Comments on: Source Lists and Brushed Metal

By: ALT F4

ALT F4 — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 03:10:55 +0000

Apples UI is becoming a mess, not even they know what they are doing.
The guidelines get updated whenever apple thinks it cool to shove brushed metal on an application that doesn't need it (safari).

By: rubecious

rubecious — Sat, 05 Mar 2005 03:23:23 +0000

I think Apple also uses the brushed metal to make the software more visually in sync with their (future) hardware.
Which are generally either white or metal.
In my opinion this adds "usability" because the software refers to "real-world".
I was surprised by the Garage Band window having wooden sides though.

Also the visuals of the OS are constantly being updated and modified, it seems to be a work in progress.
In that situation you can't stick to guidelines too strictly simply because they might have changed between updates.

In my house I move stuff around and throw things out, I like it that Apple does the same on their OS :)

By: Peter da Silva

Peter da Silva — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 14:15:15 +0000

Hai. If Aqua is too bright, then they should simply provide a darker theme. If Metal is an attempt to darken aqua, the result is that the brightness of the user interface is continually changing. If metal is an attempt to differentiate between types of applications, then all windows of a Metal application should be metal... and Terminal.app should be metal because it's used to interface to hardware. Then there's the whole Finder shenanigans...

I agree with "the brushed metal guidelines are more a retroactive justification for Apple’s design fetishes than a set of sound principles for designing usable, consistent interfaces".

Don't get me started on one-button mice.

By: amarre

amarre — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Agree. Looks like the UI engineers are not in sync with the actual developers. iChat is another application that doesn't follow those guidelines...

By: Sy

Sy — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Will you people get over the brushed metal look. It is so obvious why Apple decided on this go with this look. In Classic OS 9, Apple used a gray scheme because its neutral and easy on the eyes. With OS X, they got rid of this scheme and everything was all white and was so bright. If you work all day staring at the monitor, this becomes annoying. Apple discovered the error of their ways and brought back some gray but updated it a bit to make it look modern....thus the brushed metal look. Its a lot better to look at compared to the painfully all-white theme previously in Jaguar and earlier versions of OS X. My guess is they will introduce more grays in future updates. OS X is still too white for my taste. OS 9 might be an outdated OS but the UI was well-developed.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Sy: the problem I have is that some apps are metal and others aren't. Further, if you use Unsanity's haxie to make every app metal, you'll see that this looks way too "heavy" (to use Apple's term). So, if the brightness is a problem, and I think you may be right about that, Apple should come up with a slightly darker Aqua theme that can work across the board.

By: random guy

random guy — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

iChat does qualify; it "rovides an interface for a digital peripheral," namely iSight.

By: Michael

Michael — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

iChat was metal before there was the iSight, though.

By: Sy

Sy — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Maybe Apple knew iSight was coming? Its pausible.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 16:00:00 +0000

Sy: your comments don't make any sense. The brushed metal window appearance was first seen in the classic Mac OS with QuickTime 4, Mac OS 8.6!!! It definitly wasn't invented as a way to tone-down Mac OS X's excessive brightness problem.