“Until today, there had been 4 different variations of the Aqua theme used by Apple for its OS X software: The standard Aqua theme, the new Platinum theme (I believe that’s what its called), the much distained [sic] Brushed-Metal theme, and the funky Woody theme,” Kortney Hohle writes for hohle.net. “Commentators have pointed out on more then one occasion that while Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) has guidelines for which theme to use where, even Apple disregards those rules and uses whatever theme some unknown source in the company chooses. (I’m not even going to mention the Apple Pro apps which use a completely different theme and widget set.)”
Hohle writes, “With [the] release of iTunes 5, we get a fifth variation of the aqua theme, a darker variation of the Platinum theme, and once again a seemingly arbitrary choice that goes against Apple’s own HIG. Certainly Apple can justify this tangential decision by toughting [sic] features that would necessitate a theme change, right? From what I can tell, there’s not much substance behind the style.”
Hohle writes, “So was this additional theme needed? Personally, I like the new look, but that’s not what this is about… I can’t really say that iTunes 5 is any less intuitive then any of the previous versions of iTunes, so the only card that really leaves me to play is the consistency card. Is it important that all apps are skinned the same way, or only that they follow the same general theme?”
Full article, illustrated with comparison screenshots, here.
Sandy McMurray also tackles this topic for Corante here.
John Gruber also provides a very funny take (contains explicit language) on the issue for Daring Fireball here.
Maybe Apple changes things to keep things “fresh” and also to keep the Sonys of the world at bay?
Related articles:
Sony’s new Windows-only ‘Connect Player’ bears eerie resemblance to Apple iTunes – September 09, 2005
I guess Apple will have to get used to being picked apart pixel-by-pixel since they are on top…
Just perhaps Apple are measuring our responses to the changes.. and we might have the next medium term theme here?
Ok – I am tired of people making such a big deal about Apple not following their own Human Interface Guidelines (HIG). As the name implies, they are only GUIDELINES – not hard, fast rules. If Apple (or anyone else) wants to stray a little bit fron the HIG, that is fine – they are just guidelines. Sheesh!
>Apple can justify this tangential decision by toughting features>
Another new word! I wonder what ‘toughting’ is?
Do you suppose he meant touting?
I like the new look of iTunes.
This is the part of Apple where it drives me up the wall.
Part of the simplicity and elegance of using the Mac depends on consistent behaviours and consistent appearances. In that regard nothing OS X is has surpassed OS 9 (sorry to say).
I have used Audacity, a freeware audio app ported over from Windows. It is very inconsistent to the look and the feel of the Mac, but considering how the Mac apps are becoming these days, being too diversified in it HIG, it’s just one of the crowd.
Mac OS X in really becoming Windows in this regard.
PS. Closing the iTunes window should stop ALL music.
ROFL…the daring fireball thing is classic.
John Gruber’s little “story” is the funniest thing I have read in a long time.
— ndb
It is funny to build a stack of Safari, Mail and iTunes5 windows and see the difs. Triplet sons of different mothers.
sounds like a slow day in the news room
who cares. it works. tiger has some flaws and stupid bugs that shouldn’t have gotten out the door, but it still mostly works. The UI is odd and whacky in some places too. get over it.
Bitch bitch bitch.
Who the hell cares. It all looks good. It all works well. Variations in the interfaces haven’t stumped me a bit. (I do have to say that I liked the Mail with Panther better than the Mail with Tiger.)
OK, so I just downloaded iTunes affter I read the article. I like the new UI. It’s much smoother than brushed metal ever was. What’s with all the complaints?
BTW, the Daring Fireball story is still hilarious.
Kinda looks like the ‘Plastic’ look of Mail to me
The interface changes and look for iTunes 5 are the best so far in osx.
Apparently this “journalist” must be to digusted by the theme used in the dictionary app or she is too dumb to use spell checker.
If she has the time to harp on every detail of others, she should at least spell check her “article”.
distained- not a word
toughting- not a word
The first thing that struck me about it (before seeing this article) is that it bears a certain similarity to the new (and much maligned) Mail interface. For example, the thick bar at the top; the light blue background panel to the left; smooth gradients. I personally don’t mind it, but regard it as a little plain and uninspired. I’m wondering if this is the face of the next generation of iLife?
<offtopic>
why are there now podcasts listed in my iPod’s ‘Artist’ directory? this is so painful i may not sync any podcasts to my iPod.
does anyone else feel this way? it’s worse then any inconsistencies in the UI
You know, I’d bet the Human Interface Guidelines are more to help developers outside of Apple from creating butt ugly and clunky app interfaces. Apple understands elegance, so they can break they’re own rules and push they’re own design forward if they want. If it weren’t for those guidelines though, can you imagine what most 3rd party apps for the Mac would end up looking like? <shudder>
The Daring Fireball thing? Awesome!
john gruber is definitely in the top tier of mac writers. witty, intelligent, and hilarious.
back to itunes…the changes aren’t so drastic that nobody can use the program anymore, so why are we bitching?
Daring Fireball delivers, yet again.
That may be one of the funniest articles I have read in a long, long time.
Cripes, the punch bowl must be really spiked or else Job’s reality distortion field is stronger than ever. Apple didn’t invent good design, these are principles from history to now. The HIG were to be applying these principles to the human-computer interface. Read the DurkenBlog because the writer reflects alot of my views on what’s happening on the Mac.
i like the new theme for itunes 5, it looks cleaner than the brushed metal. would this guy rather have the baige and blue of window?
macdailynews is so brown-nosed it’s not true
when will you ever have a view of your own instead of this constant sucking up to apple? – not _every_ decision they make is good
i think itunes 5 looks good, but apple is totally schizophrenic when it comes to interface consistency
To Muntz:
By having podcasts in the library, you can now use smart playlists for podcasts. For example, I have a smart playlist that has all podcasts (Podcast -> is True) that I haven’t yet listened to (Playcount -> is -> 0). As soon as I listen to the podcast, it goes away from the list.
All I need to do is update my iPod and play that smart playlist to listen to the new podcasts.
I have a thought about this that I haven’t seen anywhere:
What if the inconsistent “themes” are being done purposefully? Why would Apple do that? Who is trying to copy Apple in their “new” operating system due for release at the end of 2006? How are they going to copy Apple when its a moving target? What are the “themes” going to be for Leopard,also due near the end of 2006? How the heck is MS going to copy that?
Does it bother you that I only ask questions but make no statements?