[Big Mac]

I really don't care for the appearance of Panther's new flat buttons, which are found in certain spots in the UI. Most notably the Finder's Find dialog. I'm referring to the buttons that are found to the right of the "Search In" menu that are labeled "Add" and "Remove." These buttons are terrifically unattractive. I don't really understand why Apple has chosen to use them instead of the regular Aqua rounded rectangles. These buttons look Windozeish, yet at least those buttons have some depth! These are virtually plain rectangles. Am I too up tight, or do you see what I'm saying?

[Love Calm Quiet]

I see what you mean - but I can't remember what they used to look like.

I get the impression that they're trying to establish a hierarchy of attention-grabbing, maybe to help the "most important?¿?" stand out more.

Do you want to bet this'll be tweaked some more in future revs?

[Big Mac]

You're totally right, Quiet, concerning the hierarchy of interface elements - that's the only explanation for these spartan elements. For the record, I too have tried to recall what the buttons used to look like, but I'm not entirely sure. I have to assume that they were just miniature aqua buttons, but I could be wrong. On a related note, I believe the + and - (add and subtract) round buttons have taken a step back in Panther - I remember in Jaguar they were smaller and possibly higher resolution. Oh well, as long as Apple limits these unappealing widgets to Find and a few other places I won't be that upset. (The flat rectangular buttons are also featured in the Accessibility Pane of System Preferences, but at least in that context they're a sensible choice.)

[msuper69]

I don't see what you are describing. I see two rounded buttons, labeled '+' and '-'. They look normal to me.

[Big Mac]

It looks like the following graphic, except that to the right of "Search in: Home" there are flat, rectangular buttons labeled Add and Remove. We're not referring to the buttons in the Search for items whose subfield.
[edit: removed graphic since urban got the real thing]

[msuper69]

I see them now. They are displayed when you select 'Search in Specific Places'. Yes. They are unattractive but really this is such a minor thing, IMHO.

[urban]

[CharlesS]

The rectangular buttons were in 10.2 as well - just not used very often. Although I agree, they did have more depth in 10.2.

[tooki]

They're called "Bevel Buttons" (as opposed to the regular buttons whose official name is "Push Buttons", and "round buttons", and the "icon buttons", such as System Preferences' icons). But oddly enough, the Human Interface Guidelines don't tell you when to use Bevel Buttons.

tooki