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slugslugslug · Jan 14, 2006, 12:07 PM

http://daringfireball.net/2006/01/brushed_metal

This may be the best piece of writing to come out of MWSF06 yet.

paul w · Jan 14, 2006, 12:20 PM

Oh man, Brush Metal is going to end badly, pimping himself out to shady third party PC apps...

JoshuaZ · Jan 15, 2006, 02:56 AM

I just wish Apple would pick a theme and stick with it. The company seems more indecisive about its themes then a 16 year old trying to pick out a shirt.

Ozmodiar · Jan 15, 2006, 03:15 AM

I must be the only person on the planet who doesn't care if an app is brushed metal or regular.

- - e r i k - - · Jan 15, 2006, 07:31 AM

Oh UNO, how sweet. You make my life complete.
Kick Metal to the curbe. And that's the final word.

dcmacdaddy · Jan 15, 2006, 10:40 AM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Oh UNO, how sweet. You make my life complete.
Kick Metal to the curbe. And that's the final word.

Thanks for the link. UNO rocks!

euchomai · Jan 15, 2006, 06:56 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Oh UNO, how sweet. You make my life complete.
Kick Metal to the curbe. And that's the final word.

Does this slow down the computer at all?

JoshuaZ · Jan 15, 2006, 08:00 PM

Wow, that looks really really really nice. Thanks for the Uno link.

Kevin · Jan 15, 2006, 08:11 PM

Install Smooth Stripes and not only get rid of Brushed, but the pin-stripes as well.

Kevin · Jan 15, 2006, 09:06 PM

Here is a pic of how brushed looks under Smooth Stripes

[FONT=IMPACT]DEAD SEXAAAAAAAAY[/FONT]

Salty · Jan 15, 2006, 09:38 PM

I liked UNO when I used it... that said I ended up going back... kind of hope they go to the new interface for most apps in X.5, though I'd like to see the finder done with the Unified look...

Kevin · Jan 15, 2006, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

though I'd like to see the finder done with the Unified look...

Look up

Salty · Jan 15, 2006, 09:44 PM

Too dark.

Tesseract · Jan 15, 2006, 09:55 PM

I'm using Aqua Extreme now. More "smooth metal" goodness:

Tesseract · Jan 15, 2006, 09:58 PM

Originally Posted by paul w

Oh man, Brush Metal is going to end badly, pimping himself out to shady third party PC apps...

Or non-third-party ones.

Kevin · Jan 15, 2006, 10:24 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

Too dark.

Then you don't like the unified look.

- - e r i k - - · Jan 15, 2006, 10:34 PM

Originally Posted by euchomai

Does this slow down the computer at all?

Not at all. This just replaces the graphics in your system resources with unified ones. As opposed to things like ShapeShifter which does have a minute impact on your resources.

- - e r i k - - · Jan 15, 2006, 10:36 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

I liked UNO when I used it... that said I ended up going back... kind of hope they go to the new interface for most apps in X.5, though I'd like to see the finder done with the Unified look...

This doesn't make sense. You want Apple to use Unfied for most apps, yet you removed UNO?

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 15, 2006, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by Ozmodiar

I must be the only person on the planet who doesn't care if an app is brushed metal or regular.

No you're not. These people are just overly obsessive.

Tesseract · Jan 15, 2006, 11:05 PM

Yup, "overly obsessive"... that's me.

If you don't have this problem, be thankful.

- - e r i k - - · Jan 16, 2006, 01:54 AM

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

No you're not. These people are just overly obsessive.

Says a designer?

When 10.4.4 returned my apps to brushed metal after months with UNO it felt like going back to black and white TV from HDTV.

mydog8mymac · Jan 16, 2006, 03:21 AM

Groovy—thanks for the link.
Erik, are you saying that 10.4.4 won't alloy you to use UNO? Or do you have to reinstall.

Kevin · Jan 16, 2006, 05:51 AM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Not at all. This just replaces the graphics in your system resources with unified ones. As opposed to things like ShapeShifter which does have a minute impact on your resources.

OOooOh you are about to start a flame war. Lucky this isn't in the GUI forum.

And that is exactly why I wont use ShapeShifter.

I know some themes wont work without it's features. I am just glad I picked one that did.

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

No you're not. These people are just overly obsessive.

Oh come on SWF, we just don't like Apple's given GUI. And since we aren't fanboys, we change it.

