View Full Version : UI customization coming to Tiger??
I keep looking at the screenshots of Dashboard and wonder what that might mean for the Tiger UI. The amount of color we see in the Dashboard shots is very unlike the current grey/blue options. It would seem odd that they would ship such a god awful combination of colors for their widgets with no way of changing them to blend better with the rest of OS.
So I'm assuming that the widgets are likely able to change color. Now I've never used Konfabulator so I'm not sure if that kind of thing is done with Javascript or not, certainly to a small extent, but probably not as much as you'd want. Given the glass texture skins on some of these I'd assume its being done in a smarter way.
Which leads me to the second assumption that they are using Core Image filters to change colors and possibly even surface effects as needed. So if they can do that to widget windows, why not every window?
You know Apple has been bombarded by people requesting more color options and skin-abilty in the UI. They really have yet to respond. Sure they could simply ship some new Appearance schemes with different colors, but this is Apple we're talking about. It's all about thinking different.
What better than static skins with colors someone else picked out for you? A fully customizable UI visual appearence. With Image Units you could conceivably apply any number of color variations, distortion variations (i.e. they list Glass Lozenge) etc to create your own UI sets. Want everything in gun metal finish? No problem. Want everything in dark smokey glass? No problem. Want that old pinstripe look from the 10.0? Just have someone write a filter that mimics it.
What they probably won't do is allow people to mess with the "framework" of the UI... size of buttons, input areas, pulldowns etc. I think that this will all be appearance style only, leaving the underlaying shape/construction consistent.
They seem to be all about collaboration and sharing these days so I bet there will also be a way to save your UI customizations and share them with your friends too!
Am I crazy here? Or does this all seem to point in the right direction??
:err:
(oops meant to put this Speculation forum)
MacUsers
2004-06-28, 16:22
You can change their color... In fact... it even says so on the Apple site. :)
"Elegantly designed Dashboard accessories animate in cool and interesting ways using the new Core Image technology built into Tiger. To change the color or font for a sticky note, flip the note around — all Widgets controls are on the back to keep them out of sight until you need them. Configuring your Widgets is fun, too."
Sounds cool. I really like this flip it over to customize thing
Sounds cool. I really like this flip it over to customize thing
Looks like Apple took an item out of Sun's Projecct Looking Glass (http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/index.html) playbook.
Yeah I remember that Sun demo too. I kept thinking... gee I bet something like that would be simple to implement in OS X. heh.
Yeah I remember that Sun demo too. I kept thinking... gee I bet something like that would be simple to implement in OS X. heh.
I believe the word you're looking for is 'trivial'. ;)
Looks like Apple took an item out of Sun's Projecct Looking Glass (http://wwws.sun.com/software/looking_glass/index.html) playbook.Damn that stuff is nice and it seems Apple is so not averse to taking an idea from others when they want. :err:
Damn that stuff is nice and it seems Apple is so not averse to taking an idea from others when they want. :err:
Well, you don't get rich by writing cheques.
So does anyone else think we're going to get more UI customization in Tiger?
I don't think we'll see any more customization in the regular UI of Tiger, and existing third party schemes will probably not work unless you revise them.
Dashboard widgets might be another story. They are designed to be flamboyant and custimizeable. We will probably be able to hack the widgets that apple will provide, opening up a new world of scheming.
The rest om the UI is designed to be discreet. Tiger seems to remove even more of the stripes.. the new menubar looks like a polished bar of white plastic.
I'm not sure if I understand the reasoning that Dashboard widgets should be inherently more flamboyant and flashy than the rest of UI. Care to elaborate?
Also don't think them getting rid of menu stripes in the screenshots gives much of a hint one way or another. Could be the "new look", or could be one of many Core Image effects as I say above?
I'm not sure if I understand the reasoning that Dashboard widgets should be inherently more flamboyant and flashy than the rest of UI. Care to elaborate?Certainly!
I think it's pretty obviuos that the widgets we have seen displays a multitude of forms, fonts, colors and effects. I don't think we'll see a ripple effect whenever a window apperar in the regular UI nor custom appearace of every control surface. In Dashboard widgets on the other hand, Apple seems to care very little about consistency. You can do whatever you like! Id be very surprised if they allowed the same freedom for the regular UI. They still want developers to adhere to the strict UI guidelines for regular apps but let them just go wild with Dashboard.
Also don't think them getting rid of menu stripes in the screenshots gives much of a hint one way or another. Could be the "new look", or could be one of many Core Image effects as I say above?The new menu bar is probably not a CoreImage effect but rather just the look of the new scheme, I'm certain. In the Dashboard movie (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/theater/dashboard.html), the Spotlight movie (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/theater/spotlight.html) and the Finder search movie (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/theater/search_finder.html) we also see that the Apple menu is highlighted, just like if it was activated. White Apple on a blue background. The Searchlight movie shows that the Searchlight looking glass at the far right is toggles white when activated. The Apple menu probably works the same way. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple polishes the apperance of Tiger further in the same direkction. Less stripes, and more accentuated features.
