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gorgonzola · May 6, 2002, 04:43 PM

What's going on?

Before, they used to say that the brushed metal was for their "media" apps like QuickTime, FCP, iTunes, etc ... and they even de-metalled Sherlock fairly recently. But now, brushed metal seems to have come BACK, and with a vengeance ... iChat, Sherlock 3, *AND* the new Address Book seem to have it.

Frankly, if there was some rhyme or reason to this, I'd mind a lot less. I don't like this ridiculously spastic toggling back and forth between brushed metal and Aqua every point release. The OS is Aqua. Why are all these random apps not Aqua?

Have I missed something, or is everyone equally in the dark on their logic here?

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: gorgonzola ]

Mr Scruff · May 6, 2002, 04:48 PM

Egad!!! Check the thread list Gorgonzola...

Great minds think alike I guess.

OAW · May 6, 2002, 04:55 PM

I agree with Gorgonzola. I don't really have a problem with the "brushed metal" look. I just wish there was some rhyme or reason the the choice of interface style.

At this point it appears that Apple is moving towards showcasing its own apps with the "brushed metal" look. At this point, it looks the only "aqua" style Apple apps will be Mail and iDVD 2 once Jaguar arrives. Seems to me that iDVD 2 was a better candidate for the "brushed metal" look than Address Book, but oh well. Maybe one day it will all make sense...

OAW

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: OAW ]

Adam Betts · May 6, 2002, 04:56 PM

Maybe they want to show that those apps are not just cheap cocoa programming with bare interface. They want people to explore the power in those apps. Brushed Metal is the thing that they think would attract people to it.

If quicktime, etc was pure aqua, people would thought them as low-powered apps instead of professional.

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: Adam Betts ]

Developer · May 6, 2002, 04:58 PM

Originally posted by gorgonzola:

Have I missed something, or is everyone equally in the dark on their logic here?

The logic is: Every app Apple marketing thinks is cool gets the brushed metal appearance.

chris v · May 6, 2002, 05:05 PM

Maybe they're trying to defeat the themers?? I like Aqua just fine-- without the pinstripes, that is. I bet themes won't override the brushed metal, though.

CV

a holck · May 6, 2002, 05:07 PM

according to the trust worthy SPYMAC.COM you can now toggle the brushed metal interface on / off!

I hope they for once are right!

Mr Scruff · May 6, 2002, 05:07 PM

Originally posted by Adam Betts:
Maybe they want to show that those apps are not just cheap cocoa programming with bare interface. They want people to explore the power in those apps. Brushed Metal is the thing that they think would attract people to it.

If quicktime, etc was pure aqua, people would thought them as low-powered apps instead of professional.

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: Adam Betts ]

Except it actually implies the opposite. When I think of professional I think of Photoshop. Can you imagine photoshop with a brushed metal interface?

Adam Betts · May 6, 2002, 05:10 PM

Originally posted by chris v:
Maybe they're trying to defeat the themers?? I like Aqua just fine-- without the pinstripes, that is. I bet themes won't override the brushed metal, though.

Good theory. Maybe they're trying to hold the themes down until they get their own theme tools ready then de-skin all of the apps with brushed metal.

But maybe this doesn't make sense since brushed metal was from quicktime and sherlock in OS 9

But here's hoping they'll tell us why the hell they want to stick with brushed metal.

Mr Scruff · May 6, 2002, 05:12 PM

Originally posted by a holck:
according to the trust worthy SPYMAC.COM you can now toggle the brushed metal interface on / off!

I hope they for once are right!

Alas no. Spymac claim it's an option in project builder, implying that 3rd party developers can now build brushed metal applications (shudder).

cowerd · May 6, 2002, 05:13 PM

a holck
This is the quote from spymac: "The incredible good looking metal interface (see iTunes for example or Quicktime) is now officially part of the UI and can be turned on and off in Project Manager with the click of a mouse."
Which seems to imply that any developer can now build an iApp. Proliferation!

a holck · May 6, 2002, 05:19 PM

I see. I stand corrected!
Hope you can hack the interface pointer then in the .nib!

cowerd · May 6, 2002, 05:24 PM

I liked your version better.

a holck · May 6, 2002, 05:30 PM

Ok, I hope it is themeable in one central place like ordanary Aqua! and not like itunes / iphoto! per app ressource....

LudwigVan123 · May 6, 2002, 05:43 PM

For those who attended the keynote, did the apps (if there were any) shown on the big screen all have the brushed metal theme?

gorgonzola · May 6, 2002, 06:11 PM

OK, if anyone can make a metal app, that's simply awful. That means that within a year or so, there will be near NO consistency at all in the apps on OS X. Despite the great updates demoed today, I'm not too happy about that one... =\

Developer · May 6, 2002, 06:22 PM

Originally posted by gorgonzola:

OK, if anyone can make a metal app, that's simply awful. That means that within a year or so, there will be near NO consistency at all in the apps on OS X. Despite the great updates demoed today, I'm not too happy about that one... =\

Consistency is a thing of the past even if only Apple does brushed metal apps. Or can you explain why Address Book has a brushed metal appearance and Mail doesn't?

lookmark · May 6, 2002, 06:32 PM

Originally posted by Developer:


Consistency is a thing of the past even if only Apple does brushed metal apps. Or can you explain why Address Book has a brushed metal appearance and Mail doesn't?

