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Aqua is the graphical user interface and primary visual theme of Apple Inc.'s Mac OS X operating system. It is based around the theme of water, as its name suggests,[1] with droplet-like elements and liberal use of translucency and reflection effects. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 Ã 768 pixel, file size: 495 KB, MIME type: image/png) This is a screenshot of copyrighted computer software, and the copyright for its contents is most likely held by the author(s) or the company that...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã 600 pixelsFull resolution (1024 Ã 768 pixel, file size: 495 KB, MIME type: image/png) This is a screenshot of copyrighted computer software, and the copyright for its contents is most likely held by the author(s) or the company that...
Mac OS X Public Beta cover The Mac OS X Public Beta was an early, beta version of Apple Computers Mac OS X operating system released to the public on September 13, 2000 for the price of $29. ...
Apple Inc. ...
Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...
// An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ...
âGUIâ redirects here. ...
Maple Story desktop theme for Windows Server 2003. ...
Apple Inc. ...
Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ...
// An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ...
The Aqua theme and user interface was introduced at the January 2000 Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco.[2] Aqua's first appearance in a commercial product was in the July 2000 release of iMovie 2, in which the buttons and the scroll bar acquired the Mac OS X Aqua look, as well as in iTunes in January 2001. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...
This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ...
iMovie is a video editing software application which allows users to edit their own home movies. ...
This article is about the iTunes application. ...
Two primary features of Aqua are the gel-like buttons (colored red, yellow, and green) that control the windows, and the Dock, which facilitates the launching of and navigation between applications. Comparison of docks in Avant Window Navigator on Ubuntu, Mac OS X Leopard, and Suns Project Looking Glass The Dock in Mac OS X is an application; this is its icon. ...
Aqua is the successor to Platinum, which was used in Mac OS 8 through 9. The Platinum theme in Mac OS 9 Charcoal was the new default interface font in the Platinum theme, replacing Chicago from System 7 In Mac OS terminology, Platinum was the user interface theme that Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9 used. ...
Mac OS 8 is a series of versions of the Mac OS that supported a transition through major changes in the Macintosh hardware platform. ...
Sherlock 2 for Mac OS 9 with the new metallic appearance Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apples Classic Mac OS. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as The Best Internet Operating System Ever, highlighting Sherlock 2s Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple...
Evolution Much of Aqua's original design was intended to complement the translucent two-tone look of Apple's contemporaneous hardware, primarily the original bondi blue iMac. In 2003 and 2004, Apple moved to the use of brushed metal in their industrial design (such as with the aluminium Apple Cinema Displays); Aqua changed accordingly, incorporating the additional brushed metal look while de-emphasising the pinstripe backgrounds and transparency effects. In recent years, however, the brushed metal look has also been abandoned, in favor of white semi-reflective plastic, similar to the industrial design of the original iPod. This somewhat inconsistent mix of interface styles has been controversial among the Mac OS X user community, whom often cite it as evidence of Apple focussing OS X's UI design on fleeting gimmicks rather than lasting usability. The original iMac model Bondi blue is a name of a color coined by Apple Computer, Inc. ...
The original Bondi Blue iMac G3 was introduced in 1998. ...
Brushed metal is metal that has been abraded (brushed), most often with a fine grit sandpaper. ...
Dual 30 Apple Cinema HD Displays Previous-generation Apple Studio Display (the Studio Display in an aspect ratio of 4:3 instead of 16:10) The Apple Cinema Display is a product line of widescreen flat panel monitors made by Apple Inc. ...
iPod is a brand of portable media player designed and marketed by Apple and launched in October 2001. ...
Each successive release of Mac OS X has bought a new “Aqua Blue” wallpaper, in Mac OS X Leopard this scheme was abandoned. It should be noted that in recent releases of OS X, the focus on traditional interface elements, such as drawers, has generally moved to alternative innovations such as moveable palettes and inspectors. In general, there has also been a move towards using sidebars, which now appear in many Apple applications; in addition to more contextual interface elements and full-screen interfaces in many applications. A screenshot of Ubuntu 6. ...
The Finders Inspector window is an example of a palette window A palette window, also known as utility window or floating palette, is a type of computing window which floats on top of all regular windows and offers tools or information for the current application. ...
A inspector window is a type of computing window which shows current parameters of a selected object and allows these parameters to be changed on-the-fly. ...
The sidebar is a term that is used for a GUI element that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface. ...
Jaguar Jaguar brought with it flatter interface elements, such as new buttons and drop-down menus, as well as removing pinstripes from the windows and menus. These changes would continue from this point forward. Mac OS X version 10. ...
