iWeb '09 UI difference?

hmurchison

Ok,

I'm watching the iWeb video for adding photos.



http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iweb-photoalbum



I notice that when he clicks on iWebs Media Browser a feature i've never

seen before comes into play. Rather than a drawer or even a floating screen

the whole right side expands smoothly into a seamless single window UI with

media browser functionality + Widgets.



Is it just me or is iWeb the only application that has this fluid Media Browers. I'd

love for Apple to make this default on all of the apps. For some reason I've never

aesthetically liked the drawer look.



Watch the vid it happens about 20 seconds into it and tell me if you've seen it in other

Mac apps.

hassan i sabbah

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmurchison


Ok,

I'm watching the iWeb video for adding photos.



http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iweb-photoalbum



I notice that when he clicks on iWebs Media Browser a feature i've never

seen before comes into play. Rather than a drawer or even a floating screen

the whole right side expands smoothly into a seamless single window UI with

media browser functionality + Widgets.



Is it just me or is iWeb the only application that has this fluid Media Browers. I'd

love for Apple to make this default on all of the apps. For some reason I've never

aesthetically liked the drawer look.



Watch the vid it happens about 20 seconds into it and tell me if you've seen it in other

Mac apps.

I see what you mean. It is subtle, but it's more elegant.

ireland

Quote:

Originally Posted by hmurchison


Ok,

I'm watching the iWeb video for adding photos.



http://www.apple.com/ilife/tutorials/#iweb-photoalbum



I notice that when he clicks on iWebs Media Browser a feature i've never

seen before comes into play. Rather than a drawer or even a floating screen

the whole right side expands smoothly into a seamless single window UI with

media browser functionality + Widgets.

Ah that's sort of a drawer, really. Yeah it's new. I can see people with smaller screens, or who like to put their windows in specific places being pissed off by this though.

hmurchison

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hassan i Sabbah


I see what you mean. It is subtle, but it's more elegant.

Yeah it is actually. If you leave the "drawer" open it basically becomes a seamless and integral part of the UI. I wonder if Apple is using the least used app in iWeb to test it out and see how they like it before rolling it into other apps.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ireland


Ah that's sort of a drawer, really. Yeah it's new. I can see people with smaller screens, or who like to put their windows in specific places being pissed off by this though.

Yeah which is why Apple hasn't gone whole hog with the animating sidebars and all that. It's a preference choice for sure.



Thanks for the response guys..I wanted to make sure it wasn't just me not noticing this in other apps.

addabox

And I agree that drawers blow. There's just something about the shallow 3d space cues that grates on my nerves, the needlessly fussy implication of a slightly hollowed out tray that presumably nests behind the parent window, or something. It's really an odd man out in the general UI logic and needs to go away.



Hope this is going to be adopted where ever drawers might still make an appearance. As Ireland notes, though, there needs to be a pref to allow the expando pane to be treated as a repositionable floating window, so smaller screen users or enthusiasts of maximized apps don't have to start resizing things. Unless Apple has seen fit to make the entire window resize to accommodate the extra real estate, which would entail some UI issues of its own.