[TheoCryst]

Yep, you read right. As of build 9A410, brushed metal is now a thing of the past, replaced by a dark unified look a la iLife '06. Yes, that includes the Finder and Safari.

I'll let the pics speak for themselves... but in the meantime, can I get a "Hallelujah" in the house?

Click for pics

[Chuckit]

I've figured brushed metal's days have been numbered for a while, since Apple specifically chose not to call the window style "brushed metal" in Interface Builder.

[rickey939]

Love it!

[chris v]

I hope so. If not, I hope UNO is updated for 10.5.

[analogika]

I applaud this, even though it never bothered me enough to warrant any action.

[pendragon]

AFAIK, One can click and drag a window by clicking anywhere on the brushed metal part/edge/frame

Does this "feature" continue with the Unified look?

[Chuckit]

Yes. The unified look already carries that behavior.

[brokenjago]

Am I the only one that thinks that these screens look a bit.... fake?

Why are they so grainy? And Square? Where are full screen screenshots with these windows side-by-side?

And why is system preferences all of a sudden this dark new unified? I don't like it.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by brokenjago 

Am I the only one that thinks that these screens look a bit.... fake?

Why are they so grainy? And Square? Where are full screen screenshots with these windows side-by-side?

And why is system preferences all of a sudden this dark new unified? I don't like it.

Maybe everything is dark unified now.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

but in the meantime, can I get a "Hallelujah" in the house?

Not when the replacement is hideous you can't. That is far too dark and depressing a look - reminiscent of Windows prior to XP, in fact. If they are going for the unified theme for everything, why not stick to the lighter version that is used in Tiger? Sigh.

(I hope that this isn't the final Leopard look and is just a placeholder until the proper interface is revealed).

If those screenshots aren't fake, what interests me more is that all the Finder icons are now showing a preview of the actual documents.

[seanc]

I also wonder why the screenshots are so grainy

Those aqua icons definitely need to go, they look silly compared to the rest of the theme.

[The Castel]

too cool

[lpkmckenna]

Originally Posted by seanc 

I also wonder why the screenshots are so grainy

They were over-compressed by the original poster.

I'm using UNO again myself. I far prefer it to Apple's current swamp of styles.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by JKT 

If those screenshots aren't fake, what interests me more is that all the Finder icons are now showing a preview of the actual documents.

I think it's real. Apple's introducing a new kind of plugin so applications can provide previews to the Finder. (This isn't NDA info, by the way. It's mentioned in the Leopard Technology Series on Apple's site.)

[TheoCryst]

I've seen several screenshots from different sources, and they're all telling the same story, more or less. In my opinion, this seems to indicate that Apple will be unifying the entire interface, but not necessarily with this appearance. It just makes a convenient placeholder to test the overall window unification. Then, in June: boom, new theme.

[Kevin]

YES!! This is the way I was HOPING Apple went.

[seanc]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

I've seen several screenshots from different sources, and they're all telling the same story, more or less. In my opinion, this seems to indicate that Apple will be unifying the entire interface, but not necessarily with this appearance. It just makes a convenient placeholder to test the overall window unification. Then, at the preview in June: boom, new theme when Leopard is released in October.

Fixed.

[Curiosity]

I hope the finder sidebar can have labels as well as icons in the sidebar.

[silverboy31]

Its real people i have the latest build and boy its very buggy

[Sijmen]

I don't know what to think, in my opinion it doesn't really look that different. But I guess that's because I haven't seen brushed metal in like two years.

[Catfish_Man]

Originally Posted by silverboy31 

Its real people i have the latest build and boy its very buggy

It appears to be pretty variable. Previous builds everyone was seeing rampant bugginess, this one is working well for me*.


*well is relative to previous builds; there's definitely still some issues

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by seanc 

Fixed.

You think they're going to wait until October to reveal the new theme? The one in June is supposed to be pretty much feature-complete.