Panther In Mac OS X Panther, brushed metal was fused to the heart of the Macintosh: the Finder. New buttons were made to appear sunken into their surroundings, following a general trend of more flattened interface elements in the operating system. Pinstripes were also toned down, most notably in the menu bar, and the use of transparency was lessened (for example in the title bars of inactive windows). Tabs also changed; they were made flatter and the whole tab area was sunken rather than raised. Tab buttons were centered on the top border of the tab area. New icons appeared across the system, including a new flatter, glossier Finder icon, a new System Preferences icon. Mac OS X version 10. ...
Finder may be: A device attached to a telescope which gives a much larger field of view than the main telescope and so allows an astronomer to centre the telescope on an object using crosshairs. ...
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...
A tab in graphical user interfaces is a typically rectangular small box (usually containing a text label and/or an icon) associated graphically with a view pane. ...
System Preferences is the application used by Mac OS X to set user preferences. ...
Tiger Tiger brought more subtle changes, also including the Unified theme as a cross between Brushed Metal and Aqua. The menu bar now got rid of its pinstripes entirely, and sported a new glossy look. Tabs were altered to appear as normal buttons. The Apple menu icon was toned down and the Spotlight search facility now had its own icon permanently bound to the right-hand end of the menu bar. Mac OS X version 10. ...
Screen grab from Apple Mails New Message window Unified is the name of a GUI theme in Mac OS X that is a variant of the Aqua theme. ...
Spotlight is an as-you-type, system-wide desktop search feature found in Mac OS X v10. ...
Leopard In Mac OS X Leopard, several changes have been made to the user interface. It could be argued that the user interface may no longer be Aqua, as most white and blue elements have been discarded for a darker sceme, tentatively named "Illuminous" by the public at large, as a more unified interface. The Dock now sports a reflective “floor” for icons to sit on, and icon labels now have a semi-transparent background. Active applications are no longer indicated by a triangle, but now by a glowing blue ball. The dividing line between applications and other Dock items is now resembles a pedestrian crossing instead of a simple line. Application windows are reflected off the surface of the dock when close enough. “Stacks” are groups of files which can be stored in the Dock, and fan out when clicked. Mac OS X v10. ...
Comparison of docks in Avant Window Navigator on Ubuntu, Mac OS X Leopard, and Suns Project Looking Glass The Dock in Mac OS X is an application; this is its icon. ...
A pedestrian crossing or crosswalk is a designated point on a road at which some means are employed to assist pedestrians wishing to cross. ...
The new menu bar in Leopard. The menu bar at the top of the screen is now semi-transparent, no longer rounded, and menu highlights are now an inverted blue gradient. The corners of menus (including Dock menus) are now rounded, conversely the corners of the menu bar are not. The Apple menu icon is now a glossy black. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ...
The Apple menu in Mac OS X Tiger. ...
The drop shadow of the active window is now greatly enlarged for emphasis. Inactive windows are less prominent for greater contrast between active and inactive windows. Title bars are a darker shade of grey, and all toolbars now use a darker “Unified” scheme. Brushed metal is no longer present, and has been replaced instead by a white “plastic” gradient scheme. Many windows now have no or minimal borders. Pinstripes in window backgrounds have now been completely removed. Sheets are now semi-transparent as well as blurring the area behind them for greater legibility. Screen grab from Apple Mails New Message window Unified is the name of a GUI theme in Mac OS X that is a variant of the Aqua theme. ...
Mac OS X v10. ...
Pin striping describes the application of a pin stripe: a very thin line of paint or other material, generally used for decoration. ...
Numerous icons have been changed, including a set of new folder icons, a new System Preferences icon and an updated Terminal icon. System Preferences is the application used by Mac OS X to set user preferences. ...
Terminal in OPENSTEP. Terminal (also referred to as Terminal. ...
Microsoft Windows Aqua has been partially ported to Microsoft Windows through multiple programs released by apple. A significant program is iTunes, which has the same brushed metal theme as Mac OSX. iTunes for windows also includes coverflow, which will be incorporated into leopard. Another program for windows that includes the aqua theme is the Safari web browser. The windows version includes a functional aqua scrollbar, as well as warping notification boxes very similar to those in Mac OSX Windows redirects here. ...
This article is about the iTunes application. ...
Cover Flow is a three-dimensional graphical user interface for visually rummaging through ones digital music libraries via cover artwork. ...
Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Computer, Inc. ...
User interface White and blue are two principal colors which define the Aqua style. Title bars, window backgrounds, buttons, menus and other interface elements are all found in white, and some, like scrollbars and menu items, are accented with a shade of blue. Most of the interface elements have a "glass" or "gel" effect applied to them; for instance, David Pogue described the original Aqua scrollbars as "lickable globs of Crest Berrylicious Toothpaste Gel".[3] David Pogue is a New York Times personal technology columnist, Emmy-winning tech correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and tech guest for NPRs Morning Edition. ...
