Dock: Appearance set to change, again.

[-BigMac-]

Hi Guys.

Stumbled upon this.

http://www.apple.com/mac/

Anyone else notice to absence of the yosemite dock?

Since the dock change is a rather fundamental UI change, especially appearance wise, i have narrowed down why Apple wouldnt put the dock on the front page of its Yosemite release, to 3 reasons.

1) Apple is showing people the real estate to be gained by minimising the dock and will minimise the dock as default behaviour (doubtful).

2) Apple wants to keep the focus on the window UI changes in the photos (maybe, but isn't the dock appearance change important too or rather, a OS marketing or 'refresh' point?)

3) Apple hasn't finalised the dock appearance, and may or may not tinker with it before final OS release.

I find the 3rd reason to be most likely, and it's interesting, as Apple normally wouldnt do something like that after announcing it at wwdc. Are we looking at another potentially drastic appearance change before final release?

Thoughts? Additional ideas?

 

[deluxeshredder]

OS X 10.5 did change a lot appearance-wise during the beta period.

My guess is that 10.10 Dock will be either left as-is or gradually replaced by some kind of app menu, likely Mission Control-based.

 

[Cam493]

Good observation. Apple's been updating the screenshots on the Yosemite page a lot frequently. If they were to give the dock a drastic redesign, they'd acknowledge it in the WWDC presentation, right? The dock is an extremely important piece of OS X's identity, too.

Here's my two cents:

• It's the same dock as before, but with reworked auto-hiding, and perhaps even intelligent-hiding mechanics. It auto-hides by default to make a message about more screen space for multitasking?
• Same dock as before, but with some form of Launchpad integration.

 

[Julien]

...Anyone else notice to absence of the yosemite dock?...


Thoughts? Additional ideas?

Settings: Dock: Auto Hide Dock.

 

[PsykX]

Settings: Dock: Auto Hide Dock.

Yes we all know we can hide it. The point is, the Dock and all of its icons have changed. If Apple is about to market Yosemite as featuring a complete UI overhaul for the OS, why would they hide the Dock ?

 

[Julien]

Yes we all know we can hide it. The point is, the Dock and all of its icons have changed. If Apple is about to market Yosemite as featuring a complete UI overhaul for the OS, why would they hide the Dock ?

Apple isn't hiding the Dock. Click on Yosemite and you can see it. Here is a link.

 

[cgriffis753]

Apple isn't hiding the Dock. Click on Yosemite and you can see it. Here is a link.

as well as a screenshot

 

[576316]

How odd.

 

[dmccloud]

Hi Guys.

Stumbled upon this.

http://www.apple.com/mac/

Anyone else notice to absence of the yosemite dock?

Since the dock change is a rather fundamental UI change, especially appearance wise, i have narrowed down why Apple wouldnt put the dock on the front page of its Yosemite release, to 3 reasons.

1) Apple is showing people the real estate to be gained by minimising the dock and will minimise the dock as default behaviour (doubtful).

2) Apple wants to keep the focus on the window UI changes in the photos (maybe, but isn't the dock appearance change important too or rather, a OS marketing or 'refresh' point?)

3) Apple hasn't finalised the dock appearance, and may or may not tinker with it before final OS release.

I find the 3rd reason to be most likely, and it's interesting, as Apple normally wouldnt do something like that after announcing it at wwdc. Are we looking at another potentially drastic appearance change before final release?

Thoughts? Additional ideas?

Option 1 is the most likely answer. They already showed off the dock at WWDC in the form seen in other screenshots on the site, so the chances of a significant redesign as outlined in Option 3 are basically zero. The dock is not (and never has been) the primary focus of OS X, so Option 2 is equaly as unlikely a reason. The transparency features of Yosemite and overall flattening of the UI is the key visual change to 10.10, which is why those first screenshots highlight the overall appearance over the dock.

 

[-BigMac-]

Option 1 is the most likely answer. They already showed off the dock at WWDC in the form seen in other screenshots on the site, so the chances of a significant redesign as outlined in Option 3 are basically zero. The dock is not (and never has been) the primary focus of OS X, so Option 2 is equaly as unlikely a reason. The transparency features of Yosemite and overall flattening of the UI is the key visual change to 10.10, which is why those first screenshots highlight the overall appearance over the dock.

as you said, the overall flattening and transparency of the UI is the key visual change of 10.10.

