bla.st : the genius of apple's user interface themes

Update: interestingly Apple has somewhat unified the user interface in the latest WWDC Mac OS X Leopard preview, which is a right slap in the face to the argument below. According to rumours there's still more work due on the interface, so hopefully new scroll bars (itunes style?) and more resolution independence are coming...

Today I stumbled upon the article "15 things apple should change in Mac OS X" on computerworld.com, and found this "Why on earth would they say that?!" type comment:

"7. Inconsistent User Interface. Open iTunes, Safari and Mail. All three of these programs are Apple's own, and they're among the ones most likely to be used by Mac OS X users. So why do all three of them look different? Safari, like several other Apple-made apps such as the Finder and Address Book, uses a brushed-metal look. iTunes sports a flat gun-metal gray scheme and flat non-shiny scroll bars. Mail is somewhere in between: no brushed metal, lots of gun-metal gray, and the traditional shiny blue scroll bars. Apple is supposed to be the king of good UI, and in many areas, it is. But three widely used apps from the same company with a different look? Sometimes consistency isn't the hobgoblin of little minds."

I can imagine why people think like this, as usability experts often talk about how user interfaces should be consistent. It seems obvious that Apple are breaking this obvious usability guideline. I'm no usability expert by any means, but I suspect making all applications look the same would make life more difficult for users.

Imagine for a second you have 6 remote controls for your home cinema setup. Now imagine if everyone was the same size, same colour, and same button layout, but controlled a different device. This makes life more difficult for users, as extra effort is required to work out which remote to use, or even which remote they are currently holding. Sure, power users may be able to more quickly tell the difference between each remote, but users who don't use the system every day simply don't notice the details.

The same applies to Applications on a computer. Making interfaces useable is often simply making things obvious, and making different apps have different themes, helps make things obvious.

I have a sneaking suspicion that Apple know exactly what they are doing when they make all these different styles. Brushed metal is used for the calculator and address book. Mail uses a plastic theme. Pro apps use the 'pro grey' theme. Garage Band even has wood trims. Floating palettes (in iPhoto for example) use the inverted white text on black theme. Utilities use the standard theme. Here are some of the different styles:

This is probably more important for the Mac system than windows, because most mac apps aren't used full screen. At any time many apps are often visible at once, so being able to identify each application easily is really useful. Expos� is a lot easier to use too if windows look different:

The interface designers at Apple are pretty switched on (most of the time!), so if they're using lots of different interfaces, there's probably a good reason. It will be interesting to see what interface changes they bring out in Leopard, and I have a hunch we've already seen the new interface...

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The Genius of Apple's User Interface Themes