Latest Jaguar boasts refined Aqua

evo · June 29, 2002 9:28PM

It's been discussed in other message boards, but not here yet. It looks like the latest build of Jaguar has some refined Aqua widgets.

I like the flatter look personally, I always thought some of the buttons looked too rounded. I don't care for the bold black line around the popup menu, and hopefully there will be further refining (like that circular looking scroll bar).

What do you guys think?

buonrotto · June 29, 2002 9:43PM

It's a little more crisp, but I'd bet that they're still working things out. I remember when it was the 11th hour before the release of 10.0 and suddenly the system and included application icons got a complete overhaul. They got much better in a short amount of time.

BTW, the developers won't have to update their widgets unless they've ignored the Extras resource. They should inherit the new look wherever possible automatically.

Also, the system has anti-aliasing options sort of like Photoshop's scheme. You can have Standard anti-aliasing, light, medium and strong. Standard is recommended for CRTs and medium for LCDs. There is apparently sub-pixel rendering too on LCDs but no option to control it AKAIK.

yurin8or · June 30, 2002 12:37AM

I like the changes...though the scroll bar slider doesn't appear to have been flattened and is somewhat fuzzier than the other controls.

ghost_user_name · June 30, 2002 1:21AM

How is it different again? Can someone provide side by side screenshots of the differences?

anders · June 30, 2002 3:33AM

They have distanced X from XP in a good way. Plastic is sooo 2001. Glass is the future.

Hmm. makes me wonder how the next PowerBook will look

eugene · June 30, 2002 5:14AM

I don't think I like it. The corners are sharper too, but the window corners are still more rounded. If you look at the way it is now, the corners of tabs and windows basically match. I also don't like the flatter look of the tabs. Right now the tabs are more easily distinguished, IMO.

The rest of the window is matte, the tabs should be too. XP is a bit glossier than OS X. If Apple changes the tabs and a few of the widgets, everything else has to change too. And I don't think I want to see glossy menubars and windowbars.

The one thing I do like is the flatter portion of the window foreground that sticks out of the main window.

<a href="https://connect.apple.com/"; target="_blank">https://connect.apple.com/</a>; - The buttons on this page have been like that for over a year. I once thought that Apple might move to a more platinum-like set of widgets to make Carbon ports a bit easier UI-wise. Maybe they are now...

[ 06-30-2002: Message edited by: Eugene ]

low-fi · June 30, 2002 5:38AM

It looks like a cheap Aqua windows theme on XP.

I am not going to justify myself cos it is a sunday morning and i want my breakfast.

low-fi

ludwigvan · June 30, 2002 6:21AM

The picture at the head of the thread and a few others can be found in a new article at Think Secret, include a couple of Ink-related captures. I swear I've seen the DVD screen grab and one other one before. And oddly enough, there's no preference for Ink in the System Preferences according to that pane's pic; maybe it's hidden somewhere else.

graphiteman · June 30, 2002 7:36AM

I like the current Aqua also. The new one just doesn't feel right.

kim kap sol · June 30, 2002 8:24AM

[quote]Originally posted by graphiteman:

I like the current Aqua also. The new one just doesn't feel right.<hr></blockquote>

Well, many thought Aqua didn't feel right when we first saw it in DP3. That change from Platinum to Aqua made some people lose their mind. Give it time...the new Aqua is actually quite nice.

Someone on MacNN posted a Extras.rsrc theme file with the new Aqua look...give it a try, it's nice...really!

jambo · June 30, 2002 8:27AM

The image above doesn't really do the new aqua justice. It looks much better in person or as a .png screenie.

J :cool:

nebagakid · June 30, 2002 9:25AM

It looks much more flat, also, it seems like the highlight in the button does not flow into the shadows....it seemsed forced.I do not think I would of ever noticed it if no one brought it up, however, so it is not that big of a differents.

but yeah, from glass to plastic

drewprops · June 30, 2002 9:35AM

I like these subtle changes. The slider controls look proper now, not like little round jelly beans. The speaker icon has been rendered down into a more elegant "international symbol"-esque icon instead of the cartoonish version of the current release.

I think it's great that they've got time to work on the fit and finish of the product now. Combine these visual improvements with all the promised technical improvements that will come with Jag and you can color me "happy".

Just stay in the lines.

buonrotto · June 30, 2002 9:36AM

Yes, I'm running a modified Extras in 10.1.5 that pulled these elements from the recent Jaguar pre-release build, and for the most part it's a bit of an improvement in terms of legibility. The throbbing buttons are a little more subtle too. To me, the rotund appearance of the old Aqua made for some awkward transitions, for example, where the tab intersects its base line. The two bulbous pieces didn't really know how to fit together nicely.

Here's a .TIFF of the new tabs, pop-ups and buttons from my modified Extras.rsrc file:

<a href="http://homepage.mac.com/buonrotto/.Pictures/New_Widgets.tiff"; target="_blank">TIFF sample</a>

satchmo · June 30, 2002 10:28AM

The refinements make it look more of a serious OS and less just eye candy. I like it.

ghost_user_name · June 30, 2002 10:48AM

thank you BuonRotto...

Interesting to note that there's now subpixel AA in the latest builds (see ThinkSecret) and it looks AWESOME- not annoying like ClearType is on XP- probably due to the different fonts being used, but it still looks really nice.

cubedude · June 30, 2002 10:48AM

I like the new widgets, though I hope they don't make it half-and-half, with some stuff plastic, and some glass.

chrismusaf · June 30, 2002 10:52AM

[quote]Originally posted by kim kap sol:



Someone on MacNN posted a Extras.rsrc theme file with the new Aqua look...give it a try, it's nice...really!<hr></blockquote>

Where is that? Can you give me a link? :cool:

thesloth · June 30, 2002 12:16PM

The original extras file has been removed, but you can get a version made for Duality (see the thread on the MacNN forums).

Subpixel rendering...People like this? Am I the only person who sees multicoloured text? Black just doesn't look black, looking at both the screenshots on ThinkSecret (viewed on a Lombard), and at cleartype on my Mom's PC laptop (15 in screen). Text looks 'nicest' when properly antialised without subpixel rendering, and is most legible without any sort of anti-aliasing or subpixel rendering at all. I fail to see why Apple would want to move towards the least 'pure' half-way house. Also, I find the subpixel option the hardest to read, simply because it plays tricks with my eyes and brain, the letters never appearing a consistent colour, causing them to be in a continual state of flux between the three pigments and black. Having said that, I have no problem with it if you can turn it off, however I didn't see any option for that in the Sys. Prefs. shot. Maybe it will be introduced later.

cubedude · June 30, 2002 12:31PM

Here is a duality theme I found on the MacNN Forums(I was looking for the Extras.rsrc). It is not on my idisk, I will give you the link to the topic instead. <a href="http://forums.macnn.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=46;t=007097;p=2"; target="_blank">About half-way down, from a person called Luke Sands.</a> And a little farther down is a stripeless version, the post with the huge screenshot.

edit- TheSloth and I posted at the same time.

[ 06-30-2002: Message edited by: CubeDude ]

jll · June 30, 2002 2:48PM

[quote]Originally posted by TheSloth:

Subpixel rendering...People like this? Am I the only person who sees multicoloured text?<hr></blockquote>

No, you're not the only one.

Latest Jaguar boasts refined Aqua

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