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New Apple Site Design?

Why would Apple move away from their Aqua look if that's what they're touting as the next best thing? Doesn't make much sense to me unless they've conceded that Aqua ISN'T quite all it's cracked up to be... [dons flame-retardant suit, whistles and slinks away]
 
I think Apple could benefit from a new look on their website...it works well presently...but it's been like that for a few years now...time for something new...

One thing that keeps companies on top is reinventing themselves...whether it be by a new method of operating...new corporate identity...new website...it's a known fact...

I say change it up a bit...it certainly wouldn't hurt as long as the information is still present...
 
Call down the flames..........

Bring it on.

I am firmly of the belief that Aqua was a quick solution to a need for an Apple style GUI for Darwin. I think X.2 will have a new GUI layer to replace Aqua. I believe the speed increases rumoured for Jaguar are due to this shift.

Summing up:

Darwin good.
Aqua CRAP. (pretty but crap)
 
It's just a change........ I don't see the problem personally... Apple are about evolution and innovation.....

well maybe we will get a more refined Aqua look... who knows......

I'm not going to lose sleep over it, as I'm sure it'll look and work dynamically!!
 
hey mischief

Spot on.... I like the way you're thinking!!! ;) :D

As long as they don't replace Aqua with SNOW........ :eek:

Eww!! :p
 
Re: hey mischief

Originally posted by iGAV
Spot on.... I like the way you're thinking!!! ;) :D

As long as they don't replace Aqua with SNOW........ :eek:

Eww!! :p
Click to expand...

Aqua is fine. I do think we could do without all the pulsating, and that's probably where a lot of the energy is being wasted.

TL
 
A new look once in a while has not hurt anybody yet.
But al long as they do not create a messy kinda look like eg MSN homepage or this one here

Nice, tidy, and absolutly gorgeous those are the keywords!!
 
aqua is ugly

it is, I know most of you don't agree but all the graphic designers I've talked to feel the same way. It's full of unnecessary transparancies/shadows/gradients/...
Form follows function remember? (that's what they did with the iMac)
at least give us less is more types an alternative to the plastic look that is aqua
 
Drop shadows.... YUK.!! I hate drop shadows........ although OSX just scraps the boundaries of good taste with its drop shadows!!

As a minimalist and functionalist kind of guy, I'd like to see Apple do a stripped down PRO version, that really hums along...... you know like how Porsche sells stripped down club sports and GT 2 models to increase overall performance for the truely awe inspiring drive!!!

I don't need fancy looking GUI, I need ultra hardcore performance!!!:p
 
Aqua served it's purpose...

Apple did the right thing with Aqua. They needed something that was over-the-top, something that was bright and shinny, something that made you want to "lick your screen". They need to get everyone excited about OS X, and that's what it did. I don't think that Apple has ever said that "aqua is the next best thing", I think they've been saying "quartz is the next best thing, look what we can do with it". Aqua was just a style - one that was styled after their old hardware form-factor, and I think it's safe to say that the style is now a bit outdated and is making a move towards the new "TiBook" form-factor. Take a look at the new bottom buttons in iTunes, or the buttons in the different hardware pages at apple.com. I think that's what we can look forward to - a design that is more functional, not as over-the-top, and a lot quicker!
 
What really needs updating is...

the Apple Knowledge Base. Frankly, Apple's whole feedback and support setup is too complicated and not at all user friendly. Site redesign here would be very welcome. So here's to hoping they're not just making aesthetic changes. There has been some good discussion of this at MacInTouch...

http://www.macintouch.com/applekbsupport.html
 
Aqua seems like it went very well in terms of look with the bulging plastic cases of the old iMac and the current G4... but now, as apple moves towards a computer design asthetic of simple metal and white, wouldn't it make sense for the look of the OS to do the same thing, to leave the pretty multicoloredness behind in favor of something more sleek and 21st century?

I'm not saying I embrace this change, but it could be interesting.
 
about the web page, am i the only one that realizes that the icard tab is another link to itools
 
The problem isn't Aqua, it's A) the fact that many graphics cards boost Quartz. ATI was suppose to, BUT they failed to deliver as usual. nVidia is getting there, but never planned on to until they and apple joined hands. B) it's carbon. The finder, iTunes, everything would be faster if they put them into and optimized them for Cocoa.

