Apple started their big WWDC jamboree today where they announced their next revision of their operating system: OS X 10.5 (Leopard). For us this is interesting as we are not only Mac users, but because Apple have a large influence on user interface design. Usually within a few months design decisions made in the Apple mothership will start to percolate around websites, TV graphics, games and other operating systems.

So what new things do we see in today’s presentation? Bearing in mind, this is only at a Preview stage, and they have another 7-9 months to work at it, we saw some interesting ideas, and maybe a couple of strange and ugly ones.

The first idea that raised my eyebrows was the design of Time Machine, a back-up utility built into the operating system. A very fine idea you might think, but the interface to access older versions of files looks like a bad Star Wars game, complete with a spinning galaxy (see above) and fat arcade buttons. While I think a visual way of browsing your past files is essential (as opposed to just having folders and lists), wrapping up such a powerful feature in what looks like an ugly toy seems like an very eccentric decision. I can only hope there are alternative methods of accessing your backups - and the world’s web designers don’t start peppering their designs with space metaphors.

More about Leopard, coming soon.

By Andrew Fox on Monday, 7th August, 2006 at 10:10 pm