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Ars: Leopard marred by interface changes

updated 11:25 am EDT, Mon October 29, 2007

Ars criticizes Leopard

Mac OS X Leopard is in general a fantastic operating system, but hurt by its new look, ArsTechnica writes. The publication's new review praises the "internal" changes of the OS, such as Time Machine backup and the tough-but-necessary migration to a 64-bit codebase, but complains that several changes to the interface are unnecessary or even detrimental to usability. With the exception of custom programs such as Garage Band, for instance, all programs are now required to use the new "slate gray" appearance, which is said to be not entirely unattractive but in conflict with items such as Aqua-like dialog buttons.

More harshly attacked in the review is the new Dock, which is rendered in a "pseudo-3D" appearance that reflects icons and any window placed nearby. This is described as gaudy, akin to a "nine year-old girl putting make-up on her dollie," while it is noted that the effect disappears entirely when moving the Dock to the side of the screen -- possibly as a move to appease critics of the alternative.

Two aspects of Leopard's GUI are said to actively hinder users, these being the new folder icons and the Menu Bar. Folders with special icons on them, such as Applications, are now rendered with low-contrast embossing, making them much harder to identify at small sizes. The same problem is amplified by the new Menu Bar, which is translucent and can be difficult to read if used in combination with the wrong wallpaper. Though Apple has toned down the effect since pre-release versions of the OS, this is said to be the primary problem with Leopard's interface, one that will most likely require third-party hacks to remedy.

by MacNN Staff

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madcran
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2003

0

10/29, 12:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
Change the dock to 2D

For all you Leopard dock haters, check this out:

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/26077/dockscrew

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

10/29, 12:46pm | report spam | close Reply |
Focusing on the negative

I read the entire article and found that most comments were very positive. Wonder why the article headline focuses on the negative items?

jmelrose
Forum Regular

Joined: Mar 1999

0

10/29, 12:56pm | report spam | close Reply |
Learning curve

I have looked at the finder windows all weekend and thought that I left iTunes open. The new look does take a bit of adjustment.

Constable Odo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2007

0

10/29, 01:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
Gaudy dock????

In Tiger I always had my Dock to the right side of the screen and using the Hide function to show it when I went to use it. I kept it small and used high magnification. I hardly ever saw the darn Dock. These people are sure nitpicking about such unimportant stuff. Who the heck stares at the Dock's reflections? Is it really that distracting or using up tons of resources? Hide it then.

Beechlady
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2006

0

10/29, 01:05pm | report spam | close Reply |
Wow,

I like it......it's different and visually sophisticated.

I also had a pretty simple time on install.....hmmmm

bjojade
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

0

10/29, 01:12pm | report spam | close Reply |
Definitely backwards

I agree that some of the prettiness in leopard makes things very difficult to move.

The transparent menubar makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. All it does is make it difficult to read the menus. The same with drop down menus. If you drop down over some busy graphics, it's near impossible to read.

Stacks is another thing that's an issue. If you have it fan out, and you happen to have other icons there, you end up with an impossible to read area. Sure, you could keep everything off of your desktop, but not everyone wants to do that.

Here's hoping that a system preference will be introduced to adjust the transparency so we can eliminate this error in Apple judgement.

Oh, and the black Apple menu instead of the traditional blue? Seems like we're back to system 6. Yucky.

drdocument
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2001

0

10/29, 01:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
Constructive criticism?

It seems like the ArsTechnica reviewer had to really work to find things to criticize, and most of those were some form of "I don't like such-and-such."

Personal likes and dislikes are not appropriate subjects of a sophisticated review.

infobhan
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2003

0

10/29, 01:15pm | report spam | close Reply |
New visuals

I disagree with the Ars writer on the Dock. I feel it's far more attractive without limiting usability. I'm still undecided on the menu bar, but overall I think it works well as long as you don't have a particularly busy desktop pattern with high contrast. I think both changes help to draw more focus on the active window. Most of the time you don't need to be staring at the menu - it should be there when you need it but unobtrusive otherwise, and I think the Leopard interface does this well. It might be nice to add a transparency slider to control how strong this effect is.

deVilliers
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Joined: Feb 2007

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10/29, 01:24pm | report spam | close Reply |
Importance

> These people are sure nitpicking about such unimportant stuff.

