Leopard Review: Appearance & Desktop

At 6 p.m. on the 26th of October, the whole world stood still for a brief moment and collectively held its breath as Apple released its 5th iteration of its world-class operating system, Mac OS X: Leopard. Men looked on in awe, women anticipated its arrival with bated breath, and children stood wide-eyed, holding tight to the hands of their mothers. All were awaiting the dawn of a new operating system era; a giant leap forward in computing technology.

Alright! Alright! I admit it. It didn't go quite like that. Come to think of it, it didn't go at all like that. That is, except for the the part about Leopard being released on October 26. That actually happened. In fact, it's also true that some people were eagerly awaiting the arrival of Mac OS X Leopard. Mind you, most of those people were geeky types like me. At the hundreds of Apple retail stores across North America, there were long lines as Mac addicts patiently waited to be among the first to get their hands on Leopard.

Now that I've had a couple of days to play with Leopard, I want to share my early impressions with you. Apple lists 300 new features on the Leopard website. There are 10 major new features. I'll be reviewing 5 of my favorite new features. I'll conclude with overall thoughts and impressions, and lastly, my perceived pros and cons.

Test Machines

- iMac G5 2.0 GHz (Upgrade Install)
- MacBook 1.83 GHz Core Duo (Clean Install)
- MacBook 2.00 GHz Core 2 Duo (Archive and Install)

Appearance & Desktop

What's New

A lot! Many cosmetic upgrades have been made to the desktop and to Leopard as a whole. Windows Vista was a huge graphical change from XP, and admittedly, Leopard isn't different from Tiger (OS 10.4). However, keep in mind that there were six years between XP and Vista (only 2 between 10.4 and 10.5), and Tiger certainly needed less of a graphical overhaul to begin with. Leopard is more of a refinement, whereas Vista is a total redesign of XP's tired look.

Dock. The old white rectangular dock of old is gone. Replacing it is a 3D dock that attempts to harness and show off the graphical power of the Mac platform.

The icons appear to be set on a reflective glass shelf. The shelf itself reflects the icons upon it, nearby windows, and the desktop background. When I first saw the new dock in Steve Jobs' keynote presentation this past summer, I was immediately reminded of those trendy glass shelves from Ikea. Open applications are represented by little blue translucent dots, a change from the black triangles from before. The icons on the dock are not inherently different from those in Tiger, but Apple has refreshed and revamped some of the icons, but otherwise.

Stacks. A very visible new feature of Leopard, stacks allow for quick access to a docked folder's contents. Mac OS X has always made it possible to place a favorite folder in the dock. When you clicked that folder, it opened in Finder. Now, if you place a folder in the dock and click the icon, the contents display above the desktop in a fan or a grid. By default Apple places a couple of stacks in the dock, including one for downloads (handy for keeping the desktop free from downloaded clutter).

Toolbar. The toolbar at the top of the OS X screen has undergone a few minor cosmetic changes of its own. Like many elements within Mac OS X (and Vista), it is partially transparent and translucent. Consequently, the appearance and hue of the toolbar changes according to the desktop wallpaper behind it. The color scheme has also been changed. In Tiger, the toolbar featured several colored accents (the blue Apple and Spotlight icons). These colorations have been removed, and all the buttons on the toolbar are now monochrome.

The toolbar with the Aqua desktop image behind it.

The tool with the standard "Galaxy" desktop image behind it.

The toolbar with a zebra behind it.

Unified Look. This is the fifth time that Apple has introduced a major upgrade to OS X since 2001. During that time, the interface has undergone some pretty significant changes. The first version of Mac OS X featured windows decorated with horizontal pinstripes.

In the next version, that was toned down and made to appear less - how shall we say - gaudy. In Puma and Panther, Apple introduced widespread use of a brushed metal look. In Tiger, this look began to be phased out in favor of a cleaner, more efficient look. However, the transition was only partial. Mac users were left with a rather diverse hodgepodge of windows appearances. Now, in Leopard, OS X finally has a unified look (below). All Apple applications have dropped the old pinstripe and brushed metal look. Only the professional applications have a distinctive look and feel. In Leopard, 3rd party apps that 'request' older window styles are instead clad in Leopard's default styling.

