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January 22, 2003
Black? Silver?!
Ben's trying to figure out what color to buy his silly Datsun in. Tony's suggested silver. Typical. Silver is such an old man color for cars. If you get that car in any other color than the blue, you should be taken out and shot. (Yes, Tony's car is silver, and yes, Tony is an old man.) (Please don't make the same mistake twice, and get the taxi cab yellow, either.)
Posted by kerz at January 22, 2003 3:05 PM
Comments
If by 'old man' you mean cool and suave, you are correct.
Posted by: Tony at January 22, 2003 3:56 PM
I say we now refer to Tony as Rico Suave :-)
Posted by: Steve at January 22, 2003 8:32 PM
Other examples of these animations might be to show the status of an FTP transfer, the progress of media being digitized, or an updated time signature. And don't forget that users may want to have some control over this, so give them plenty of options, including the ability to turn these functions off.
Posted by: Jerman at January 25, 2004 2:35 AM
This is the first thing your users see, and probably the single most important visible part of your application. It is the first chance you have at making an impression and the best chance to help establish your brand.
Posted by: Margaret at January 25, 2004 2:36 AM
By building an application that takes advantage of Aqua's many facets, you help ensure that your application will not only look good, but have a chance of becoming a raging success. After a new user clicks on the icon of your program, the first thing he or she sees is the application interface. I know that when I review a product, I am very critical of its visual design. I usually have a short time to learn the new software, so design and ease of use are very important. Aside from those who marvel at the beauty of the command line, most users tend to react the same way.
Posted by: Marian at January 25, 2004 2:37 AM
Not quite as entertaining as Shrek, but Dock animation can be an important and useful function in your application. For example, Dock animation is a helpful way to indicate the status of your application.
Posted by: Everard at January 25, 2004 2:37 AM
To help you become a good Aqua citizen, Apple has created a few guidelines. I've put together a brief overview of them, and we'll be tackling many of them in the months to come.
Posted by: Didimus at January 25, 2004 2:38 AM
By building an application that takes advantage of Aqua's many facets, you help ensure that your application will not only look good, but have a chance of becoming a raging success. After a new user clicks on the icon of your program, the first thing he or she sees is the application interface. I know that when I review a product, I am very critical of its visual design. I usually have a short time to learn the new software, so design and ease of use are very important. Aside from those who marvel at the beauty of the command line, most users tend to react the same way.
Posted by: Helen at January 25, 2004 2:38 AM
In building your amazing Aqua application, one of the most important things to consider is the Dock. There are three things your app needs to be "Dock Compliant." Now, I write this knowing that the Dock will be going through some major changes soon, but for the most part, these should still hold true.
Posted by: Jucentius at January 25, 2004 2:39 AM
To put my money where my mouth is, in each new article I'll build a hypothetical application that illustrates the guidelines I'm covering. Today's application is called "Paint" and will be based on the photo-illustrative icon I created in my last article. Together we will complete each step, and by the end of the project we should have a well-designed, 95%-100% Aqua-compliant application. I'll leave some room for personal preferences and the fact that Apple changes the OS every few months.
Posted by: Daniel at January 25, 2004 2:39 AM
Adhere to Layout Guidelines. Did you leave 12 pixels between your push buttons? Does the positioning of your pop-up menus make sense, and when do you use a pop-up versus a scrolling list? Are you using the right types of buttons for the proper functions?
Posted by: Sarah at January 25, 2004 2:39 AM
To put my money where my mouth is, in each new article I'll build a hypothetical application that illustrates the guidelines I'm covering. Today's application is called "Paint" and will be based on the photo-illustrative icon I created in my last article. Together we will complete each step, and by the end of the project we should have a well-designed, 95%-100% Aqua-compliant application. I'll leave some room for personal preferences and the fact that Apple changes the OS every few months.
Posted by: Garret at January 25, 2004 2:40 AM
Everything is true to someone.
Posted by: Manion Kim at February 27, 2004 7:48 PM