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Chris Grande · Nov 30, 2003, 11:54 PM

I have this strange bug...at-least it looks like a bug. The color of the active widgets the blue ones...seems to be the wrong blue. It looks like a to harsh of a blue..say compared to the safari widgets or the address book widgets. I thought it was just 10.3...but I was at the Apple Store today and looked at a 20" iMac and the color seemed fine. Anyone know whats up?

Nonsuch · Nov 30, 2003, 11:58 PM

Can you post a screenshot?

Chris Grande · Dec 1, 2003, 12:15 AM

Here you go:
Finder:

Address Book:

Nonsuch · Dec 1, 2003, 01:17 AM

Interesting ... I fired up iCal and it seems to use the same hue the Finder does. Wonder if there are two sets of Brushed Metal widgets? A developer needs to weigh in here I think.

Big Mac · Dec 1, 2003, 02:09 AM

We've already established that Brushed Metal is terribly inconsistent, so yet another inconsistency doesn't surprise me. Apple just seems to be pulling interfaces out of its arse.

Phoenix1701 · Dec 1, 2003, 05:21 AM

Originally posted by Nonsuch:
Interesting ... I fired up iCal and it seems to use the same hue the Finder does. Wonder if there are two sets of Brushed Metal widgets? A developer needs to weigh in here I think.

The reason there are different colors is because both the Finder and iCal use hard-coded graphics for those controls (they've been tentatively termed "sectional buttons"), while Address Book seems to use the new built-in controls introduced in Panther, judging from the lack of graphic files for them in its Contents/Resources directory.
Before Panther, there were no system-wide controls for this, but Apple used them practically everywhere, so they were a standard way of doing certain things... but any developer that wanted to use them and be consistent with Apple had to use hard-coded graphic elements. I haven't been able to download Interface Builder (stupid ADC FTP server craps out after a couple MB... anyone have a mirror?) to find out how accessible the new controls are, but they're in the Extras.rsrc file, so they definitely do exist.

- - e r i k - - · Dec 1, 2003, 07:30 AM

Use graphite, it's nicer anyway

arekkusu · Dec 1, 2003, 08:00 AM

The official name for those is "segmented controls".

And yes, the button graphics in Finder/Address book with that glossy diagonal swoosh are all custom. So whatever color the designer picked is the one you see. If it's not consistent, complain to Apple.

Chris Grande · Jan 5, 2004, 09:18 PM

I bring this thread back from the dead! Why...because the plot thickens!

I am able to get the correct widget color if I go under Customize Toolbar and say click Use Small Icons then Uncheck it causing the toolbar to redraw, but the second I use the control the color shifts. Also the correct color is shown in the Customize toolbar sheet.

I remember reading in the GUI forum about people having trouble with color shifting in the finder toolbar while creating themes...could this be related..? Also I put other icons in the toolbar and the are also effect by this shift in color.

MindFad · Jan 5, 2004, 09:40 PM

Indeed, I have the same problem. Panther's been like that for me since day one for some reason. And I haven't used themes in Panther yet at all. Everything seems very light, but as you said, when I uncheck that box, they appear as they should, but clicking on them again or opening a new window makes them light again. A redraw problem, perhaps, but it would be nice if Apple fixed this.

See:

Actually, on second thought, I'm not so sure the dark is how it "should" look. Perhapas the light version is how it's supposed to look, but it's getting redrawn on top again and causing the darkening, or how we think it's "supposed" to look? Who knows.

Chris Grande · Jan 12, 2004, 02:14 AM

At-least I'm not crazy! Its strange because I don't think that every computer is effected by this problem. For example a 20" iMac at the Apple Store looked fine to me. Just to answer you "What Color is Correct"...I'm guessing the color that appears in the customize drawer.

Can I ask what computer you are using, video card?

This was bugging me so much that I switched to the graphite appearance but of course Safari doesn't support Graphite so I have these damn blue buttons/progress bars.

Eriamjh · Jan 13, 2004, 06:46 AM

Wow. This is a major problem. The wrong blue...

Developer · Jan 13, 2004, 06:55 AM

A bug nevertheless.

I see the same issue. I doubt the bright version is the "correct" one as it almost looks like disabled buttons. Could it be a ColorSync problem?

By the way, the segmented button for the 3 different view kinds doesn't have gray icons like all the other buttons, but black ones. Looks unpolished to me.

Misanthrope · Jan 13, 2004, 07:03 AM

Originally posted by Chris Grande:
Here you go:
Finder:

Address Book:

If you liked that, you're gunna love this:

Finder:

Address Book: