Snow Leopard UI refinements abundant

[wankey]

There are a lot more changes to SL than you might think.

Open these two images:

Bottom on is 10.6, upper is 10.5. You'll notice that in 10.6, nearly every UI widget has been tweaked. The blue grid highlights has a slightly darker color (probably due to the gamma adjustment) Every checkbox, button, etc now has a slight shadow, the ball selector is now much smaller and rounder and darker. The arrow selector has a completely different gradient look. Most of the drop down selectors now have a *slightly* different gradient, making them more pronounced. The traffic lights at the top for SL seem less embossed and much softer / part of the UI.

Flip through them, you'll notice nearly everything has changed.

 

[Razeus]

You certainly have a lot of time on your hands.

 

[Unique Visuals]

Apple graphic artist

I have no idea if this guy is working on this or not but my favorite graphic artist has recently been asked by Apple to do some work for them. His name is Layne Karkruff at http://blueskyheart.com/
Check him out. He does a wonderful job of giving things lots of detail, depth and character. When I make my graphics I always try to get the effects he does but I fall short most times. Oh well

Can you imagine a menu bar made like his navigation bar on his site. Icons, buttons, pull downs. Those would be sweet. It also would be nice if Apple made it easier to alter design elements. I use several programs to alter my OS looks. You don't crave a new OS all the time when you can change all of its looks.

 

[wankey]

You certainly have a lot of time on your hands.

Oh look, a buddy from R3D.

 

[wankey]

I have no idea if this guy is working on this or not but my favorite graphic artist has recently been asked by Apple to do some work for them. His name is Layne Karkruff at http://blueskyheart.com/
Check him out. He does a wonderful job of giving things lots of detail, depth and character. When I make my graphics I always try to get the effects he does but I fall short most times. Oh well

Can you imagine a menu bar made like his navigation bar on his site. Icons, buttons, pull downs. Those would be sweet. It also would be nice if Apple made it easier to alter design elements. I use several programs to alter my OS looks. You don't crave a new OS all the time when you can change all of its looks.

He goes a little crazy and over the top with his themes. Doesn't feel very crisp. It's very plasticy and bar like.

 

[MikhailT]

I honestly don't see any difference between both pics. Even reading your notes, I still don't see it. I can see some being softer but that could just be the gamma change.

 

[PurrBall]

Leopard's UI felt very unpolished, the 10.6 image looks significantly better in my opinion.

 

[wankey]

I honestly don't see any difference between both pics. Even reading your notes, I still don't see it. I can see some being softer but that could just be the gamma change.

You're not looking closely enough. They added a lot more shadows to the selection boxes, gradients have been repositioned, even the top bar strip, notice how the selected blue is now flush with the grey outline (which is also darker)? The horizontal scroll bars have been resized and gradients removed, the ball has been reduced in size and a shadow applied to make it fit more into the bar (the original one just floats above it and off vertical center might I add) The traffic lights have a less embossed look (noticed the original ones they look like they're cut into the grey. There is a huge amount of polish that went into the widgets that probably 99% of people won't notice, but subconsciously will.

Sorry, I do UI design as my job so I get a little over excited about these minute changes.

 

[Cinder6]

Leopard has always seemed to have a slightly oversaturated look to it, and it looks like they're trying to alleviate it. It's hard to tell how noticeable the changes will be from just one window, but when you have your entire system looking like that all the time, it might be much more pronounced.

 

[wankey]

What they're doing is increasing the contrast of each widget by adding a tiny but noticeable shadow (approx 1px) and the top bar has given a much stronger definition as well. Overall SL UI is going to be pretty awesome.

 

[Shake 'n' Bake]

I agree with everything you wrote.

This isn't going to attract the attention of a layperson, though.

To have SL flying off shelves Apple will have to do one or both of the following:

1. Heavily market the advantages of Open CL and GCD with benchmarks and graphs and whatnot.

2. Change the UI a very noticeable amount.

I think it could go either way.