What would happen to a table you had in your house that you found garrish?

- - e r i k - - · Jan 16, 2006, 06:06 AM

Originally Posted by mydog8mymac

Groovy—thanks for the link.
Erik, are you saying that 10.4.4 won't alloy you to use UNO? Or do you have to reinstall.

No. Just that if you had it installed when upgrading, it will replace it with the standard graphics. Just a quick re-apply of UNO and you are good to go

Leia's Left Bun · Jan 16, 2006, 08:08 PM

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - -

Says a designer?

When 10.4.4 returned my apps to brushed metal after months with UNO it felt like going back to black and white TV from HDTV.

Ya, I'm looking at my work in Photoshop not looking at the borders of some of Apples apps.

Salty · Jan 16, 2006, 08:29 PM

I'd like the unified look for the Finder, and Safari, I don't want it in the iLife apps if I can have the new darker theme.

Kerrigan · Jan 16, 2006, 08:43 PM

Frankly I just want a theme that gets out of my way when I am doing work. That is why I use Windows when I have to sit down and work on a paper- I can't be arsed to deal with all the distracting eye candy of OSX.

festeringwounds · Jan 16, 2006, 08:50 PM

The first one was better. This one was just... bleh.

- - e r i k - - · Jan 16, 2006, 09:05 PM

If an app uses the darker theme it should ignore UNO (I think, unless Apple has implemented it as a standard in 10.4.4 or something).

The darker theme is meh, why have two different shades of the same theme? Just doesn't make sense.

Kevin · Jan 16, 2006, 09:16 PM

Originally Posted by Leia's Left Bun

Ya, I'm looking at my work in Photoshop not looking at the borders of some of Apples apps.

Aqua isn't good GUI practice. Esp not the pinstripes (Which they have subdued, but not remove) and shiny colors.

A GUI is supposed to wrap around the content, not distract from it.

Tesseract · Jan 16, 2006, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Aqua isn't good GUI practice. Esp not the pinstripes (Which they have subdued, but not remove) and shiny colors.

A GUI is supposed to wrap around the content, not distract from it.

You're already using SmoothStripes, stop complaining.

I don't like the stripes except in the titlebars of background windows, where they really help distinguish between foreground and background. In fact, my main complaint with brushed metal is that the windows look the same whether they are in the foreground or the background. The new smooth metal theme unfortunately does not fix that.

Kevin · Jan 17, 2006, 06:31 AM

Originally Posted by Tesseract

You're already using SmoothStripes, stop complaining.

Stop being silly.

If you have what you consider a decent GUI, you can still talk about the aspects of good GUI design.

I was explaining to SWF WHY good GUI design is a must. The original OS X was awful design. Whoever OK'd that needs smacked hard.

In fact, my main complaint with brushed metal is that the windows look the same whether they are in the foreground or the background. The new smooth metal theme unfortunately does not fix that.

Um, most of the GUI is greyed out. How can you NOT tell?

festeringwounds · Jan 17, 2006, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by Kevin

Um, most of the GUI is greyed out. How can you NOT tell?

I see what he is saying. In OS9 or earlier, the whole title bar change if it went to the background... in osx, everything is brushed metalish, and it doesn't change color in the background or foreground. Sure, if you see the whole thing, then you can tell, but not easily if you only see art of it. Hence using my middle mouse button for expose.

xi_hyperon · Jan 17, 2006, 08:56 AM

I've been using UNO for awhile now, and got a big shock when I updated to 10.4.4. Thankfully, as erik mentions, a simple reinstall takes care of the brushed metal.

Tesseract · Jan 17, 2006, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by festeringwounds

I see what he is saying. In OS9 or earlier, the whole title bar change if it went to the background... in osx, everything is brushed metalish, and it doesn't change color in the background or foreground. Sure, if you see the whole thing, then you can tell, but not easily if you only see art of it. Hence using my middle mouse button for expose.

It's not just an OS 9 thing either. With normal Aqua titlebars (Mail.app, TextEdit, etc.) the titlebar is smooth and 3D looking when in the foreground. When in the background, it gets lighter in color, flattened in appearance, and it gets stripy. That makes it really easy to tell which window is in the foreground.

Obviously it's not difficult to tell if a brushed window is in the background or not, but there are fewer visual cues than with an Aqua window, which makes it harder than it could be.