 

Icons. In an effort to prepare for monitors of the future which will be larger and sport much higher resolutions that todays models, Apple has increased maximum icon resolutions. Previously, icons could be as large as 128x128 pixels. Vista's icons can be as large as 256x256. Not to be outdone, Apple made it possible to handle icons as large as 512x512 pixels. If you come from XP, you'll probably be staggered by the detail and clarity in Mac OS X icons as they whiz by in Coverflow. As I previously mentioned, Apple has also revamped some of its icons.

Core Animation. Apple has always been known for the shimmer and pizazz of its interface. In most cases, adding these sorts of effects was both difficult to program and also created a drain on the system. In Leopard, Apple premiers a technology called Core Animation. I'll spare you the technical details (partially because I'm not qualified to elucidate the inner workings of Core Animation) and simply inform you that the advancements in Leopard make it much easier to create and use applications that have slick and snazzy animations.

What I Like

I am a huge fan of the new unified look in Leopard. Personally, I thought the brushed metal looked dated. I was disappointed that many of Tiger's applications still contained this antiquated window style. It was good to hear that Leopard would shed all hints of metal cladding. I really like the fact that Leopard even streamlines 3rd party applications so some old program doesn't ruin the aesthetic of my computing experience.

Many reviews that I have read are critical of the new task bar. Those writers are free to hold that opinion. However, I personally quite like it. Some argue that it looks too muddied when there is a picture behind it. Perhaps that bothers some, but I have had no issue. I could change my mind on this, but my first impressions are positive.

Although it's not a perfect technology, I like the ability that stacks gives me to quickly view the contents of a specific folder. I find that it works best for folders with a smaller number of files in it (e.g., 10 or less).

The overall refinements in Leopard are widespread. Every time I open up a new application or preference pane, I notice that something else has changed. The hard-working folks at Apple have certainly done their job to make Leopard look appealing and refined. Whereas Tiger contained a number of visual inconsistencies, Leopard looks much more finished and refined. You almost have to see it to believe it.

Core animation is something that really excites me. In moderation, animated effects can really enhance a user's computing experience. It can make it much easier to see what's going on on-screen. That, and it looks cool! I look forward to seeing how programmers harness this powerful technology.

What Could Stand Improvement

Personally, I think I'm going to get tired of the standard dock very quickly. The reflections are excessive, and the perspective is quite a ways off. It's not consistently 2D or 3D. The shelf is quasi-3D, while the icons are 2D objects. If this was a perfect world (as per my standards), the dock would also be more customizable. Currently, the dock is rather inflexible. Although a visual refresh is fine, it wasn't the aspect of the dock that was most in need of a facelift.

Although I mentioned that stacks in the dock could be handy for folders with small amounts of content, I feel there are some missing feature. In Tiger, I was able to place a folder in the dock and have it automatically open in Finder. With stacks, that functionality has been lost. In my opinion, this is a major slip up by Apple. Restoring this feature wouldn't be all that difficult for Apple, and it would allow business/power users to skip the flashy gimmicks and skip straight to the power of the Finder. Also, the dock automatically creates an "icon" for a stack. In the image below, I have 3 stacks. One is a folder of developer applications, one is a folder that contains other folders, and the last is my downloads folder. By looking at the dock, there is no quick and foolproof way of determining which is which. This appears to be an inherent limitation of stacks. A word to Apple: make it possible to set a stack icon manually. A few more customizing options for the dock certainly wouldn't hurt! Apple is trying to position itself as a serious player in the business market. This requires less gimmick and more function. A few simple enhancements could go a long way!

I have seen many computer screens where the user has chosen to increase the font size for sake of readability. It's always on Windows machines, and it always looks ugly. However, I consider it ugly because I still have 20/20 vision and can still easily read the tiny text on my high-resolution screen. I work with people who simply can't read text at the size at which I view it. Apple, you need to make it possible for those 45+ to read your displays. If you think the same way  Enabling an option that reads the contents of your screen in a computer voice just isn't going to cut it in a busy office. Having the computer narrate my every move is enough to make me want to gouge out my eyes with the handle of a spoon. Mind you, then I'll be blind, and have no other choice. Apple, for many reasons, including the one above, you need to work quickly on implementing resolution independence!

Conclusion

As Walt Mossberg of the Wallstreet Journal stated, the changes in Leopard are not necessarily revolutionary. They're evolutionary. True! The interface is fundamentally the same...just refined.. I'm pleased with the refinements that Apple has made. With exception to a few faux pas, Leopard's appearance and desktop is undoubtedly an improvement over Tiger.