Filed under: Rumors, Apple, Snow Leopard
Will Snow Leopard's UI be darker, slimmer?
We're just a few months away from WWDC (I guess, Apple hasn't announced dates yet, and the delay might stem from pinning down a release date for iPhone OS 3.0) but the speculation on Snow Leopard is in full swing. Developers have had builds of Snow Leopard for a while now, but according to AppleInsider there are some interface tweaks that have yet to be unveiled.VentureBeat posits the new look in Snow Leopard might already be in place with some apps -- take a look at the scroll bars and darker trim in iTunes 8 or iPhoto '09. This could be a harbinger of UI's to come, or it could be the sort of UI schizophrenia Apple has suffered from in the not-so-distant past. AppleInsider goes further, creating a mockup of what QuickTime in Snow Leopard might look like. To me, it looks a lot like Windows Vista.
As always with Apple, we'll just have to wait until they show us to be certain. Even then it's a bit of a moving target. No doubt they will announce all the features and shiny new look of Snow Leopard to much fanfare, and there will be much rejoicing.
[Via VentureBeat]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sherwin said 6:48PM on 3-25-2009
Don't think it looks like Vista at all. Vista looks like you're looking at your apps from a dirty glass shower door.
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Galley said 7:23PM on 3-25-2009
"Dirty glass shower door..." That's a perfect description!
Drew said 7:06PM on 3-25-2009
snow leopard - ok there is nothing wrong with a re-skinned of the Unix OS and applying that magic Apple branding - but come on...
Snow Leopard ? Isn't that the slang for 30+ women in the great white north hitting the bars looking for love.
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brian said 8:07PM on 3-25-2009
cougar.. the term you're thinking of is cougar
mike said 4:14AM on 3-27-2009
mark that down, Drew... for when you chatting up some 35 year old, hoping to get the 'monkey' off yer back.
C-o-u-g-a-r.
Eh?
Fernando said 7:15PM on 3-25-2009
There are rumors of the menubar being inverted (light text on dark background). I sure hope that doesn't happen. That said I welcome any UI changes to quicktime.
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FightTheFuture said 7:51PM on 3-25-2009
i welcome any UI changes to Snow Leopard as long as it's more functional. that being said, it just took me three tries to tear off a tab on Safari 4...
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Joe said 8:02PM on 3-25-2009
I hope and pray for a darker UI or at least the ability to customize. As a professional video editor, I use Final Cut but the white and light gray is BLINDING when you look at it for hours on end. You can dim the display but it darkens your video too.
Avid has had a customizable interface for ever and its time for AT LEAST FCP to step into 1989 with this.
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m said 8:03PM on 3-25-2009
Black UI elements don't go so well with shiny displays. Maybe Apple will bring back matte with the introduction of Snow Leopard!
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Eric Carroll said 8:50PM on 3-25-2009
I like the "new" look proposed or put together by the "artist." First off: I hate the brushed metal aesthetic and the two-tone gray thing it has "evolved" into. I hated brushed metal when it "debuted" in Mac OS 9 in Quicktime, and I HATE the two-tone grey look of Quicktime now. I'll be glad to see as much of it go as possible.
I don't think it looks THAT much like Vista either, and that being said; although as an OS it sucks, Vista is not that hard to look at.
I hope that now they update the iPhone theme. Why does the iPhone still have the cheap plastic looking tiny vertical strips in the background theme in the "settings" (and a few other) area(s), its from like Mac OS X 10.0. The iPhone was released long after they ditched it in the Mac OS, why is it "in style" on the iPhone if they moved on on the computer?
I'm not saying that I want Apple to go nuts and drastically change the look of things from each 10.x release, but I would welcome something like this Quicktime window.
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JayZ said 11:32PM on 3-25-2009
Is it so hard to make the UI colours customizable? Hmmmm...
Anyway, the big secret is the pop-up translucent controls. More of the UI will remain invisible until needed, then pop up in a context sensitive floating toolbar. It's very CSI-ish...
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Sean Flanagan said 9:08AM on 3-26-2009
Enhance...
Enhance...
Enhance...
Chris W. said 10:49PM on 3-25-2009
I just hope that Apple offers a similar package to the current "Leopard, iLife 09 and iWork 09" deal that they currently have. I'm holding off on upgrading those in the hopes that there'll be the reduced bundle down the line.
in terms of GUI, I'd be fine if they darkened it a bit, I'd be fine if it stays more or less unchanged. Regardless, it's still a darn sight better than the Windows machine I switched from a year ago.
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samuel said 3:00AM on 3-26-2009
Can we all just not wait. "A few months", that's a long time though.. what I hate are the leeks a day or even hours before the official unveiling.
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BJ Nemeth said 3:41AM on 3-26-2009
It was difficult to read the post itself, because my eyes were constantly drawn to that awesome LEGO version of a classic ship from "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" series.
I like it when the bloggers here spice up their posts with non-Apple images from time to time. Click on the photo to go straight to Flickr, where there are two more pictures of the ship, including its fateful descent toward the sun.
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2shae said 9:02AM on 3-26-2009
Why don't they change the UI to the MobileMe style?
Example:
http://blog.kevinandersson.dk/2008/08/25/wip-mobile-me-theme-for-facade/comment-page-1/#comment-688
Doesn't even have to be black, but at least change the buttons and scrollbars to this.
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2shae said 9:04AM on 3-26-2009
http://blog.kevinandersson.dk/2008/08/25/wip-mobile-me-theme-for-facade/comment-page-1/
Patriks7 said 11:20AM on 3-26-2009
I'm willing to bet it will be fairly similar to that. Apple needs a place to test these things after all.
macserv said 3:12AM on 3-27-2009
It'll look like OPENSTEP again before you know it.
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Carlos Loeza said 1:33PM on 3-29-2009
Try this application (for Leopard): http://www.magnifiqueapp.com/
Change your theme to iLeopard
That's what I think the new GUI for OS X will be like.
Inside Magnifique, there is also a theme similar to the one mentioned above that resembles MobileMe, its called Black Mac OS X
You are welcome.
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