[hldan]

First I want to commend the people in this forum for introducing UNO. I never heard of it until today and just tried it and love it, but I love it because it solves OSX's UI inconsistencies.
What I don't get is why are most people here excited over those screen shots? If Leopard's new UI is just the brushed metal removed and turned into this then it's ugly.
That UI is just a plain grey smoothed over look. Nothing special, it's just boring. I never thought I would say this aloud but Windows Vista's Aero UI eats those pre-Leopard shots up for lunch. We had it first so why should the copy cat now look better?

[Brien]

Originally Posted by TheoCryst 

I've seen several screenshots from different sources, and they're all telling the same story, more or less. In my opinion, this seems to indicate that Apple will be unifying the entire interface, but not necessarily with this appearance. It just makes a convenient placeholder to test the overall window unification. Then, in June: boom, new theme.

Possibly. The iPhone may just give us the sneakypeaky.

[seanc]

Originally Posted by Chuckit 

You think they're going to wait until October to reveal the new theme? The one in June is supposed to be pretty much feature-complete.

Of course not, but with the secretive way Apple is being, anything could change between what we see in June and October.

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Brien 

Possibly. The iPhone may just give us the sneakypeaky.

I do think the placeholder theory is right, but I doubt the interface has anything to do with the iPhone. The iPhone is fundamentally different — its interface is not WIMP-based.

[JKT]

Of course, as resolution independence is one of the rumoured new features (though the last I heard it was not due to debut in 10.5.0 - perhaps the delay will let this happen now), having bitmapped imagery in your windows (the brushed metal) would not be a very good idea. Perhaps this is the reason for a shift toward a gradient fill.

[- - e r i k - -]

It's obvious that when they introduced Unified that they were working towards a fully unified look for the GUI as a whole. IMHO they should have done that completely already in Tiger. But at least we have UNO to fix that for us thus far. This "placeholder" theory doesn't hold water for me, Apple is not known for radical UI changes (save for Platinum -> Aqua, but then again OS X was a whole new OS), but a continuous refinement. The real revolution with Leopard is going to be resolution independence, and unified fits perfectly into that. I am very disappointed that they seem to be going for the darker variety of it though. The lighter and more neutral (from a designer POV) is a much better choice.

[Aron Peterson]

I use UNO too. If I disable UNO I have to puke in the evil face of brushed metal.

[Simon]

I really don't care if BM is dropped as long as this new theme (or placeholder) is applied universally to the whole OS and all bundled apps. I want my UI consistency back.

Of course the fact that in those screenshots I see three different button types (plus Mail will add yet another type of button) for no special reason is pretty much the opposite of consistency.

[red rocket]

Too dark. I don't like it.

[silverboy31]

"though the last I heard it was not due to debut in 10.5.0 - perhaps the delay will let this happen now"
I don't know where you heard that but being a developer i can assure you res indy is still in there.
I'm almost sure this new ui will not be the final ui, although it is nice to see a unified ui across the board. This builds looks rather smooth with the same ui, very buggy though.

[TheoCryst]

silverboy31: Since we're already talking about the theme, can you let us know if this UI is 100% universal, even on older apps (iWork, other 3rd-party apps, etc)?

[brokenjago]

Think Secret just posted a new gallery of their own which shows that the new 'dark unified' theme has been universally applied to what seems like every app.

It makes things like software update look a lot more like windows.

[silverboy31]

good question haven't moved any of my apps over yet, to much work to do in 10.4.9.. but i will when i have a chance

[Chuckit]

The fact that they chose dark unified makes me think that maybe there is some truth to those "Illuminous" rumors (though I still say Apple would not call something "Illuminous" in a million years). Maybe dark unified was the closest thing they had to the theme they eventually intend to put in. The fact that they are unifying everything, though, definitely counts as a pretty big graphical shake-up, so it doesn't seem unlikely that they'll bring out a whole new theme. And dark unified is unattractive enough that I don't think they'll actually use it universally.

[imitchellg5]

Why is the create widget button not shown in Safari?

[Chuckit]

I thought that was the button to the right of reload in the Safari pic. It's not the Dashboard icon anymore, but this one fits in with Safari better and is more descriptive.

[kick52]

shitty mother****ing bastards!

**** NO!

****, **** and cock

*cries*



..oh well, there is always shapeshifter to help me. or maybe i could get used to it.