Also, they aren't going to change aqua. Why does their site have to resemble their OS GUI? Microsoft's hasn't, Red Hat hasn't, SGI's hasn't, no ones has. So to say they are changing their os interface to match their web interface is ludicrous.
 
agree... kinda'

I'm not suggesting that apple is going change their interface because they're changing their website... yes, that would be "ludicrous".

What I am suggesting, however, is that their website (which was originally based on their new interface; which was based on their new hardware designs), will be changed to reflect the design of the hardware they are currently selling - sleek, slim, white (or "metallic" greys) and clean. There have been lot's of complaints about Aqua being too bright and colourful, and as an interface I have to agree. I love the cleanliness and simplify of OS9, but I also love the subtitles of what quartz can do. My guess is that, eventually, we'll see something that's a hybrid of Platinum and Aqua.

If I remember correctly, their website had the Aqua style before OSX was shown to the public (well, DP3 or whatever had the new interface). If Apple is to make a major design change to their website (and my guess is that it will, and it will look like their TiBook or something similar), I wouldn't be surprised to see the interface in OSX change as well.

Aqua as we know it was used to market Apple's new interface. Now that everyone knows what OSX is, I think Apple will take a slightly more serious and professional approach to their interface design... seeing as we've already bought (literally) into their vision of the "future".
 
Re: agree... kinda'

Originally posted by bellboy


Aqua as we know it was used to market Apple's new interface. Now that everyone knows what OSX is, I think Apple will take a slightly more serious and professional approach to their interface design... seeing as we've already bought (literally) into their vision of the "future".
Click to expand...

But the thing is, not everyone does know what OS X is. Isn't it important to maintain some sort of continuity over at least a couple of years, if anything just to not wildly disorient new Mac users?

(That having been said, I personally would like more customization options within the OS itself... I find myself liking the Graphite look more every day.)
 
I think they know...

Although Apple hasn't been as agressive as, say Microsoft, with advertising their new OS, I do think that people know what the new OS looks like - everyone who has purchased a Mac since, what was it MWSF, knows what OSX looks like as it is the default OS now.

I agree that they should try to maintain some consistancy, and I think that they will to some degree.... but the second they made the decision to design the interface after the hardware, I think they painted themselves into a corner - that being they have to update the interface as much as they do the hardware (well design-wise that is).

Also, I'm not suggesting that this will happen soon... My guess is that they will make this change on a major release (10.5 or 11.0, or something like that) and that the current "Aqua" theme will be just another selection on a pulldown in the system pref's.
 
What are you all saying aqua looks awesome
It maybe be a resource hog but it looks good
 
not quite

What I'm trying to say is that Aqua looked cool when it first came out.... but is now looking slightly dated and will be (should be/could be) updated to reflect Apple's current hardware designs. As for it being a resource hog; I think the performance problems have more to do with the software not being optimized to run on the current hardware, and vise-versa. I thik that if Apple is to make these changes, there will be little, to no performace improvements because of it. Apple has to get some good drivers made to support their brilliant Quartz engine... and don't forget about the rumors of hardware dedicated to running Quartz.

The future looks good guys, we just have to be patient.
 
Aqua is awesome! But yes, it can be a little too sugar-coated at times. What I do is just set the appearance to Graphite and everything is nice and kosher :).
 
Aqua looks great. Aqua runs better than any OS - it's just a little slower. Although I'm not sure if it's even that when you factor time spent restarting and freezing - a relative reality with Windows.

OS X's speed is just fine for any consumer (admittedly on a G4) and the GUI has always gotten compliments from my PC counterparts. Joe Schmoe consumer likes pretty things. Just look at XP.

The difference is that Aqua's cute look doesn't get in the way of it's might: the stability of Unix. Speed and performance is really up to the user. You don't like a lot of the GUI's more processor intensive tasks? Get thee to the Termainal! Make some changes. I did... and I'm an idiot*

I'm as excited as anyone is for 10.2. Sure, after a point, one has to rely on Apple to help make X zippier. Regardless, in every way, OS X is an unquestionable improvement over OS 9.
 
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