A scrollbar, or slider, is a graphical widget in a GUI with which continuous text, pictures or anything else can be scrolled including time in video applications, i. ...
Interface elements Below, all Mac OS X Cocoa interface elements ('controls') and their NEXTSTEP class name are given. Most of the controls are available in three sizes: regular, small and mini. A Cocoa application being developed using Xcode. ...
NEXTSTEP is the original object-oriented, multitasking operating system that NeXT Computer, Inc. ...
Windows Both the standard Aqua-themed pinstriped windows (NSWindow) and the brushed metal windows appear to have the navigational buttons sunken into the window, however in versions of Mac OS X prior to 10.2, the buttons appeared to be on top of the pinstriped windows. Brushed metal windows also have more plastic-like buttons. Mac OS X also allows users to choose a Graphite version instead of a Blue version of the interface. (In Graphite, window controls appear silverish-grey instead of red, yellow, and green.) Image File history File links Size of this preview: 670 Ã 599 pixelsFull resolution (798 Ã 714 pixel, file size: 131 KB, MIME type: image/png) Showing the standard welcome screen sheet in Pages 1. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 670 Ã 599 pixelsFull resolution (798 Ã 714 pixel, file size: 131 KB, MIME type: image/png) Showing the standard welcome screen sheet in Pages 1. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
Toolbars, defined as NSToolbar, are available in two types: standard or unified. Standard retains the normal Aqua title bar and simply places a row of icons below it, whilst the unified look extends the title bar downwards and places icons on top of it, as if the window has one large title bar. Sheets, which are modal windows, are also defined as NSWindow. When opened, they are thrusted towards the user like a sheet of paper, hence the name. They are partially transparent and focus attention on the content of the sheet. The parent window's controls are disabled until the sheet is dismissed, but the user is able to continue work in other windows (including those in the same application) whilst the sheet is open. In user interface design, a modal window (often called modal dialog because the window is almost always used to display a dialog box) is a child window, which has to be closed before the user can return to operating the parent application. ...
Menus Menus are backed with the standard pinstripe pattern, and when menu items are highlighted they appear blue. In application menus, which run in a single bar across the top of the screen, keyboard shortcuts appear to the right-hand side of the menu whilst the actual menu item is on the left. Pin striping describes the application of a pin stripe: a very thin line of paint or other material, generally used for decoration. ...
This article does not cite any references or sources. ...
The term screen has a number of meanings: A window screen is a wire mesh that covers a window opening to keep out insects even when the window is open. ...
Drop down menus for use in windows themselves (NSPopUpButton) are also available in several varieties. The standard "pop up" menu is white with a blue end cap with opposing arrows, whilst 'pull down' menus only have one downward facing arrow in the end cap. 'Pull down' menus are available four different Aqua varieties, most of which have fallen into disuse with subsequent Mac OS X releases.
Text boxes and fields Text boxes are black on white text with a sunken effect border, and are classed as NSTextField. In addition to regular square text boxes, rounded search text boxes are available (NSSearchField). For more extensive text requirements, NSTextView provides a larger, multi-line text field. A combined text box and pull down menu is available, NSComboBox, which allows the user to type in a value in addition to choosing from a menu. NSDatePicker is a combination textbox and picker control, which allows the user to type in a date and time or edit it with directional buttons. NSTokenField was introduced with Mac OS X v10.4, and allows the user to drag non-editable 'tokens' to a text box, between which text can be typed. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ...
The Apple menu in Mac OS X Tiger. ...
Mac OS X version 10. ...
Push buttons Standard push buttons with rounded corners are available in two varieties: white and blue. A blue button is the default action, and will appear to 'throb' to prompt the user to carry out that action. The action of a blue button can usually also be invoked with the return key. White buttons are usually associated with all other actions. Originally, carriage return was the term for the key, lever, or mechanism in general that would cause the cylinder on which the paper was held (the carriage) to return to the left after a line of text had been typed, and would often move it down a line as well. ...
Also available are rounded bevel buttons, designed to hold an icon; standard square buttons; glass square buttons and round buttons. In addition, circular, purple online help buttons are available which display help relative to the current task when clicked. All types of button are classed as NSButton. Disclosure triangles, although technically buttons, allow views of controls to be shown and hidden to preserve space. Online Help is topic, procedural or reference information delivered through computer software. ...
