Aero Themes

[jw12345]

A while back, Thurrott mentioned there were rumors of a new UI being put into place before RTM. Is there any credence to this? Or if not, are there any windows 7 themes that actually look good without transparency? All the themes I can find are translucent, which I think looks just horrible when things start to layer.

I can't be the only one who thinks aero looks like crap the way it's currently implemented. OS X pulls off several overlapping windows and elements much slicker, and the dock is beautiful compared to the boxy unproportioned taskbar. It's interesting to look at how OS X iterations started adding transparency to title bars and then quickly pulled back in a more tasteful way, and microsoft went full steam and made seemingly everything they could into blurry glass, while tacking on thick borders and gloss.

Here's an example of what I mean by layering how things muddled and ugly:
http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/3237/68370178.png

 

[garysgold]

If you go into the personalize section and click on color, there are all kinds of options. Click on show color mixer and you can make it more or less transparent by playing with all the sliders, or turn it off all together. I don't know of any plans to change it. Certainly hope not. I like the flexibility.

Gary

 

[jw12345]

If you go into the personalize section and click on color, there are all kinds of options. Click on show color mixer and you can make it more or less transparent by playing with all the sliders, or turn it off all together. I don't know of any plans to change it. Certainly hope not. I like the flexibility.

Gary

The thing is, I haven't managed to find any way to make it decent looking though, all transparent glass has the same inherent problems. You can reduce the thick borders a bit, but not completely. And none of the opaque options look particularly great, because windows end up looking unrefined, and the active vs unactive windwos vs the taskbar don't seem very well balanced. I'm not a huge design freak, but it seems like such a large company as microsoft could produce something a lot better.

See how much better leopard handles window layering, the window borders, the dock, the dot vs windows block border for running apps: http://www.sharewareplaza.com/images/screenshot/58732.gif

 

[J23]

See how much better leopard handles window layering, the window borders, the dock, the dot vs windows block border for running apps: http://www.sharewareplaza.com/images/screenshot/58732.gif

I really disagree with you re the Leopard issue. Windos 7 Aero destroys any gui or design piles apple has every come close to. Not looking to start an OS war thread. Just my 2 cents as a proud PC user for over 20 yrs.
Regards,
J

 

[jw12345]

I'm not trying to say windows is an inferior OS in general, just that the overall look for the windows and taskbar isn't done very well. I've used PCs my entire life and still do (though I do have a hackintosh box I experiment with), but at least for my tastes, the theming seems very half-done and without a lot of thought.

Windows just doesn't have that 'wow' factor. It's very functional and a great os overall, but Microsoft could definitely take some design cues and make it sleeker. It seems that all this transparency and glass make it the GUI very busy looking and often blurry, which then becomes a bit of a functional problem. Aesthetics isn't just for shallow people who know nothing about computers, they have a very real affect on how easily identifying information without distraction is.

 

[swarfega]

I didnt see anything in that screenshot of OSX to make it "better" than the transparency layering of Windows 7. Im guessing Apple couldnt afford the effects

 

[jw12345]

Maybe these things bother me more than other people, but here are a few:

• window control buttons: macs only show mini icon upon hover to simplify UI
• windows borders: macs have simply a 1px line and the resize grabber is actually overlying the below content, a very slick effect; windows on the other hand, has this 5-6 pixel borders where you have a line, a glossy glass effect for 4 px and then another line.
• drop shadows: macs have a more subtle but deeper drop
• dock/taskbar: when you have windows that go under these, macs do a nice reflection, but the underlying windows doesn't obscure unlike in windows where white text on the taskbar is hard to read once a window gets under there
• also the dock seems to float and frames the desktop, on windows the taskbar is flat and there's not really much as a desktop feel
• mac menu bars: I know a lot of pc people hate this, but it really does simplify the general feel to the ui when menus aren't scattered everywhere

and the above are just a few example of the static visual changes, don't get me started on how smooth os x handles dragging things on and off the dock, expanding menus, opening, etc. Logging off a mac is even nicely animated. Invalid login attempts are met with a cute jiggly on the credential window signifying the mistake. There are hundreds of little visual touches that microsoft doesn't bother with.

