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OAW · Apr 28, 2005, 06:28 PM

One of the more "controversial" aspects of Tiger is the appearance of the GUI in Mail 2.0. Some people love it ... others hate it. Perhaps some don't care one way or another. In this thread there is a poll to get a sense of the prevailing opinion of the MacNN community on this issue. Additionally, comments regarding the new Unified Titlebar/Toolbar theme as used in Mail, System Preferences, Dictionary, etc. are welcome. Are we headed down a slippery slope towards the rampant GUI inconsistency that exists in Windows, or is this new theme a good thing? Keep in mind this is a thread about the GUI as opposed to functionality.

Discuss!

OAW

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 28, 2005, 06:39 PM

I 110% LOVE the new look of mail. The old one with the drawer was terrible, I really have nothing to complain about it which is rare for me.

OptimusG4 · Apr 28, 2005, 07:21 PM

It's growing on me. Overall, it still beats the drawer concept.

OAW · Apr 28, 2005, 08:57 PM

My 2 cents ....

1. The side panel for mailboxes instead of the drawer is a plus.

2. The "Unified Titlebar/Toolbar" theme looks nice. My concern about it though is that it is yet another interface them that is being used without any apparent rhyme or reason. It's not that I don't like the appearance of the theme per se ... the concern is about consistency.

3. The new look of the toolbar buttons is "so so" to me. I can take it or leave it. I think the "raised" or "recessed" buttons look better on metal and the new "Unified Titlebar/Toolbar" them. Conversely, I think the flat "icon" looking buttons look terrible on a metal background (haven't seen it yet on the new theme but I presume they won't look good there either). Also, there is a benefit in making a toolbar button like like a button as opposed to an icon. But again, my concern is about consistency. After moving away from "raised" buttons in the metal interfaces and going with a "recessed" look ... Apple now goes and introduces a totally new raised look with a colored background. And of course, this is the only place in the entire GUI where this look is used.

4. The use of color in Mail 2.0 is all over the place. Was it really necessary to have a pale blue background in the mailbox panel? Why a different shade of blue for the horizontal area used to filter searches? And yet another shade of blue for the background of the toolbar buttons?

5. Why no separator with a resize control for the mailbox pane? Maybe that's a resize control down there at the bottom ... not sure. Not a big deal ... but again yet another inconsistent approach. And for the crazy looking empty space on the left side of the toolbar? WTF are they thinking? Some have said that this is optional. All I can say is that I sincerely hope so.

In conclusion, Mail 2.0 just seems to remind me of that old Sesame Street song that goes ... "One of these things just doesn't belong here ...". It just doesn't seem to "fit" in with the look of any other OS X app. It's like it's in a category unto itself. And there is no discernible reason why.

OAW

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 28, 2005, 09:12 PM

Look at Final Cut and Garage band, they both have totally different designs are nobody bitches about them. Why does mail have to look like nothing?

Spook E · Apr 28, 2005, 09:18 PM

Could we have the option of: Like the look, when changed with CageFighter?

Cage Fighter gets rid of the button bits and leaves the toolbar icons freestanding, I like this a lot better.

http://otierney.net/cagefighter/

OAW · Apr 28, 2005, 09:24 PM

I believe the wood grain look in GarageBand was routinely criticized when it first came out. As for FinalCut Pro ... it appears to have the "pro" them that many of the other "pro" Apple applications employ. Yet another theme ... but at least that one has a distinct purpose and is limited to certain applications. My understanding is that the widget sizes are smaller than in standard Aqua apps to enable such applications to have more controls in the application windows.

I suppose my, and a lot of other's, concern is that we don't want to end up like Windows with a hodgepodge of different UI themes. One of the hallmarks of the Mac experience is that the user interface is relatively consistent. One Mac application generally looks and feels like another. So if you know how one works you are already ahead of the game in learning how to use another. Appearance helps to solidify this phenomenon. Again, I don't mind the new look per se ... it would just be nice if Apple provided some sort of guidance as to when a certain theme should be used ... and did something novel like actually followed it!

OAW

OAW · Apr 28, 2005, 09:29 PM

Originally Posted by Spook E

Could we have the option of: Like the look, when changed with CageFighter?

Cage Fighter gets rid of the button bits and leaves the toolbar icons freestanding, I like this a lot better.

http://otierney.net/cagefighter/

That old "icon" style buttons actually look pretty good on the new theme. As I said before, I think they look like ass on metal windows ... especially when they contain color. But on the new theme they are OK. Do you know if the buttons "darken" when depressed like in the old Mail.app to provide visual feedback that they have been clicked?

OAW

ManOfSteal · Apr 28, 2005, 09:35 PM

I like CageFighters darken "Blue" color for the mail selection...

dzhim · Apr 28, 2005, 11:06 PM

Apple? Go ahead and hire OAW, who has shown in four posts that he/she has a better GUI sense than whomever it is you're already employing.

undotwa · Apr 29, 2005, 04:14 AM

I very much dislike the new toolbar buttons. I welcome the retreat from drawers in Mail, however I feel the colours are just all over the place. I would have preferred Apple keep the existing UI of Mail without the drawers.

Randman · Apr 29, 2005, 04:16 AM

I like it. It's not perfect but it is an improvement.

Severed Hand of Skywalker · Apr 29, 2005, 12:26 PM

Cagefigher make it look like Windows XP.

Yuck, that blue is horrible.

ChrisF · Apr 29, 2005, 12:41 PM

I find the text of messages significantly harder to read. Compared to Mail in 10.3, the space between the lines of text (leading) is significantly smaller and causes large blocks of text to seem very cramped.

OAW · Apr 30, 2005, 03:04 PM

Now that I finally have Tiger installed I've been able tinker with Mail in person and not rely totaly on screenshots. Having said that, my opinion is still basically the same ... but it is not as bad as I had feared. In and of itself .... that is, not taking into account the whole issue of consistency ... Mail 2.0 doesn't look that bad on its own. The toolbar buttons against the new "Unified titlebar/toolbar" window is ok ... and given time I will probably grow to like it. It has a nice "colorful yet subdued" thing going on. The thing that I just can't seem to get past is that pale blue background in the mailbox pane. It just clashes with the rest of the colors used in the app and I don't see a purpose for it other than to delineate that area because they chose not to user a standard separator ... like the horizontal one in that separates the mail header from the message body. Had they done that and used a standard white background ... Mail would actually look pretty darn slick. Inconsistent with the rest of the OS X ... but pretty slick nonetheless. Hopefully, someone will release a utility that allows a user to change that background color soon. In the meantime, I just keep the pane hidden until I need to switch mailboxes. Much easier on the eyes that way.

OAW

hayesk · Apr 30, 2005, 05:36 PM

I like that mail has buttons that look like buttons. Using just icons (that should represent objects) for buttons are a big UI no-no and Apple should never have done that.

However they are inconsistent with Safari and the Finder. Apple should have made the buttons just like Safari or Finder buttons.