Checkboxes and radio buttons In Mac OS X, empty check boxes are small, white rounded rectangles. When they are checked, they turn blue and a check is present. They are defined as NSButtons, in essence they are buttons which can be toggled on or off. Radio buttons are similar in appearance and behaviour except they are circular and contain a dot instead of a check. They are defined as NSMatrix.
Tables and lists Tables and lists can be broadly categorised in three ways: NSTableView, a standard multi-columnar table with space to enter values or place other interface elements such as buttons; NSOutlineView, which is the same as NSTableView except it can contain disclosure triangles to show and hide sets of data; and NSBrowser, akin to the column view in the Finder. All table views can use alternating blue and white row backgrounds. Finder may be: A device attached to a telescope which gives a much larger field of view than the main telescope and so allows an astronomer to centre the telescope on an object using crosshairs. ...
Progress indicators Two main types of progress indicator are available: a progress bar or a spinning wheel (not the "beachball" wait cursor). Both are defined as NSProgressIndicator. The progress bar itself is available in two varieties: indeterminate, which simply shows diagonal blue and white stripes in animation with no measure of progress; or determinate, which shows a blue pulsing bar against a white background proportional to the percentage of a task completed. The spinning wheel indicator, also found in the Mac OS X startup screen, is simply a series of lines of various tones arranged in a circle spinning, like the side view of a rotating wheel.
Miscellaneous Sliders are available in three types: one with tick marks and a triangular scrubber, one with a round scrubber and no tick marks and a circular slider which can be rotated. All are defined as NSSlider, and are available horizontally or vertically. The circular slider is simply a gray dot on a white circle which can be rotated to set values. Mac OS X has a standard control for picking colors, NSColorWell, which appears as a regular square button with a color sample in the middle. When clicked, it shows the standard Mac OS X color palette. The Finders Inspector window is an example of a palette window A palette window, also known as utility window or floating palette, is a type of computing window which floats on top of all regular windows and offers tools or information for the current application. ...
Tab views (NSTabView) in Mac OS X appear to be sunken into the window, and are shaded darker and darker each time a new tab view is added inside another. The tabs appear in a row along the top of the sunken area, and are simply a series of white toggle buttons. The currently selected tab is blue. NSBox is a similar control, used to group interface elements, and uses the same sunken appearance, except without tabs. Image "wells" are also available (NSImageView), a small, sunken container into which image files can be dropped.
Fonts Apple uses the Lucida Grande font as the standard system font in various sizes and weights. Some areas of the operating system use another font, Helvetica. Mac OS X makes use of system-wide font anti-aliasing to make edges appear smoother. Lucida Grande is a humanist sans-serif typeface designed by Charles Bigelow and Kris Holmes in 2000 for Adobe Systems. ...
This article is about the typeface Helvetica. ...
In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing the distortion artifacts known as aliasing when representing a high-resolution signal at a lower resolution. ...
Animation
A widget being added to the Dashboard in Mac OS X 10.4. Aqua makes heavy use of animation. Examples include: Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã 500 pixelsFull resolution (1280 Ã 800 pixel, file size: 527 KB, MIME type: image/png) A widget being added to Dashboard in Mac OS X 10. ...
Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 Ã 500 pixelsFull resolution (1280 Ã 800 pixel, file size: 527 KB, MIME type: image/png) A widget being added to Dashboard in Mac OS X 10. ...
Dashboard is an application for Apples Mac OS X v10. ...
The bouncing ball animation (below) consists of these 6 frames. ...
- Dock icons bounce up and down as their corresponding applications are launched.
- Dock icons also bounce up and down, in a different rhythm, when the application requires the user's attention, but it is not the one currently being used.
- Dock icons increase in size when approached by the cursor.
- When minimized, windows are "sucked" into the Dock using the "Genie effect" or "Scale effect." Both of the effects are customizable by the user. The former makes a window turn into a curvy shape so it looks like reverse animation of a genie exiting a lamp, and the latter scales down the window until it is small enough to be in the dock. Using the shift key, both effects can be seen in slow motion and this can also be applied to other Aqua effects such as Dashboard, Exposé and Front Row.
- When a folder on the desktop is opened or closed, the corresponding Finder window appears to come from, or disappears into, the folder icon.
- Sheets are "posted" out of window title bars, so it appears that a dialog box is in fact a sheet of paper being thrust towards the user.
- Dashboard widgets appear with a "ripple" effect, as if being dropped onto the surface of a pond.
The Savior Not Made By Hands (1410s, by Andrei Rublev) An icon (from Greek εικων, eikon, image) is an artistic visual representation or symbol of anything considered holy and divine, such as God, saints or deities. ...
