Apple Indecisive on Themes?
Ever since OS X "puma", Apple has seemed to have the hardest time choosing an overall theme for the OS... in Jaguar it was pinstripes, but when iTunes and Safari tried the brushed metal look, so did Panther. but a few of the apps kept the pinstripes. and while I got used to it, i didn't think it fit the overall theme of the system they market.
I mean, I liked the brushed metal better than the pinstripes, but i do think the pinstripes were closer to the theme i "THINK" they are trying to portray with the pastel blue and other light colors of the OS.
However, I like the new theme they have in Mail 2.0 in Tiger the best. I think it fits the theme better than the previous 2. But my whole point is this, Why do they blend themes from 3 different OS?... i mean, it's just inconsistent from one app to the other.
And on the same time, Why ship the last 2 "airy and light OS's in a black, sleek box?...
I know this is mostly a useless post, and most of you couldn't care less, but it's just one of those minor annoyances.
I mean, I liked the brushed metal better than the pinstripes, but i do think the pinstripes were closer to the theme i "THINK" they are trying to portray with the pastel blue and other light colors of the OS.
However, I like the new theme they have in Mail 2.0 in Tiger the best. I think it fits the theme better than the previous 2. But my whole point is this, Why do they blend themes from 3 different OS?... i mean, it's just inconsistent from one app to the other.
And on the same time, Why ship the last 2 "airy and light OS's in a black, sleek box?...
I know this is mostly a useless post, and most of you couldn't care less, but it's just one of those minor annoyances.
Comments
The new smooth theme could potentially unify the metal and aqua pinstripes themes too, something a lot of people want to see happen. I personally don't have a problem with different themes in one OS if it's done for the right reasons, that is, if there's a consistent logic about why one app should use theme x and not theme y. I think it can actually be an advantage when done to differentiate contexts, and so long as they're not totally clashing but work together as a family. But the lack of rhyme or reason to how Apple applies their themes right now is a big problem for me.
I like the look of this new smooth theme in some ways, but because it does follow the metal theme rule for open areas (shaded = draggable), it does necessitate turning the toolbar icons into button outlines. From that point of view, I can see why Mail's new toolbar is done the way it is. (IMO Mail's buttons are fugly, but that's not inherent to the button concept.)
You just have to hope that Apple has long-term plans for these things, and we're just not seeing where it's all headed now. We thought that Apple was dropping the ball on making use of file metadata too though. I pretty much gave up on the idea when PAnther came out, and nothing seemed to change, but then they finally came out with Spotlight for Tiger. I'm hoping the same will be true for the Findr and all these themes -- that once I give up hope of seeing any real improvments in these areas, only then Apple will come out with something where it all makes sense.
How better to sell the HW/SW integration than having pinstripes programs on pinstripe machines?
Or a clean white program on white hardware?
Or brushed metal SW on brushed metal HW?
The pinstripe SW came after the pinstripe imacs while the brushed metal came before the TiBooks.
I'd be curious to know what Tiger's telling us about future HW themes....
--B