Whether it is important or not depends upon the user.

Whether it is nitpicking depends upon the effect that it has upon that user.

I see nothing wrong, and am not offended, by people voicing fair and rational criticisms. It may not be important in the grand scheme of ideas and politics. However, it is unlikely that anything written on computer forums dedicated to discussing computers is more than mere nitpicking. One, surely, can have a break from discussing -serious- matters!

njfuzzy
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Joined: Apr 2001

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10/29, 01:27pm | report spam | close Reply |
Summary:

The operating system is very good on objective matters, but the reviewer doesn't personally like some of the aesthetic details.

benj
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Joined: Mar 1999

0

10/29, 01:37pm | report spam | close Reply |
Ars Reviews

Ars Technica always has the most indepth coverage of Apple products of any (geek-centric) website. I find their comments and criticisms pretty objective and the coverage is technical and beyond the average "Mossberg" review. Macnn seems to have read -like -the first page. (Again the negativity of Macnn editors here shines through) All reviews have a bias somewhere- John notices stuff you might not have noticed and explains things in a rational way, albeit with an eye toward the technical user rather than your Grandma. Agree or disagree- but Ars really does a great job of reporting on stuff that matters.

Mr. Fartleberry
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

0

10/29, 01:50pm | report spam | close Reply |
icons

Whatever happened to the >128 icons?

panjandrum
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Dec 2004

0

10/29, 01:55pm | report spam | close Reply |
Subjective vs. Objective

While some of the criticisms to Leopard are indeed purely subjective, we do need to realize that there are also some quite valid objective points:

1) A translucent menu bar is harder to use because it is more difficult to read. That's objective. It is, however, a subjective judgement as to whether or not it is better looking. Personally, my subjective opinion is that it is pretty cool looking, but I've already done away with it (by using a modified desktop picture) because as cool as it looked, it was harder to use.

2) Stacks are definitely less useful than the previous way Folders functioned in the dock. That's objective, there is a demonstrable. quantifiable reduction in functionality. It is a subjective opinion whether or not the reduced set of functions it currently has is "better" than the previous greater number of quite different functions.

3) Folders which look a lot alike are less easy to distinguish from each other. Again, that is objective because you can't say "thinks that look similar are easier to tell apart than things that look different". OK, you can say it, but you would be wrong in most cases (unless you were, for example, blind in which case a different set of rules would apply). It is a subjective opinion whether or not you like the new folders despite the fact that they are more difficult to distinguish from each other.

This is a trap we all fall into, when we think that "liking something" is the same as that thing "being better".

Overall I "like" Leopard a lot, especially Apple's implementation of virtual screens (spaces). Subjectively I think it is pretty good.

But, there are certainly some (objective) problems with Leopard. Specifically there are some areas in which it is either more difficult to use or in which functionality as been reduced. Ars is correct to point this out.

Pennywigeon
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2007

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10/29, 02:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
This Review Lacks

Susbtance.

Lets dive deep into the GUI and how it marred the OS. Right now it's the default folder icons and the Dock appearance. Also the "aqua" look was 10.1 and has been slowly phased out with new application development.

A big article on "I don't like the icons and the Dock appearance and not much else about how the GUI "marred" the OS.

Eye candy > Productivity?

umm k

hokizpokis
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2007

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10/29, 02:49pm | report spam | close Reply |
just ask Jef Raskin...

...the great Jef Raskin was hurried to his grave possibly poisoned by the myriad of toxic chemicals he worked with daily... a genius at human interface design; he was responsible for the previous incarnations of the mac os or should I say the elegant use of space along with positive user feedback for the end user... sad to see that his awesome legacy is not being trumpeted by current interface designers who seem to be stepping back from the 'simple & effective design model' and instead redefining elegance while 'approaching perhaps the outerlimits of function'. The interface is now designed to overwhelm the user and this is not the problem until one returns to 'boring tiger'; I'm already getting 'leopard withdrawl'... still I know that Jef Raskin would have some ;passionate statements' on this release if he were alive taday... Jef, for today your vision of a world of 'humankind sans torchure' all living together in peace sharing the world will inspire all... (even if Rumsfield was able to skipout on those pesky french who wished to arrest him this weekend for such inhumane treatment of said enemy combatants) I can assure you that former Attorney General Gonzales is on the short list of war criminals too; soon to be charged as well with 'CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY'; a very discusting situation indeed... R.I.P. Jef Raskin; justice will prevail someday

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

10/29, 03:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
whinge whinge whinge!

hate the dock? type this into terminal:

$ defaults write com.apple.dock no-glass -boolean YES; killall Dock

not hard.

