# Brushed metal



## Koelling (May 6, 2002)

I loved brushed metal. It was so new and flashy.....

In OS 9.

Today we paid our final respects to OS 9 but the awkward remnants of Platinum plus (as I like to call it) still linger. Aqua is the way to go. our windows don't need the brushed steal border because we have (at the price of very many CPU cycles) shadows! 

Your new iChat makes me sad that it takes up so much space. Look at Adium or Omniweb. The content of the window goes all the way to the edges but it doesn't matter because shadows on the windows below it allow us to decipher the edge. iChat has conversation bubbles plus brushed steel border. I want to be able to have iTunes in maximized mode without looking like some Microsoft Windows corner to corner, full screen application.

I don't like themes and this is what brushed steel has become. I don't even get the choice to apply it to all my windows, it just gets put on my core set of apps that I use daily. 

Make things logical again. Stick with one UI so that new folks to the system aren't wondering why some windows have no title bar and can be moved by the edges while others all look the same.


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## Remco (May 7, 2002)

I agree, the brushed metal look is outdated and doesn't fit in the Aqua-look. Strange that Apple is the one that doesn't follow GUI-rules at times. I think iMovie could be an exception, or even FCP, but all other apps, like iTunes and Sherlock, they should stick to Aqua.


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## phatsharpie (May 7, 2002)

I don't mind the brushed metal, but I do mind the inconsistency. If all iApps and other Apple apps use the brushed metal look, that's okay, or they should just abandon it all together. It's odd that Sherlock 3 is brushed metal, while Mail is not. So strange... I'd prefer all to be one or the other, at least that way I can look at it as an Apple app trademark.


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## sithious (May 7, 2002)

no more brushed metal, please please please... or at least make it a theme and let people like me who don't like it use aqua...  aqua rocks, brushed metal is just ... alright.


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## nkuvu (May 7, 2002)

I agree with phatsharpie -- consistency, please.


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## peteLasko(); (May 19, 2002)

I'd also like to see it something that could be turned off. It doesn't bother me in certain things. Quicktime, iMovie, iTunes, are all great because they are sort of physical in nature. But the instant messenger and sherlock don't really need it. It doesn't seem to fit. The IM should look like a brushed metal walky-talky if they want to use that theme (I am in no way sugesting a walky-talky look for this, just trying to illustrate the absurdity of using a physical texture on a more abstract interface)


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## Hypernate (May 22, 2002)

I like it in iTunes. But that's it.


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## TellarHK (May 28, 2002)

I thought that consistency was an important thing to Apple, too.  When I tinkered with OS 9 after getting my iBook, there were quite a few things I liked about it.  The interface was functional, the look of everything was decent and I could select a theme.  Unfortunately, X seems to have blown all that off to the side.  As flexibly as they designed it, they seem to put an awful lot of effort into keeping people from actually making themes for the OS.  Maybe they're trying to dissuade people from doing that in the first place so as to avoid the whole 'integration' problem that Microsoft had with IE and MSN Messenger. 

I'd like to be able to choose brushed metal or Aqua for my entire system, not just some brushed metal apps with an Aqua interface.  Though really what I'd like would be a graphite Aqua. Mmm.


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## luis ernesto (Jun 10, 2005)

holas  deseo descargar  el msn bushed  metal


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## Mikuro (Jun 11, 2005)

The truth is, metal windows don't need buffers at the edges any more than aqua windows. Most windows have 8-20 pixels of empty space at each edge. This is the way it's been ever since...well, ever. I only really got on board the Mac train with System 7, but the interface guidelines I'm talking about preceded even that (of course, back then the borders weere definitely closer to 8 than 20 pixels  Apple's OS X guidelines recommend obscene amounts of empty space!).

Take Safari: It's metal, and has no borders. iTunes does, but really, it probably would (and should) if were aqua, too. You'll usually only see the entire width of a window used if it's used by ONE object, like in Safari. In iTunes, you have the playlist list and the track list, so it would look kind of nasty without borders at the edges. Although it's true that that style isn't unprecedented; Apple uses it in XCode  and I've always considered it very ugly. I think the reason Apple uses that style for XCode is because it's a developer tool, and that's the only context where they'll put so little emphasis on aesthetics.

OS 8/9 actually needed this empty space much LESS than OS X, because it had _actual window borders_, not just shadows. So this isn't a throwback to Classic at all.

So the problems you're describing aren't with brushed metal, they're with the individual interfaces of a few programs like iChat (which DO need work).

That said, I hate metal. Always have, and with every new app that uses it, I hate it more. It made some kind of sense when it was reserved for multimedia apps like QuickTime Player, iTunes and iMovie. The whole look was (I guess) made to mimic hardware multimedia devices, so it made sense. But Safari? iChat? The _Finder?!?_ They just took it too far.

And then of course there's the fact that all that fancy shading comes at a BIG performance price.


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## texanpenguin (Jun 15, 2005)

I really like brushed metal; it's required to create some contrast in the OS, and looks great.

I just wish Apple would obey its own HIG about their use. It'd be nice if they made iPhoto an application which you need to *quit* to exit, instead of just closing.


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## fryke (Jun 15, 2005)

I thought iPhoto was a single window app and thus _should_ close when its window's closed?


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## texanpenguin (Jun 15, 2005)

Yes, but so is iTunes.

The reason for the File > Quit option was because in the non-multitasking Macs, that allowed the user to finish his or her session with the program and free up space for a new application in its space.

You could close an application, but it was still loaded in memory. You could resume working with the program with very little start up time.


Same today. iPhoto (after you add more than a small amount of photos, say 1000) is one of the longest-booting time applications on my computer. I have the RAM to support having it open like I do iTunes or whatever, but I don't want to wait for it to reload all of the application (and the thumbnails).

I keep iTunes, Photoshop, iCal, Mail and Safari all open, all day, no matter where I am or what I'm doing. I'd like to be able to add iPhoto to that list, but I don't want to minimise things (my Dock already uses up enough of my screen)


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## lbj (Jun 16, 2005)

The "hide" function works great for, well, hiding an application without it minimizing to the dock.

several ways to accompish this:

while the app window is open, move the mouse to anywhere else (don't click yet), especially over the desktop, press the option key, and click.

or, right click the dock icon and select hide

or, select hide from the application's drop down menu at the top.

I agree, I don't like the way iPhoto behaves, put keeping it open, but hidden, takes away some of my angst.


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## Lt Major Burns (Jun 16, 2005)

or with the focus on the app., (it says, for example, iPohot next to the apple menu) just hit apple+h. gone.


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## texanpenguin (Jun 16, 2005)

Totally forgot about Hide.

Thanks for reminding me, actually


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## Jeffo (Jun 16, 2005)

Holy digging up a 3 year old thread, batman!


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## fryke (Jun 16, 2005)

Well: Three years old bud sadly still a subject.


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## fjdouse (Jun 22, 2005)

LOL!
Actually I love the brushed metal and plastic look, goes well.


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## MBHockey (Jun 23, 2005)

Maybe you brushed metal lovers would like my brushed metal adium build?

http://homepage.mac.com/mbh0ckey


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## fjdouse (Jun 23, 2005)

Will give a try of course, looks gorgeous


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