Mac OS X Leopard 9a499 Visual Enhancements

[ventro]

The reason Leopard looks so ugly is because the traditional OSX UI team was busy working on the iPhone whilst Leopard was being developed. So they brought in a lesser team to pull up the slack in their place, and the result is the crap-fest UI we see today.

 

[age234]

Agreed totally.

Don't get me wrong, I still want and will buy Leopard. However, the look and feel is patchy, and overall it doesn't look or feel like a huge leap above Vista, and probably won't slow Windows adoption as much as a real kick-arse L&F might have.

I personally don't accept the premise that Leopard has to make a big leap over Vista visually at all.

What is Vista's UI? Shiny plastic, gaudy transparency, fancy animations. All that has been in OS X for over half a decade. In fact, Apple has moved on from that. Vista is 5 years behind while Apple is leading on to different things.

I think that's what's driving the simple gradients of the folders and making everything more low-key. Most things are a pendulum. It swung way to one side with Aqua, now it's swinging back to a more low-key look aimed at productivity.

Microsoft's pendulum seems to be in the exact opposite swing, but with time Windows users will get tired of the effects and Microsoft will swing back to something simpler.

People have seen Aqua and that whole sort of look, it's not amazing anymore. It's very early-2000s. It's not in style anymore. They spiced up the Dock a little, but on the whole Apple is reeling things back in.

And for those who hate it, there will be plenty of hacks to make things exactly how you want them, just as there always has been.

 

[Fukui]

I personally don't accept the premise that Leopard has to make a big leap over Vista visually at all.

Microsoft's pendulum seems to be in the exact opposite swing, but with time Windows users will get tired of the effects and Microsoft will swing back to something simpler.
.......
People have seen Aqua and that whole sort of look, it's not amazing anymore. It's very early-2000s. It's not in style anymore. They spiced up the Dock a little, but on the whole Apple is reeling things back in.

Thats fine and all, but the new theme has to be *better.*
The key word is better....

Right now, its a mishmash, of gaudy (menu bar, dock, desktop background), subtle (folder icons, loss of pinstripes), dark (toolbars, metal buttons), and aqua (standard buttons, original/app icons).

This is hardly "Unified" its frankenstein.

 

[Alloye]

There's a lot of subjectivity in this thread, so I may as well add my own...

I happen to think Leopard looks great with one exception: The translucent menu bar! It's not quite as bad as the exceedingly ugly Window borders of Vista's Aero, but it's a close second.

Other than that, Leopard really makes Tiger look dated. It's like the Jaguar -> Panther jump. Once you've used Leopard for a while, Tiger just doesn't cut it anymore.

BTW, I use Vista, Tiger, and Leopard on a daily basis, so my opinion is based on real use rather than screenshots.

 

[curmi]

I think that's what's driving the simple gradients of the folders and making everything more low-key. Most things are a pendulum. It swung way to one side with Aqua, now it's swinging back to a more low-key look aimed at productivity.

...

People have seen Aqua and that whole sort of look, it's not amazing anymore. It's very early-2000s. It's not in style anymore. They spiced up the Dock a little, but on the whole Apple is reeling things back in.

Low key? A garish green background, translucent menus, popup stacks that open in an arc, reflections galore in a fake 3D Dock...

 

[Tristano]

For the most part, aren't most icons going to be replaced by actual previews of whatever the item is? For example, rather than a generic "document" icon, we will be looking at the first page of that document in miniature? Anyway that's what I thought we saw in the Keynote.

I agree that using the green grass background for the Keynote was a bad idea... the audience DID laugh, and like so many other people I thought it was a joke, looking like a Windows background.... but of course we can change it to whatever we like. A blue abstract would have been fine with me.

 

[BKKbill]

I'm also liken it. Is it Tuesday are we there yet?

 

[Alloye]

Low key? A garish green background, translucent menus, popup stacks that open in an arc, reflections galore in a fake 3D Dock...

I won't comment on the subjective points as you're obviously entitled to your opinion, but the stacks that open in an arc are surprisingly effective. I was actually quite skeptical when they were first revealed at WWDC. Now I'm a believer.