[Curiosity]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

I am very disappointed that they seem to be going for the darker variety of it though. The lighter and more neutral (from a designer POV) is a much better choice.

I think dark is better. It is much easier on the eyes. Don't forget that some people have to look at a computer screen for hours on end.

[TheoCryst]

Originally Posted by kick52 

shitty mother****ing bastards!

**** NO!

****, **** and cock

*cries*

...umm... breathe?

[Chuckit]

Originally Posted by Curiosity 

I think dark is better. It is much easier on the eyes. Don't forget that some people have to look at a computer screen for hours on end.

I'd think such high contrast all over the screen would be harder on the eyes.

[- - e r i k - -]

High contrast is worse. Remember that most your windows are actually white. Harsh contrast makes things worse for your eyes, not better.

I work at a Mac Pro all day, and then I spend my time in front of a 24" iMac when I get home, so I do use the computer for hours at an end

[shrakner]

Originally Posted by hldan 

If Leopard's new UI is just the brushed metal removed and turned into this then it's ugly. ˜
That UI is just a plain grey smoothed over look. Nothing special, it's just boring. I never thought I would say this aloud but Windows Vista's Aero UI eats those pre-Leopard shots up for lunch. We had it first so why should the copy cat now look better?

I agree completely. Brushed metal is one of the awesome parts of OS X- it's just subtle enough to give the OS class. If Apple decides to get rid of brushed metal, they had better come up with something awesome to replace it. The better option is to allow the users GUI choices built into the OS- if people want brushed, let 'em have it- if they want the "unified" light or dark UI, they can have that too. However, I highly doubt Apple will do that- but one can hope.

[JKT]

Originally Posted by silverboy31 

"though the last I heard it was not due to debut in 10.5.0 - perhaps the delay will let this happen now"
I don't know where you heard that but being a developer i can assure you res indy is still in there.
I'm almost sure this new ui will not be the final ui, although it is nice to see a unified ui across the board. This builds looks rather smooth with the same ui, very buggy though.

I believe the developer who discusses resolution indepedence in one of the WWDC presentations available on the iTunes store said it, but I might not have remembered it correctly or it could very well be out-of-date information.

[- - e r i k - -]

Brushed metal awesome?

Brushed metal is the last hangover from OS 9, so I can't really see this as an awesome part of OS X. And it's anything but subtle. Blech.

[analogika]

Originally Posted by - - e r i k - - 

High contrast is worse. Remember that most your windows are actually white. Harsh contrast makes things worse for your eyes, not better.

I work at a Mac Pro all day, and then I spend my time in front of a 24" iMac when I get home, so I do use the computer for hours at an end

And this after years of the Niner-Whiners crying about how OS X is just too ****ing bright kiddy happy horseshit.

[silverboy31]

Not to through fuel on the fire but does anyone remember the hitech theme thats was scrapped in Mac OS 8.5 years ago, the black with blue highlight it reminds me of the Apple tv interface.
Betaworld - Mac OS 8.2d8 (Code name: Snowman) Maybe Apple may be going to a variation of that theme in certain apps Final cut studio has these colors in it...if i could just find the picture of it

[silverboy31]

Correction Final cut server due out late summer 07Apple - Final Cut Server watch the video also you may notice it running on windows

[mdc]

It doesn't seem like Apple has worked on the Finder or Font Book from those screenshots. iCal and Automator have all gone borderless but Finder and Font Book still have the borders.

I remember seeing a screenshot last week which showed inactive windows having the unselected white unified look and the active window having the dark unified.

I think it'll be interesting to see what Apple has in store for the final look of 10.5. Honestly, I prefer this to Vista. I use Vista 8 hours at day here at work and the transparency of Aero grew old the week after I installed it. I have my windows set to a be untransparent as possible and now I have windows with a hazy white border on them. I find having them set to Vista default annoying since losing sight of which app is active and seeing through windows is "cool" for a few minutes.
I think the unified look (dark or light) of 10.5 will be lot more usable. It's not as flashy or "wow" and that is what I think Microsoft will promote and the general public will notice.
Hopefully Steve's Reality distortion field will explain usability over wow.