
[...] The memory is in your hand, you don't need colour same way you don't need to look at you keyboard while typing.
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"Memory is in [my] hand"? I don't think so. That works for a keyboard that doesn't change, not so much for Finder windows that come in different sizes and are all over the desktop.

I usually have a few folders in that bar as well, which are now the same color as all the other icons. Apple's decision doesn't help.

That we even need this discussion is utterly stupid. Color and/or contrast is an important visual aid in a graphical interface. We've lost both in the new icon set. Colored icons have obviously helped people in this thread and was not taken away due to technical reasons (and the colored icons are even still there as mentioned above).

But hey this is Macrumors.

I'm guessing the line of thought goes like this for some posters:
"If my situation isn't yours, you Sir are a git. In the case your situation isn't the same as mine, *my* subjective opinion should still rule the day, as I obnoxiously try *not* to realize that this opinion/need/want of yours might really be true and important to *your* case. 'You' as in someone I have never met, do not know in any way and consequently do not know the situation of. Still, I am right. Right?"
 
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Give it up, guys. The Jobsians will ALWAYS just simply make excuses for this and other issues. This in particular is bona fide "changes for the hell of making changes". Changes that have no practical value whatsoever. Jobsians will write this off as "eh, you don't need colors anyway" or "there's an app for that".

I'm going to continue to hammer home this thread which says it perfectly.

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/13060451/
 
Dumb.

It's harder to determine what you are looking at, which is an obvious step backward. Having the simple option to choose would be nice. Moving files to and from the sidebar icons is quick when they are in color, now I have to actually stop what I'm doing and read the descriptions because they all look identical. Inefficient at best.
 
yup removing colors was really a dumb step. Not sure what apple is doing with Lion. Its great in terms of performance, but they made too many boneheaded decisions on changing small things that were constant features of OSX. Idiots!
 
orthorim said:
One thing's for sure, they didn't do it to cut any fat. The sidebar programmatically grays out images, which is why 3rd party tools don't work.

I have reported it as mind-blowingly stupid, here: http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html

In Snow Leopard, and before, I would never think about the sidebar - it contained frequently used folders, and that was that. Now I have to go through it very carefully to find anything. Which kind of defeats the purpose of having a list of frequently used folders.

I guess I'll have to find some other way to do this now.
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I took Orthorim link and filed this bug report. ;-) Hopefully Apple will start to get the point if enough of us complain about this silly sidebar issue. Here's the message I sent. Feel free to reuse if prompted...


Hello, after carefully considering this item I've decided to write to Apple to inform them of the most appalling decision made in its most recent update to its OS. Which quite frankly mist be bug otherwise it's probably the worst decision in recent history from Apple.

I cannot for the life of me understand what motivated this decision. Not being allowed change the grey icons in the Finder side bar is a backward step for Lion. In Snow Leopard I was able to customise these icons to my hearts delight. Now I'm stuck with grey icons, which are both impractical and far less user friendly. Plus what makes it worse is that the Finder sidebar has actively been code to stop me from customising the way it looks.

I hope this has been an oversight on Apples behalf and not a move away from allowing it's customers the option to customise their Finder side bars how they choose.

I look forward to seeing this bug fixed in the next update.

Regards.

Keep the comments coming... If there's enough support we could start a website site to prompt bringing back the Finder sidebar we all know and love.

Thanks for all the comments! :cool:
 
I like lots of things about Ion but this sidebar thing is annoying. Here is my reason for this.
I design websites for several clients and each of them has the root folder in the sidebar. Each of these folders had a custom icon - the clients logo or favicon so that I could previously see which was which. Now they all look exactly the same. Grrrr.
 
I'm happy either way.. I'm more concerned about consistency. Glad it's the same across the board.
 
color or no color, that is the question !...

whatever happened to ''...giving the user the best computing experience...'' ? & what EXACTLY does UI or GUI mean ? User Interface, Graphic User Interface ? which User ? me - the schmuck who actually paid for the computer & uses the damn thing or...some schmoe intent on force feeding down my throat what colors/no colors are best for me, how my icons should or shouldn't be organized, etc....

all the while Address Book & iCal - for example.. - had MANY hours poured on them to make them look ''realistic'' !? why not grey then ? am i the only one noticing how illogical this logic is ? yes, WHY did they bother at ALL ?....

actually, in the name of uniformity, simplicity & to get rid once & for all of pesky, distracting details in our lives, let's take this one step further :
traffic signs - all grey
political party logos - all grey
every brand logo on the planet - all grey

hell , why not turn the whole thing grey :
books, movies, landscapes, cars, clothes, TV

makes sense doesn't it ?

my machine is a late 2009 , 27'' iMac i7 with 16GB RAM & a 1TB drive - definitely not a power house or king of the hill in the ''mine's bigger than yours'' sweepstakes BUT....do i REALLY need a few Mb of ''fat'' taken away from an entire OS for it to cope ?...