Sometimes I wonder if most the people who downplay this vast difference have really ever used a mac for weeks on end. There's no denying that OS X is absolutely gorgeous compared to any version of windows. There are more important things to consider when selecting an OS to use, and Windows has the leg up on other things, but visually, Microsoft need some work.

I'm not trying to make this into a flame war, as I use PCs much more often, just pointing out how far behind Microsoft is getting in this area.

 

[Phate]

You should swithc back to XP or (better) to Apple's platform. You're crying on bad grave mate.

 

[jw12345]

You should swithc back to XP or (better) to Apple's platform. You're crying on bad grave mate.

hah, if only Onenote would join me on the dark side. I'd put up with windows if the theme was stuck on Hotdog Stand for that program.

Until then, though, I really think Microsoft is endangering itself not worrying much about this. When the average joe looks for a computer, he's judging heavily on these sort of intangible slick, smooth way the UI works.

 

[swarfega]

You can change the border size here: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/6283-borders-changing-width-suite-your-needs.html?ltr=B

 

[garysgold]

It's all a matter of opinion. In my opinion that pic of the mac window is much worse than Aero. I'll stick with the way MS has gone, thanks. If you prefer the Mac style that's your choice/opinion.

Gary

 

[J23]

title

I'm not trying to say windows is an inferior OS in general, just that the overall look for the windows and taskbar isn't done very well. I've used PCs my entire life and still do (though I do have a hackintosh box I experiment with), but at least for my tastes, the theming seems very half-done and without a lot of thought.
I was not trying to indicate that you were talking smack:shock: re Windows. I just don"t see your issues. I think the themes are simply beuatiful and will integrate wonderfully with the ribbon in office 2010.

Windows just doesn't have that 'wow' factor.

I would concur that Vista lacked some wow factors or @ least were overshadowed by a vastly overly heavy footprint. I think 7 has really brought the "wow" back into this os. The builds have been stunning. Not since moving from 3.1 to 95 do I recall feeling so inuitivly connected to an os and just...well smiling while I use it.

It's very functional and a great os overall, but Microsoft could definitely take some design cues and make it sleeker. It seems that all this transparency and glass make it the GUI very busy looking and often blurry, which then becomes a bit of a functional problem. Aesthetics isn't just for shallow people who know nothing about computers, they have a very real affect on how easily identifying information without distraction is.

I could not agree more re the asthetics point. I think "eye candy" is easy to dismiss and the underlying functionality and produced creativity when one is genuinly engaged with their work enviroment cannot be even measured. The genearl public likes shiny things. If anything Apple has played this card to death and back again. Imho and contributed if not created the very attitude you speak out against. I simply do not find anything "blurry" nor "busy" in this Release. Things such as areo peek are fantastic tools for accessing and engaing numerous apps @ once. It is in the eye of the beholder no question. I hope things get better for you in the coming rtm.
Btw-What are you running the Hackintosh on? I've been thinking of building something for that and ubntu.
Regards,
J

 

[J23]

ughh

I do not know why that post boxed my first resonse and then left the rest out on it's own., making it seem disparate. I quoted and the ...hmmm. I'll have to take another look @ how things are flung up here. I also clearly need to switch back to FF. Spell checkers have reduced me to nothingness
Regards,
J

 

[jw12345]

I find that the blurriness and muddled windows tend to occur when you have a dozen windows open at once and the glass begins to be placed above very light or very dark objects that harm visibility. Opaque windows don't have this problem, but don't look skinned very well IMO. Otherwise Windows 7 looks quite nice and I appreciate some of the functional additions, but it's still just not there yet for me. It wouldn't be hard for Microsoft to tighten the GUI up, because the main flaws are simply in need of some good graphic artists to refine.

(I was running osx on a half broken laptop but decided to give it a go yesterday morning actually on my main rig, Q6600, 8gb ddr2, cheapo foxconn p965 board, a few TB of sata disks, and a 4850. It's been a giant PITA to get running, esp the video card and sata controller, but after 20 hours of work, it's perfect. I'm really warming up to leopard, it's beautifully designed aesthetically and functionally, and if I can figure out a suitable onenote replacement, I might consider using it as my main os, though this really isn't the forum for apple worship )