The shift key on a modern Windows keyboard The shift key is a modifier key on a keyboard, used to type capital letters and other alternate upper characters. ...
Slow motion is an effect resulting from running film through a movie camera at faster-than-normal speed. ...
Dashboard is an application for Apples Mac OS X v10. ...
Mac OS X 10. ...
Front Row Music menu screenshot Front Row is a software application for Apples Macintosh computers that acts as a front-end for QuickTime, DVD Player and the iTunes and iPhoto libraries and allows for users to browse media on their computers using the Apple Remote. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Desktop_environment. ...
Two people reflected in a fish pond A pond is typically a man made body of water smaller than a lake. ...
System integration and standardization There are a series of Mac OS X features which are standardized across the operating system to make the system more accessible, so the user does not have to learn multiple ways of doing the same thing. Included amongst these features are: - Services menu - found in the application menu of most applications, which gives the user access to features of other applications
- Palettes - Many palettes are repeated across the system, including:
- Color - The Mac OS X color picker includes multiple ways of choosing colors, including a color wheel, sliders, a wax crayon view, and a "magnifying glass" to select a color from anywhere on the screen
- Fonts - The Mac OS X font picker gives the user access to advanced typography features like ligatures and shadows in any program which allows the formatting of text,
- Character Palette - Found as "Special Characters" in the Edit menus of most applications, allows the user to insert characters they are unable to insert with the keyboard
- Open, Save and Print dialogs - Standard in many applications, and usually use a sheet view
Underlying technology Aqua is powered by the Quartz Compositor, the Mac OS X window server. Quartz Compositor is the window server in Mac OS X. It is responsible for presenting and maintaining rasterized, rendered graphics from the rest of the Core Graphics framework and other renderers in the Quartz technologies family. ...
Litigation In a miniature re-enactment of the Apple v. Microsoft lawsuit, Apple quickly threatened legal action against those who made themes similar to their look and feel. This article is about the look and feel copyright lawsuit between Apple Computer and Microsoft. ...
Look and feel refers to design aspects of a graphical user interface - in terms of both colours, shapes, layout, typefaces, etc (the look); and, the behaviour of dynamic elements such as buttons, boxes, and menus (the feel). It is used in reference to both software and websites. ...
In particular, the use of various Object Desktop components created by Stardock came under fire: The Object Desktop 2. ...
Stardock Corporation is a software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems, later known as Stardock. ...
Despite accepting (for the most part) Apple's right to their copyrighted artwork, the skinning community took exception to their heavy-handed actions against all Aqua lookalikes, which many compared unfavorably to Microsoft's laissez-faire (let it be) approach to the copyright of the Windows XP Luna style.[6] WindowBlinds is a computer program that allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface. ...
In computing, skins and themes are custom graphical appearances (GUIs) that can be applied to certain software and websites in order to suit the different tastes of different users. ...
The DesktopX logo. ...
In computing, a theme is a preset package containing graphical appearance details, used to customise the look and feel of (typically) an operating system, widget set or window manager. ...
IconPackager changes all icons at once IconPackager is a computer program by Stardock that allows the changing of icons for the Microsoft Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/2003 graphical user interface. ...
Several desktop icons from the Windows operating system A computer icon is a small graphic, usually ranging from 16 pixels by 16 pixels up to 128 pixels by 128 pixels, which represents a file, folder, application or device on a computer operating system. ...
Microsoft Corporation, (NASDAQ: MSFT, HKSE: 4338) is a multinational computer technology corporation with global annual revenue of US$44. ...
Laissez-faire is short for laissez faire, laissez passer, a French phrase meaning to let things alone, let them pass. First used by the eighteenth century Physiocrats as an injunction against government interference with trade, it is now used as a synonym for strict free market economics. ...
Windows XP is a line of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on general-purpose computer systems, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. ...
Luna is the codename for the default Windows XP theme. ...
See also Quartz is the marketing name of the proprietary graphics layer that sits on top of the open source Darwin core of Mac OS X. Quartz is part of the Core Graphics framework. ...
Mac OS X 10. ...
Dashboard is an application for Apples Mac OS X v10. ...
References Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 5th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
For information on Wikipedia press releases, see Wikipedia:Press releases. ...
Year 2006 (MMVI) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
is the 284th day of the year (285th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
David Pogue is a New York Times personal technology columnist, Emmy-winning tech correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning, and tech guest for NPRs Morning Edition. ...
Current logo of The Register. ...
is the 14th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2000 (MM) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full 2000 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 33rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...
is the 263rd day of the year (264th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
Year 2001 (MMI) was a common year starting on Monday (link displays the 2001 Gregorian calendar). ...
External links |