MarkLT1
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Nov 2002

0

10/29, 03:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
Re: This Review Lacks

Pennywigeon-

Did you even read the review you accuse of lacking substance??? It is a 17 page review- 2 of which focus on the GUI.

That article contains more discussion of what Leopard actually is, from both a UI as well as an under the hood view, than any other Leopard review I have read to date.

It sounds like your "reading" of the article, and MacNN's misleading and incomplete synopsis are what lack substance.

thinkman
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

10/29, 04:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
Beauty is in the eye��

Thank you for not calling the visual enhancements to the UI "Eye-candy"! I am so sick of that term - seems to be the catch phrase for the esthetically challenged among journalists! By the way - I like the new look!! a lot.

manleycreative
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2005

0

10/29, 04:26pm | report spam | close Reply |
Never a word...

...about the one thing I think stinks above all others-

Those darn aqua bubble scroll bars. Apple still is not consistent with its interface. WTF! The scroll bars in their apps look nicer. I love the iTunes scroll bars. Apple changed the GUI to look like iTunes except for the scroll bars! Guess Steve loves 'um.

I was really hoping not to have to use Shapeshifter etc. (which is broken in this release).

poulh
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jun 2000

0

10/29, 04:48pm | report spam | close Reply |
exagerated headline

i read the ars article before see macnn's headline, and saying he thinks leopard is 'marred' is an exageration.

he points to the new dark gray look, the improved finder, and the sped-up spotlight as highlights.

he says the dock has problems, but he is quick to point out it always has.

the headline here on macnn is designed to get readers to click on the story, not accurately relay ars' review.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

0

10/29, 05:00pm | report spam | close Reply |
the big question...

isn't whether the new OS looks nicer or less friendly or easier to use. The big question is why did Apple feel it necessary to change the appearance of stuff that I don't recall one person complaining about.

When was the last time you heard anyone complaining about the whiteness of the Apple menu, or that you couldn't see very well through the pull-down menus? Or that folder icons were too busy and colorful.

Of all the complaints on the dock, I don't recall anyone complaining about the triangle under an open app as being too large and annoying, or that having a pop-up folder to navigate through hierarchially was a 'bad-thing'. Or that it needed to appear to take up even more space.

How about letting us decide whether we want running apps to appear in the dock. Or display document icons for each open window down there. Or be able to put folders, files, and apps wherever we want, rather then forced into some arbitrary "You must have apps on the left, files/folders on the right" rule.

There's already people complaining because Apple decided to remove the ability to scrub media files from the preview pane in column view. A work-around is to open it via quicklook (which requires more time then the previous way). Why it was removed? Who knows, probably to push people to use QuickLook so Apple can keep touting it as an incredible new feature.

And, pennywigeon, eye candy > productivity, because (a) Apple seems intent on pushing eye candy, and (b) if the UI gets in the way of your productivity, then it becomes more important to you.

Horsepoo!!!
Banned

Joined: Jun 2003

0

10/29, 05:10pm | report spam | close Reply |
Folder icons

I agree with his comments about the Dock...less so about the menu bar...and the folder bit is one of ignorance. The folder icons are fine...they're supposed to be distinguisable as folder and the badge on them aren't supposed to replace the folder name...and I'm not sure what John was trying to show with his example of putting folders in the Dock but it makes no sense at all considering how Stacks work.

Folders are supposed to look drab so that they aren't lost amongst other files that are colorful. They have to stand out as folders and not documents or apps. The new look makes them much easier to distinguish as folders.

10.0-10.4 folder icons were unnecessary flashy and had icon badges that resemble document icons or applications. The color made them hard to distinguish amongst other files.