by the way Mr. ivebeendrinking : after reading carefully this thread, i noticed that NO ONE is upset you like them grey so....why does it upset you SO MUCH most want color back into their computing lives ? sorry mate but your comments do justice to your username, maybe it's time you also change THAT to something simpler like....grey ??
 
petition...

hi Spid

i already signed it, sent the link to the petition to all my Mac user friends, sent & urged them to send numerous ''feedbacks'' & will keep on b******g about it all over the bloody place until Apple does something about it ;-)

i find this kind of thing SO annoying specially because it's totally unnecessary & gratuitous
 
Thank you to help to get the word out there. Trust me, I do know how you feel about that. It's the first time ever I start a petition. It probably shows how annoying I think it is!!
 
Fundamental design decision made by Jobs

Most of us here have been concerned primarily with the sidebar but of course this is only part of the overall decision to grey out most of the interface. Also gone are the blue slider needles, the red international circle with line for delete, and others. I think we are arguing needlessly over topics like whether this was done to save resources or not. It is clearly a design decision and I would bet it was made by Jobs himself. This may be heresy to those of you who are true believers but the man has made mistakes that put his aesthetics ahead of practicality before. Remember the black box Next, a beautiful thing that nobody could afford. Remember the first colored plastic iMac's? They were a commercial success but in my opinion hideous.

This article articulates the extent to which Jobs controls aesthetics at Apple:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/24/t...-google-doesnt-an-auteur.html?ref=stevenpjobs

In case you can't get past the paywall here is a key quote: "One person is the Decider for final design choices. Not focus groups. Not data crunchers. Not committee consensus-builders. The decisions reflect the sensibility of just one person: Steven P. Jobs, the C.E.O."

I fear all the petitions and feedback on the Apple website will do no good. This is Jobs' personal decision and all the complaints in the world will not change it.
 
grey/color, etc...

personally if someone wants his UI to be grey that's fine, they can knock themselves out.... AS LONG AS I'M NOT FORCED TO follow as well !

if Steve Jobs gets the last word about how things are designed, etc... good for him & so far, good for everybody else - FACT IS we have been served high quality , purposeful products ( hardware & software.. ) over the years, one after the other by Apple under his guidance
as an artist myself i can relate to that :
it's NOT about pleasing EVERYONE - ALWAYS a loosing proposition no matter how you set out to do it..
it's about conveying YOUR vision to the world & if lots like it, well...so much the better
Apple's recent business successes confirms that although he isn't infallible, he does get it right more often than not..

problem is that , again as an artist , color is of the UTMOST importance to me, it makes my life a LOT easier, a lot more pleasant & IS NOT distracting or something i wish removed from my computing environment AT ALL

so, Apple being a company, a company which has to turn out a profit to exist, if they start disregarding their user-base - the guys who actually open up their wallets to buy the products.. - they'll be going down a dangerous road, one that will not be in the company's best interests nor it's clients so what's the point ?

that would be stupid & you can dislike Mr. Jobs all you like, BUT.....he REALLY doesn't strike me as stupid, in fact ANYTHING BUT....
so , considering how very little hardware resources it would take in our modern day Macs to properly run an OS that gives users multiple choices & possibilities of customizing the UI, this would be TOO STUPID to be a decision of his - in fact , to be honest my feeling is exactly the opposite

i'm not saying the man is incapable of error - being human, etc.. but given his track record one HAS TO give him the benefit of the doubt - it's only fair, right ?

now the ''million dollar question'' is : how is this going to be addressed/sorted ?

& that's the reason why we all have to keep making a fuss about it until we get it OUR way, the client/user's way - at the end of the day if we are happy, Apple WILL be very happy

& THAT WILL be in everyone's best interest
 
Clarification of last post

nuno1959 said:
that would be stupid & you can dislike Mr. Jobs all you like, BUT.....he REALLY doesn't strike me as stupid, in fact ANYTHING BUT....

i'm not saying the man is incapable of error - being human, etc.. but given his track record one HAS TO give him the benefit of the doubt - it's only fair, right ? ................

...now the ''million dollar question'' is : how is this going to be addressed/sorted?
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Let me clarify. I don't dislike Jobs. In fact I own AAPL stock so I have an interest and concern for his good health and an appreciation of what he has done for Apple financially.

In my last post I just wanted to point out two things:

1) Jobs is brilliant both technologically and esthetically, but not infallible.

2) The issue will be resolved if, and only if, Steve Jobs himself decides he has made one of his rare design errors.
 
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I'd sooner be able to re order the categories rather than futz around with coloured icons in the sidebar.
The Finder sidebar is exactly the same as in iTunes & iPhoto so why expect Apple to change what is obviously a design decision.