 

[BKKbill]

The trash icon really needs to be made 2D, it's inconsistent.



The blue dot should be made white not blue, it would work with any coloured desktop then, par that, its perfect 😛

But if you made the blue dot white it would be just silly calling it a blue dot. 😛

 

[bennifer3000]

Glad to see how Leopard is progressing and that it's been polished up a bit.

 

[nateco]

I don't have the latest build...but those brown folders are no where to be found on my version.

As for the "ugliness"...after using leopard for a month....I can't think of any other folder icons I would want....and I habitually changed Tiger folders.

The default background...who cares...I always stuck my own pic on there anyway.

The menu bar...if you've never used it...quit yer yapping...you'll be eating crow come october.

Stacks is worth the 130 bucks alone.

And for the speed of the system....Leopard feels super snappy on my basic setup....C2D 1.83 and 1.25 gigs of ram....feels lot snappier than tiger on the same machine.


One thing I didn't see in the Keynote...spaces....it will switch spaces when you click on the dock icon....no keyboard short cuts or anything....got your mail and IM in a different space..click the dock icon and boom...new space....I like that better than command arrow.


You nay sayers should really wait.

As for Vista comparisons.....

Vista= garbled mess.
10.5 = clean refinement.

EDIT....The new dock is great once you use it...and the dots are brilliant.I was messing around on a Tiger machine at a local shop this week after being away from it for a month....it felt dated.

 

[MacAddict2000]

I've been an OS X user since 10.1. I have liked all of the UI enhancements Apple has made until now. I hate everything about the translucent menu bar, the boxed corners, the icons, and obviously the fact that it's transparent. I like the fact that they are trying to unify the window look, but I'm not too crazy about the UI they've gone with. I really haven't liked iTunes since its UI was overhauled in version 6. I'm not too fond of the sharp but rounded corners on everything.

Really the only thing I like as far as Leopard's UI is concerned is the Dock. I like its reflective and 3D qualities.

If the UI doesn't change much between now and release time, I don't have any plans to upgrade. Not for awhile at least. Something about Leopard's UI just seems too Vista-like.

 

[gleepskip]

If the UI doesn't change much between now and release time, I don't have any plans to upgrade. Not for awhile at least. Something about Leopard's UI just seems too Vista-like.

The UI alone would seriously keep you from upgrading? Most of what you don't like can be changed to suit your tastes, you know.

 

[aliea]

When there gonna be built-in support in iChat for Windows Messenger???

I wonder...

 

[nateco]

I've been an OS X user since 10.1. I have liked all of the UI enhancements Apple has made until now. I hate everything about the translucent menu bar, the boxed corners, the icons, and obviously the fact that it's transparent. I like the fact that they are trying to unify the window look, but I'm not too crazy about the UI they've gone with. I really haven't liked iTunes since its UI was overhauled in version 6. I'm not too fond of the sharp but rounded corners on everything.

Really the only thing I like as far as Leopard's UI is concerned is the Dock. I like its reflective and 3D qualities.

If the UI doesn't change much between now and release time, I don't have any plans to upgrade. Not for awhile at least. Something about Leopard's UI just seems too Vista-like.

That's cool if ya don't feel that Leopard is worth the upgrade.....how much time have you spent on it?

 

[nateco]

I wonder...

I dunno...if they can do it with adium....why not a simple way to do it in ichat

 

[SiliconAddict]

- Finder windows can also be set to always show the path of a file

Oh dear god I think I just soiled myself. This has been one of my top 10 issues with finder. Check's off one item.
-Now if you could only force finder to behave consistently when you set its view from new finder window to new finder window.
-If when dragging an icon you could use the Apple up arrow in icon view to move back a level or two or allow cutting and pasting. Whatever way I don’t care. When Organizing files while previewing via their icons I can’t move the files around in icon view. It’s a useless view as is for organizing.
-Make sure that a fracking network share can’t bring OS X to its knees. So far it sounds as if you’ve already addressed this but it can’t be stressed enough. Beachballing from a dang network share is an embarrassment.
-Put resizing wedges on both sides of the dang window. I’ve lost count the times I’ve been trying to put a couple windows, not strictly just finder windows, side by side and had to move the entire dang window on the right to smack up next to the left window then had to resize it from the right all because apparently finder is easier to use when you can expand it only from one side of the window.