10.5 folder icons are easily distinguishable as folders. But the other complaint was the badge/watermark on the special folders (mostly found in the Home folder). These are fine too because if a colorful badge was applied to them, they wouldn't as easily be distinguished as folders...especially at lower icon sizes. In Leopard they still look like folders at any size and the badge is easily recognizable and doesn't make the folder look like a document or an application at quick glance.

John Gruber and John Siracusa are basing their hate on their own preferences and not on some more scientific analysis.

And nobody tell me that indiehig did a scientific analysis...I've already explained in the forums on their flawed reasonings.

mlowe969
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2002

0

10/29, 05:32pm | report spam | close Reply |
I agree

I spent at least an hour totally confused about what applications were on. Being a graphic designer, I couldn't believe my mind didn't pick up on the faint highlighted circle just below the application. It seemed so illogical to look there, I completely missed it.

I dislike the transparent menu bar, and can't believe that once again, there are no visual preferences for the finder. I want options. It's been seven years, can we please have some preferences?

I'm still trying to find the 2 years of development. I honestly can't say they've addressed the needs of the customer. I feel like each OS release is a charity to Apple to keep going.

chadpengar
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 2001

0

10/30, 03:45am | report spam | close Reply |
don't use photo wallpaper

I am not going to comment on the menubar effect.

However, you should not really be using photos for your desktop. Unless you don't use the desktop. The Desktop should have a background that contrasts with the icons so that you can see and identify icons on your desktop. Most photographs fail this (for the very reasons you folks with photo desktops don't like the translucent menu bar).

The "ripples" and "small ripples" desktops in the Apple category in the new desktop settings panel are good examples of something that work well. Most of the previous default ones worked well as well.

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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10/30, 07:24am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: folder icons

I agree with his comments about the Dock...less so about the menu bar...and the folder bit is one of ignorance. The folder icons are fine...they're supposed to be distinguisable as folder and the badge on them aren't supposed to replace the folder name...and I'm not sure what John was trying to show with his example of putting folders in the Dock but it makes no sense at all considering how Stacks work.

The problem is that the dock doesn't show the name unless you highlight the folder. So the badge is needed so you don't have to keep scrolling your mouse over the dock trying to find the correct folder.

Folders are supposed to look drab so that they aren't lost amongst other files that are colorful. They have to stand out as folders and not documents or apps. The new look makes them much easier to distinguish as folders.

Folders are supposed to be drab? According to whom? Your personal preference? Its nice being able to distinguish them as folders, but you still can't distinguish one folder from another. Its like putting 4 text edit documents in the dock. Its great. Except you still can't tell one from the other without rolling over it to see the title. Same with minimized windows.

And I can't say I've ever heard anyone complain about not being able to distinguish folders from files.

And could you explain how Siracusa screwed up in his analysis considering "how stacks work". Stacks work well for those who don't structure their folder content. But if you do, they're useless. I have my application folder in my Tiger dock. I can navigate through that easily to any program I might want to open, regardless of sub-folder its in. Now, I get a stack, which then I need to click on a sub-folder then navigate manually. Oooh, so much easier...

testudo
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Aug 2001

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10/30, 07:29am | report spam | close Reply |
Re: don't use photo

However, you should not really be using photos for your desktop. Unless you don't use the desktop. The Desktop should have a background that contrasts with the icons so that you can see and identify icons on your desktop. Most photographs fail this (for the very reasons you folks with photo desktops don't like the translucent menu bar).

First, photo wallpaper has little effect on me since most of the time I have windows open when using menus. Ergo, I already have lots of busy stuff under the menu (heaven forbid its a text document or browser).

Second, so Apple is now basically making changes to the OS to help force people to change the way they want to customize/use their computer? That's nice. Then again, they could just give people the option.

Third, your point about the desktop points to a problem with Stacks. With the pop-up menus from the dock in tiger, you could easily distinguish what you're doing. But with 'stacks', the stack rolls up on your desktop (or front window) which might be "busy" with pictures, files, icons, text, etc. So you have to visually search through the stack distinguishing its pieces from the stuff underneath it.

Oh, but it looks cute...

drainyoo
Senior User

Joined: Feb 2001

0

10/30, 09:59am | report spam | close Reply |
What is the big deal?

