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For six years, the Internet Nexus served as my technology blog, but I've since started blogging at the SuperSite Blog instead. If you're looking for the blog, please head there. --Paul

Friday, August 19, 2005

What OS X Could Learn From Windows: Part 2, A Consistent GUI

Apple Matters:

Apple, for the most part, makes eminently superior products, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things within the Windows universe that we can’t learn from.

And one of those things is how Windows handles, well, windows. In OS X some interface elements have curves, other do not. For example, the top toolbar in Photoshop is nice and straight-edged, but the document window itself has curved edges. This is and of itself is bothersome, but what drives me more bonkers is that windows don’t automatically line up perfectly with other elements of the Application GUI.

Now let’s take a look at Windows. One of the things that I like about Windows is that elements of the GUI fit in nicely together. They may not have as much “fit and finish” (otherwise know, somewhat disparagingly, as eye-candy) but when you maximize a window in Windows everything lines up perfectly. This is also a consistent behavior from application to application whereas in OS X things are not consistent.

Let me be clear here. The user interface in OS X is so inconsistent it should embarass Apple and all Mac users, most of whom are probably very much concerned with aesthetics. But seriously, holding Windows up as the poster boy of consistency is, well, just about as ludicrous. Consider this quickly captured example:

Here, we see three "normal" (i.e. floating, non-maximized) windows, all with different looks. The command line window doesn't pick up the XP "chrome"; the Remote Desktop window is squared off, despite not being maximized (nice trick, that); and the Outlook windows is, well, the way it should be. Real consistent. (And imagine the inconsistencies I could find if I spent more than 3 seconds thinking about it.)

That said, the OS X UI--especially in Tiger--is just a shambles. Yes, it needs to be fixed. But no, it shouldn't be more like Windows. In fact, I'd argue that it's already a lot like Windows as it is.

Related: What OS X Could Learn From Windows

[ Posted at 1:00 PM | Permalink ]