Let’s get this out in the open shall we: I think the semi-transparent Menu Bar looks alarmingly similar to Windows Vista. Anyone else think so?
Anyway, with one final wave goodbye, Brushed Metal is out the back door and is unlikely to ever return. No tears from me, I never liked it anyway. Now we have the new “plastic gray” look, a big improvement. And, Steve says, it will be everywhere, as part of a new effort to bring back some consistency to Mac OS.
The new iFinder - sorry, Finder - is simply described as “iTunes for files”. It’s got the same iTunes-style sidebar (complete with capitalized category headings, that’s going to annoy some people) and CoverFlow is built-in. (I really hope the CoverFlow guys got a good deal when they sold to Apple, because their idea is getting everywhere now.)
iTunes for files
The Dock, like a lot of other stuff, has been given a 3D effect makeover. Dock icons now appear to sit on top of a small shelf that extends inside your screen for a centimeter or so.
The new Dock: one of the few UI elements that’s still “lickable”
The “floor” of this shelf is a shiny reflective surface, that will even reflect the contents of windows that are dragged down towards it. All rather Web 2.0.
The Dock still separates Applications on one side and Files on the other, but now there’s an elegant gap between them.
Files can now be viewed using the snazzy Stacks feature, which makes a group of files spring out like a Jack-in-a-box:
Stacks of fun to be had with these
There’s also a grid-effect, very reminiscent of Overflow, I think:
Easier access to everything. At last.
Spotlight is different; results can be viewed more easily from the sidebar:
And searching has improved:
From the Finder or the menu bar, Spotlight in Leopard lets you search for more specific sets of things. Use Boolean logic to narrow search results by entering “and,” “or,” or “not” into a search request. You can also search for exact phrases (using quotation marks), dates, ranges (using greater than [>] and less than [<] symbols), absolute dates, and simple calculations.
So far, so good? On the whole, I like what I see, although I’m most interested to see the extent to which it can all be customized and tweaked. Since I generally don’t use the Dock and keep it hidden, I’m curious to see if the concept of Stacks will make me come back to it. Same goes for Spotlight.
> Since I generally don't use the Dock and keep it hidden, I'm curious to see if the concept of Stacks will make me come back to it.
Yeah, I think it might be a bit mouse-y for a laptop-bound, RSI-crippled guy like myself. I can never figure out the keyboard access for this slick stuff.
> "Brushed Metal is out the back door"
Uh, I don't think they were that gentle: http://daringfireball.net/2007/06/brushed_metal_leopard
Doesn't anyone understand that this new Finder will drastically improve the usability of newbies coming from Windows? A friend of mine, that is purchasing a Mac when he enters college this fall has explained to me... "I'm going to feel ten times more at home when using the new Finder, since I'm already used to the iTunes application, and have been for quite some time!"
Is everybody missing this... Safari is the new OS X!!
I don't think the translucent menu bar looks anything like Vista from the picture you have in your article. It just looks like the 10.4 menu bar to me but a bit see through. The only transparent bits at the top of the screen in Vista are the windows themselves. The "Gadget Bar" in Vista looks like a dock to me but with widgets in it instead of application aliases.
I like the look of the new dock.
Yep the new menu bar strikes me as Visa's over-all look; That transparent smudge effect. And although you can turn this default behavior off, I still hope Apple will see the light and change this effect to something better & original before the release.
Now on to brushed metal. I have always liked it and and everyone I know likes it. But the plastic look (yuck!) appears cheep to me. I'm very surprised that Apple didn't use the current iTunes look, fit & finish as the system wide framework.
And regardless of the fact that I have my own backgrounds, I thing the grass it too bust and will not entreat the warm welcome of most people. A blue variation is the best you can do to appeal to the most people. That is just physics & design (human eye.)
And one last comment to the issue of stacks & you keeping the dock hidden. The stacks feature will work with the dock hidden. Even now you can place a folder in the dock and pop up (although much less elegant & functional) the contained items with the dock hidden.
-dd-
ps: I really like Safari 3 ability to open up the text entry box (like the one on this very web site) when writing these comments.
I was surprized by the irrevelence of the "small shelf that extends inside your screen for a centimeter or so." assertion
But I got the answer of my wondering with "Since I generally don't use the Dock and keep it hidden" as an explenation...
I don't use It intessively neither, I only keep the most used apps in It+ some Apps I drag files on
and I use Dragthing as an App Library organized by categories
But since you generally do not use the Dock maybe It will be a *NEWS* for you :
The Dock is resizable, and resize by itself to fit the screen (width) and most people use It unhidded ans reduced in size
In My case I use TinkerTool to pu It at the bottom Right (Dragting being at the bottom left)
Who Said OS X wasn't customizable?
The stacks will maybe have a hard time because as Apple presented It, they (the stacks) will get an icon of what's in It, ordered by reverse date by default (configurable but...) and when people will figure It out they will order them for Apple by alphabetical order and even put a picture with 1 or 3 space in front of the name to keep the stack recognizable
I do hope Apple hasn't finished to set them up upon how they (stacks) will be created.
And the fan presentation is annoying (but beautifull)and limited to 10 elements, then It goes to rounded square palet
Bothe are browserable like in Finder (Command-up/down arrow Enter to Open)
The coverflow Is maybe a big no-no for your use but for browsing Pics and texture library there is some sparks in my eyes
QuickLook was demoed to be invoked with spacebar on the document selected but only in Coverflow Finder Vien, *But* It (Spacebar to invoke the Quicklook) in alle the other Finder presentation
So the Full Keyboard navigation is Now (+4month)
Quicktime *non Pro* regain Full Screen Ability (lost with QT3 when Apple began to charge for the Codecs)
Front Row Is in Fact kinda BackRow 1.5 from Apple TV (still have some ApplTV error Message in It)
Post ADB Trackpad (or USB Trackpad...) PowerBook will Gain the Alternate Click with Two Finger on the Trackpad (wich wasn't provided to Those machines, by SideTracks or iScroll due to a Patent concern on the new non OpenSource drivers)
Leopard is and will be a *BIG* leap, and will force a lot of developpers to update their softwares, most of the time because they putted them selves OS version checking
If they do have them (Leopard Update of their prog) Internally It will be OK, if not they will have to filter there mailboxes to not being flooded be *Not Working with leopard* mails
BECAUSE MICROSOFT STOLE IT FROM APPLE AND MICROSOFT SUCKS.
This is most likely real. Simply, if Apple wanted to implement virtualization, they would do it exactly as they did with Classic. The nice thing about Windows is that the app have their menubar in the window so that Apple doesn't have to change the main menubar at all (like they did for OS9).