[mitchell_pgh]

I will admit that when I saw my first brushed metal application I thought it was ugly, but over time, it has grown on me... When I showing a few iTunes screenshots of OS X with iPhoto to my PeeCee "friends" and they all thought it was very appealing (naturally design critiques from PC people don't count, but I digress) I'm starting to like it more and more, and as my one anti-brushed metal friends said "It's here, it's queer, and it's not going anywhere". Considering almost every Apple made (purchased) program is being released with brushed metal I'm interested to hear people ideas on the subject.

I'm asking for open opinions and views of why you do or do not like brushed metal (give examples if possible)

My question: Why do so many hate brushed metal?

[CharlesS]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
My question: Why do so many hate brushed metal?

It reminds people of QuickTime 4 and its volume wheel, sliding favorites drawer with tiny, unrecognizable thumbnails and no labels, buttons with no contrast, etc.

[Zimphire]

I like it allot better than the stripes in Aqua.

I think it looks nice.

[jedi1yoda1]

I think the brushed metal interface is the best interface. It (sortof) matches my powerbook and my kitchen appliances. I like the look and hope it stays around for a long time.

[cwasko]

I don't have a problem with Brushed Metal at all. I think it is actualy easier to look at than the bright and shiny pin-stripped aqua. I think the big problem has been that the brushed metal was used on apps that had horrible interfaces. There is no reason why you can't have brushed metal and a good interface.

[xi_hyperon]

It's a nice complement to the other, Aqua-striped apps, and it also visually sets the iApps apart from everything else.

[hyperizer]

Originally posted by xi_hyperon:
It's a nice complement to the other, Aqua-striped apps, and it also visually sets the iApps apart from everything else.

I wouldn't mind brushed-metal if it was just used for the iApps (iTunes, iPhoto, iMovie, etc.), but Apple's been inconsistent. They used it for Sherlock, QuickTime, and the new Address Book. So it seems like random Apple applications have a different look for no apparent reason. That's what I dislike. That and the fact that Apple is allowing third-party developers to use it, so there'll be even more applications that are non-Aqua without reason.

[Developer]

Some people think it's ugly, some think it looks nice. You can't argue over taste, so let's exclude that and discuss about objective issues with the brushed metal appearance:

1.) It is different

One principle of human interface design is that things that do the same thing look the same, and things that do different things look different. Brushed metal windows do the same as Aqua windows - they present the content. So them looking different is a principally bad thing. Unless of course you define a different behavior for them, for example for non resizable windows that mimic real world devices in which it would be OK.

2.) It is custom drawn

Since they are custom drawn up until now, this introduced further inconsistencies. The brushed metal looks slightly different from app to app, controls look slightly different between brushed metal apps and Aqua apps, controls don't obey system preferences like color variant or scroll bar arrow placement etc. It also leads to drawing problems like redraw flicker in QuickTime Player.

3.) It is huge

Brushed metal uses more screen real estate than Aqua. The large borders around windows wastes screen space and lacks the simple elegance of Aqua. It is also an interface that's a little bit obtrusive and jumps in your face. This looks cool but it also distracts from the content. The best interface is that that you don't notice!

4.) Metal is not flexible

Metal suggest something hard and unflexible. Yet most of the brushed metal windows are resizable. This is unintuitive. And since it also looks like a real world device this somewhat suggest a single window interface. Many users never discover that you can have multiple iTunes windows for example.

5.) It doesn't have a title bar

The brushed metal windows can be dragged by grabbing them everywhere but a control. This might lead to confusion, why that's not possible with Aqua windows (but then again the appearance is totally different so it's not too bad). More important is that without a clearly defined title bar features like sheets and toolbars sliding in and out are not possible (or look really silly like the sheets in iPhoto).

6.) Brushed metal apps mix metal and Aqua windows

So far all apps with the brushed metal appearance also use Aqua windows (for preferences, dialogs, or inspector windows for example). This gives them an inconsistent and unfinished look.

All these problems could be fixed, if there were clearly defined rules for when to use this special appearance (and ideally these rules would be enforced by Apple - they can do it if they want to as the menuling example proves).