If you don't want change don't update..... simple.
 
over simplifying...

sorry guys

english not being my native language, it's obvious i failed to express my thoughts clearly enough !
let me see if i can do better :

Ashka - you state you'd like/prefer the possibility of choosing how to order the categories - fair enough !
basically you'd like being able to choose YOUR PERSONAL PREFERENCES - well, same here my friend...
i mean, shouldn't it be irrelevant to ALL OF US how other people set up their Mac's UI ? i only use MY computer, why should it be otherwise ? you know what i'm saying ?...

Kanunu - the point i was addressing in your post is that Steve Jobs doesn't strike me as stupid enough to insist on something, even if dear to him, REGARDLESS OF USER'S REACTIONS & feedback...
personal visions aside, first & foremost the guy is RUNNING A BUSINESS & given Apple's track record, i think he knows he HAS TO give users what they want, otherwise they'll shop elsewhere ?
AND also that feedback DOES work indeed, unless people stop sending it in !

you see, i remember DISTINCTLY an update to iTunes that only gave a white background when set in ''grid view'' : the reaction of users asking for having THE CHOICE ( as before.. ) of setting it up otherwise was such, that in the very next , yes THE VERY NEXT update one could choose to have it with a dark background again !? feedback doesn't work ? what did then ?

& let's face it, at the end of the day, why not have choices ? Macs being the powerful machines that they are, does it REALLY MATTER if including those sort of choices in an OS update ''bloats it'' by a couple of hundred Mb or when in use it will ''eat up'' 1, 3 or even 7% of the machine's resources IF user's REALLY tweak it to death ?
actually, would it use up THAT MUCH ? i REALLY doubt it ...hence it FAILING to make sense to me things not being so


not to mention it doesn't strike me as logical that on one hand AddressBook's interface is made to look like fake leather to give it a ''realistic'' feel, iCal made to look like a ''realistic'' calendar & then change icons that i NEVER HEARD ANYONE COMPLAIN ABOUT being too ''realistic'' because they where colored !? or did i miss that backlash ?...
let's face it, if they did upset people, VERY LITTLE was posted about THAT - specially since the ''I WANT THEM GREY'' brigade had the CHOICE of making them any shade of grey they pleased, something that NEVER crossed my mind objecting to because everybody else's freedom of choice HAS NEVER interfered with mine & vice versa..

so ultimately what i'm asking for is : may i set my computer the way i like it ? since i paid for it, since i'm the one using it, i'd REALLY appreciate BEING ALLOWED to do that specially since doing so WILL NOT affect anybody else's preferences or computing routines....................

so why should it be so upsetting if i ask for this ? ;-)
 
I also hope the color icons come back. I find the icons useless now, I would rather go without them over the monochrome ones so I can just focus on reading the text.
 
How about monochrome Mail 5 Flags?

For the record, I'm really choked about this as well.

For anyone asking a stupid question like "do you really need them?" Change all of the Mail flag colours to grey. Hey, you still have the colour written out beside them all so you should be good.

The multicolour Mail flags newly introduced is the proof (in my opinion) that Apple developers have become way too self righteous. Obviously colour is an aid in quick identification. They decided to forego that function exclusively in the interest of form—and went WAY out of their way programatically to ensure that we can't change them back. Seems to me that some UI design lead got a little pissy about how quickly we swapped out the default icons in Leopard.
 
not true?

brand said:
If that you need that functionality so bad there is nothing stopping you from using a different operating system. It is not a need it is a want.
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Apparently this is no longer true. Others report that if you buy a new Mac it is somehow hard wired ton not allow installation of SL.
 
I haven't noticed this until I seen this thread. Doesn't really bother me. But what's real reason would they have changed it? It did look much better with color icons.
 
LIVEFRMNYC said:
I haven't noticed this until I seen this thread. Doesn't really bother me. But what's real reason would they have changed it? It did look much better with color icons.
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Apple's philosophy is that it lets you focus on your content. But it doesn't make sense for something like the Finder, because the sidebar *is* part of your content.:rolleyes:
 
Kanunu said:
Apparently this is no longer true. Others report that if you buy a new Mac it is somehow hard wired ton not allow installation of SL.
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I never mentioned Snow Leopard. Other companies besides Apple make operating systems. To think that the new Apple computers are hardwired to not support an earlier OS is ridiculous. Versions of Mac OS prior to Lion do not have the drivers that the newer hardware requires to be supported.
 
Kanunu said:
In case you can't get past the paywall here is a key quote: "One person is the Decider for final design choices. Not focus groups. Not data crunchers. Not committee consensus-builders. The decisions reflect the sensibility of just one person: Steven P. Jobs, the C.E.O."
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This is also Apple's strength.

It's a big part of what created the iPhone and iPad, and what is currently the most viable mobile OS: iOS.

Yeah, I'll take a possibly unwelcome UI element change in exchange for that any day.

You'll get some tradeoffs. But the upshot tends to be complete redefinition of markets and products that set the bar in the consumer market.

That's a pretty fair deal.
 
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