No. It seems like the "App of the Moment" get the brushed metal appearance. Other apps don't.

It's weird. It feels like short-term thinking.

But it's bad enough that Apple feels it has the right to be inconsistent.

Providing the tools for *all* developers to be inconsistent just seems like an opportunity for nightmare.

I don't know... I mean, maybe Apple sees the Aqua/metal differences as inconsequential, or merely cosmetic; kind of like how there were several flavors of interface for early Mac OS applications. (Remember the rounded windows, black-title-bar calculator and its ilk?)

But basically the reasoning for this appearance seems to be dancing around, simply to justify marketing purposes. Which makes even less sense now that they're using their shiny new OS...

(edit: typos)

[ 05-06-2002: Message edited by: lookmark ]

moki · May 6, 2002, 06:52 PM

(cross-post, because I'm feeling lazy today

)

I don't mind the brushed metal interface on things that are meant to ressemble real-world "players" -- such as QuickTime, iTunes, and the DVD Player.

However, making the address book and chat program use a brushed metal interface... well, it certainly wouldn't be my choice. They just look a bit out of place to me.

Why have a brushed metal look on an address book, but not on Mail? There doesn't seem to be a logical deliniation anymore, whereas when the programs in question were meant to be analogs to real world "player" applications, it at least seemed reasonable (even if you don't like the look)

wulf · May 6, 2002, 07:03 PM

I don't mind the brushed metal interface on things that are meant to ressemble real-world "players" -- such as QuickTime, iTunes, and the DVD Player.

... There doesn't seem to be a logical deliniation anymore, whereas when the programs in question were meant to be analogs to real world "player" applications, it at least seemed reasonable (even if you don't like the look)

The only way it makes real sense to me is if they are going togo all the way and institute Themes, with have a fully-fledged Brushed Metal theme. I don't think many of us here actually want that, but at least the user gets to choose. Of course it would be all-or-nothing, but at least it's consistent either way.

Either that or Steve uses a TiBook all the time and wants all his apps to match the casing

wulf

a holck · May 6, 2002, 07:04 PM

So Andrew have you recieved Jaguar in advance?

Can you now talk about the performance?

theolein · May 6, 2002, 07:07 PM

Originally posted by Developer:


Consistency is a thing of the past even if only Apple does brushed metal apps. Or can you explain why Address Book has a brushed metal appearance and Mail doesn't?

They claim that mail will work with MS exchange server. This implies a new version of the mail.app. Any bets on it's having a brushed metal interface?

But I will add my voice to the masses here: Brushed metal sucks.

Folks, get your posts into OSX feedback early on this one. there's still time for them to change it.

chris v · May 6, 2002, 07:18 PM

I gave 'em my 2 cents, with a "BTW, why don't you add an option to turn off the pinstripes?" thrown in as well.

CV

a holck · May 6, 2002, 07:24 PM

Jaguar mail.app from apple site

moki · May 6, 2002, 07:26 PM

Originally posted by a holck:
So Andrew have you recieved Jaguar in advance?

Can you now talk about the performance?

I can't comment on anything that hasn't been publically stated -- like I said, after WWDC, there would be plenty of Jaguar info around

Anyway, we have someone from Ambrosia at WWDC, and Apple has stated that they are giving developmental copies of Jaguar to folks who attend, so draw your own conclusion.

moki · May 6, 2002, 07:27 PM

By the way, as someone with a very public eMail address, who has used a number of server-side tools to cut down on the spam I'm inundated with every day... the best feature of Jaguar for me may well be the spam filter in Mail.app, assuming it works well.

a holck · May 6, 2002, 07:38 PM

It will be great to see QT performance when it's tied to the OpenGL pipe.
I bet we will se some funky new effects in FCP 4!

I was a little frightned by the new 'multithreading' feature of the finder.

Has it not been this before?

iJed · May 6, 2002, 09:26 PM

The only way to get rid of this stupid brushed metal inconsistency is to complain in the OS X feedback section on the Apple website. Surely if lots of people do this then Apple will remove brushed metal interfaces for good. Go and complain now.

gorgonzola · May 6, 2002, 09:33 PM

Originally posted by Developer:
Consistency is a thing of the past even if only Apple does brushed metal apps. Or can you explain why Address Book has a brushed metal appearance and Mail doesn't?

No, I can't, but my point was that having 3-4 brushed metal apps on the system is still much better than having 20 random ones, which could get highly irritating.

Back to the feedback section...