For single panel applications that resemble real world devices the brushed metal appearance works well (though I still think it looks ugly).

[hyperizer]

Those are excellent points, Developer!

[Spirit_VW]

The Jaguar HI guidelines state that the brushed metal appearance is for apps that interface with a a digital peripheral (as in iPhoto), that manage data shared with digital peripherals (their example is Address Book), or represent a physical object (such as Calculator).

[Yoda's Erotic Piggyback]

Gross, I can't picture iTunes with the Aqua look.

[Developer]

Originally posted by Spirit_VW:
The Jaguar HI guidelines state that the brushed metal appearance is for apps that interface with a a digital peripheral (as in iPhoto), that manage data shared with digital peripherals (their example is Address Book), or represent a physical object (such as Calculator).

This sounds like a post fact rationalization to me. The main purpose of Address Book is to store addresses not to share them (that's what iSync is for). And should the Finder have the brushed metal appearance because it handles digitial peripherals (external storage devices)? Backup?

And how does iChat fit into there? I never called my buddies "digital devices".

[Spirit_VW]

Originally posted by Developer:

This sounds like a post fact rationalization to me. The main purpose of Address Book is to store addresses not to share them (that's what iSync is for). And should the Finder have the brushed metal appearance because it handles digitial peripherals (external storage devices)? Backup?

And how does iChat fit into there? I never called my buddies "digital devices".

LOL - I agree. It seems rather random.

[The Evener]

I hate it partly because metallic finishes look cheap most of the time and it reminds me of my JVC ghetto blaster circa 1985, but I can't blame Apple for JVC's design choices.

I also believe that, on an aesthetic level, metal and Aqua just don't work well together. What I liked about Aqua when I first saw it is that we finally got away from this iron ore fixation that we had since OS 8. More generally, combining something that is "abstract" like Aqua with a "real-world" fascimile like metal is strange choice in my eyes. That said, I could tolerate its use with applications like iTunes, iPhoto, etc if only because Apple started with metal for iTunes from the very beginning. Conversley, extending metal to the Address Book just illustrates that Apple really makes it up as it goes along. Apple's confusion is only solidified when you look at the new Address Book icon in Jaguar -- it looks like a "regular" Address Book with tabbed pages, but you interact with a Borgified version of the book on your screen.

And strangely enough, the metallic iPhoto was causing problems on my iBook. Specifically, when I launched it, the Title and Date boxes were hidden by the metal interface. Randomly the fields would sometimes appear after a launch, but it was never consistent. Finally, I modified the Archive.nib to get rid of metal and replace it with Aqua, and now iPhoto has the Title and Date fields every time I launch. I don't have a clue why removing metal would "cure" the problem, but the proof is in the pudding.

[Jasoco]

Ok, I really don't HATE the Brushed metal look. What I DO hate is that it's not standardized STILL.

In iTunes 3 and QuickTime 6 the interface seems to use its own hard coded widgets. Including the red/yellow/green buttons. These are hard coded. I know this because I changed my Theme. Now, iPhoto seems to use a mixture of hardcoded and standard interface graphics. The Close/Min/Max buttons are taking their look from your current theme. But the blue aqua buttons, i.e. the Import/Organize/Edit/Etc and Favorite/Family/Kids/Etc buttons utilize a Jaguarish Aqua look. Then there are the four buttons on the bottom left (For Add album/Slideshow/Information/Rotate) which DON'T use an Aqua look, or a standard look, rather use a new metal button that is also found in iTunes 2 and 3. QuickTime uses a hardcoded aqua button look for its controls. Including the volume slider, where as iPhoto uses standard Theme slider for zooming.

iPhoto does not let you drag from anywhere as do QuickTime and iTunes. As for iMovie, well, iMovie uses a plethora of hardcoded Aqua widgets. It's just sickening. Can't they get their act together?

AND another thing. I would have preferred iChat stayed away from the Metal look.

