Brent Simmons:

• OS X user interface trend: goodbye stripes
• Smart things – about the lack of convention for creating Smart Lists.
• Splitters gone wild – about the inconsistancy of Window Splitters user interface.
• The inexplicable pressed state of the round textured button
• What I think happened to Mail – includes some interesting comments about the usability pros and cons of the new toolbar icons.
• Capsules are the new new new thing
• Focus madness
• Mail and click-through

Michael McCracken:

• Using Hypertext Links in Native UI
• The Mac UI Question

And more…

• John Siracusa: Tiger’s new look – more about Mail’s toolbar icons.
• maczealots.com: Mac OS X Tiger: What’s Different
• Sven-S. Porst on Apple’s use Source Lists.
• Rob Griffith: The many faces of Apple’s OS X applications – about Tiger’s six types of interface (metal, aqua, smooth platinum, pro, etc.)
• Khoi Vinh: Window Dress for Success – more about Tiger’s different window types – “a brief and dramatically unscientific table that outlines my interpretation of each usage”
• Chris McElligott: Window States Mania about the 3 toolbar states for the new “Unified Toolbar” window style.
• Michael Dupuis: The New Inconsistencies of OS X. Or, How Mac OS X Can Become Windows

Collection of Widgets and UI elements from various websites, with notation of their sterling or plate metal qualities

What if windows were translucent so you could see the multiple windows you’re working on at the same time? What if you could tack a note to yourself right on the Web page you’re viewing? What if your CD or movie database became a 3D jukebox, where titles were joined with images to make finding what you want easier than ever?

Sounds crap — but looks okay!

They look just like the gridlines in actual Freehand documents:

Just got my copy of Studio MX through and installed Freehand MX, the gridlines on the document icons have gone:

I think its a shame. The icons have lost a subtle visual clue that linked the document with the workspace.

As I’ve written before, Windows is immensely better than OS X at keyboard navigation. This makes a real difference in the quality of the experience and especially the speed with which you can get work done. I’ve been thinking about how to work around this, and the only answer is another key on the keyboard, named Menu.

[...]

The Mac’s menu system, fixed in place and shared between apps, is in all other respects better than Windows’ – all they need to do is fix this one major botch and OS X would be miles ahead.

This can be done already, but it takes two keys, and is a bit clunky. Switch on Univeral Access Shortcuts, then Control & F2 activates the Menu, you make selections using the arrow keys (Escape cancels). There’s more in the AppleCare Knowledge Base article, Shortcuts for Activating Full Keyboard Access.

They are kind of like super spring-loaded folders, without the folder. Advantages are: you can tell just by looking at a Pile what’s in it, and have easy one-click access to all files contained in it. Piles can be various sizes, and you can see at a glance how big one Pile is compared to another.

More on Bruce Tognazzini’s site.

• They can’t be placed off-screen.
• The little icons!
• There’s a satisfying snap when they dock together.
• You can see their access key commands.

Semi-related: Adobe seem to have lost the domain (adobefacts.com) which used to carry info on their tabbed palettes lawsuit against Macromedia. Doh! The original content from August 2000 is still in the Internet Archive.