The appearance of the dock in 10.10 reflects those changes. especially since many casual users will not notice slight changes on windows layout, but are more likely to notice a change in the dock, as it is very prominent on the desktop.

 

[mrchinchilla]

They've changed the Finder icon again. First on the Apple website was the DP1 Finder icon, then they changed it to look like the current icon after complaints. The Finder icon now on Apple's website is a mix of the current and the DP1 icon. Weird how indecisive they're being about it.

 

[kmj2318]

I wish I could watch meeting where someone said "We definitely need to lower the nose on the finder icon," or "We need to hide the dock on the website images."

 

[mmomega]

as well as a screenshot

is that a retina macbook air ? my screen definitely isn't that clear especially when zoomed in.

 

[pickaxe]

I give up. The Finder icon was the only icon I genuinely liked on Yosemite and now they are changing it... but presumably not the hideous Safari, Calendar or Reminders icons.

 

[ACDIT]

I give up. The Finder icon was the only icon I genuinely liked on Yosemite and now they are changing it... but presumably not the hideous Safari, Calendar or Reminders icons.

i'm sure you're aware you can actually change it if you want !

 

[576316]

is that a retina macbook air ? my screen definitely isn't that clear especially when zoomed in.

I'm sure you'll be aware that the imagery on Apple's website are not photographs of actual screens. They first photograph the product using very high resolution cameras, these images are then enhanced and edited to make the product look flawless. Screenshots are then super imposed onto these photographs. So the fact that the 'screen' on that image of a MacBook Air looks very clear has no bearing on the product's actual screen.

 

[Julien]

I'm sure you'll be aware that the imagery on Apple's website are not photographs of actual screens. They first photograph the product using very high resolution cameras, these images are then enhanced and edited to make the product look flawless. Screenshots are then super imposed onto these photographs. So the fact that the 'screen' on that image of a MacBook Air looks very clear has no bearing on the product's actual screen.

So Ad's photos aren't just pictures of the real thing. I don't see any difference.

 

[pickaxe]

i'm sure you're aware you can actually change it if you want !

Yes of course... I'm just worried that the artistic direction Apple is taking lately is no longer one that I find appealing, and that has implications on UX as a whole.

 

[mmomega]

I'm sure you'll be aware that the imagery on Apple's website are not photographs of actual screens. They first photograph the product using very high resolution cameras, these images are then enhanced and edited to make the product look flawless. Screenshots are then super imposed onto these photographs. So the fact that the 'screen' on that image of a MacBook Air looks very clear has no bearing on the product's actual screen.

Again a point where written word doesn't carry the meaning properly. There has been speculation and rumors of a retina MBA and Apple has been known to show a glimpse of a future product on their website right under people's noses.

 

[Jhingha]

They've changed the Finder icon again. First on the Apple website was the DP1 Finder icon, then they changed it to look like the current icon after complaints. The Finder icon now on Apple's website is a mix of the current and the DP1 icon. Weird how indecisive they're being about it.

you got a visual changelog for this?

 

[g-7]

1) Apple is showing people the real estate to be gained by minimising the dock and will minimise the dock as default behaviour (doubtful).

2) Apple wants to keep the focus on the window UI changes in the photos (maybe, but isn't the dock appearance change important too or rather, a OS marketing or 'refresh' point?)

3) Apple hasn't finalised the dock appearance, and may or may not tinker with it before final OS release.

4) A graphic designer is coming home from work, scratching his head: I could swear... I feel like I have forgotten something today...

 

[576316]

So Ad's photos aren't just pictures of the real thing. I don't see any difference.

Image

Image

In Apple's case, partly photographs and partly generated imagery.

----------

Again a point where written word doesn't carry the meaning properly. There has been speculation and rumors of a retina MBA and Apple has been known to show a glimpse of a future product on their website right under people's noses.

I wouldn't be too much hope into that being true. I'm sure this is a simple case of them trying to get across the OS rather than being specific about the quality of the screen.