Of Burnt Aqua

I wanted to throw up a short note about iTunes 5, even though it's pushing 4:30am and I'm having to add more wicks to the candle, because some have gotten the wrong impression about my post yesterday -- or rather are reading too much into it.

It's understandable, as its lacking some context, which is my fault, as I tried to do a quickie on something deserving a longy. Judging by my inbox people are annoyed at a lot of things about the iTunes 5 interface, while yesterday I was reveling in the glory that is Burnt Aqua Unified. I have to keep this somewhat short, because otherwise the embargo on the site in order to get things done for the site will be meaningless, but basically they have the right of it.

If we boil it down, the are two main reasons coming to mind for why brushed metal has such a high suck factor:

  1. It's ugly. This is subjective, but no one thinks they have bad taste, and all you have to do is look around at some of themes available for OS X and Windows and Linux to know Apple doesn't have a monopoly on it.

  2. It makes little sense in a cohesive UI scheme where you want things to be consistent, because that's part of what usability studies tell us help us use computers better. Basically, Apple wanted brushed metal, so they tried to write it into the human interface docs so that it would make sense, but it didn't, so the docs quickly had little meaning.

    Instead of just learning how Aqua apps behaved, you basically split your head into two classes of how apps worked -- brushed metal and Aqua. And... brushed metal apps that would quit instead of closing when you clicked the red button, and ones that didn't, and...

Personally, my head jumped ahead, and I'm hoping the changes in iTunes 5 signify some movement on [2]. There are so many things wrong now that I have this little mental list in my head, and when I see something get checked in them -- anything at all -- it makes the utility belt tingle.

Remember, back when the brushed metal train was starting to roll, there was talk on the internets of having the entire OS go brushed metal. In my personal opinion, this would have been ugly as sin. However, if every part of the system -- including the menu bar -- was brushed metal, it would have been consistent. Every app would either close or quit when you clicked the red button in the corner, and every app would be able to be dragged by the margins or empty space. Right now, little is consistent.

Yesterday, I was going by a screenshot on Apple's site, because I didn't feel like stopping everything and rebooting my computer just to install an MP3 player (wtf?), but yes, it's some new bastardized thing Apple is yet again going sideways on, by taking the Aqua Unified look and... charring it. The corners are horrifyingly low-quality. The HIG has lost all meaning beyond "Whatever you think looks best for your app at the time." Every single thing they're complaining about is valid and should be addressed.

However, while it's not quite the new 'Unified' interface, it just about is -- the differences seem to be primarily cosmetic. This isn't the war, but it may be movement, because Aqua Unified and Burnt Aqua work the same -- if everything migrates to it, then everything will work the same. Given the state of the situation, that's a big deal now.

Aqua Unified -- or more specifically the buttons Apple seems to be trying to push in Mail.app -- is a whole other ball of wax, but if everything works the same, it's a start, which will hopefully end with Carbon and Cocoa apps defaulting to the same behavior when you click on one while its in the background.

Regarding some of my... enthusiasm... yesterday. Well, my hatred for brushed metal is strong. It's still fairly rational, as I hate brushed metal for the right reasons, but it's certainly become symbolic of really stupid design decisions in my head (as have pinstripes) and just seeing it makes my eyes crawl (just like pinstripes).

Over time, iTunes has probably been the biggest pimp of brushed metal to shareware authors and such throwing together their little beasts. Sure, there are things like iMovie and iPhoto, but iTunes has actually been around for quite awhile now. I can only hope it means more things are going to start migrating to the Aqua Unified interface.

Seeing it go away in a lynchpin app -- which basically perpetuated all these other shareware guys wanting to hop on board -- was akin to a really, really satisfying bowel movement. I know, there go the female readers, but there are few metaphors that properly convey purging crap in a satisfying manner that aren't just as icky.

Burnt Aqua isn't ideal, but it's hopefully some movement, and I'll get similar pleasure if and when we see everything move to Aqua Unified. If everything starts getting those horrid Mail.app icons, I shall rail, but for just one day I'd like to see it as a hopeful sign of improvement instead of more weirdness, even though those in the other camp have just as high a chance of being right.

yummy alcohol posted button Posted by drunkenbatman
    September 08, 2005, at 04:54 AM


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