The demo is only intended to illustrate the points discussed below.
The windows which can be opened (from the Dock or Application Menu) and dragged are: Finder, Photoshop and QuickTime. With regard to the Finder, all main menu items are visible, as are some of the options within the Finder window itself.
Apple's Mac OS X site can be found at: http://www.apple.com/macosx/
Click here to see other peoples' feedback about the demo.
My first (gut) reaction to Aqua was: ‘What have they done to my Mac??’
It has grown on me however. The subtle horizontal lines, semi transparency and drop shadows all look great—and besides, who said that an operating system interface must consist of bevelled/embossed grey boxes? It’s just what we’ve come to expect, and where ever there is change there will be people resisting it.
Having said this, I am critical of some aspects of the design. The Apple logo in the middle of the menu bar is not a good design decision. It looks off balance because the rest of the menu is left aligned (as it should be). Hmmm..., and what about those candy colored gum drops...
The traffic light metaphor is kind of nice..., but I don’t want it... Not force fed to me anyway. As a professional designer who works with color, I would like to have the option of a more monochromatic (and less distracting) scheme. If Apple is keen to pursue the bright colors, at least give us the ability to customise. In my example I have shown how the rollover effect can be reversed so that the colors aren’t visible while you’re working—but they’re still there. Everyone can be a winner!
I hope Apple also reverses their partial trend towards form without function (you know the culprits: iMac pucklet, QuickTime 4 interface, etc) The traffic light arrangement has the ‘isn’t that nice’ appeal, but it’s clearly not as practical as the current layout of window buttons, where the close button is kept at a safe distance. And what about that new button on the right...
Please, lets not have a big blank button on every window for a setting that many users will set and forget. A better solution would be an options menu on the far right of every window (this is already standard in many application pallets) which could include any number of commands and settings associated with a particular window.
In any case, the window-mode button as demoed by Apple seems like such an ‘all or nothing’ approach. Power users will expect that they can temporarily reverse the single/multiple window mode by holding down OPTION, similar to the current Mac OS. This would give absolute flexibility to window management.
I hate the Windows task bar. Thankfully this is not quite the Windows task bar. For the imaginative user I think this has a lot of potential IF it can be customised and organised in a logical manner rather than just being a place to stick stuff.
Even with this organisation, the Dock should not replace the Application Menu. Switching between current apps is too fundamental a task to remove from the menu.
I’ve moved it to the left of the screen which matches the location of the Mac OS icon in Apple’s screen shots. I’ve got no idea if that is what they had in mind. In any case it’s not a bad spot for it, directly alongside the other menu items which relate to the current application.
Each application’s windows (whether it be visible or minimised) should appear in sub-menus off each applications name, giving users the power to jump straight to any window. The Mac has long needed a better way of navigating the many windows it generates (being the ‘Janitor’ as Steve Jobs puts it). This is it.
The Mac menu has traditionally been praised for consistency between apps, but hands up who enjoys searching for ‘Preferences’ in unfamiliar programs? Sometimes you’ll find them under ‘Edit’, sometimes under ‘Setup’, sometimes under ‘File'—and sometimes they’ll be called something completely different. Would it be too great a paradigm shift to see them consistently appear under the Application Menu (directly under the application’s name and ‘About’ information?
I don’t think I will miss the Apple Menu terribly if it is replaced. As a shortcut to various items it served us well in the early days, but it has its limitations. You can not drag and drop files onto applications. If you store aliases to your application folders in it, everything is well organised but navigating a long path of nested sub-menus can be a slow and fiddly exercise. The Dock, the new Finder and the Go Menu will hopefully fulfil these tasks better.
I have made good use of the Apple icon however in my suggested changes. It can replace the need for a ‘special’ menu (what could be more special than an Apple logo?), as well as provide a convenient link to system wide preferences (or control panels). Incidentally, if application preferences were located in the corresponding location on the opposite edge of the screen (in the Application Menu) this would make finding both a great deal more intuitive. Notice that this distinction between the entire system and individual applications also applies to the ‘About...’ information. ‘About This Computer’ can now be accessed from within any application (not just the Finder) and could conceivably replace the ‘Apple System Profiler’ if redesigned appropriately.
Am I the only one who actually likes those big buttons on the new finder? To me, it seems like they will provide much of the functionality of the launcher and the Apple menu in a more convenient and elegant manner. Okay, we need the ability to customise the icons, or hide the buttons altogether if we are so thoroughly repulsed by them. I would also like to see ‘spring loaded folder’ action apply to the buttons (unlike the launcher); and a trash can...? (I just think people should have the option of not using the Dock by necessity.)
I’ve also added ‘Memory’ to the ‘Computer’ view of the Finder, allowing you to drag documents onto open applications as you might drag them over a folder, or just store them as files in RAM (like a RAM disk). I’m interested to hear what people think of this idea.
What about losing the desktop metaphor? I love being able to drag anything and everything onto the desktop in the current Mac OS (I remember criticising an earlier version of Windows for its void-like desktop). On the other hand, the way it works currently with each drive sharing the desktop is not terribly intuitive for new users. How will it work in Mac OS X? Will there be a designated desktop folder on just one drive, the contents of which can be viewed on the desktop or by locating the actual folder using the new Finder? Or will the desktop just be a holder for alias-like shortcuts?
Please email and tell me what you think of the demoed suggestions.
Just please don't email to tell me that not all the buttons work. If I built a fully functioning OS interface in Flash, I would have a release date sometime next century! My aim was to give enough clues to Mac users (and Apple) about some ways in which I feel the interface could be improved.
Cheers
Kal Starkis