I can still run rings around finder in Windows Explorer with the address bar that doubles as a command line and navigation tool. Its probably the best idea MS copied from *nix.

 

[3282872]

Lordy, let me call everyone a Waaaaaambulance. 🙄

All this bitching about how everyone thinks Leopard is ugly. I'll reference another Macrumors' comments that this is typical fare:

1) New OS beta shown, everyone bitches about OS
2) OS come out
3) Everyone begins to use the OS and loves it
4) New OS announced, repeat steps 1-3

I guess it's human nature to want to criticize and complain about everything, but the truth is, it's a stellar system, with many more improvements under the hood. 🙂

 

[trevorlsciact]

I guess it's human nature to want to criticize and complain about everything, but the truth is, it's a stellar system, with many more improvements under the hood. 🙂

But it has everything I don't like about vista athletically. Mainly a clashing of colours and textures. If they just brought everything in a little.

 

[Project]

The reason Leopard looks so ugly is because the traditional OSX UI team was busy working on the iPhone whilst Leopard was being developed. So they brought in a lesser team to pull up the slack in their place, and the result is the crap-fest UI we see today.

Erm, Leopard really isnt much different to Tiger. Was Tiger a crapfest too?

 

[tadunne]

I wonder...

You can kinda use msn with ichat in tiger. Using a jabber msn gateway. Works ok for me, except you can not transfer files..

 

[metallicaisgood]

But it has everything I don't like about vista athletically. Mainly a clashing of colours and textures. If they just brought everything in a little.

athletically?... Do you mean aesthetically?

 

[bennifer3000]

Anyone care to be a helpy helperton and send me the Leopard Iconset a couple pages back?

 

[Pierremaison]

I do like the new icons....but I just wonder what they will look like in real-world situations ie. when they are small. They look great at 128x128 or whatever res they are, but scale them down to the size I will look at them while I'm working...will they be as nice and easily distinguishable from one another?

Can anyone who has been testing Leopard tell us what they are like small?

They look ok, if a little bland.

 

[Pierremaison]

The bigger problem with the menu bar is that when you click on a menu, the drop down menu is not translucent (which is great) but the menu bar remains translucent. It looks unfinished and jarring (as do the HUGE shadows on windows that jump out when you switch applications).

If Apple have to have the translucent menu bar (and I also don't like it) they should at least make it fade to non-translucent when the mouse enters the menu bar, and stay that way until the mouse moves away, or a menu item is selected.

That's the attention to detail you expect from Apple. Or maybe "expected" from Apple - personally I think Leopard is a mess of styles and experiments gone wrong, and that's probably because Apple took all the resources away to work on the iPhone and left a skeleton team of people to continue work on Leopard without real UI supervision.

The new folder icons look fantastic... at > 128x128. At anything smaller they are hard to distinguish from each other. That's an example of style over substance once again. As are the small lights to indicate running apps on the Dock - that's an obvious problem that has been mentioned by numerous people since WWDC, yet Apple didn't fix it for this build either...

And the Leopard background (wet grass) is awful. Wet grass has nothing to do with a desktop - which is why an abstract look was always a better initial choice. That image looks like something from XP or Vista, and the water droplets look a lot like the little lights on the Dock which add to more confusion because of the reflections in the Dock. When Steve showed the desktop at WWDC everyone laughed - me too, I thought he was making a Vista joke. That should have been a wake up call to him and the developers on Leopard, but apparently not.

There is a degree of transparency in the drop down menus, admittedly not to the same degree as the menu bar, but it is there. I agree with you on the dock lights, they are wishy washy and you really need to concentrate on them to see whats apps are running. Some features are very productive like quick view, some leave me cold (Cover view), when browsing folders in my opinion does not work. Having said that I have found it extremely useful for browsing PDF files. Time machine is great, as long as you are hooked up to the relevant back up drive, which is obviously not always the case. Complaining about the desk to background seems lame to me, if you don't like it, change it! Personally I quite like it,