why is itunes 10 grey?

[tkermit]

Actually that is incorrect. In my previous post I brought up noticing various things such as feeling your seat or the clothes on your body. The reason you aren't always consciously aware of these senses is that it would require far too much energy and resources.

The fact of the matter is, we are getting far too concerned with the psychological aspects of a computer applications aesthetic design. While it has been fun to discuss the various prospectives of this design, let us agree to disagree.

Well alright then Probably a good idea

 

[Resist]

I really hate the new look of iTunes. The pastel colors on the summary page for the capacity of my iPhone about makes me puke.

 

[jasone6]

Thanks guys for the very reasoned replies! You've made very good points. ... But you're singling out one UI element here without considering whether the overall UI may be more efficiently usable now for the reasons mentioned in my previous posts. And even if that's not the case, the new interface may still be able to further your enjoyment of your music library. After all we're talking about a non-productive application that people use in their leisure time. I'll readily trade in a few seconds per day if that makes the whole experience more enjoyable. ... Now this I don't quite get. Why would you want the source list content to stand out when it's not your current focus?

1. I certainly have considered the efficiency of the overall interface.
2. iTunes is significantly more about productivity for me, than it is about leisure. I'm a DJ, and I use iTunes to:
- sort a large, rapidly-expanding music library;
- review music;
- edit tag information;
- perform powerful, flexible searches using a multitude of variables;
- sync iTunes to my iPad and iPhone

I don't mind iTunes looking good. As I said, I'm also a graphic designer by profession. I spend the majority of my life making things look good. That's what I do. iTunes 10 doesn't suit my aesthetic tastes as well as iTunes 9—but that's not even my point. I wouldn't care if iTunes 10 was less-pleasing to my eye if it was more functional. It's not—plain and simple.

 

[tkermit]

1. I certainly have considered the efficiency of the overall interface.
2. iTunes is significantly more about productivity for me, than it is about leisure. I'm a DJ, and I use iTunes to:
- sort a large, rapidly-expanding music library;
- review music;
- edit tag information;
- perform powerful, flexible searches using a multitude of variables;
- sync iTunes to my iPad and iPhone

I don't mind iTunes looking good. As I said, I'm also a graphic designer by profession. I spend the majority of my life making things look good. That's what I do. iTunes 10 doesn't suit my aesthetic tastes as well as iTunes 9—but that's not even my point. I wouldn't care if iTunes 10 was less-pleasing to my eye if it was more functional. It's not—plain and simple.

I would only argue that there can be different points of view here. One thing I should make clear:

It's not that I think the iTunes UI, taken on its own, looks so much better now. But, from my perspective, the application actually seems more usable now since it feels easier for me to concentrate on the content which may or may not lead to higher efficiency in that regard. I also enjoy working with iTunes more, even though the UI has become less interesting and may have reduced the speed with which I'm able to select a source.

 

[x7tommy]

I would only argue that there can be different points of view here. One thing I should make clear:

It's not that I think the iTunes UI, taken on its own, looks so much better now. But, from my perspective, the application actually seems more usable now since it feels easier for me to concentrate on the content which may or may not lead to higher efficiency in that regard. I also enjoy working with iTunes more, even though the UI has become less interesting and may have reduced the speed with which I'm able to select a source.

I don't mind it that much... only thing is that I can't fit as many songs on one page. When you have a large 40,000 song library sometimes you want to be able to see more tracks on the screen. I think the UI needs a way to make the text smaller for those of us who don't have eye problems, or a way to make the text bigger for those that do. Some DJ apps already have that option with the command +/- (like in your browser too)

What happened to skins anyway?? Anyone remember old player apps of the past like SoundJam MP that used to give the user the option of coloring the app for themselves with a theme. If you want the color go nuts if not use the default skin. Stupid Apple has full control of the whole interface now. Its like a love/hate relationship!!!

 

[mcneale]

Careful with them hacks, Eugene

The last time I tried fixing icons like this, the OS got worried that iTunes had been hacked, and asked me if it was ok for iTunes to access the internet EVERY TIME I started it. This got stale pretty quickly, and didn't disappear until a major upgrade (iTunes or OS, I forget which).

So I am in the camp of preferring color, but am wary of this helpful post:

I posted this in the other iTunes thread but I noticed this one too so I figured I'd drop it here too:


I hate the lack of colors in iTunes 10, so I did a little ThemePark rsrc hacking and put the colored icons from 9.2 back into 10. It's not perfect, but I didn't want to waste too much time on it, and it looks alright on my computer for the icons that I use regularly.

Download (zip, 11.1mb)

Instructions included.

Enjoy, and feel free to let me know if you see an icon that should be fixed—I didn't check that they all look normal.

- Small size only.
- Some may be broken.
- No guarantees.


edit: so I totally underestimated the demand for this and blew through 80gb of bandwidth on this file alone. Someone has mirrored it here: http://obamapacman.com/2010/09/how-to-add-color-icons-apple-itunes-10-gray-sidebar-mod/

 

[zevrix]

We should swamp Apple's feedback with requests to restore color in iTunes and Finder's sidebar. Those gray icons is the biggest disgrace for Mac OS ever!

 

[Hitchophilia]

I believe the colour is back

Hope this translates across other apps with Mr Ive in charge now.

 

[zevrix]

I believe the colour is back

Image

Hope this translates across other apps with Mr Ive in charge now.

Yeah you made my day!

As always they couldn't avoid some weird changes - like what's up with that weird faint gray of the toolbar?

But the sidebar colour is most important