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Why does everyone want a transparent black interface?

O

osirisX

macrumors regular
Original poster
I've seen this heaps now. Everyone wants a transparent, glossy black interface for Leopard. But why? Is it because Vista has it and therefore it is the new flavour of the month? Seems to be that way.

Everyone keeps point to HUD palettes, Quicklook, Coverflow, AppleTV and the iPhone. So what! They are all specific interfaces for specific needs. HUD palettes are designed for media where you need to select options but not have it distract your view of the media behind the palette. Quicklook is just a HUD palette. Coverflow is there to make things look good. Black shows off images really well and album art are just images that Apple want to show off really nicely. The scrollbar and buttons are black so they don't get in the way and are glossy so they are noticeable enough. AppleTV again is dealing with media so needs a darker interface. Also black will stop image burn in on plasma displays. The iPhone interface has many different parts to it though. Transparent black to show off the wallpaper, black to match in with coverflow etc.

Apply transparent, glossy black system wide and you end up with nothing more than visual noise.
 
I would hate a black interface, I dislike Vista's interface because it is too dark. I must be one of the only people on MacRumors that dislikes the look of the Black MacBook. I like the current Aqua theme and hope that they stick with it for Leopard, or at least give us the choice of a light interface for Leopard if they do make it black.
 
Agreed

iBookG4user said:
I would hate a black interface, I dislike Vista's interface because it is too dark. I must be one of the only people on MacRumors that dislikes the look of the Black MacBook. I like the current Aqua theme and hope that they stick with it for Leopard, or at least give us the choice of a light interface for Leopard if they do make it black.
Click to expand...

I agree, I got a Mac partially on the lightness and design of the interface. I've used shapeshifter and switched to some black and white interfaces with the primary colour being black and felt it looked like a cheap way of being 'executive' and adult. Mac's have always been known for creativity and aesthetic values, both critics and cult members of macs have agreed on that part at least.
 
Klrbee25 said:
Aren't there 3rd party programs that can change the appearance of windows in OS X already?
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Heh heh.
picture1om6.jpg
Is this what you mean by tranparent black? It's Crystal Clear Complete theme with ShapeShifter...😎

I like it.
 
If ShapeShifter was free, nobody would be complaining

I assume transparent black like this?

Cold 1.2 Theme
 
I'd just like to see options, not just black. I have ShapeShifter and it seemed to be a little too buggy for my tastes.
 
skinnylegs said:
As long as we're showing off our themes, how about a bit of PhotoPro?
Click to expand...
I used that for a while... except that some text in PSE 4 was invisible due to window shading and the dang close /minimize /maximize buttons were too small for my liking... alot of the Shapeshifter themes tend to grey out text that I really wanted to see.🙄
 
srf4real said:
Heh heh. Is this what you mean by tranparent black? It's Crystal Clear Complete theme with ShapeShifter...😎

I like it.
Click to expand...

I think Crystal Clear is awsome too. Here's a pic I posted in the Show of Your March Desktops thread.
I quite honestly actually find the transparency "usefull."
 
From what I've seen, not everything was black, but actually dark grey. I love the look of the dark grey and I welcome that change. I find that too much black would just be excessive, and using a black background in the Finder would make me a little concerned.

As for transparency, no thanks. I don't want anything behind distracting me when I'm trying to focus on a specific application window. Not to mention, it hurts legibility, more often than not.
 
I converted to a Mac 1st week of march, and I sold my only Windows PC a couple weeks later.. I have loved the conversion process. One thing I haven't cared for, TBH, is Aqua.... I know, I know, saying something like that on a Mac board is akin to heresy. I purchased Shapeshifter, just so I could have choices in my interface (in my very recent Windows days, I used a hacked uxtheme.dll to use different visual styles as well). I just think that Aqua looks too childish, just my opinion, and I know there's no accounting for taste. No matter the default UI appearance in Leopard, I am hoping that Apple will give the user more natively-supported options to change the UI... I've had zero issues w/ Shapeshifter, but after all of the comments I've read on various boards, I have the feeling it's just a matter of time..🙁
 
Umm I'd like themes forsure, but not everything glass black. It seriously bothers my eyes. If it's something like in apature with deep greys I'll more then welcome it.
 
Black-ness....

I like the idea of a black transparent UI, just because its had lots of success in Front Row and in th iPhone previews that we've seen; BUT don't get me wrong - It does look like one of the windows Vista themes. The temporary (I hope) dark grey theme of the Leopard screen shots just dosent look "Apple" enough for me. Wheres the innovation? I want the UI to be simple.... but something MORE than just "gradient grey" 🙂
 
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