Also.. the QuickTime Player is polished as well. No Apple logo in the lower left corner, no QT button in the lower right. There's a file proxy in the window, and a new time line scrubber. They have made a fairly large redesign of the QT Player. Is it still Carbon even? And a new icon of course! :)
I'm very excited!
MacUsers
2004-06-29, 18:43
In the developer preview release only the magnify glass is like that the Apple logo is back to normal and the striped are back. Unless the developer preview is a step back from what was shown in the videos but that's not likely. I hate how it's blue under the Apple in the menu bar in those videos because it makes it look like the start button. Quicktime looks really cool though.
I'm not sure if I understand the reasoning that Dashboard widgets should be inherently more flamboyant and flashy than the rest of UI. Care to elaborate?
Also don't think them getting rid of menu stripes in the screenshots gives much of a hint one way or another. Could be the "new look", or could be one of many Core Image effects as I say above?You realize that the look of the system/Dashboard widgets aren't being rendered by CoreImage right? They being drawn using static images, same with the OS. To change the color you'd just have to edit the images.
You realize that the look of the system/Dashboard widgets aren't being rendered by CoreImage right? They being drawn using static images, same with the OS. To change the color you'd just have to edit the images.
Perhaps not at the moment, I was speculating. I was assuming that widgets that bright and fugly were going to have appearance options. Rather than build a set of multiple color skins wouldn't it be better to use Core Image?
As you say, they are built with static images. Why couldn't you conceivably use Core Image to apply filters to the static images in UI elements? Would it be totally inefficient and slow to maintain effects on the UI in that way?
Perhaps not at the moment, I was speculating. I was assuming that widgets that bright and fugly were going to have appearance options. Rather than build a set of multiple color skins wouldn't it be better to use Core Image?
As you say, they are built with static images. Why couldn't you conceivably use Core Image to apply filters to the static images in UI elements? Would it be totally inefficient and slow to maintain effects on the UI in that way?It would just be overkill, why would you need to access the GPU to change a color? And what would "changing a color" entail? Applying a universal hue change to the entire widget? Unless the widget is monochrome, that wouldn't work too well. Therefore you'd probably just want to pick a color using the standard color picker. iChat is a good example of something similar, where you can choose your own "bubble color". In reality what's happening is that there is a transparent image which iChat overlays over the color that you choose and then it renders it into the chat view. It's image manipulation but it's not exactly applying a filter. That being said, for animations, using CoreImage/CoreVideo might be useful. However what filter/effect would you want to use over an existing widget? Gaussian blur? Invert? Etc... The way it currently works is good for its purpose.
I guess when I see Color Controls, Glass Lozenge, Stripes, Checkerboard etc. Those types of things seem like they could be used to generate different effects on UI images. Just seems like theres a lot of possiblity of customization (unless its to GPU intensive to maintain i dunno, just daydreaming here). I mean take the stripes. We've seen what, 3 variations of the intensity of stripes in OS X. If there was a Stripes filter that could be utilized as an appearance modifier you could conceivably have whatever intensity of stripes you'd want, correct?
Eh whatever though, just trying to speculate in the speculation forum... :\
New info about Dashboard is clarifying things...
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_konfabulator
Thus, Dashboard is clearly an extension of Mac OS X system-level technologies: Web Kit for layout and scripting; Exposé for the Dashboard window layer; and Cocoa for advanced functionality. Dashboard is the result of advanced Mac OS X technology in action.
Not sure if that helps or hinders my original premise. Looks more likely that things are going to be relying on html/css/js than anything to allow web designers to get in on the action. Still think the god awful colors should have some way of being changed, but looking more and more like it'll be done by more traditional means if they allow you to do so. Not quite the stepping stone that leads to more UI customization that was day dreaming about. Bah.
New info about Dashboard is clarifying things...
http://daringfireball.net/2004/06/dashboard_vs_konfabulator
Not sure if that helps or hinders my original premise. Looks more likely that things are going to be relying on html/css/js than anything to allow web designers to get in on the action. Still think the god awful colors should have some way of being changed, but looking more and more like it'll be done by more traditional means if they allow you to do so. Not quite the stepping stone that leads to more UI customization that was day dreaming about. Bah.
I kind of like this, to be honest... it lets the webmonkeys finally claim to be programmers and be speaking *truthfully*. :D (Stop flinging poo at me you monkeys!)
And, colors and such can be changed through CSS. Nice.
And, it does not mean UI extensibility in the rest of the system. Nicer. (Sorry, but most UI skinning is ugly ugly crap.)
Nookie_Bear
2004-07-07, 09:12
UI customization is one thing that Steve wanted rid of when he got back into Apple.
He never liked it for the original Mac - and that was only the desktop texture editor - he's never been a fan.
The widgets are essentially webpages so they could contain anything you want, including flash stuff I beleive, but I wouldn't expect a UI theme customization or anything like that.
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