![]() ![]() ![]() Razor-thin edges surrounded by a tight shadow against the dark linen background in Mission Control frames the desktop as lofty applications float overhead. Swipes between desktops and Mission Control dictate a clear partition between spaces and full-screen applications, providing visual distinctness when moving between the various areas of the system. There’s an interesting coalesce between hard and soft edges in Lion, which I find is the main discriminator between applications and desktop boundaries. In both fashions, Lion’s applications are devoid of any harsh lines or edges. The promise of congruency and of maintaining a familiar HIG is supplanted by the promise of familiarity between iOS and OS X. Of course a few hipsters, notably iCal and Address Book, would buck idealism for realism via the influence of the iPad. It’s as if QuickTime X’s movie player in Snow Leopard sparked the trend of minimalism. Lion is gratuitously decorated with comfortable pillows on top of beautiful linen covers.Īs an operating system, Lion feels decidedly refreshing to look at as sharp contrasts are established between frameless windows and the desktop background. From the login screen to Mission Control, linen patterns line Lion as windows fade in and out of view. The Launchpad blankets the desktop with frosted glass that purposely highlights your installed applications with tremendous detail. Rounded buttons have been replaced with rectangular buttons that no longer feel antiquated. ![]() ![]() The Finder places emphasis on documents as monochrome icons line the sidebar. Application badges no longer scream a distracting red, blending into Lion with a lighter shade that also mimics the iOS style. Rounded corners feel more pronounced, yet retain a softness that’s just perfect.įiner details carefully reveal themselves as you explore the OS for the first time. Scrollbars are now hidden in favor of mimicking iOS’ indicator, only revealing a simple opaque scrubber as you scroll naturally through minimal, near chrome-less interfaces. The traffic lights are noticeably more pale in color, and what’s left of application frames have been speckled with a bit of noise that replaces the cold Aqua gradients of Leopard with a friendly pastel-like texture. With Apple’s recent innovations and discoveries being made on iOS, it only makes sense that they’d implement much of what they’ve learned into their desktop OS.Īs you open apps for the first time in Lion, you’ll notice everything has an airy quality to it that gives Lion a pleasant floating feeling. Instead, concepts are expanded upon and built out in new, delightful ways. Lion fixes and improves upon the previous version of OS X just like every other version did. Much attention was paid to making the Finder easier to navigate, the interface more fluid, and the desktop more accessible than ever before. Consistency, the user experience, and improvements to the user interface aren’t a nod towards iOS, but rather a nod towards Apple’s future. It is one of Apple’s goals to provide consistency across all of their platforms, but OS X is still of its own design. OS X Lion may be influenced by a lot of smart interactions discovered in iOS, but it doesn’t feel nearly as limited as initially perceived. We focus too much on the Launchpad, complaining about what seems to be obvious handholding without looking deeper into the underlying enhancements Apple has made for everyone across the board. At a first scratch on the cat post, this is the conclusion that we may immediately jump to as we glance across the changes made. Coming into this Lion review, I think the first thing you’d expect me to say is that Lion is a transitionary version of OS X that begins the process of converging with iOS. ![]()
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