[mrtew]

Originally posted by Developer:
4.) Metal is not flexible
Metal suggest something hard and unflexible. Yet most of the brushed metal windows are resizable. This is unintuitive. And since it also looks like a real world device this somewhat suggest a single window interface. Many users never discover that you can have multiple iTunes windows for example.

What? I've never heard of multiple iTunes windows; unless you mean the graphic equalizer and preference windows. How do you get multiple iTunes windows???

I agree with you though about metal being inflexible... in fact I've always kindof thought of them being made out of the same morphing metal that the killer robot in Terminator2 was made out of. :-]

[kcmac]

I thought the metal look could be turned off in Jaguar?

[mitchell_pgh]

GREAT points Developer... I guess I didn't think of the "different" thing... I guess Windows users see poorly designed apps all the time...


Here is an example of multiple windows in iTunes...


I double click the title bar to minimize everything... but with brushed metal... you have to guess... The border is big, but I think that is way better for kids, and even adults... I hate not having a border on windows...

[Yoda's Erotic Piggyback]

Originally posted by kcmac:
I thought the metal look could be turned off in Jaguar?

No dinkles. Developers just have an option to make their own silver apps.

[hew]

Originally posted by Yoda's Erotic Piggyback:


No dinkles. Developers just have an option to make their own silver apps.

The only way to accomplish that would be to get rid of the few resources in Extras.rsrc in Jaguar. The one problem is some apps like iTunes use their own ui resources so you would have to hack each brushed metal app personally.

Until Apple makes all Brushed Metal apps use the Extras.rsrc resources it's going to be a pain to remove it.

[RGB]

I don't mind the brushed metal, and have actually been using Max's Brushed Metal theme for the last week or so - but mainly just for a brief change from the norm. I like the beautiful simplicity of Aqua, a cleanly done Aqua app like Acquisition or Watson will win me over the same app in brushed metal in most cases. I don't mind Apples metal apps, they're okay in my book.

[TNproud2b]

"Brushed metal" was, stylistically, a mid-70's thing.

[Marook]

Well, I think the idea of using 'real world' interfaces on a computer can be a god thing, but it has to be a real world copy. Neither iTunes, iChat, QuickTime, AddressBook, Sherlock or any other Apple app to date resemple a real world item. They use metaphors from the real world, but they don't <B>copy</B> the real world.

One great example of a 'real world' application, is Propellerhead's Reason. Now, that, is a real world application, that mimics a studio rack, making it easy for mucisians to work with it.

None of Apples applications comes even close to this.
AddressBook, in this regard, is a joke...

I remember Apple's GUI team stating ones, that "you should only use real world interfaces when it it absolutely needed. It's a computer, not a VCR" .. guess they forgot...

[mitchell_pgh]

Originally posted by TNproud2b:
"Brushed metal" was, stylistically, a mid-70's thing.

Thanks NTprobe2b for that bit of random trivia... but it was more like the 50's... for the original and now in the 2000's (just look at most of the consumer digital cameras)

[yield2apple]

Originally posted by The Evener:
I hate it partly because metallic finishes look cheap most of the time and it reminds me of my JVC ghetto blaster circa 1985, but I can't blame Apple for JVC's design choices.

I also believe that, on an aesthetic level, metal and Aqua just don't work well together.

LOL I agree, it looks tacky..

Can you all imagine the brushed metal being replaced with the blue aqua or graphite aqua "glass" of Jaguar? .. I think THAT would look amazing..

[mrtew]

Originally posted by mitchell_pgh:
Here is an example of multiple windows in iTunes...

Uh, thanks for the cool picture... but you didn't really answer the question. Please do. HOW do you get multiple windows in iTunes? Am I stupid or is there some trick to it? (or both).

[Seb G]

HOW do you get multiple windows in iTunes? Am I stupid or is there some trick to it?

Double-click a playlist in the main window. The new window wil only display that particular playlist (so it's not a full iTunes window).

[daniael]

Originally posted by mrtew:



Uh, thanks for the cool picture... but you didn't really answer the question. Please do. HOW do you get multiple windows in iTunes? Am I stupid or is there some trick to it? (or both).

just click on a album in the left column