Latest Lion build features iCal, iChat redesign
The latest Lion Developer Preview (released yesterday) features some cool new redesigns of a few of Mac OS X's built-in apps. First up is a completely redesigned iCal. The new iCal now closely resembles the Calendar app that you find on the iPad. It sports a leather header, complete with strips of torn away calendars. The overall look and feel of the new iCal, like its iPad counterpart, now closely resembles a physical desktop calender.
Another redesign, though less noticeable than the new iCal UI, is an updated iChat UI that combines AIM, Jabber and Bonjour contacts together in one window. This is a welcome tweak, as iChat previously separated all your different contacts into separate windows.
With the above changes, and the fact that Address Book in OS X Lion already got a similar overhaul so that it closely matches the Address Book app on the iPad, I wouldn't think it's too much to hope that Game Center for the Mac App Store and iBooks for OS X is too far off.
[via 9to5Mac]
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The latest Lion Developer Preview (released yesterday) features some cool new redesigns of a few of Mac OS X's built-in apps. First up...
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At first I puked but then I looked on my calendar and it was April 1st and I lol’d.
April 01 2011 at 7:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyUnfortunately this was reported by 9to5 Mac two days ago…! ;-/
April 01 2011 at 7:37 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplySorry, unless Apple is pulling an elaborate prank with this developer release it's no joke.
Even if it was a joke by Apple it's a bad. First the make iTunes an industrial souless wasteland and now iCal gets a fuggly ass look.
Damnit Apple! Just give up on picking color sceams for us. Your sense of feng shui is seriously damaged these days in MaOSX. Give us some choice or we'll just ended hacking up the backend UI resources. Visualize me flipping an angry bird (and not from a sling shot) at the UI design overseers at Appl.
I don't like the leather too much but I'm glad they are fixing some things underneath.
Delegates seem to work better too, which is good for QuickCal
http://www.tuaw.com/2011/03/25/quickcal-for-mac-natural-language-events-and-todos-for-ical/
Personally I think there is no need to make iCal on the Mac look like a physical desktop calender but that shall be okay. Of much more importance would be bringing in features of comparable calenders like BusyCal. I've had only Macs for more than 20 years now and never owned a PC but in the past years I was quite happy with the only Microsoft Application I ever used - Entourage - except the repeating issues with the sync situation. Even more since I began using Palm Treos and later iPhones. iCal for me always was absolutely not usable for me. More clicks than necessary to take notes and the notes field is still way too small to work with it. More options to customize would also be welcome...
April 01 2011 at 2:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Replylooking at this "gorgeous" leather makes you doubt the Jobs/Ive genius mythos...
April 01 2011 at 2:49 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyJobs/Ive mythos valid only in industrial hardware design territories. UI and UX mythos prohibited where void.
April 01 2011 at 9:42 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWait, if the pages are torn off when I'm done with them, how do I go back to review past events?
Also, I hope there is a feature that let's me doodle in the margin when I'm on a boring conference call.
Remember when Apple used to be the best in UI design? Now they make trash like this.
I remember seeing UI designs like this in the 90's.
is this what ipad users like to see?
I really doubt it...
That looks much sharper than the current iCal. Maybe I'll actively use it.
March 31 2011 at 10:16 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyIt's about time they add the year view. If it could act as a Gantt chart, this will be awesome.
March 31 2011 at 9:00 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply‘It sports a leather header, complete with strips of torn away calendars’.
Whose idea of ‘cool’ is that ? What happened to less is more ?
Flee Jonny - the barbarians are at the gates.
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