Close ad
Mac

OS X Yosemite design - a transformation along the lines of iOS

Filip Novotny
29

When there was speculation about the new version of the Mac operating system in the past months, among the most anticipated changes were major design changes. They also really arrived at Monday's WWDC, and OS X Yosemite received many changes modeled on the modern look of iOS.

Major design changes

At first glance, OS X Yosemite looks quite different from previous versions of the system, including the current Mavericks. Most of all, this difference is due to the inclination towards flatter and lighter surfaces in places like the top application bars.

Gone are the plastic gray surfaces from OS X 10.9, and there is no trace of the brushed metal from the early iterations of the decimal system. Instead, Yosemite brings a simple white surface that relies on partial transparency. However, there are no Windows Aero-style orgies, instead, the designers bet on the familiar style from mobile iOS 7 (and now also 8).

Gray comes back into play in the case of unmarked windows, which lose their transparency to better express their retreat behind the active window. This, on the other hand, has retained its distinctive shadow from previous versions, which also separates the active application very significantly. As can be seen, the bet on a flatter design does not necessarily mean a total departure from hints of plasticity.

The hand of Jony Ivo - or at least his team - can also be seen on the typographic part of the system. From the available materials, we can read a complete departure from the Lucida Grande font, which was ubiquitous in previous versions. Instead, we now only find the Helvetica Neue font across the entire system. Apple has obviously learned from its own errors and didn't use the extremely thin slices of Helvetica like iOS 7 did.

Dock

The aforementioned transparency "affected" not only open windows, but also another important part of the system - the dock. It abandons the flat appearance, where the application icons lay on an imaginary silver shelf. The Dock in Yosemite is now semi-transparent and reverts to vertical. A prominent feature of OS X thus arcs back to its ancient versions, which looked very similar except for the translucency.

The application icons themselves have also received a significant facelift, which are now less plastic and significantly more colorful, again following the example of iOS. They will share with the mobile system, in addition to a similar appearance, the fact that they will probably become the most controversial change of the new system. At least the comments so far about the "circus" look suggest so.

Controls

Another typical element of OS X that has undergone changes is the control "semaphore" in the upper left corner of each window. In addition to the mandatory flattening, the trio of buttons also underwent functional changes. While the red button is still used to close the window and the orange button to minimize, the green button has become a switch to full-screen mode.

The last part of the traffic light triptych was originally used to automatically shrink or enlarge the window according to its content, but in later versions of the system, this function stopped working reliably and became unnecessary. In contrast, the increasingly popular full-screen mode had to be turned on through the button in the opposite, right corner of the window, which was somewhat confusing. That's why Apple decided to unify all key window controls in one place in Yosemite.

The Californian company has also prepared an updated look for all other buttons, such as those found in the top panel of Finder or Mail or next to the address bar in Safari. Gone are the buttons embedded directly in the panel, they can now only be found in secondary dialogs. Instead, Yosemite relies on distinctive bright rectangular buttons with thin symbols, such as we know from Safari for iOS.

Basic application

The visual changes in OS X Yosemite are not only in the general level, Apple has transferred its new style to the built-in applications as well. Most of all, the emphasis on content and the reduction of redundant elements that do not carry any important function is noticeable. That is why most built-in applications do not have the application name at the top of the window. Instead, the most important control buttons are at the very top of the applications, and we find the label only in cases where it is critical for orientation - for example, the name of the current location in the Finder.

Apart from this rare case, Apple really prioritized informational value over clarity. This change is probably most noticeable in the Safari browser, whose top controls have been unified into a single panel. It now contains a trio of buttons for controlling the window, basic navigation elements such as navigation in history, sharing or opening new bookmarks, as well as an address bar.

Information such as the page name or the entire URL address is no longer visible at first glance and had to give priority to the largest possible space for content or perhaps also the visual intent of the designer. Only longer testing will show how much this information will be missing in real use or whether it will be possible to return it.

Dark mode

Another feature that highlights the content of our work with the computer is the newly announced "dark mode". This new option switches the main system environment as well as individual applications into a special mode designed to minimize user disruption. It is intended for times when you need to concentrate on work, and helps, among other things, by darkening the controls or turning off notifications.

Apple did not present this function in detail at the presentation, so we will have to wait for our own testing. It is also possible that this feature is not completely finished yet and will still undergo some changes and improvements until the autumn release.

Source
Discussion
Topics: , , , , , , , , ,

Related



Most read články

.