Apple's inconsistent interface

already complained about this as soon as they announced iTunes 5 and I had a copy running... http://www.trikenit.com/?p=73

The inconsistencies don't really bother me much, they are all nice and I'm sure everyone will have their own opinions on which look is better to them. One week people will like one version, the next week they're slamming it's looks because something else came out. Relax! What if apple came out with a new look all at once all across the board... and it sucked?? At least with one app, they can kind of test the waters and get a feel for public response and then decide which direction they'd like to go. Personally I don't mind them being different at all, they all are still similar. I think it gives them each personality. Not everyone in your family looks exactly alike ay? Just similar, but are totally different people with different personalities.

I'm not a programmer, but does any of this interface stuff affect performance? Because scrolling my 6000 songs in iTunes 5 is WAY smoother than 4.9. I'll take performance over appearance any day!

If all applications were all alike, I'm afraid I'd get so freaking bored about that interface that I would need a new theme pack for every week. That would be annoying.

Yes. It drives me mad. Mostly because people harp on it all the time. :) iTunes 5 is pretty darn nice looking. I like the less-window-fluff look of it. I don't really have a problem with Apple changing their UI, as long as it remains well suited to the task at hand, and iTunes 5 is perhaps better looking than its predecessor.

i actually, welcome the changes. Let's me know that they're keeping the user in mind for each app. a little more consistency may be called for... iTunes 5 looks sweet... the burshed metal look is looking less metalic in Safari.... others are making bad(imho) decisions [like innovator Omniweb getting rid of the very useful bookmarks drawer] and i agree about GarageBand... feels like the old iMovie.... i think the icons and graphics and creative use of the HIG might help distinguish apps more... oh.. and i think people do complain waaaaaaay too much about this.. it deserves attention, yes, but not a tantrum. have a great day all!

consider me slightly bitter, but i wrote a much longer post on the same topic and posted it on one of the iTunes 5 comments somewhere. Sean doesn't even mention the pro apps. http://hohle.net/scrap_post.php?post=153 guess i'll submit it as a 'tip' next time.

Unfortunately it was the first thing I noticed about iTunes5. I'm all for running a tight interface and maximizing the rest of the content, but they could make an effort to keep it consistent. Apple can do better. They're all for not allowing users to change anything to keep it consistent, but then they run off doing just the opposite. In recent history Apple has done nothing but introduce different styles. First it was aqua, then we went part brushed aluminum, now we're going in shades of grey, .... what's next? Lets end the trouble once & for all. Give it one style across the board: aqua / brushed / grey / ... and allow users to change it to the style they want.

Hopefully one day everything will look like this: http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/9341/ligerfinder4ls.jpg http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/8476/ligersafari4us.jpg

You think everythings is fine, and then along comes iTunes 5 and BAM! everything else looks stoneage. Honestly, Apple shouldn't have dropped this or the new Mail interface on us until it was ready across the board. from djones "But logically, you need some sort of visual indication of which application you're in." Um, I gotta disagree, bob. Apple has crafted two themes, metal and aqua, to compliment and offset each other. The use of each theme is specific to each application, and is determined in a logical manner (not just, I'm sure, at Steve Jobs' random ruling) but each application using said theme MUST look exactly the same, otherwise whats the point of having themes at all? The themes are meant to be so streamlined and consistent that you don't even think about them, allowing you to go about your business. If you can't tell each app apart by its CONTENTS AND FUNCTIONS, then you need to go use a windows machine, with their "anything-goes-lets-put-a-giant-send-button-in-it" interface. The point of these themes is that we aren't really meant to notice them, and by stirring up the pot, like Apple or developers with poor design skills has, the differences now jjump out at us.