I don't get why so many people are making a big deal about some of the visual elements of Leopard, particularly the dock. These criticism seem more like subjective opinions rather than objective ones. Is the Dock perfect? Of course not. Are there some visual and interface flaws? Definitely. But that doesn't mean it's unusable. Despite these issues, which are very minimal, the OS is still user friendly and very easy to use. I'm an interactive designer and personally I don't love the look of the top menu bar and the dock but at the same time it works just fine. People are making it out to be a MAJOR flaw in the OS. It isn't.

Hinson
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Feb 2000

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10/30, 10:58am | report spam | close Reply |
Deciding to upgrade

I have been fully planning on upgrading to Leopard, and I haven't changed my mind...yet. Reading all the feedback, I'd say my biggest concern is the removal of hierarchical folders in the Dock. It's like Apple had no understanding of how useful that feature was! I use it all the time to navigate folders quickly. Without it, the right side of the dock will be much less useful for me.

When the Dock first appeared back in the prototype of Mac OS X, I was one of the first who suggested they add a hierarchical folder capability (I even made an animation of how it might work and circulated it). Why on earth would Apple take a step backwards on that one??? Seems mindless.

I also use the visual differences between the main folders to tell them apart, and so it bothers me to learn that this visual cue has been underplayed. I don't like to read through names if my visual way of processing data can more easily find differences in icons.

Finally, why would apple put out a transparent menu bar without allowing the user the option to control the transparency??? It a simple option and solves obvious user-specific issues that could arise. Think of the user!

But anyway, most of this is just annoyance with issues that apple has UNNECESSARILY introduced. If they had allowed the option of putting folders in the Dock and added a few other settings here and there, they could have had a much more criticism-proof release. That lapse of judgment bothers me most. It's like they have a "THIS is they way this feature will be, we don't care what users really want or uses" attitude in some cases.

Eh... I'll upgrade soon enough and then have a first-hand experience to talk about.

-Jay

just a poster
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2004

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10/30, 03:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
I hate ars technica

Those b******* are plain anti-Mac and Pro-Microsoft, the convicted monopolist felon.

When Ars did a review of the iPod, they tested it by running it over with a car. They treat Zune, Halo3 and xbox (which has, as nearly as I can tell, a 100% defect rate based on customer returns and exchanges for refurb units) with kid gloves to glowing reviews.

Ars might as well prepend the words "the following story is an advertisment" to any story about Microsoft products. Simultaneously, they should prepend the words "the following story was paid for by Microsoft" to any story about Apple products.

rubaiyat
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Feb 2006

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11/01, 06:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
The right direction IMHO!

As the graphics processing power of the Mac gradually increases we will soon be able to have the ultimate desktop:

Labels will be spinning chromed Zapfino text to go with the disco-ball windows texture. Small animated hands will constantly riffle the documents in the folders, which will be thrown in great heaps all over the desktop to simulate the real world.

The desktop and everything on it will appear to be plunged in a deep pool with Koi swimming in front of your work. The wet look text in the document will have individual letters dance and jitter madly to the accompaniment of looped Aerosmith instrumentals.

Windows users will be gobsmacked!

We will get ALL the bragging rights when Steve Jobs does the presentation in his couture toilet roll and gaffer tape codpiece creation!

rubaiyat
Dedicated MacNNer

Joined: Feb 2006

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11/01, 06:17pm | report spam | close Reply |
GUI irrelevance

All and any criticism of the usability or functionality of any of the new OSX features will be answered by "I don't use my Mac anyway, so it doesn't affect me!"

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Ars: Leopard marred by interface changes

updated 11:25 am EDT, Mon October 29, 2007

Ars criticizes Leopard

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Change the dock to 2D

Focusing on the negative

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Wow,

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New visuals

Importance

Summary:

Ars Reviews

icons

Subjective vs. Objective

This Review Lacks

just ask Jef Raskin...

whinge whinge whinge!

Re: This Review Lacks

Beauty is in the eye��

Never a word...

exagerated headline

the big question...

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I agree

don't use photo wallpaper

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What is the big deal?

Deciding to upgrade

I hate ars technica

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